The Undefeated

This week we will start off with all the team’s that are still undefeated after the first three weeks. There are not many this season, and there will likely not be any teams coming close to the magical 16-0 season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are surprisingly 3-0 without Ben Roethlisberger this season. On Sunday, Charlie Batch got the start and the struggling Steelers’ offense went to work against the then 2-0 Bucs. The Steelers (who were also the MikesPickz Best Bet), scorched the Bucs’ defense for 38 points and the terrific Steelers’ defense shut down the Bucs, holding them to only 13 points. The Steelers will play their last game without Big Ben next week against the division rival Ravens.

Probably even more surprising is the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs are 3-0. On Sunday, the Chiefs gave the 49ers a beating – 31-10. The Chiefs are being lead by a crop of young talent. Rookie Dexter McCluster looks like he will be a stud for years. Matt Cassel had his first quality start of the season – it doesn’t hurt when your rookie tight end, Tony Moeaki, makes touchdown catches like this:

The 49ers are really struggling. Their offense hasn’t played well outside of 2 quarters against the Saints and the defense is been giving up some big plays- probably because they seem to always be on the field. They fired Offensive Coordinator Jimmy Raye today, but it might be deeper than that.

The last undefeated team, and only one in the NFC, was the winner of the Monday Night game. The Chicago Bears edged out the Green Bay Packers, 20-17 in a thrilling game. The Packers must be disgusted with themselves after this one, they were flagged for 18 penalties including several costly ones that set-up the game winning field goal.

The Defeated

On the other end of the spectrum are the five 0-3 teams in the NFL.

The Buffalo Bills looked much better offensively against the New England Patriots and the result was a much closer game than many expected. The Bills still lost, 38 – 30, but there is hope that they won’t finish the season 0-16.

The Carolina Panthers’ started rookie Jimmy Clausen for the first time, and the result was another 20-7 loss, this time to the Cincinnati Bengals. Clausen didn’t play particularly well. He was 16 for 33 for 188 yards with no TDs, 1 INT and 2 lost fumbles. The rookie had 6 yards passing with a 0.0 passer rating in the first half. The Panthers stale offense covered up the not-so-pretty game that the Bengals played. The Panthers have not looked good at all this season, and they may be the new favorite to go 0-16.

The Cleveland Browns lost to the division rival Baltimore Ravens, 24-17. There is some hope for the Browns. They were able to keep the game close, despite a tremendous performance by Joe Flacco and the running game finally started to click behind Peyton Hillis’ career high 144 yards rushing. It was the first time since 2005 that the Ravens have allowed a 100 yard rusher in a game.

The Detroit Lions are not surprisingly 0-3. The Lions lost to the Vikings, 24-10. It was the worst offensive game of the season for the Lions and they could not contain Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 160 yards. The Lions have now lost 22 consecutive road games. The game also brought more bad news to the Lions, not only is Matthew Stafford out with an injury, but Javid Best [the sensational rookie running-back] left the game in the 3rd quarter with a toe injury.

The last 0-3 team is the aforementioned San Francisco 49ers, and I don’t need to reiterate how disappointing their season has been so far. It doesn’t get any easier for the 49ers, they travel to Atlanta next week and then host the Eagles on Sunday Night Football in week 5.

The Best of the Rest

The best of the remaining games was clearly the Saints – Falcons game. The Falcons won this game in overtime, 27-24. Garret Hartley missed a 29 yard game winning field goal in overtime, which set-up the Falcons game winning drive. You have to see how bad Hartley hooked that kick:

It is unacceptable to miss a kick like that with the game on the line, but maybe the Saints’ fans will forgive him since he kicked the game winning field goal in the NFC Championship game against the Vikings in overtime last season? I doubt it, it was his fourth missed kick this season.

Speaking of missed kicks, Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders, missed not one, not two, but three kicks against the Arizona Cardinals causing the Raiders to lose, 24-23. He missed a 41-yarder and a 58-yarder earlier in the game, but the last one was a 32-yarder as the game ended. It’s safe to say he is in the Al Davis doghouse after that game, and he probably isn’t feeling to good about himself. It is his only job to kick the ball through the uprights.

Michael Vick added another page to his tremendous 2010 season by leading the Eagles to a 28-3 trouncing of the Jaguars. Vick passed for 291 yards and 3 TDs, while rushing for 30 yards and a score. Vick will remain the starter for the Eagles after this game.

The Miami Dolphins hosted the New York Jets and it was a very entertaining Sunday Night Game. The Jets edged the Dolphins, 31-23. The Dolphins failed to score from inside the 10 yard line on four plays to end the game. Surprisingly, the Dolphins didn’t call a fade to Brandon Marshall at the end of the game. Marshall had his way with the Jets secondary catching 10 passes for 166 yards and a TD, but it doesn’t matter as the Dolphins lost the game.

Other NFL actions saw the Titans crush the Giants, 29-10. The Cowboys rebounded to beat the surging Texans, 27-13. The Rams’ Sam Bradford got his first career win against the Redskins, 30-16. The Colts beat the Broncos, 27-13. The Seahawks, behind two kick return touchdowns from Leon Washington, beat the Chargers 27-20.

Seriously, the Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears are 3-0 while the San Francisco 49ers are 0-3.

[Photo Credit: REUTERS/Sean Gardner via DayLife.com]

Check out this highlight of Matt Hasselbeck rushing for a TD against the Niners:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81a7ad64/Hasselbeck-1-yard-TD-run

He clearly does not maintain control of the ball after he makes contact with the ground after being hit by a defender, but the result is a touchdown because he was rushing. Now I understand that by rushing with the ball, he clearly shows possession, but is diving for the end zone haphazardly really different from coming down with a catch? A player dives for the end zone praying to break the plane regardless of whether or not he can control the ball after breaking the plane.

Calvin Johnson clearly had possession with two feet in the end zone, that would be a touchdown if he rushed the ball. He also clearly had possession when his backside hit the ground, it wasn’t till he rolled over that he dropped the ball.

What do you think? Do you think that the rules favor rushing and diving at the end zone over receiving a pass in the end zone? Comment below, or tweet @MikesPickz

[Photo Credit: EveryJoe.com]

• 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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