There were plenty of puzzling moments in Week 3 of the NFL season from bizarre plays, out there coaching decisions and Arizona beating Dallas.
But that was not the most confusing thing to come out of the last few days, that came from the stands at Arrowhead Stadium.
It turns out those rumours surrounding Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift were actually true and frankly… I just don’t get it.
Swift dutifully lost her mind when Kelce (finally) found the end zone but there’s a couple of things that just don’t add up.
For starters, plenty of people have done deep dives of Swift’s sporting credentials and she’s allegedly an Eagles fan.
Granted you have to make sacrifices in relationships but it’s not like she’s jumping ship from a sinking ship like the Jets.
The other confusing thing is that Taylor Swift is the biggest music star on the planet right now, and she’s settling for this guy?
Take a look at her relationship history and now look at Kelce, you can almost hear the “one of these things is not like the others…” song.
Surely she should be aiming for a starting quarterback like Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson or Jimmy G, she’s the alpha in pretty much any relationship she’s in.
Alright we might have to let this clear up over the next few weeks, but one thing is for sure, her next original album is going to be a lot of fun to dissect.
Anyway, enough about that, let’s get onto the games and the good news is that there were some things that did make sense so let’s review the on-field action in our weekly recap.
1: Brock’s Purdy good, but is he good enough?
There’s no arguing the story of Brock Purdy has been pretty cool so far, the final pick of the 2022 Draft thrust into the lineup as a last resort as a rookie and almost getting the team to the Super Bowl.
He’s now back for year two as the undisputed starter and it’s his job to lose.
The good and bad part of Kyle Shanahan’s system is that he can make just about anyone a functional quarterback, but you wonder how good it could be if he didn’t just settle for a guy.
Purdy has the skills to function as a starter in the league, especially when he can make throws like these.
He can make most of the throws but there are enough misses in there that means the 49ers can’t feel totally comfortable about their quarterback situation long term.
Going forward he’s good enough to keep the 49ers in games and he’s got enough talent around him to elevate him above that level from time to time.
But you can’t escape the concerns that in a big moment in a critical game, he might misfire on a must have throw and we’ll have a repeat of the last time the 49ers were in a Super Bowl.
2: Green Bay is Love-ing Life
The Packers went into their clash with the Saints with some mixed emotions after a disappointing Week 2 defeat and things weren’t looking good early.
They fell into a 17-0 hole before halftime and it was almost midway through the fourth quarter before they got on the board with a field goal.
But ask anybody what the best way for a young quarterback to build confidence is and they’ll tell you it’s manufacturing come from behind wins with signature moments.
Jordan Love had one of those in front of the Lambeau Field Fanatics.
He reduced the deficit to seven points with this touchdown run.
Then with four minutes left he took over and put the Packers in the red zone with a huge throw to Reed.
Before following that effort up with a high degree of difficulty touchdown to Romeo Doubs who repaid his quarterback’s faith with a spectacular catch.
Sure the Packers were helped by the injury to Derek Carr but that won’t matter as Love looks to take control of his status as the man in Green Bay.
3: Must Watch Miami
Year two of the Mike McDaniel project in Miami is going swimmingly as his track meet offence had its best day of his time in charge.
It was the sort of performance that would make you think Madden was broken if it happened in a video game setting because Miami was just unstoppable, scoring 10 touchdowns in a record setting 70-20 win over Denver.
Let’s run through some of the days their players had, starting with receiver Tyreek Hill who had nine catches for 157 yards and a touchdown in what was only his second best performance of the year.
He also had some time to jump into one of the boxes on the sideline.
Raheem Mostert had four touchdowns and 150 total yards, but wasn’t even the best running back on the team despite plays like this.
Rookie running back Devon Achane had 233 scrimmage yards including 203 on the ground and four touchdowns of his own.
And holding it all together is Tua Tagovailoa with 309 passing yards, four touchdowns and another major statement for MVP.
Oh and they did all this without Jaylen Waddle who probably would have been able to add another 150 yards and a touchdown.
It all comes down to health for Miami, if they can keep these guys on the field, they are going to be damn hard to stop.
In the meantime, just enjoy the show they are putting on every week… unless you’re a fan of the team they are playing.
4: Staley gets home… just
One guy is getting the bulk of the blame for the Chargers struggle right now and it’s head coach Brandon Staley who has been a divisive figure throughout his tenure.
Some questionable decisions and forcing game management situations to play out earlier than necessary have been a big reason this team has not reached their ceiling yet.
Frustration in the building might be growing…
Allegedly backed by new wave analytics, Staley’s insistence on being aggressive doesn’t always translate into on field success and sometimes the Chargers are able to win in spite of his decisions.
Take this week for example, trying to dig out of an 0-2 hole the Chargers could have followed conventional wisdom but instead tried to show that he was the smartest guy in the room.
Thankfully his defence was there to bail him out.
They might have won, but not all is well in Los Angeles.
5: The Raiders just can’t help themselves
Some teams are just destined to find creative ways to shoot themselves in the foot and that is pretty much the entire franchise history of the Las Vegas Raiders since February 2003.
It was more of the same in Week 3 as some baffling coaching decisions combined with a lack of execution dropped them to 1-2.
Vegas started off well, scoring first on an excellent play call from coach Josh McDaniels but that was it until the fourth quarter, by which time they were down 23-7.
Jimmy Garoppolo connected with Davante Adams to get the deficit back to eight and what was in theory a one-possession game.
With just over two minutes to go the Raiders had a fourth and four from the eight yard line and McDaniels decision making process was rather convoluted.
Sure it was good to see a coach trust his defence, but it’s not like that offence was rolling and a sure thing to get back down the field and into the end zone if they got the ball back.
Needless to say, the decision to go for three was not well received.
Especially when the Raiders got the ball back with just 12 seconds remaining and 85 yards to cover.
The desperation heave went about as well as you would expect it to.
There’s a lot for Josh McDaniels to try and work through before they are back in action next week.