Wild Weekend in the NFL (Week 3)

Week 3 in the NFL was definitely an exciting one. Not only was it exciting, but it proved many things about many teams:

The Titans are not even close to what they were last year. They were the last unbeaten team to lose last year and they finished 13-3. How do they start this season off? 0-3, last year is looking like a distant memory. They need to get tougher on defense (never thought I’d say that) and if things don’t turn around, I expect to see some Vince Young this season.
The Jets are good. The Jets new attitude with Rex Ryan is working to perfection, they have one of the best defenses in the league and every week that they seem prime for a let down, they thrive.
Brett Favre still has some gas left in the tank. His 32 yard pass in the final seconds was the come from behind game winner against the 49ers. This is actually a dual point, because the 49ers are actually good this season. Many NFL fans, including 49ers fans, probably thought it would be a long game when Frank Gore got injured after one play, but no they played tough and were winning the game till the end. Hopefully, Gore’s injury is not extremely serious, but in a weak division the 49ers have a good shot at making the playoffs this season.
The Tampa Bay Bucs, that blew the playoffs in the final 4 weeks of last season, are still here. The Bucs did not look good at all against the Giants. When your QB has 1 rush for 15 yards and leads your team in rushing- things are not good. I don’t see much hope for Bucs fans at this point.
The Miami Dolphins are figured out. The Wild-cat offense that lead them to the win the AFC East last season, is no longer a mystery. They can not seem to get the ball rolling this season, as some by the 0-3 record. Just when you thought it was bad, Chad Pennington gets injured.
The Super Bowl winning Steelers, that returned most of their defense from last season, are not the same. They have 0 rushing game, actually they have -5 rushing game. Roethlisberger is putting up decent numbers from a fantasy perspective, but the team is so once sided (granted in the opposite way you would think when you think classic Steelers football) that it makes the team mediocre. They won in week 1 in OT and then lost week 2 and 3 in the final seconds, that has to be disheartening.
The Bengals, my favorite sleeper for this season, is not to be thought lightly of. Palmer is starting to look like the Palmer of old and that is resulting in some entertaining football and most importantly some Ws.
The Redskins are not good, when my power rankings for week 4 come out tomorrow expect a sharp drop in their rankings. They couldn’t score a TD against the Rams and barely beat them 9-7. So what do they do to follow that up, they become “that team.” The team no-one wanted to be, the team that lost to the Lions for the first time since 2007. The Lions are looking much better this year than they did last year, but still the Redskins are one of the worst teams in the league. It has to do with management, they focused on defense in the off-season, but their biggest need is a solid offense. Also, the new head coach doesn’t seem to motivate the team very well. I expect him to be fired before year end if things don’t turn around.
The Ravens are very good, for the first time in years the Ravens seem to have a completely balanced team – passing game – running game – and defense. It will be interesting how they hold up when they play a top team in the league.
Don’t write off the Patriots- they came back strong against the Falcons, and I expect them to stay highly motivated until the week 11 re-match with the Jets (they want that one bad!).

Did I miss something that you feel was important? Let me know by posting it in the comments.

Stay tuned for the MLB Weekly Review ending 9/27 (to be published the evening of 9/28) and for the NFL Week 4 Power Rankings (to be published 9/29).

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