NFL 2024-25: Week 3

Week 2 certainly had its share of surprises, with the Saints destroying the Cowboys and the Vikings upsetting the Niners, thanks in large part to a 97-yard TD pass from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson. The Bengals and Ravens are both winless and find themselves two games behind the Steelers. The Bucs and Seahawks are among the undefeated, while the Panthers have already benched their top quarterback draft pick from 2023. On Monday night, the Falcons mounted a last-minute TD drive to defeat the Eagles in Philadelphia.

This week, two undefeated teams meet when the Chargers travel to Pittsburgh, and the Texans meet the Vikings in another game matching two unbeaten teams. The Ravens are favored on the road in Dallas, while the Saints are favored by 2.5 over the Eagles. Before last night, the Eagles were favored by 2.5.

There are two Monday night football games this week.

This week’s games. All spreads taken from DraftKings on Tuesday, September 17 at 10:15 am CT.

Thursday:

Patriots @ Jets (-6.5)

Sunday early:

Broncos @ Bucs (-7)
Chargers @ Steelers (-2)
Eagles @ Saints (-2.5)
Giants @ Browns (-6)
Texans @ Vikings (+2.5)
Packers @ Titans (-3)
Bears @ Colts (-1)

Sunday late:

Panthers @ Raiders (-5.5)
Dolphins @ Seahawks (-5)
49ers @ Rams (+7)
Ravens @ Cowboys (+1)
Lions @ Cardinals (+2.5)

Sunday night:

Chiefs @ Falcons (+3.5)

Monday night:

Jaguars @ Bills (-5.5)
Commanders @ Bengals (-8)

I was definitely surprised that the Rams were destroyed by the Cardinals. The Cardinals haven’t been good in forever, and I still don’t think they are, but the Lions seem decent and yet last week just barely beat the Rams.

I’m not shocked the Rams lost, but they lost so badly. I guess losing your top two WRs to injury is tough to deal with.

They also have to pick up on the defensive front - Aaron Donald, perennial all-pro and hall of Fame shoe-in, retired in the off season.

ESPN is reporting that Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa is being placed on injured reserve, due to the concussion he suffered this past Thursday, meaning that he will miss at least the next four games.

Yesterday, the team signed QB Tyler Huntley off of the Ravens’ practice squad; league rules state that the Dolphins must keep Huntley on their 53-man roster for at least three games.

Rappaport said that Tua is not considering retirement and that he expects to return to the field as soon as he’s cleared. So yeah, we might be seeing fencing Tua a few more times this year.

I’ve decided the first few weeks of the year are completely unpredictable, and it’s a fool’s errand to attempt otherwise.

I mean, Green Bay (strong playoff contender) barely loses to Philadelphia (maybe gonna make the playoffs, the NFCE is weird), who turn around and barely lose to the Falcons, who lost to a so-ungood-even-Steelers-fans-are-moderating-their-optimism Pittsburgh. The NFCN dumpster Vikings just beat up the 49ers. League’s just wonky at the moment. Any Given Sunday is now Every Single Sunday.

Yeah, I still remember the Lions beat the Chiefs last year, that was on September 7 and was a shock. Lions better than Chiefs?!?!?!?!?!

Um… No. The Chiefs went on the win the Super Bowl, and the Lions were pretty good, good enough to win their division and even made it to the NFC championship game. But definitely not better than the Chiefs.

The Rams are pretty banged up already. I don’t think a fully healthy team would have been blown out by the Cardinals.

I do enjoy seeing David Tepper continue to ruin his franchise. It’s just a shame he has to take 100+ players and coaches with him.

Panthers shakeup - Former No 1 draft pick Bryce Young benched, Andy Dalton will start in week 3 against the Raiders

Panthers bench former No. 1 pick Bryce Young, will start Andy Dalton at QB (msn.com)

Yeah. I got destroyed in Pick’em, but still got third for the week in Confidence.

I’m a huge Chefs fan, but this is misleading.

Chiefs went 11-6, scored 371 pts, allowed 294.
Lions went 12-5, scored 461 pts, allowed 395.

Winning the Super Bowl is everyone’s goal - but doesn’t really align with who was the best team in any given year. Lions were amazing last year, and if they played KC 100 times last year, they’d probably win more than they’d lose.

Agreed. At least until the playoffs, when the Chiefs beat the top 2 seeds in the AFC and the top seed in the NFC.

But the Chiefs played like garbage in that Super Bowl. They just got lucky that the Niners played like slightly worse garbage.

KC didn’t play very well against the Bills in the playoffs. But they won.
Chiefs played even worse against the Ravens in the AFC Championship game. But they won.

Guess they were just lucky.

Not just luck. They’re a very good, well-coached team. There is something to be said for a team winning despite not playing their best.

Which was my point as well. Don’t forget that KC had one of the better defenses in the league last year. And the offense played just well enough to win.

I caught a little bit of the Thursday night game on TV just now, and the turf looks terrible. It almost looks like a dark gray. The Jets’ green uniforms still look okay, so I don’t think it’s a problem with my television.

Does it look as bad to anyone else?

It looks like puke green on my TV.

The Jets uniforms look just fine.

That terrible gray was the New England Patriots.