Winners and Losers: NFL Week 3
WINNER: The Red Rifle
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2024/09/24/andy-dalton-panthers-quarterback-2-1-record-bengals-nfl-week-3-cowboys-bears-saints/75358220007/
Bryce Young was, indeed, the problem in Charlotte.
That’s at least the new argument sticking after backup veteran QB Andy Dalton shined in his season debut for the Carolina Panthers against the Las Vegas Raiders, passing for 319 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers.
Dalton ignited an offense that showed no signs of life in their first two games, scoring just 13 total points and 352 total yards across Weeks 1 and 2 under Young, the former No. 1 overall pick.
Even worse, Carolina only managed one field goal as its lone scoring opportunity in their last two road games. The Panthers’ opening drive touchdown was their first opening score in their previous 20 games and their first lead since December 2023.
The only real negative for Carolina was the loss of vet wide receiver Adam Thielen with a hamstring injury. Former Pittsburgh Steeler Diontae Johnson led the way receiving with eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.
LOSER: Will Levis and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tennessee Titans
https://x.com/NFL_Memes/status/1837951095445798992
How can things get worse for the Tennessee Titans?
Start the season 0-3? Check. Absolutely no running game post-Derrick Henry? Check. Quarterback of the future a dud so far? Check.
Oh, and the quarterback you drafted just two years ago comes back into your place and torches you?
Check.
Malik Willis and the Green Bay Packers did whatever they wanted to the Titans in Week 3, starting the game up 20-7 at halftime to win 30-14 in a game they never trailed.
Titans quarterback Will Levis brought his interception total on the season to five with a pair of picks, one was Jaire Alexander’s first-ever pick-6. Levis has a league-high eight total turnovers this season.
This is the worst Tennessee start since 2009, that year started 0-6 but improbably rebounded to finish at .500.
It’ll be a battle of the hobbled QBs next weekend with the Titans heading south to face the Miami Dolphins on their third quarterback this season.
WINNER: Lamar Jackson vs. the NFC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rsqxe-fdnk
Lamar Jackson is not used to 0-2 starts.
His 2016 Heisman-winning season in Louisville, as well as his junior year in 2017 both started 2-0 without much trouble.
Even after joining the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, Jackson’s worst start to a season was just 1-1.
So after the 2024 campaign began 0-2 against Kansas City and Las Vegas, he needed a bounceback.
And what better way to bounce back than against an NFC team?
In comes the Dallas Cowboys.
Jackson and the Ravens survived a late comeback effort Sunday with a 28-25 win, but that’s not the most impressive statistic here.
Jackson (as a backup) lost twice to NFC teams in back-to-back weeks during his rookie season, and since then, he’s gone on a 27-1 run, only losing to the New York Giants in 2022. His current win steak sits at nine.
Dallas was the latest victim, and they were undone by a combination of (again) poor run defense, a very slow start, and a solid fourth quarter that was too little, too late.
Jackson passes 12/15 for 182 yards and a touchdown, plus 87 rushing yards (6.2 per carry) and a touchdown dash.
LOSER: The Cincinnati Bungles
Jayden Daniels flourished in his first prime-time NFL game, completing 21 of 23 passes for 254 yards in a 38-33 win at Cincinnati on Sunday night. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Sticking in the AFC North, the Cincinnati Bengals dug up their old nickname Bungles, earning it in a defensively inept loss to the Washington Commanders and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
The memory of Super Bowl LVI and that AFC Championship win continues to fade into memory as Cincinnati now sits at a flat 0-3 for the first time since 2019.
And boy, were the Bengals close to this start many times before this season.
In 2023? Start 0-2, win Week 3. In 2022? Start 0-2, win Week 3. In 2020? Start 0-2, TIE Week 3.
The most interesting facet of this year’s Week 3 reversal is the Bengals managed to gain 436 yards (80 more than Washington) and commit no turnovers - the first game with no turnovers or punts since 1940.
A missed field goal in the first quarter and a two-point conversion in the fourth were the missing five points for Cincy on a day where Joe Burrow looked like his former self: 29/38, 324 yards, three touchdowns.
To make matters even trickier, Cincinnati plays the new-look Panthers on the road next weekend and then the resurgent Ravens to open divisional play.
There’s not much time for the Bengals to right the ship.
WINNER: The Hobbled Comeback Rams
https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2024/09/22/rams-kyren-williams-highlight-touchdown-catch-49ers/
The Los Angeles Rams just cannot shake their injury bug, this season losing star wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, three starting offensive linemen and a solid group in their defensive secondary.
All this, yet somehow the Rams found away against their hated rival San Francisco.
Three first-half Jauan Jennings touchdowns to help mount a 21-7 49ers lead, later 24-14 in the fourth, meant nothing at the end as the LA Rams stormed back to win 27-24.
Second-year running back Kyren Williams lit the vaunted Niner D up in the second half, finishing with 89 yards, two rushing and one receiving touchdown.
The Rams managed to do this with an 0-2 record and coming off a 31-point beatdown at the talons of the Arizona Cardinals.
This matched the Rams’ largest comeback win since 2006 and back-to-back wins over the 49ers since a 1-9 run against their rivals.
Williams also tied the franchise record for most consecutive games with a rushing touchdown at six with NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk (2001).
San Francisco had a 93.9% chance to win with under three minutes to go in the game.
LOSER: The Buccaneers and Saints (out of nowhere)
https://www.pewterreport.com/bucs-embarrassed-by-broncos-26-7-loss/
After two weeks of watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints win, this week, they both completely collapsed in two very different-looking (but bad) losses.
For the Bucs, they’re coming off strong wins over Washington and at Detroit, but then only managed seven points against the Denver Broncos, who couldn’t even score six in their last game.
Tampa Bay let Bo Nix and the Broncos run wild on offense, racking up a season-high 352 yards and 26 points for Nix’s first career win.
The Buccaneers would’ve had their first 3-0 start since 2005 if they had won, and they have to quickly turn around to defend their division title for the fourth-straight season.
For New Orleans, their pain was much sharper, falling at home to the Philadelphia Eagles in a close collapse.
The Saints had an 87.6% chance to win inside 90 seconds to go in the game, allowing a 61-yard pass from Jalen Hurts to tight end Dallas Goedert and then immediately after a four-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown to take the late lead.
Just two plays later, the formerly red-hot Derek Carr threw the game-sealing interception.
NOLA now has one of their biggest games of the year next week: they head north to play the Atlanta Falcons in an all-time series locked at 55-55, New Orleans 9-3 against ATL since the start of 2018.