What to know from NFL Week 3: As Josh Allen arrives, Mitchell Trubisky is shelved
The showdown will include stakes both real and intangible. The winner will have an advantage in the race for home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, and it will also provide a measuring stick: Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh admitted the Ravens will embrace the magnitude of the game, that it is difficult to call it just another game when the Chiefs come to town.
So, yeah, that’s going to be awesome. Sunday wasn’t bad, either, and here is what to know.
Josh Allen is not trash. In an infamous GQ interview in the summer of 2018, before Allen had taken his first NFL snap, cornerback Jalen Ramsey offered his opinion of the Buffalo Bills’ use of the seventh draft choice on the quarterback out of Wyoming. “I don’t care what nobody say,” Ramsey said. “He’s trash. And it’s gonna show, too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me.”
It is looking smart now. After the Bills squandered a 25-point, third-quarter lead, Allen led the Bills on a last-minute, game-winning touchdown drive — aided by a dubious pass interference penalty that kept the game alive — to beat the Los Angeles Rams, 35-32. Incidentally, Allen beat Ramsey, who played for the Jacksonville Jaguars when he blasted Allen, on a touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs, one of Allen’s five total scores.
The Bills are one of six 3-0 teams, and Allen is perhaps the most statistically impressive quarterback in the NFL. He has passed for a league-leading 1,038 yards and 10 touchdowns, rushing for 84 yards and another two scores. His arm strength and speed make him a force of nature — just watch the missile he threw to Cole Beasley on a third-and-22 play during Buffalo’s game-winning drive.
Allen has been maligned since he entered the league. His small-school pedigree spawned doubters. Advanced stats have been unkind to him. He made some goofy plays as the Bills blew a lead in the playoffs last season. But his early-season excellence and the savvy ways offensive coordinator Brian Daboll deploys him have the Bills emerging as a potential threat to the Chiefs and Ravens in the AFC.
The Packers are kicking regression in the teeth. Green Bay appeared to be a prime candidate to take a step back this season. Even while the Packers went 13-3, it never seemed that Aaron Rodgers clicked in Matt LaFleur’s offense, or that LaFleur knew how to get the best out of Rodgers. They won close and lost ugly — their point differential was only plus-63, more in line with a 10-6 or 9-7 team. They were steamrolled by San Francisco in the NFC championship game after squeaking past Seattle. They used their first two draft picks on quarterback Jordan Love and running back A.J. Dillon, two players in no position to offer immediate help.
Rather than regressing in record, the Packers have improved in performance. Rodgers is operating at the height of his powers, and LaFleur’s offense is humming. After beating the New Orleans Saints, 37-30, without top wide receiver Davante Adams, the Packers have scored a league-high 122 points in three games. They have outscored opponents by 37.
It may have taken a full season — and a full season when they had great success — but Rodgers and LaFleur have figured each other out. Rodgers credited the “good flow” LaFleur created with his play-calling in a postgame interview on NBC, and all night Rodgers found huge plays by hitting wide-open receivers. All of that has made the Packers a leading contender in the NFC.
DK Metcalf redeemed himself. Metcalf began his afternoon in Seattle with one of the most embarrassing plays in recent memory. He burned Dallas Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs, and Wilson threw a perfect parabola that nestled into his hands. Metcalf started to celebrate by cruising into the end zone and sticking the ball out. Diggs hustled and swatted it out of the end zone. A 63-yard touchdown turned into a 62-yard blooper.
The Seahawks so often play games as if they’re coached by screenwriters. Wilson capped another remarkable performance by taking over with his team down one and driving the Seahawks into field goal range. On third down, Wilson dropped back from the 29-yard line, drifted, bobbed and spotted Metcalf open in the corner of the end zone. He lofted a pass and Metcalf caught it — Wilson’s fifth touchdown pass of the day and Metcalf’s fourth reception for a total of 110 yards, the play that gave the Seahawks a 38-31 victory.
As Wilson solidifies himself as the MVP front-runner, Metcalf is becoming one of the most dominant receivers in football. He showed Sunday that he also has some resilience.
The Falcons remain expert at the impossible loss. One week after blowing a 29-10 lead in the second half, Atlanta outdid itself. The Falcons started the fourth quarter with a 26-10 lead, holding the ball on first down at the Chicago Bears’ 29-yard line. They led by the same score when they got the ball back with 10:41 left.
And the Falcons lost, because they are the Falcons. The Bears didn’t even need overtime and in fact scored the go-ahead touchdown one play after the two-minute warning. The Falcons’ five fourth-quarter possessions: missed field goal, three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, interception. Coach Dan Quinn has presided over an 0-3 start that includes two catastrophic losses and 108 points allowed. It’s early, but he may soon be looking for new employment.
The Bears pulled the plug on Mitchell Trubisky. After Trubisky threw an interception in the third quarter, Coach Matt Nagy benched him for Nick Foles, the veteran Chicago traded for this offseason. Foles led Chicago’s miracle comeback, throwing for 188 yards and three touchdowns in less than a half. Monday, Nagy named Foles the starting quarterback going forward. That could be how the curtain closes on Trubisky’s star-crossed tenure.
The Bears traded up from the third pick to the second to take Trubisky in the 2017 draft, when Mahomes went 10th and Deshaun Watson went 12th. Trubisky — and General Manager Ryan Pace — could never outrun that distinction, especially as Trubisky regressed last year following a promising 2018. Trubisky led a comeback victory in Week 1, but after another shaky six quarters, Nagy turned to Foles.
The change came in time for the Bears to possibly make a run. Foles was exceptional Sunday, and the Bears are 3-0 despite facing fourth-quarter deficits of 17 and 16 this season.
Kyle Shanahan could make an offense out of twine, Scrabble tiles and discarded pizza crusts. Despite playing without their starting quarterback, top two running backs and perhaps the best tight end in football, the San Francisco 49ers smashed the New York Giants, 36-9, at MetLife Stadium. Nick Mullens, Jimmy Garoppolo’s replacement, threw for 343 yards, and the 49ers did not punt.
The toll of losing defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas for the season will show over time, and beating the Giants with any roster is hardly an accomplishment. But Shanahan’s wizardry as a play-designer, game-planner and play-caller should be appreciated. With the possible exception of Andy Reid, he’s the best offensive coach in the NFL.
Philadelphia is in trouble and potentially nearing a franchise crossroads. Since the Eagles went 13-3 three seasons ago and won the Super Bowl in February 2018, they have generally been considered one of the top teams in the NFL. They have rarely played to that reputation. They have gone 18-16-1 in the regular season since with one playoff victory, which required an opponent’s field goal to hit the goal post and the crossbar.
The Eagles’ slide toward mediocrity continued in stunning fashion Sunday, when they tied the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-23. They are 0-2-1 this season, one of eight winless teams. They ended Sunday’s game pathetically, with Coach Doug Pederson draining clock and calling conservative plays to set up a 59-yard, game-winning field goal at the end of overtime — only to watch his team commit a false start penalty and then punt rather than play for the win.
It seems extreme to suggest the Eagles may soon need to think about whether their future should be tied to quarterback Carson Wentz. But they drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round this year, and it is odd and troubling that the Eagles of recent years have seemed to play their best when Wentz is injured. Wentz possesses massive talent, but he tends to make a small handful of plays every game that undermines that talent — like a spectacular golfer who cannot avoid making double bogey.
Wentz was heroic on Philadelphia’s game-tying touchdown drive at the end of regulation Sunday, which he finished by sprinting and diving into the end zone. But he also threw two brutal interceptions and missed Miles Sanders on what could have been a pivotal touchdown.
New York is a football wasteland. Combined score through three weeks: New York NFL teams 75, opponents 173.
The 0-3 Giants and 0-3 Jets combine wretched football with general franchise unease. The Giants lost to a massively injured 49ers team by 27. The Jets yielded multiple defensive scores in a 36-7 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Jets haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010, and the Giants have been once since 2011. Jets Coach Adam Gase (14-20 in two-plus seasons) is a fired coach walking, and Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman shouldn’t be feeling too secure.
They both have young quarterbacks, but neither Daniel Jones nor Sam Darnold has solidified himself as a long-term answer — and either of them could find themselves replaced by Clemson star Trevor Lawrence next season, because their teams are bad enough to contend for the No. 1 draft pick.
