The Sunday of Week 3 started with 10 unbeaten teams, including the surprising Colts and Cardinals, and 10 winless teams, including the disappointing Texans and Chiefs. The Rams and Packers suffered their first losses in wildly dramatic fashion while the Bears and Panthers got their first wins in dominant fashion. And the Colts just roll on.
We’ve got you covered across the league. FOX Sports’ NFL experts provide the lessons we’re learning from every Sunday game and what they mean for each team going forward.
Rams: Matthew Stafford needs to play bigger in big moments.
Considering Stafford spent the summer nursing a back injury that figured to hamper him all season long, it’s hard to find too much fault with the QB’s performance. He finished 19-of-33 for 196 yards, two touchdowns and an early interception, which isn’t bad. The problem is it just wasn’t enough when it mattered. He was 11-of-16 for 99 yards and a touchdown in the second half when the Rams scored just one touchdown off an Eagles turnover deep in Philly territory. And six times, promising drives stalled into field-goal attempts (two of which were blocked).
It’s not terrible, but if the Rams are going to beat the elite teams, they need their quarterback to make big plays when they’re needed the most. They can’t keep settling for field goals, and they certainly can’t just shut down in the second half, like they did against the Eagles when they had just 144 second-half yards and blew a 26-7 lead.
Eagles: The real defending champions finally stood up (for a half).
It’s hard to explain how bad the Eagles’ offense had been through the first 10 quarters of the season. It was one of the worst in football and QB Jalen Hurts was at the center of it all. But for one glorious half — the second one against the Rams — they played like the old Eagles. And they did it against a tough defense, too. After a 33-yard first half, they put up 255 yards in the second. And Hurts, after going 4-for-8 for 17 yards in the first half, went 17-of-24 for 209 yards in the second. He even rediscovered the downfield pass and breathed life into his No. 1 WR, A.J. Brown (6 catches, 109 yards, 1 TD).
Under new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, the Eagles seemed to play oddly conservative for the first 2½ games. But they remembered against the Rams that they have the weapons to stretch the field. Yes, the Eagles are a power-running team, but the dangerous part of their scheme has always been their down-field ability. If they’ve really rediscovered that, the rest of the NFC might not be able to catch them. — Ralph Vacchiano
Falcons: Maybe this is why Atlanta kept Cousins
Atlanta kept Kirk Cousins as its QB2 after suggesting that it was Michael Penix Jr.’s team. And we didn’t know why. But maybe this game was the reason why Cousins remained a Falcon. Because Penix was truly bad on Sunday — he had to make a tackle to stop the Panthers from getting a second pick-six of the game. Yup, he had already thrown one. This is where things will get complicated. Atlanta should probably stick with Penix’s development. But it’ll be tempting to revert to Cousins, even if he wasn’t all that good last year.
Panthers: How about that Carolina defense!?
The Panthers weren’t going to get far this year if their defense looked like it did last year. And for the first two weeks, Carolina’s defense looked startlingly similar, even with a few offseason moves on that side of the ball. But this game was the type of performance that might bring confidence to the Panthers. Carolina didn’t exactly bottle up Bijan Robinson (13 carries, 72 yards; five catches, 39 yards), but the defense did a brilliant job defending the pass and generating points off takeaways. Bryce Young (121 passing yards) & Co. barely had to do anything. — Henry McKenna
Jets: Offense shows late life, but defense can’t seal epic comeback.
It was too little, too late for the Jets, as they rallied for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, only to see the Bucs escape on a field goal as time expired. The offense, non-existent for much of the first three quarters, came to life at the end, and Tyrod Taylor, subbing for the injured Justin Fields, deserves credit for that spark. On most teams, a blocked field goal for a touchdown and the lead with less than two minutes left will get it done. But the Bucs now have three such last-minute wins in three weeks, and the Jets didn’t have a stop when they needed it most.
Buccaneers: Baker Mayfield’s magic saves Tampa again.
This should not have been a close game, let alone a comeback victory, for the Bucs. Up 17 in the fourth quarter, their defense faltered and gave up two touchdowns, and another special-teams late-game blunder almost cost them for the second week in a row. But Baker Mayfield is magic in the final minutes, and he made two big throws to set up a game-winning field goal and escape with a victory for the third week in a row. This isn’t a sustainable pattern for winning, but shorthanded early in the year, the Bucs will take wins any way they can get them in Tampa. — Greg Auman
Packers: Matt LaFleur needs to loosen the reins on QB Jordan Love.
Granted, that wouldn’t have been easy in this game, because as bad as the Browns are, their pass rush is a force. They kept the pressure on Love all game and sacked him five times. But Love is too good and their receiving corps is too deep for him to have a day with as many dump-offs as he did. Nine of his 25 passes went to running back Josh Jacobs.
Even under pressure, he needs to find a way to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers more. Matthew Golden (4 targets, 4-52) and Romeo Doubs (2 targets, 2-25) need more attention. Love is good and the Packers’ offense has a chance to be electric. And especially in a game where the rushing attack wasn’t working (81 rushing yards, only 30 for Jacobs) LaFleur needs to be more comfortable putting the game in Love’s hands.
Browns: They may not be good, but their defense is for real.
Believe it or not, Cleveland entered Week 3 with the No. 1 defense in the league, which felt like an anomaly considering the Browns were coming off a 41-17 loss to the Ravens and were 25th in points allowed. But they showed that maybe the ranking was deserved with an impressive effort against a very strong Packers team, holding them to 230 yards and keeping their own anemic offense in the game long enough to pull off the 13-10 upset. They sacked Packers QB Jordan Love five times — a pretty impressive feat considering he was sacked just 14 times in 15 games last season. In fact, he’d only been sacked five times in a game once in his career until Sunday.
Cleveland isn’t going to win many games this season and its Joe Flacco-led offense clearly stinks. But this defense is good enough to keep the Browns in games. And if it continues to play well, maybe they’ll get lucky enough to pull out a few more victories than everyone expects — like they did on Sunday, when they blocked one field goal and then walked it off when Andre Szmt made a 55-yarder of his own. — Ralph Vacchiano
Raiders: Pete Carroll must create room to run for Ashton Jeanty
Marshawn Lynch served as the centerpiece of the offense for a team that went to back-to-back Super Bowls during Carroll’s 14-year tenure with the Seattle Seahawks. The Raiders selected Ashton Jeanty No. 6 overall in this year’s draft with the idea of developing the Boise State product into the engine for their offense. But Jeanty has sputtered, totaling just 144 yards through three games and averaging 3.1 yards per carry. Per Next Gen Stats, Jeanty has a total of 32 yards BEFORE contact this season — which means he’s basically being hit at the line of scrimmage on most rushing attempts.
Making matters worse, the Raiders have no balance on offense. New QB Geno Smith has struggled to move the ball through the air, and he’s already been sacked 12 times through three games. Jeanty, the Heisman Trophy runner-up last season, hasn’t forgotten how to run the football. But whether it’s using heavier formations or getting him out in space in the passing game, Carroll and the Raiders must figure out how to get Jeanty more involved in the offense to create some explosive plays.
Commanders: No Jayden Daniels, no problem. Marcus Mariota to the rescue.
Mariota, a first-round pick by the Titans in 2019, made his first start in three seasons and brought poise and experience to the Washington offense with Daniels unavailable due to a sprained knee. The shifty Mariota offered a similar ability to run the football, which means the Commanders didn’t have to change the offense. Mariota finished with 40 yards on the ground.
The Commanders also got big plays in the return game, including Deebo Samuel’s 69-yard kick return to start the game, setting up a 2-yard Mariota run for a touchdown. Later in the second half, rookie Jaylin Lane returned a punt 90 yards for a score. With Mariota playing competent football, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn can take his time in making sure Daniels returns to the field healthy. – Eric D. Williams
Colts: The Colts’ offense will be elite all season.
In a potential trap game against a struggling division rival, Indianapolis’ offense stayed red-hot to help the Colts improve to 3-0. Daniel Jones completed 72% of his passes for 228 yards and a touchdown with a 113.4 passer rating. Star running back Jonathan Taylor rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns, including a dazzling 46-yard run for a score at the end of the third quarter.
The Colts had 365 yards of total offense, averaged 6.9 yards per play and had five scores overall. Accounting for Taylor, which is a given for opposing defenses, is exponentially more difficult when Jones is in such great sync with his pass-catchers. This is a true pick-your-poison offense.
Tennessee’s defense hasn’t proved to be much of a threat even at full strength — it was shorthanded in Week 3 — but Indianapolis has done this enough consistently to start the season to suggest this isn’t a fluke.
Titans: Tennessee has a major coaching issue.
Brian Callahan’s mismanagement of games has been a persistent problem, and it was again in Sunday’s loss. Tennessee faced a fouth-and-1 from the Colts’ 39 at the end of the first half down 11. The Titans wasted a timeout right after the Colts had used one and then, after trotting their field goal unit onto the field, got slapped with a delay-of-game penalty. Kicker Joe Slye proceeded to get his 62-yard field goal attempt blocked.
Callahan not only blew an opportunity to be aggressive with Cam Ward and his offense in plus territory heading into halftime, but the second-year coach also made the ensuing chance for points more difficult. Personnel-wise, these Titans are already outmatched by most teams. Coaching can’t put them further behind the eight-ball, but it does — routinely. — Ben Arthur
Steelers: The Aaron Rodgers-led offense isn’t going to work.
Pittsburgh got the narrow win over New England, but its offensive product isn’t sustainable. And it’s not because of Aaron Rodgers. He’s been fine. It’s largely because the Steelers have no run game. They had just 64 yards on the ground Sunday, below their season average (62.5), which ranked 30th in the league entering Week 3. That puts too much pressure on Rodgers, behind an offensive line that’s been underwhelming, and a passing attack that is OK but not great.
The argument can be made that the Steelers always win ugly under Mike Tomlin, and their high-paid defense showed up in a big way Sunday (allowed just 14 points, forced five turnovers). But you have to be able to run the ball in the playoffs. And for these Rodgers-era Steelers, playoff success will be all that matters.
Patriots: This team has already taken on Mike Vrabel’s identity.
In the NFL, how often do you see a team that commits five turnovers still have a chance to win or force overtime? That was the case Sunday for New England, which had a fourth-and-1 from the Steelers’ 28 with 1:07 left. The Pats couldn’t convert there, but to even be in that position on a disastrous day offensively speaks to the resilience of the team.
That comes from Vrabel, who had his Titans teams playing exactly the same way. More often than not, you knew the Titans would still have a fighting chance at the end even if they played terribly. This kind of fight that New England has shown, plus a second-year quarterback in Drake Maye who has continued to show promise, could make the team one to watch down the stretch of 2025 — and long term. — Ben Arthur
Bengals: Do the Bengals need to make a move for a better quarterback?
Jake Browning got to go up against a fellow backup on Sunday, and it didn’t go well: another crucial interception leading to Vikings points, and not much downfield passing at all. A lopsided loss like this puts all the more scrutiny on Cincinnati. What would it take to get Kirk Cousins from Atlanta, or give Andy Dalton a homecoming, or even Jameis Winston from the Giants? Cincinnati had the benefit of a 2-0 start to lessen the blow of losing Joe Burrow for potentially the season, but a game like this makes the patience for Browning go away quickly.
Vikings: Minnesota’s ability to find affordable impact players in free agency continues to impress.
Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, signed from the Eagles this spring, came up with two huge touchdowns — an 87-yard interception return and a 66-yard fumble return — to put the game out of reach in the first half. Brian Flores’ defense will be all the more important as the offense needs time to find itself. The defense held Cincinnati to 100 yards of total offense midway through the third quarter. In a game between backup quarterbacks, one defense stepped up to take control of the game, and it didn’t matter how backup QB Carson Wentz, filling in for the injured J.J. McCarthy, fared because the defense was so dominant. — Greg Auman
Texans: How does Houston fix C.J. Stroud? Maybe it’s not him.
Maybe the mystery isn’t all that mysterious. Maybe the Texans still don’t have the answers on the offensive line. This line isn’t generating much in the way of push for the ground game, where Nick Chubb has struggled. And so it’s easy for defenses to pin their ears back in passing situations, where Stroud is facing constant pressure — and doesn’t have many options downfield besides Nico Collins. If that sounds familiar to last year, that’s because it is. The Texans replaced their offensive coordinator (from Bobby Slowik to newcomer Nick Caley) in hopes of seeing change. But so far this season, it’s more of the same.
Jaguars: Liam Coen continues to lose his cool with Trevor Lawrence.
After Lawrence threw an interception that nearly cost the Jaguars the game, new head coach Cohen was screaming into his headset. Was he upset with Lawrence? Unclear. But it was clear that last week, the coach yelled at Lawrence to hit his receivers in the chest after a pass-catcher dropped the football. Coen was hired up to help this offense reach new heights. Lawrence, however, seems to be holding it back. So … will Lawrence finally develop into the guy we thought he’d be? Or is this heading for a collision course? — Henry McKenna
Cowboys: The Cowboys can’t survive without CeeDee Lamb
It all seemed to fall apart after Lamb left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury. Dak Prescott was not nearly as good. George Pickens was not nearly as good. Javonte Williams was not nearly as good. (And the defense was just as bad as ever.) So with Lamb unlikely to return in a hurry, the Cowboys will have to figure out what the heck they can do to get their offense back into shape. Because their only hope of winning games this year is with a high-scoring offense.
Bears: This is what Ben Johnson’s team could look like.
The Bears probably won’t be able to do this every week, because the Cowboys are pretty clearly a bad team. But we can expect the Bears to use this game as their north star. D’Andre Swift did gritty work on the ground. Caleb Williams played safe with the football and exploited the opportunities from Johnson’s impressive play-calling and design. And the defense! The defense?! It generated four takeaways and held the Cowboys in check.
There were plenty of knits to pick from the Bears performance (and Johnson will show those during Monday’s meeting), but this was a good win for Chicago. And best of all, it was Johnson’s first win. — Henry McKenna
Saints: What’s the plan at quarterback? Is there one?
We could talk about the New Orleans defense giving up 38 points in the first half, yielding touchdowns on the Seahawks’ first four drives and points on the first seven. But what is the point of using a second-round pick on quarterback Tyler Shough if you’re 0-3 this season with Spencer Rattler and he led you to six total points on the first eight drives today?
You have a chance to put Shough in for the second half, give him a meaningful first taste of the NFL, but instead, the Saints waited until there was 3:31 left in the game — and he threw two incompletions and is no better for it. They’re now 0-9 with Rattler as starter, and Shough is no closer to being ready to replace him.
Seahawks: New offense averaging nearly 30 points a game
Seattle’s offense is rounding into form under new coordinator Klint Kubiak — 13 points in the opening loss, 31 points to beat the Steelers and now 44 in routing the Saints. Sam Darnold was sharp — 14-for-18 for 218 yards (better than 12 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns — and Kenneth Walker added two scores of his own.
The NFC West is off to a 9-3 start, with three teams tied at 2-1 behind the 49ers (3-0). Now the Seahawks get a national window when they play Thursday at the Cardinals, and a chance to get a crucial tiebreaker against a team they’ll likely be competing with for postseason position. — Greg Auman
Cardinals: Arizona fails first real test of the season with road loss to 49ers.
After wins over the Saints and Panthers to start the year, the Cardinals got to see where they stand in a tough road contest at San Francisco. And while they took the 49ers down to the final seconds, the Cardinals are not looking for moral victories in late-game losses — not with head coach Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort in their third season in the desert.
Along with the tough setback, the Cardinals may have lost one of their best players for an extended period of time when running back James Conner suffered a gruesome leg injury. Quarterback Kyler Murray was solid but was the victim of two bad drops — one by Marvin Harrison Jr. and another by running back Emari Demercado — that would have been big plays for Arizona’s offense. The Cardinals had four drives of at least 10 plays, but could only muster 13 points and 260 total yards on offense.
49ers: San Francisco back in familiar territory – first place in NFC West.
The 49ers finished in the cellar of the division at 6-11 last season, a year when they were expected to compete for a Super Bowl. Well, even with starting quarterback Brock Purdy missing a second straight game with toe and shoulder issues, San Francisco now sits atop the division after Eddy Pineiro nailed a 35-yard field goal to beat Arizona as time expired on Sunday.
Mac Jones, filling in for Purdy, finished with 284 yards and a touchdown. But the top storyline for San Francisco was the play of receiver Ricky Pearsall, a first-round selection in last year’s draft. Playing against the team he rooted for growing up, Pearsall had one of his best games as a pro, emerging as San Francisco’s go-to receiver. With Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings unavailable due to injuries and Purdy out, Pearsall took over the passing game, finishing with eight catches for 117 receiving yards on 11 targets. – Eric D. Williams
Broncos: Have opposing defenses figured out Bo Nix?
One of the most productive rookie signal-callers last season, Nix has not put up similar production in his second year. On Sunday, he completed only 56% of his passes for 153 yards, with a touchdown and no interceptions. Other than Courtland Sutton finishing with 114 receiving yards, the next-best pass-catcher mustered just 14 receiving yards for the Broncos. Denver finished with just 265 total yards and sits at 1-2 overall despite being one of the teams expected to compete for a postseason spot at the end of the year.
However, one of the bright spots for Denver was the play of running back J.K. Dobbins. The Ohio State product revived his career in 2024, leading the Chargers with 905 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Facing his former team at SoFi Stadium, Dobbins showed he still has gas left in the tank, finishing with 83 rushing yards and a score.
Chargers: The Bolts have the look of a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Talk of the Chargers winning the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in franchise history might be a bit premature, but by starting 3-0 for the first time since 2002 — with wins over all three AFC West foes — they have the look of a team that could make a deep postseason run. The Bolts are the fourth team since the league expanded to 32 teams in 2002 to open their season with a sweep of all three of their divisional opponents.
Although Justin Herbert was sacked five times and the offense struggled to consistently move the football against one of the best defenses in the NFL, Jim Harbaugh’s team played tough and made all the winning plays down the stretch to secure a 23-20 victory on a 43-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker as time expired. Rookie running back Omarion Hampton had his best game as a pro, totaling 129 scrimmage yards and a score. However, his running back mate Najee Harris received some bad news: According to preliminary tests, Harbaugh said Harris suffered a torn Achilles in the first half. – Eric D. Williams
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