Biggest Overreactions From Week 3

The best part about being an NFL fan is that you don’t need to be even-keeled and temper expectations the way players and coaches do.

Every week, we can’t help but watch a slate of games and do what we do best as fans – overreact.

One week’s overreactions will contradict another week’s overreactions, and we’re completely open about that.

These overreactions aren’t meant to be taken as gospel – these are just our immediate, irrational (maybe accurate?) reactions after watching Week 3 of the NFL season unfold.

Forget The QBs: A WR Will Win Offensive Rookie of the Year

Malik Nabers and Marvin Harrison Jr. are breathing life into their teams’ offenses.

All the talk coming into the season was about how the rookie QBs selected in the first round would fare in their first season. It’s proven to be a challenge for the rookie QBs, which turns our attention to the rookie WRs as potential Offensive Rookie of the Year winners.

After Marvin Harrison Jr. had a huge coming out party in Week 2, the story of Week 3 was Malik Nabers emerging as the focal point of the New York Giants‘ offense.

Nabers scored a pair of receiving touchdowns against the Cleveland Browns, and recorded 78 yards on eight catches.

The Giants are going to heavily rely on Nabers to function on offense, while the Arizona Cardinals will likely turn to their rookie wideout to bring their offense to a new level.

Expect this race between Nabers and Harrison to continue throughout the season (Nabers has the edge for now), as the crop of rookie QBs take time to adjust to the NFL level.

The Vikings Are The Team To Beat in The NFC

The Minnesota Vikings followed up an impressive home win against the San Francisco 49ers by completely shutting down C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans in Week 3 with a dominating 34-7 win.

Minnesota dominated on both sides of the ball, with Sam Darnold throwing four TD passes and Brian Flores’ defense once again wrecking havoc on their opponent, sacking C.J. Stroud five times and intercepting him twice.

The Vikings have been shutting teams down, and getting quality QB play from Sam Darnold, and are starting to look like one of the league’s most balanced teams.

Through three games of the season, you have to look at the Vikings as a whole and say:

• Kevin O’Connell is a favorite for Coach of the Year.
• Sam Darnold is the favorite for Comeback Player of the Year AND MVP
• Brian Flores should be a hot candidate for head coaching jobs this offseason.

This is still a young season, but looking at the NFC as a whole, nobody has been more impressive than the Vikings.

Aaron Rodgers is Officially BACK!

Rodgers and the Jets easily handled their division rivals on Thursday night.

It appears that Aaron Rodgers is getting more and more comfortable in the Jets’ offense. After getting his first win as a Jet in Week 2, the Jets easily defeated the New England Patriots 24-3 on Thursday night football.

Rodgers wasn’t flashy, but he was surgical and smart with the football. The 40-year-old completed 27 of 35 passes (77%) for 281 yards (8.0 YPA), two TDs, and 0 INTs. Rodgers certainly believes it’s a return to form for him, as he said following the game:

While it can be chalked up as New York beating up on a bad team, we have to remember, the Pats upset the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, then gave the Seattle Seahawks an overtime scare in Week 2.

The Jets have also struggled against New England’s defense on many occasions in recent seasons, but Rodgers and company controlled most of the game. Is this a sign that Rodgers is returning to his Green Bay form? Are the Jets starting to put it all together?

The Steelers Will Win The AFC North

This is now Justin Fields’ team.

It was easy to dismiss the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ 2-0 start as Kirk Cousins was making his first start coming off a torn Achilles in Week 1, and a win over a rookie QB in Week 2 was no big surprise for Mike Tomlin.

However, taking down a 2-0 Los Angeles Chargers team in Week 3, albeit with an injured Justin Herbert, can’t be overlooked. Combine that with the Steelers’ division rivals each racking up two losses on the season already, Pittsburgh is in prime position to control the AFC North if they keep playing stout defense and avoiding turnovers.

While the Steelers are rattling off wins by playing classic Steelers football, Justin Fields is avoiding turnovers and making plays when he needs to. It’s hard to imagine Russell Wilson reclaiming the starting job even if he’s cleared for Week 4 against the Colts.

Also, is it time to start talking about Mike Tomlin for Coach of the Year?

The Saints Were a Fluke Through Two Weeks

New Orleans’ red-hot offense dried up against Philly.

After Derek Carr and the Saints’ offense got off to an unprecented start, the magic ran out against the Philadelphia Eagles, who were desperate to bounce back after a late meltdown against the Falcons in Week 2.

The Saints’ offense couldn’t get into a rhythm the entire afternoon, and wasted a solid performance from their defense in a 15-12 loss.

Part of what has been frustrating about Derek Carr is that he’s turned in some amazing performances throughout his career, but can’t stay consistent.

After Carr has led the Saints to 15 straight scoring drives to open the season, he only managed three in Sunday’s loss, with the Saints only scoring one touchdown.

Perhaps the 2-0 start was too small a sample size and we’ll continue seeing ups and downs throughout the Saints’ season.

The Saints now head to Atlanta in Week 4, and we should get a better sense of who the team to beat is in the NFC South.

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers laid an egg at home as well in Week 3, (losing 26-7 to the Denver Broncos) perhaps we were too early in crowning NFC South favorites last week (hey, these are called overreactions for a reason!).

“Hi Bill, This is Jerry Jones.”

Is Mike McCarthy on the hot seat in Dallas?

The Dallas Cowboys were embarrassed for the second week in a row at home, falling to what was an 0-2 Baltimore Ravens team coming into Dallas.

After winning 16 straight regular season home games, the Cowboys have now lost their first two home games this season, in addition to their playoff loss against the Packers back in January.

Bill Belichick has made it clear that he wants to coach again and with Mike McCarthy in a contract year, the Cowboys may be looking into his successor, depending how this season ends.

The question here would be; how much power does Bill Belichick want in an organization? The follow-up question would be; how much power is jerry jones willing to give to his head coach?

This might be a dead end, but Cowboys fans are going to want heads to roll if this season slips away. And landing a six-time Super Bowl winning head coach is just about the biggest splash Dallas could make in the offseason.

Doug Pederson is on The Hot Seat

The Jaguars can’t stop anybody, and Trevor Lawrence is lost.

The Jacksonville Jaguars got absolutely humiliated in Orchard Park, losing 47-10 to the Buffalo Bills.

Going back to last season, the Jaguars have lost eight of their last nine games, and Doug Pederson appears to be out of answers.

Trevor Lawrence, fresh off signing his massive $275 million extension this offseason, has put up very pedestrian numbers so far this season, and his numbers in Week 3’s blowout loss are a little flattering, considering many numbers came in garbage time.

During the offseason, Jaguars owner Shad Khan made it clear that expectations were high coming into this season, and the Jags have fallen flat on their face to start the season.

The Commanders Will Compete For a Playoff Spot

Washington scored a massive road win over the Bengals.

It was easy to say the Washington Commanders simply beat a bad Giants team in Week 2, and they did it in unimpressive fashion, kicking seven field goals en route to a 21-18 win.

However, the Commanders scored a massive upset win over what was a desperate, winless Cincinnati Bengalsteam.

Jayden Daniels put together perhaps the best performance by a rookie QB so far this season, completing 21-of-23 passes for 254 yards, two TD passes and no picks. He added 40 rushing yards on 11 carries and a rushing TD.

He led scoring drives on Washington’s first three possessions against a Bengals defense that had given Patrick Mahomes massive trouble just eight days earlier.

Now sitting at 2-1, and riding a rookie QB who seemingly just had his coming out party, we may have to take Washington seriously in the NFC playoff picture.