2020 NFL Week 3 Recap

Chiefs 34
Ravens 20

Despite Baltimore’s dominance at home in primetime and the Marcus Peters factor, Kansas City had their way with the Ravens. John Harbaugh suffered his fifth straight loss to his former boss Andy Reid, and Lamar Jackson is 0-3 against Patrick Mahomes. As excited as we all were to see this matchup, this can’t be a rivalry until Baltimore proves they’re on the Chiefs’ level.

And this game from Jackson raises come questions. It’s one thing to not be quite ready for playoff intensity but he’s been pedestrian in the three biggest games of his career. He’s one more big loss away from being this generation’s Tony Romo.

Packers 37
Saints 30

Drew Brees was right about being “borderline great” but dead wrong about New Orleans getting back on track. If there was a Super Bowl team on the Superdome turf Sunday night, it wasn’t the home team.

Cowboys 31
Seahawks 38

Despite D.K. Metcalf doing his best Leon Lett impersonation against Lett’s former team, Metcalf atoned for his bonehead mistake by catching (and this time, securing) the game-winning touchdown from Russell Wilson, who set an NFL record of throwing 14 TD passes in the first three games of the season.

Seattle should be equally as grateful the Seahawks don’t play on Thanksgiving as they are for Wilson’s historic start.

Bucs 28
Broncos 10

Fun fact: Brett Rypien made his NFL debut coming off the bench in a blowout loss to play quarterback opposite Tom Brady, whose first start in 2001 came against the Colts on a day when Brett’s uncle — former Washington Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien — came off the bench to play quarterback opposite Brady at the end of a blowout loss. The circle of life is incredible, especially for really old athletes.

Lions 26
Cardinals 23

Detroit snapped an 11-game losing streak and Arizona was on the wrong side of the upset of the week. The Lions still owe Jim Caldwell an apology.

Panthers 21
Chargers 16

The same way Atlanta has perfected the art of losing big leads, the Chargers have elevated losing close games in heartbreaking fashion to an artform. Self-sabotaging your own quarterback and then losing at home to a team full of rookies without their only star player is just … *kisses fingers like a chef*

Jets 7
Colts 36

Philip Rivers is the sixth player in NFL history to throw 400 career touchdowns. The other five are either in or destined for the Hall of Fame. Would you put Rivers in Canton? If you had to pause to think about it, the answer is no.

Washington 20
Browns 34

Cleveland scored 24 points off five Washington turnovers to climb above .500 for the first time since Dec. 14, 2014. The Burgundy and Gold better clean that up before Baltimore comes to FedEx Field Sunday or else the visitor’s side of the scoreboard will need a third digit.

But the most significant part of this game happened as soon as it kicked off; this was the first regular season NFL game to have a female coach on both sidelines and a female official. Football is better with women involved and hopefully, the league has its first female coordinator in the not-to-distant future.

49ers 36
Giants 9

How bad are the Giants? A 49ers offense quarterbacked by Nick Mullens didn’t have to punt and the defense kept Big Blue out of the red zone, let alone the end zone — all in a stadium that was a house of horrors for San Francisco just last week. There’s rebuilding, and there’s … whatever New York is doing.

Bengals 23
Eagles 23 (OT)

Philadelphia had fireable offenses all around: Doug Pederson’s overtime punt decision is mind-numbingly stupid by any metric and if Carson Wentz’s 62.8 QB rating in a virtual must-win game is playing confidently, I’d hate to see him when he’s doubting himself. It’s becoming obvious the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl was a once-in-a-lifetime outlier.

Texans 21
Steelers 28

Pittsburgh is a family-run franchise, so it’s kind of appropriate they’ve hosted both of the NFL’s family reunions featuring a trio of brothers — first, the Edmunds, now the Watts — and I love the symmetry of doing so on the same day Ben Roethlisberger set a franchise record by playing his his 221st game for the Steelers.

Raiders 20
Patriots 36

Even with Tom Brady in Tampa, New England is still calling their shots. The defense promised it had something for Darren Waller, and shut him down. The offense rushed for 250 yards as a nod to James White. Cam Newton is giving us meme/gif material again. The Patriots aren’t leaving the AFC East penthouse without a fight.

Titans 31
Vikings 30

It’s only fitting that the same franchise that once employed Billy “White Shoes” Johnson is undefeated thanks to “Sockless” Stephen Gostkowski, who has gone from (almost) Week 1 goat to GOAT in Tennessee thanks to a historic streak of game-winning field goals. If the Titans keep the streak alive against the Steelers next week, it might be time to start talking about Tennessee as a real contender in the AFC.

Bears 30
Falcons 26

This result was basically preordained. Chicago — fueled by Nick Foles magic, Mitchell Trubisky’s self-reflection be damned — is the first team to win multiple games in which they trailed by 16 or more points entering the fourth quarter, while Atlanta continued its breathtaking trend of choking away huge leads by becoming the first team to lose multiple games after leading by 15+ points.

The Falcons’ first 0-3 start of the Matt Ryan era probably spells the beginning of the end of the Matt Ryan era — and virtually ensures the end of the Dan Quinn era. Speaking of Atlanta…

Rams 32
Bills 35

…THIS is how you recover from blowing a 28-3 lead. Josh Allen got the last word against Jalen Ramsey, and will heretofore be called “Rebirth of Roethlisberger” in this space. I need to see Allen have big games in November and December before I’m all in on him, but this kid is the most exciting thing to hit Buffalo since the K-Gun.

Dolphins 31
Jaguars 13

Predictably, the facial hair game was much more compelling than the actual game on the field. Ryan Fitzpatrick’s beard beat Gardner Minshew’s mustache for a historic sixth win over Jacksonville for his sixth different team. Journeyman quarterbacks aren’t supposed to have swag like this.