September is (mostly) in the books in the National Football League and through three weeks of games, plenty of preseason prognostications are a mess.
Who would have thought the Miami Dolphins would be leading the way in the AFC East, or that Cincinnati would be languishing at 1-2, while the Texans were one of only two winless teams… actually everyone saw that one coming.
We’re here once again to recap the 16 games just gone by in the NFL with our 5 Lessons Learned.
1 – Prime Time Duds
The marquee matchups on the NFL schedule have failed to deliver the goods through three weeks of the season.
Sure there have been storylines and a couple of close finishes, but in terms of memorable moments, the featured fixtures have failed to produce the requisite drama.
Week 3 might have had the worst run of big games with a trio of subpar games gracing our screens.
Cleveland produced an ugly win over Pittsburgh on Friday that was made to look a lot better than it was by a late defensive touchdown.
Follow that up with a Broncos-49ers game that even commentator Mike Tirico was trashing on the broadcast while the game was still going.
The biggest highlight of the game was Jimmy Garoppolo channelling his inner Dan Orlovsky and still arguably having the better night of the two quarterbacks.
Try as some might to convince you of their stardom, punters should not be the focal point of any game and thanks to two largely inept offences, that was what we were “treated to”.
Then there was the seemingly bi-weekly NFC East primetime game which somehow continually generates ratings despite it usually being a contest we would rather forget.
We had to wait until the middle of the third quarter for someone to get into the end zone but at least the wait was worth it.
Next Monday we have a battle between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes that we can only hope lives up to the billing, especially after both teams had disappointing defeats in Week 3.
2 – Miami Passed Their First Big Test
If you had reservations over the Miami Dolphins and their 2-0 start, perhaps their win over Super Bowl favourite Buffalo Bills in the sauna otherwise known as Hard Rock Stadium.
It wasn’t always pretty in their 21-19 win and the Dolphins still had some issues throughout the game, but most importantly they found a way to win.
Tua Tagovailoa only had 186 yards and a lone touchdown pass on just 18 pass attempts to follow up his 467 yard and six touchdown effort against Baltimore last weekend.
It was a good throw fitting into a tight window though.
It left the Dolphins as one of the few unbeaten teams to survive Week 3, though it was not without calamities as their punter channelled his inner Mark Sanchez drilling his kick into the backside of his alleged personal protector.
The good news is that Trent Sherfield’s backside and sense of humour remains intact after being on the receiving end of that blast.
Now in sole possession of first place in the AFC East, the Dolphins have another big test against a potentially rejuvenated Cincinnati Bengals to kick off Week 4 this Friday morning.
If you have already bought stock in the Dolphins (or are looking to), backing them as a road underdog on short rest might be the way to go here.
3 – Someone Had to Bounce Back
A pair of 0-2 teams that few people expected to start 0-2 faced off in Tennessee and the Titans might have been the underdog play of the week, with the Raiders starting as -2.5 favourites.
It’s fair to say they will both feel like their slow starts are down to their own follies rather than any major shortcomings but with other AFC playoff contenders stumbling this weekend, getting off the mark in the win column was a must.
Just like they did in Week 1 against the Giants, Tennessee established a two score lead in the first half thanks to some efficient work in the red zone… and having Derrick Henry to punch it in from close range.
Naturally the Titans couldn’t do it the easy way though, with a Ryan Tannehill interception opening the door for a Vegas comeback.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, they couldn’t quite execute well enough and gave momentum right back to the Titans with an ill advised pick of their own.
That lost scoring opportunity would prove to be costly for the visitors with the Raiders comeback falling short due to a failed two-point conversion with just over a minute remaining.
It left Vegas hanging at 0-3, two games adrift of the pacesetters in the AFC West while Tennessee is one game behind Jacksonville in the AFC South and half a game behind their next opponent Indianapolis.
4 – Lamar Jackson’s Price Keeps Going Up
Lamar Jackson bet on himself heading into 2022, rejecting a big money contract extension in the final year of his rookie deal to try and maximise his return.
Through three weeks, he’s excelled and produced some moments of magic, including more that a few in the Ravens win over an imploding New England Patriots team.
Jackson was in full control, taking advantage of every opportunity Bill Belichick’s defence afforded him with another strong day both in the air and on the ground.
It helps that his supporting cast came to play as well with tight end Mark Andrews on the receiving end of two Jackson touchdown passes.
And he put the game away with this effort to cap his afternoon.
Playing the quarterback position the way he does, Jackson has taken a massive risk with the amount of hits he takes, but the longer he plays like the 2019 MVP, the more money Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is going to have to fork out at the end of the season.
If he won’t, someone will.
5 – Injuries Starting to Bite
Injuries are a part of life in the NFL and it is just part and parcel that every team will have to deal with them throughout the course of the season.
In 2021, the Ravens had the nightmare year when it came to maintaining the health of their key stars and it cost them a playoff berth.
New England was at best a bubble playoff team at full strength but the final offensive play of the game had the worst imaginable outcome for that team.
Especially after the diagnosis a day later which could see him miss half the season.
In case you were wondering, the Patriots backup quarterback is Brian Hoyer, the same Brian Hoyer who has not won a game as a starter since 2016.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the hope was that this was the season where the Chargers would make the step up to being true Super Bowl contenders.
Instead, a litany of injuries to multiple key players has the team reeling in the wake of a loss to the Jaguars.
Let’s run through the list, shall we?
And that’s just from yesterday’s game, add in Keenan Allen’s hamstring, Corey Linsley’s knee, JC Jackson’s ankle and Justin Herbert’s ribs and you have a veritable Mash ward in the Chargers end of SoFi Stadium.
At this stage it really is a case of all hands on deck in LA and they’ll need to find a way to improve against a Texans team they will be expected to handle.