Five Wide: 2025 Week Three
By Thomas Willoughby
Blow-outs aren’t fun when you’re on the recieving end of them. Being shut out isn’t fun either. To be shut out IN a blow out? A horrid fate. And that’s what I had to deal with this week. 30-0, to one of the worst teams in the NFL. Bryce Young has won 7 games in his career, and 3 of them are against us! Falcons, why do you hate us so?
It was a barmy week for the sport, either way, and the good news is ya boi is here to break it all down. Starting in Minnestoa, where the Vikings were on the good side of a blow out!
PerFFection
The Minnesota Vikings were utterly humbled last week by the fraudulent Atlanta Falcons, and it shocked them to their very core. On Sunday, they hosted the Jake Browning-led Bengals, and took all their anger and frustration out on them. One player, in particular, took Sunday night so personally, they became the closest thing to perfection the advanced analytics game has ever seen.
THE HIGHEST-GRADED GAME IN PFF HISTORY pic.twitter.com/taPuZCggkd
— PFF (@PFF) September 22, 2025
Isaiah Rodgers had had enough. He ended the day with an interception (returned for a touchdown), a fumble recovery (returned for a touchdown), and forced two fumbles himself. The Vikings won 48-10, and Rodgers became the first player in Vikings history to score multiple defensive touchdowns in a game. An unbelievable performance, and one that I, a Vikings D/ST owner, fully appreciate. Take a day off, champ. You’ve earned it.
Blocked and Reported
Kicking in the NFL is supposed to be automatic. Misses from within 50 yards in 2025 are met with shock more than anything. Harsh? Incredibly. But those are the breaks when your job is to do one thing.
What can you do when your kick is blocked, however? That’s not your fault, that’s the fault of your up front blockers. It’s rare that happens, though. A handful of times a season, at best. What if I told you that not only did it happen this weekend, but it happened more than once, in the same game? What if I then told you it happened twice more, in two other games? Well, you’d be stunned, I’m sure.
It did happen. Twice in the Eagles vs Rams fixture, where Philadelphia blocked two of Joshua Karty’s kicks, including one at the very end of the game which was returned for a touchdown. Six points left on the board, and they were only down by a point when Karty stepped up at the end of the 4th.
In the Packers/Browns game, a 4th quarter go-ahead attempt from Brandon McManus was blocked, and set up a drive that put Andre Smzyt in position to win the game for Cleveland. He made no mistake, and handed Green Bay their first defeat of the season. And, in Florida, the Jets battled back from a big deficit to take the lead late on as Will McDonald blocked and returned a Chase McLaughlin field goal attempt for a touchdown. They proceeded to let Tampa Bay walk down and kick a game winner minutes later. Good job, gang!
Mike McSadiel
I don’t know what the Miami Dolphins season will end up looking like this year, but it’s not looking good. They’re 0-3 and, aside from being in the game against New England last week, look miserable. And it’s rubbing off of Mike McDaniel
McDaniel is a goofy nerd, and has been a fun personality since becoming the Dolphins head coach 2022. This season, though, his mood has changed. He’s gone from “the good news is, I can’t see how it could be worse” following their week one 33-8 humiliation at the hands of the Colts, to “to win games, you have to win the game and not lose the game” following their 33-27 loss to the New England Patriots, McDaniel is getting sadder by the week. He followed up a 31-21 defeat to the Buffalo Bills with a press conference devoid of his usual fizz. Just a defeated “it feels like we lost a game”. It’s sad to see.
The good news for Miami is their next 5 games are in their favour. Jets, Panthers, Chargers, Browns, and Falcons; they’re capable of going 4-1 across that stretch. At that point, it ramps up a bit. But McDaniel might have a smile on his face, at least.
Main Man Down
The 49ers are a funny team. They’re clearly well coached, they play incredibly solid fundamentals, and they win. Most importantly, they win. Why, then, does it feel like they suffer more major injuries than any other team in the league? Their starting QB is out for a few more weeks at least, their star Tight End is in injured reserve; it feels like they have issues everywhere, all the time. If they could just survive one season, they’d be unstoppable.
This year will not be that year. Nick Bosa, the 49ers best player, and probably one of the best players in the NFL, has torn his ACL. The 49ers defense is in shambles. They’re cursed. They’re cursed beyond belief.
Nick Bosa kind of embodies the 49ers, in that regard. Since being drafted in 2019, it feels like Bosa’s been hit by a season skewing/season ending injury. In 2020, he tore his ACL after 2 games. It’s 2025, and he’s torn his ACL after 3 games. It sucks, because, when healthy, he’s arguably the premiere pass rusher. I hope he comes back next year. At 27, he should still have another 5 years at least at the top. Hopefully he can see that through. Maybe the 49ers should hire a new Doctor.
The Dubliners
We’ll end this weekend in Ireland, where the first of 6 European NFL games kicks off with the Pittsburgh Steelers “hosting” the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin.
I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you what an NFL game at Croke Park means to the Irish contingent within the fanbase. The way they’ve effectively served themselves at a grassroots level can only be commended. I want to use this opportunity to shout out Michael McQuaid in particular, who’s spearheaded that through organising tonnes, including live shows featuring genuine names within the sport across Ireland.
We’ll discuss the game in more detail next week, of course, but if you’re heading over (or even live there), the NFL have a pop up shop in St. Stephen’s Street Shopping Centre until next Monday. Let me know if it’s good, and enjoy it. The International Games season’s snuck up right quick here we go again!
Features Image Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Thomas Willoughby
NFL ANALYST
THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER