NFL Game Recaps: Week 3, 2024

NFL Game Recaps of previous weeks and seasons can be found via links at the bottom of the page.

Jets 24, Patriots 3

Jets fans had waited more than a year to see Aaron Rodgers play his first full home game. Rodgers, of course, lasted only four plays in his first start for the team at the Meadowlands. With the Jets playing two road games to begin the 2024 season, this was going to be Rodgers’ first chance to delight his new home crowd.

It seems as though the wait was worth it. Rodgers mercilessly sliced and diced New England’s secondary with ease. The Patriots had no answer for him, as he was deadly accurate on almost every throw. Rodgers misfired just eight times, mostly when he targeted Garrett Wilson, as the two looked like they had some shaky chemistry. There was even one play where it seemed as though Wilson had no idea where to line up, though he eventually made amends with a touchdown reception. Rodgers was otherwise flawless. He even showed some surprising mobility for a 40-year-old coming off a torn Achilles.

The Patriots, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going. They didn’t convert a single third down until garbage time. New England had the ball for just 15 of the first 55 minutes. Jacoby Brissett had no time in the pocket, as second-year Will McDonald (2.5 sacks) made his life miserable. Rhamondre Stevenson barely was able to do anything. The only productive player on the team was Demario Douglas. Brissett, who took some crushing hits, gave way to Drake Maye at the very end. Maye had an 11-yard run and completed a third-and-long to Douglas, but took a sack on the final play of the game.

The Jets have overcome their tough loss at San Francisco to improve to 2-1. They have Denver on extra rest next week, so they should be able to continue their winning streak.

The Patriots, conversely, won in Week 1, but have lost ever since. It’s becoming more evident that the victory over Cincinnati was a major fluke.

Steelers 20, Chargers 10

It wasn’t clear if Justin Herbert would be able to play in this game, as he was dealing with a high ankle sprain in addition to his plantar fascia. The Steelers, meanwhile, were going with Justin Fields once again. Despite the shaky quarterback situations, the two signal-callers began a combined 19-of-19. The first incompletion in this game occurred with 3:21 remaining in the second quarter when Herbert overthrew a receiver in the end zone.

It was astonishing that Herbert was playing so well with multiple injuries, but reality eventually set in. Herbert took a crushing sack in the third quarter and had to exit the game. Taylor Heinicke stepped in and had no chance behind an offensive line that was also dealing with injuries.

Fields, meanwhile, had some bad luck in the third quarter when he had an interception off a deflection where the ball popped high into the air and sailed right into Bud Dupree’s arms. However, Fields was able to rebound on an ensuing possession when he delivered a 55-yard strike to Calvin Austin, who zoomed past the rest of the defense into the end zone. This touchdown put the Steelers up 20-10, which meant the game was out of reach for Heinicke, who took multiple sacks from a variety of Steelers, including T.J. Watt, who recorded the 100th sack of his career.

The Steelers improved to 3-0. There was some criticism about their first two opponents, but the Chargers were 2-0 heading into this game. Herbert played, but Pittsburgh knocked him out of the game. The Steelers have arguably the best defense in the NFL, so they’ll be live to beat anyone, especially if Fields can continue to improve.

The Chargers should have considered sitting Herbert. It remains to be seen if he’ll be out longer as a consequence of trying to gut through the injury. They have a much more important game next week versus Kansas City.

Colts 21, Bears 16

This was a battle of quarterbacks chosen in the top five in succeeding years. If the names were removed from the backs of their jerseys, however, no one would have known that. This contest was packed with miserable quarterbacking and sketchy coaching decisions by the losing side.

Anthony Richardson began the shenanigans with an interception that he carelessly threw into the end zone. This was the first of two picks he threw in this game, with the second being a pass he launched over his receiver’s head by a mile. This turnover allowed the Bears to kick a field goal. Richardson inexplicably didn’t do much running, as he scrambled just eight times.

Luckily for Richardson, he was able to prevail because the Bears made their own mistakes. Caleb Williams also threw two interceptions, with his worst pick occurring when he telegraphed a pass under heavy pressure. He wasn’t helped with his coaching. On one sequence in the second quarter, the Bears called for four consecutive runs at the goal line. Chicago spent two top-10 picks on a quarterback and a receiver, yet the coaches decided that feeding the ball to its terrible running back was the correct decision. The final play of the series featured an 11-yard loss.

Matt Eberflus wasn’t done. The Bears scored a touchdown with 2:01 remaining to trim the margin to 21-16. An onside kick made the most sense, but Eberflus disagreed. He decided to just kick the ball off to the Colts even though his defense wasn’t able to stop the run all afternoon. Jonathan Taylor promptly broke free for a 13-yard gain to clinch the victory for Indianapolis, as Chicago did not get the ball back.

While the Colts prevailed, there needs to be some concern with Richardson, who threw some questionable passes and made some awful decisions in this game. Richardson also fired some beautiful downfield passes as well, but his inconsistency has to be maddening for Indianapolis.

Though the Bears lost, there were some positives, as Rome Odunze made some brilliant catches. He vastly outgained D.J. Moore, who had a 44-yard catch come on a Hail Mary at the end of the opening half that put him one yard shy of the goal line.

Vikings 34, Texans 7

The Vikings were able to benefit from some wild swings against the 49ers last week. There was one such occurrence early in this game. A C.J. Stroud pass on the opening possession was tipped at the line of scrimmage and picked. The Vikings were able to capitalize off the turnover with a touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson to give Minnesota a 7-0 lead.

The rest of the game didn’t feature any such swings. Instead, it was pure domination by the Vikings. Sam Darnold was highly efficient, throwing four touchdowns to different players. Aaron Jones ripped through Houston’s sluggish run defense. The one good thing Houston was able to do was pressure Darnold with four sacks. Darnold got hurt on one of those sacks, but barely missed any time.

With Houston’s defense being mostly inept, Stroud had to overcome the early interception to engage the Vikings in a shootout. This did not occur, as Brian Flores was able to befuddle Stroud with his confusing schemes. It didn’t help that the Vikings hounded Stroud in the backfield. With no running game to lean on as a result of Joe Mixon being sidelined, Stroud had issues sustaining drives, converting only four third downs throughout the entire afternoon. Stroud was eventually pulled in the fourth quarter as a result of the blowout.

The Texans lost their first game of the year, but it’s fair to wonder how focused they were off a victory on national television. This was also tough mental matchup for Stroud, but he’ll have those go in his favor as he gains experience.

The Vikings were one of a few surprise 2-0 teams heading into Week 3. Some of those 2-0 squads disappointed, but not the Vikings, who have beaten two tough opponents at home over the past couple of weeks. They certainly look legitimate.

Eagles 15, Saints 12

The Eagles appeared to beat the Falcons on Monday Night Football, but Saquon Barkley dropped a pass on third down, which allowed Atlanta to engineer the game-winning drive in the final minute. Barkley took blame for the loss, but he was able to redeem himself by being the hero in this game, allowing the Eagles to bounce back and knock off the undefeated Saints.

This game featured some incompetence from Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni, plus some major injuries. The Eagles were able to move the chains consistently in between the 20s, but constantly screwed up deep in New Orleans territory. Hurts threw an early interception when he forced a throw into the end zone. He then lost a fumble on a strip-sack because he held the ball too long. Sirianni followed that up with a questionable fourth-and-1 call when a fake tush push was called. This was not the only fourth-down miscue, with Hurts sacked on fourth down, as Sirianni eschewed a field goal to tie the game at three.

Once the Eagles had another promising drive ruined by another mistake – this time, 12 men in the huddle – the announcer in this game commented, “Every time the Eagles get something, they find a way to hurt themselves.” Hurts proceeded to throw behind Kenneth Gainwell on third down, and then the Eagles had a punt blocked.

Meanwhile, the Eagles lost a couple of key players. Lane Johnson suffered a concussion, then DeVonta Smith was knocked out with a crushing hit. All hope seemed to be lost, but that’s when Barkley took over. He ripped off a 65-yard touchdown to give the Eagles their first lead of the afternoon. The Saints struck back with Derek Carr hitting Chris Olave for a touchdown, but after Dallas Goedert made a terrific play on a 61-yard reception, Barkley pushed his way into the end zone for a touchdown and an ensuing two-point conversion to give the Eagles the victory.

The Eagles were able to avoid 2-1, thanks to the heroics of Barkley and Goedert. However, they won’t be enough to overcome all the injuries against future opponents. The Eagles will need at least two of Smith, Johnson, and A.J. Brown back from injury very soon.

The Saints dropped to 2-1. They also had some offensive ineptitude, but those stemmed from losing their stud center, Erik McCoy, to an early injury.

Broncos 26, Buccaneers 7

The Buccaneers were able to take advantage of Detroit being distracted last week. The Lions were coming off an overtime victory against their former quarterback, so they didn’t seem fully focused against Tampa Bay in a divisional playoff revenge affair. The Lions outgained the Buccaneers by 240 net yards, and yet Tampa Bay was still able to pull the upset by capitalizing on Detroit’s sloppy mistakes.

To quote Michael Scott, “My how the turntables have turned.” This week, it was Tampa Bay’s turn to be unfocused. The Buccaneers, coming off their revenge victory, didn’t see fully invested in their matchup against the Broncos. They made some mistakes in the early going, including Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into double coverage. Mayfield was also way off his target on a fourth-and-2 attempt. Denver was able to take advantage of this with some early scores, as an injury-ravaged defense had issues chasing around Bo Nix, who had some key scrambles, including one that ran into the end zone.

The Broncos played a clean game until they were up 17-0. They once again advanced into Tampa Bay territory, but Javonte Williams lost a fumble. This sparked the Buccaneers, who had a 32-yard run by Bucky Irving set up a Mayfield touchdown to Chris Godwin.

Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, it wasn’t much of a spark. The Buccaneers couldn’t get Denver’s offense off the field following that fumble. Nix showed great precision on his passes and ran circles around the Buccaneers’ depleted defense en route to a blowout victory.

Nix looked awful through two games, but this was a great performance from him. Granted, he was going against a bad defense missing half of its starters, but Nix at least showed some promise for the first time in his professional career.

Tampa Bay, conversely, was the team that was awful in this game. As mentioned earlier, however, the Buccaneers were in an obvious flat spot, and they were dealing with a number of injuries.

Packers 30, Titans 14

The Packers shocked many last week when they beat Indianapolis as home underdogs. They were able to deploy a strong rushing attack versus a banged-up Colts defensive line, as Malik Willis threw the ball only 14 times. Surely, history couldn’t repeat itself against a much tougher run defense.

History didn’t quite repeat itself despite the same result, with Green Bay once again upsetting an AFC South opponent. This time, however, the Packers attacked the opposition aerially, as Willis threw just three fewer times in the opening half versus Tennessee as he did in the entire game last week. Despite Green Bay shifting its strategy, its offense couldn’t be stopped. Willis was 9-of-11 in the opening half, delivering deep strikes to his young receivers. He converted third-and-14 and third-and-18 situations, and he was able to scramble into the end zone for a touchdown.

Matt LaFleur has to be the early leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, as he was able to transform Willis into the first-round prospect some believed he should have been a few years ago. Willis was awful for the Titans, who had seen him in practice, yet couldn’t do anything to contain him. Tennessee abandoned Willis in favor of Will Levis, who was anemic in this game. He threw behind Tyler Boyd in the red zone and was almost intercepted as a consequence. He then telegraphed a pick-six when he didn’t see Jaire Alexander, who jumped the route. Levis followed that up by taking a sack on third-and-3 when he held on to the ball forever. To open the third quarter, Levis foolishly tried to hurdle a defender on fourth-and-2 and was predictably sacked to turn the ball over on downs. The Titans restricted the Packers to a field goal that was missed, but defensive holding gave Green Bay another chance. Willis threw a 30-yard touchdown to his backup running back to effectively end the game.

It’s truly amazing what LaFleur has done with Willis. He was thoughtlessly discarded by the Titans, yet he looks a million times better than his replacement. The Packers seem to be in good hands with Willis if “No Cookie” Jordan Love is sidelined once again.

The Titans can’t go back in time and choose Willis over Levis. Instead, they need to consider benching Levis, who looks lost right now. The Titans would be in better hands with Mike Vrabel as well, but it’s unclear why they fired him and replaced him with the clearly overwhelmed Brian Callahan.

Giants 21, Browns 15
By Charlie Campbell – @draftcampbell

EDITOR’S NOTE: Remind me to bet the Browns under season win total. Their offensive line has so many injuries, while their defense won’t reach its potential because Myles Garrett is playing hurt and needs surgery.

The Giants entered this game with their season on the brink. If they lost this game, there was talk that Daniel Jones could be benched and other changes could happen. The Browns came out like gang-busters and looked like they were headed to an easy win, but the game completely flipped in the middle of the first half. Midway through the second half, the Browns took over and Deshaun Watson started to flash his Texans form, but the Giants defense rallied and shut down the Browns’ comeback hopes. After this win, the Giants breathed some life into their season. Cleveland falls to 1-2, and the big reason for the loss is that the Giants front seven crushed the Browns offensive line to the tune of seven sacks.

The Giants fumbled away the opening kickoff, and Deshaun Watson lofted in a 24-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper the next play. The Giants got lucky after a terrible interception from Daniel Jones, which was canceled out by Greg Newsome, who hit Jones in the helmet. The Giants had a fourth-down conversion and hit a big screen to Devin Singletary before Singletary finished the drive with a short touchdown run. New York put together another nice drive with a scoring toss to Malik Nabers. At the end of the second quarter, Brian Burns strip- sacked Watson, which set up another second touchdown strike to Nabers.

Early in the third quarter, Singletary fumbled the ball away just shy of midfield, but the Giants’ sixth sack of the game forced a 53-yard field goal that was missed. Both defenses took over and gave the punters a lot of use. Early in the fourth quarter, Watson finally put a drive together, and Watson threw a dart to Cooper for a touchdown, and a two-point strike from Watson to Jerry Jeudy made it 21-15. Cleveland got the ball back and moved across midfield, but Jerome Ford fumbled a handoff away to lose the momentum. The Browns forced a punt, but the Giants came up with two fourth-down stops to get the ball back. Greg Joseph missed a 45-yard field goal, giving the Browns one more chance with the offense set up at the 38 with three minutes remaining. Cedric Tillman dropped a fourth-down conversion, which clinched the win for New York.

Ravens 28, Cowboys 25
By Charlie Campbell – @draftcampbell

EDITOR’S NOTE: The battle of the overrateds was quite fun, but let’s not forget that neither team is very good.

The Ravens sought to avoid the dreaded 0-3 start, and they held on for a narrow win in Dallas. Baltimore dominated for three quarters, but Dak Prescott brought the Cowboys back in the fourth quarter to almost pull off a miraculous comeback.

The Ravens got on the scoreboard first with a chunk completion to Charlie Kolar before Lamar Jackson used his legs to score. Dallas responded with a 65-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey. Baltimore’s offense stayed hot when a short out route completion turned into a 51-yard gain for Nelson Agholor thanks to a missed tackle by Caelen Carson, and Derrick Henry dove over the goal line. Dallas started moving down the field, but CeeDee Lamb fumbled the ball away around the 10 to negate the scoring opportunity. Late in the second quarter, Jackson found a wide-open Rashod Bateman in busted coverage for a 13-yard touchdown. Aubrey hit another long field goal to make it 21-6 at halftime.

To open the third quarter, the Ravens marched down the field, and Henry scored from 26 yards. After that, the defenses played well for the rest of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Dallas’ offense finally caught fire. They started their comeback with Dak Prescott scoring on the ground and tossing a touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert to make it 28-18 with seven minutes remaining. Prescott connected with KaVontae Turpin for a 16-yard touchdown to make it a three-point game, but Jackson came through with a critical first down run to let Baltimore run the clock out for their first win of the season.

At 1-2, the Ravens stayed within striking distance, and this was a win they had to have to avoid falling three games back of the Steelers. At 1-2, Dallas is a very streaky and inconsistent team that will need to improve on both sides of the ball to make the playoffs.

Panthers 36, Raiders 22

It turns out it was Bryce Young all along. Carolina’s offense looked completely dysfunctional despite the numerous upgrades the team made to the offensive line, receiving corps, and coaching staff this offseason. It took just two games, but new head coach Dave Canales decided to bench Young in favor of Andy Dalton. The result wasn’t just a victory, but an offensive explosion, as the Panthers scored into the 30s despite battling a defense ranked in the top half of EPA heading into the game.

Dalton was terrific. He sliced through the Raiders defense with ease, connecting on numerous occasions to Diontae Johnson, who had a monstrous performance. Dalton also hooked up with Adam Thielen on a touchdown, but the veteran receiver was hurt on the catch. His absence wasn’t felt, as Dalton continued to exploit the issues in the Raiders secondary, as he enjoyed a clean pocket throughout the afternoon. Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins were limited in practice all week heading into the game, and it showed. The defensive line couldn’t do anything to rattle Dalton or stop Chuba Hubbard from getting some big gains on the ground.

Carolina’s defense also played its best game of the year. The Panthers’ pass rush, which was non-existent through two weeks, swarmed Gardner Minshew. The journeyman quarterback couldn’t get much going outside of a few deep connections. He didn’t get any help from his running game either, as the Panthers did a great job of bottling up Zamir White in this lopsided affair.

Perhaps the Panthers won’t have the No. 1 overall pick. This victory will make it much more difficult, but based on this performance, it’s fair to wonder if they can compete in the terrible NFC South with Dalton serving as a massive upgrade over Young.

This was a very disappointing result for the Raiders. They had a great victory at Baltimore last week, but couldn’t maintain any success, which has been a big problem for them over the years.

Seahawks 24, Dolphins 3

No coach has ever done more damage to his reputation over a 2-week span than Mike McDaniel. The Dolphins looked completely unprepared against the Bills last Thursday night, particularly when trying to engineer the two-minute drill prior to halftime. McDaniel was tasked with preparing for a team with some defensive liabilities with his backup quarterback, but it doesn’t seem as though he put much thought into his game plan. It would have made sense for McDaniel to try to get the ball to his best players, De’Von Achane and Tyreek Hill, but he barely bothered. At one point just prior to halftime, Skylar Thompson had 13 passes compared to six touches by Achane. By the third quarter, fullback Alec Ingold had triple the number of catches compared to Hill.

McDaniel didn’t just make errors regarding his personnel. He opted for a 57-yard field goal that was missed rather than going for it on fourth-and-1 in the opening quarter. He then passed up on fourth-and-1 again in the second half despite losing by two touchdowns. McDaniel also screwed up in the 2-minute drill prior to halftime once again. Thompson can’t be blamed for this because the Dolphins had similar issues with Tua Tagovailoa last week.

Thompson did not last the entire game, by the way. He suffered an injury on a sack in the third quarter and was replaced by Tim Boyle. It was even more puzzling how Boyle made it onto Miami’s 53-man roster, given that he had a woeful performance against the Dolphins on Black Friday last year. Either McDaniel has a poor memory and didn’t recall this game, or he’s a glutton for punishment and wanted to win NFL games on Hard Mode.

Regardless, the Dolphins gave themselves no chance to win with their awful offensive game planning. Their defense surrendered a couple of big plays early in the contest – particularly a deep shot to D.K. Metcalf – but performed better after that. The Dolphins limited Seattle to 17 points for most of the afternoon, but the defense collapsed after Boyle threw two horrible incompletions at the goal line to turn the ball over on downs.

The Dolphins signed Tyler Huntley, so perhaps they can get something out of him in the coming weeks. If not, the Dolphins won’t have any chance to reach the playoffs this season unless Tua Tagovailoa returns much earlier than expected.

The Seahawks are now 3-0. They’ve beaten some very sketchy offenses – Broncos, Patriots, Tua-less Dolphins – through three weeks, so they’re a very difficult team to evaluate at the moment.

Lions 20, Cardinals 13

This had all the makings of a shootout. The Lions went down the field and scored a touchdown on their opening drive, with David Montgomery plunging into the end zone. Arizona answered back, with Kyler Murray driving the field and hitting Marvin Harrison Jr. in the end zone to tie the game.

Despite two touchdowns on the first two drives, these teams combined for only 19 points the rest of the way. In fact, the Detroit offense nearly gave back seven when Jared Goff appeared to throw a pick-six, which was negated by the 2-minute warning being whistled. The Lions lucked out, as they scored a touchdown on that drive when Amon-Ra St. Brown lateraled to Jahmyr Gibbs.

Both offenses got worse in the second half, inexplicably combining for just three points. It was ugly, with Murray throwing an interception on a deep shot into double coverage, and Goff answering back with his own pick because he didn’t see the linebacker in coverage. There was also an ugly collision when Trey McBride and Brian Branch violently colliding with each other. They weren’t the only injuries, as Sam LaPorta was carted into the locker room and then got hurt again once he returned to action.

The Lions were ahead for most of the game, but they looked like they were going to surrender their lead at the end. However, Goff rebounded with a 17-yard connection to St. Brown on a third-and-11 to seal the victory for Detroit.

The Lions are now 2-1 after bouncing back from last week’s loss to Tampa Bay. However, the offense hasn’t looked quite right. It was puzzling as to why they couldn’t generate any production in the second half versus a poor Arizona defense.

The Cardinals had a terrific performance versus the Rams last week, but couldn’t sustain their success in this game. It wasn’t a bad performance overall, however, given the level of competition.

Rams 27, 49ers 24

It didn’t seem to matter that the 49ers were missing Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle. San Francisco’s offense was humming to begin the game. The 49ers scored two touchdowns in the opening quarter to establish a quick 14-0 lead. With the Rams incapable of producing much, this seemed like a potential blowout.

Then, everything changed when another key San Francisco player suffered an injury. This time, it was Trent Williams. The best tackle in the NFL, Williams hobbled off the field, and while he returned later in the game, it was clear he wasn’t 100 percent. San Francisco sputtered after that, scoring just 10 points in the final three quarters after notching 14 in the opening frame. Brock Purdy and Jauan Jennings still made some big plays – including a sequence where Jennings leapt over a defender to make a 33-yard reception, then slid to make a 14-yard catch – but it wasn’t enough. Purdy saw more pressure with Williams banged up, and the offense stalled in Los Angeles territory on too many occasions. The 49ers had a chance to extend the lead in the fourth quarter to 10, but Jake Moody whiffed on a 55-yard field goal.

Moody’s miss gave the Rams new life. Matthew Stafford completed a 50-yard bomb to Tutu Atwell, setting up a Kyren Williams touchdown to tie the game. The 49ers couldn’t run enough time off the clock on the ensuing possession, allowing Stafford to win in regulation. He drew a deep interference flag on a shot to Colby Parkinson, setting up rookie kicker Joshua Karty with a 37-yard field goal to win the game.

The Rams showed great resolve to win the game despite being so banged up and facing a multi-score deficit for most of the afternoon. Still, the Rams need to get healthy if they want to beat other teams that don’t have similar injury woes.

The 49ers looked impressive while Williams was healthy, but his injury impacted the game. It’s encouraging, at least, that he was able to return to action, so perhaps he’ll be fully healthy next week.

Chiefs 22, Falcons 17

The Falcons parlayed their great finish in Philadelphia last week into an opening-drive score. They drove right down the field to begin the game, as Kirk Cousins found Drake London in the end zone. Atlanta then intercepted Patrick Mahomes when the three-time Super Bowl winner didn’t see Justin Simmons in the end zone.

Atlanta appeared to be ready to pull another upset, but disaster struck in the second quarter. The Falcons lost two offensive linemen to injury, as Kaleb McGary and Drew Dalman were knocked out of the game. Atlanta’s offense sputtered after that, struggling to move the chains until the fourth quarter. The Chiefs established an eight-point lead, but failed to keep drives alive due to mistakes. Travis Kelce dropped a pass on third down, while Mahomes and Xavier Worthy saw a pass fall incomplete because of a miscommunication. This gave the Falcons two opportunities to prevail.

Atlanta, however, squandered both chances, thanks to inept coaching. Raheem Morris eschewed a field goal on fourth-and-5 on the penultimate offensive drive of the game and was punished for it when a Cousins pass fell incomplete into the end zone. The Falcons retained possession after that and made it to the Kansas City 13-yard line. Because Morris passed on a field goal the first time, he was forced into going for it on fourth-and-1. A run was called for Bijan Robinson, who was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage to give the Chiefs the victory.

The Chiefs have improved 3-0 and will go to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers next week. They suffered a scare in this game when Rashee Rice got banged up, but Rice was all smiles in the post-game interview.

The Falcons did’t have the late-game luck on their side this time. They were screwed by a non-pass interference call on Kyle Pitts in the end zone, but this would have been avoided had Morris kicked two field goals. The offensive line has to be a concern with the two injuries suffered in this game.

Bills 47, Jaguars 10

The Jaguars had their backs against the wall. They were winless entering this game and needed a victory to avoid the dreaded 0-3 start. Instead, they were a complete no-show, getting steamrolled by a Buffalo team that had every reason to be unfocused because this contest was sandwiched between battles against the Dolphins and Ravens.

There have been many things wrong with the Jaguars. Offensively, they haven’t been able to protect Lawrence. However, Lawrence hasn’t performed well either, struggling to see the field well. Those things were prevalent in this embarrassing defeat. Buffalo’s pass rush sacked Lawrence five times, and when Lawrence had time in the pocket, he missed receivers or threw checkdowns. He air-mailed many throws, including one horrendous one where he overshot an open Brian Thomas. The pass was easily picked by Buffalo. Lawrence couldn’t redeem himself. He resorted to more checkdowns and then took a sack on fourth down during a rare trip to the red zone.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars’ pass rush offered nothing. Josh Allen had all evening to throw, and he was able to deliver precise passes to Khalil Shakir, James Cook, and Dalton Kincaid. The Jaguars handled the run well, but that’s the only positive they had in this ugly blowout in which the backups played in the fourth quarter.

The Bills had some major question marks with their receiving corps and parts of their defense entering the season, but they haven’t had to answer those because they’ve gotten more dominant each week. Ever since halftime of the opener against Arizona, Buffalo has outscored the opposition, 102-31.

The Jaguars need to begin thinking about the offseason now that they’re 0-3. This would entail firing Doug Pederson, who has overseen Lawrence’s regression. This is eerily similar to Carson Wentz’s decay following his near-MVP season in 2017.

Redskins 38, Bengals 33

The Jaguars weren’t the only 0-2 team entering Monday night. The Bengals were also winless, thanks to their low-effort showing versus the Patriots in Week 1. All they had to do to right the ship was beat the Redskins, who barely snuck by the Giants last week. Easy, right?

No one gave the memo to the Redskins that this was supposed to be a routine victory for Cincinnati. Washington beat the Bengals on both sides of the ball. The pass rush, which had been non-existent through two weeks, came up big with some sacks on Joe Burrow, as it was aided by the injury to Trent Brown. One of the Redskins’ sacks came on third down in the red zone, forcing the Bengals into a three-point try.

Jayden Daniels was the big story, however. He had some key runs in this game, but did most of his damage with his arm. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury was criticized for running too much of a horizontal offense, but that changed in this game. This was apparent when Daniels hit Terry McLaurin with a 55-yard touchdown bomb.

Daniels was extremely clutch as well. The Bengals scored a touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter to trim the margin to 31-26. They were expecting the ball back with a chance to win the game, but that didn’t happen because Daniels was able to play keep-away for nearly eight minutes. Daniels converted a third down to McLaurin, then moved the chains on fourth down on a dart to Zach Ertz. Daniels had one more third down, but instead of just going for the sticks, he took a deep shot to McLaurin, which turned into a 27-yard touchdown to seal the victory for Washington.

If this is a sign of things to come for Daniels, the Redskins are going to be a powerhouse for a very long time. Daniels set the all-time NFL single-game completion record for rookies by completing 21-of-23 passes. He was incredible.

The Bengals, meanwhile, are 0-3 with this latest loss. They don’t have much time to do soul searching because they have to travel on a short week. They get to take on the Panthers, which would have been a much more favorable matchup two weeks ago.