The theme for Week 3 was teams getting their first win of the season.
Six franchises entered Sunday’s slate of games with two defeats to begin the new season, but that all changed this week as only the Tennessee Titans remain winless after three games played – though the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars could join them after Monday night.
There were also impressive performances and victories from some Super Bowl contenders as they cemented their credentials as title challengers.
Here are the main storylines from Sunday’s action.
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The Minnesota Vikings are actually for real?
Two wins to open the NFL season could be seen as a fluke. But the Minnesota Vikings put to bed any fears they were a flash in a pan with a dominant 34-7 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Any doubts that Minnesota had caught lightning in a bottle in the opening weeks of the season were allayed as Sam Darnold – the backup in preseason before first-round rookie JJ McCarthy was ruled out for the season – superbly ran the offense once again.
Darnold threw 17-of-28 for 181 yards and four touchdowns against a stacked Texans defense, one apiece to Justin Jefferson, Aaron Jones, Jalen Nailor and Johnny Mundt.
The 27-year-old is enjoying a new lease of life with the Vikings under head coach Kevin O’Connell. Sunday’s multiple-touchdown outing was the first time in Darnold’s career he has done so in three straight games.
In his 66 games with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, Darnold had one other game with four touchdown throws but now has achieved the feat in just his third outing with Minnesota.
According to the NFL, Darnold became the fourth quarterback in Vikings history to start a season 3-0, joining Hall of Famers Fran Tarkenton and Brett Favre, as well as Daunte Culpepper.
Afterwards, O’Connell called Darnold’s performance against the Texans “really, really good.”
“Smart, really decisive, took care of the football, accurate,” he said.
On the other side, the previously explosive Texans offense was nullified by Minnesota’s defense, led by coordinator Brian Flores.
Flores’ playcalling seemed to confuse second-year passer CJ Stroud, as Houston began the game with an interception. He would throw a further one in a disappointing afternoon for last season’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard was routinely the game-wrecker against his former team, finishing the game with three sacks.
“It’s in your best interest to not (mess around with me),” Greenard said afterwards. “I’m glad I’m here in Minnesota because they obviously respect me. Anybody else wants to do that, they can try.”
Such was the emphatic nature of the defeat that Stroud was benched midway through the fourth quarter to prevent any costly injuries as the Texans suffered their first defeat of the season.
Ravens off the mark, plunge Cowboys into crisis mode
Both the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday’s Week 3 clash in Arlington, Texas, needing a victory after underwhelming in Week 2.
Sunday’s clash was a tight encounter, but the Ravens were able to get off the mark this season and plunge “America’s Team” into crisis mode with their 28-25 victory.
Baltimore raced out to a big lead, largely in part to a breakout game for offseason signing Derrick Henry.
The running back had two rushing touchdowns and quarterback Lamar Jackson added a passing and running score as the Ravens held a 28-6 lead in the fourth quarter.
Henry finished with 151 yards off 25 carries on the ground and Jackson racked up 87 rushing yards of his own as the duo dissected Dallas with their legs.
Per the NFL, Sunday’s game was Henry’s 12th career game with 150-plus rushing yards and two or more rushing touchdowns, tied for second-most in NFL history with LaDainian Tomlinson and one behind Jim Brown.
Although the offense struggled late and the defense allowed three straight touchdown drives, Baltimore was able to hold on and finally get its first win of the season.
After starting 0-2 for the campaign, Jackson spoke after the victory about the importance of realizing their preseason goals.
“To be honest, every game is a big game for us because we’re trying to get somewhere,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to win these games to get to the playoffs, man, and win these playoff games to get to the Super Bowl. But it starts with the game that’s in front of us.”
For Dallas, it is a third straight home loss as alarm bells are ringing in Mike McCarthy’s team.
Having been blown out by the New Orleans Saints in Week 2, Dallas expected to bounce back against the Ravens and right the ship.
But the team now falls to 1-2 as pressure continues to mount on McCarthy’s shoulders. With only a four-day break before they play again on Thursday Night Football against the New York Giants, the Cowboys head coach says he prefers to focus on the team’s late comeback against Baltimore.
“It’s something that doesn’t show up in the playbook, in the scheme. The heart and soul of your football team and the ability to grow emotionally and having that experience,” McCarthy told reporters. “It’s a great fourth quarter for our first-year players.
“It’s the connection that we don’t have right now to the level that we’re capable of. So this is the emotional realm that we need to be much better in. They have work ethic, it’s a really good locker room. There’s talent. The mental part of it, we better have taken a step from last week. Last week was totally not good enough. The emotional part is where the real gold is. This end of the game can serve as well.”
Panthers get first win after benching Bryce Young
The Panthers had been the most disappointing team in the NFL through two weeks, after two convincing defeats to the Saints and the Los Angeles Chargers.
First-year head coach Dave Canales made the big decision ahead of Week 3 to bench 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young and replace him with veteran Andy Dalton.
And the decision paid immediate dividends as the Panthers looked much improved in their 36-22 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Dalton threw 26-of-37 for 319 yards and three touchdowns as Carolina looked like a wholly different team with the 36-year-old at the helm. They scored more points (21) in the first half of Sunday’s game than they had in the previous two weeks combined (13).
His connection with wide receiver Diontae Johnson was key, with the former Pittsburgh Steeler having a career day with 122 receiving yards on eight catches and a touchdown. The pair’s success through the air opened up the running game, with Chuba Hubbard adding 117 yards on the ground off 21 carries.
After the victory, Dalton said it had been a “heavy week” within the organization following the benching of Young but spoke about how special the performance against the Raiders was for him.
“I mean, it felt great. Obviously, for me to get an opportunity to be out there and for it to go the way it did, couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” Dalton told reporters. “I thought our guys came out with the right attitude, the right mentality from the start, and we never slowed down.
“That was the fun part of it. We didn’t just put one drive together. We were able to do it the whole game. Played complementary football, and guys were having a ton of fun, and that’s how it should be.”
It was a disappointing outing for the Raiders coming off a surprising win over the Ravens in Week 2.
Las Vegas scored just seven points in the opening three quarters of Sunday’s game and the team was booed off the Allegiant Stadium field after the defeat.
Following the home loss, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce expressed his anger at his team’s performance, saying that some of his players made “business decisions” during Sunday’s game.
“We got our a** whooped,” Pierce told reporters. “We got to put pads on, I don’t know, got to get on the sled. Same group that’s, for the most part, all come back and same technique, same coaches, it’s not a different scheme, so obviously we have to coach better and be some hard a**es on the guys, and guys have to take some rough coaching because just didn’t see that on either side of the ball.
“We had an opportunity to run the ball and we didn’t. Didn’t do that at all. We tried and tried and tried, and I would have booed us, too. Offensively, defensively, we didn’t do a good enough job up front, not good enough.”
Full Week 3 Sunday scores
Away @ home (winners in bold)
New York Giants 21-15 Cleveland Browns
Chicago Bears 16-21 Indianapolis Colts
Houston Texans 7-34 Minnesota Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles 15-12 New Orleans Saints
Los Angeles Chargers 10-20 Pittsburgh Steelers
Denver Broncos 26-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Green Bay Packers 30-14 Tennessee Titans
Carolina Panthers 36-22 Las Vegas Raiders
Miami Dolphins 3-24 Seattle Seahawks
Detroit Lions 20-13 Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens 28-25 Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers 24-27 Los Angeles Rams
Kansas City Chiefs 22-17 Atlanta Falcons
