Five Wide: 2026 Week Three
By Thomas Willoughby
How sweet it is to support a team winning on a Thursday night! Get your game done before the weekend starts, and you get to enjoy a weekend without having to give this sport a single serious thought. I could get used to this. Give me a season of Thursday nights.
That’s right, the Falcons are ONCE AGAIN back. Reports of our demise were greatly exaggerated. The table is going to be run. Book me a ticket to LA in February, these boys are winning it all.
Oh, while we’re here, welcome to the start of the London games run! The first of three games kicks off this weekend! You know The Touchdown will be across the whole run, stay tuned. Now, onto the nonsense.
Thin, thin, thin ice
At what point in someone’s career is it reasonable to be “out” on a player? We are 20 games into the 24 year old QBs career, and I am extremely close to being just that. The 2025 first overall draft pick has a 3-17 win-loss record, and a tape littered with lows that would made even the most ardent defender struggle to find positives.
Sunday was another low. Granted, conditions weren’t in his favour. The weather was gross, the stands were sparse, and that Giants defense is pretty decent. But, with the Giants missing Jaxson Dart, it felt like this was the game for the Titans to get their season underway properly. And they blew it. The Titans huffed and puffed, and were ultimately beaten by a team who scored 12 points, all from field goals. Is that all Cam Wards’ fault? Maybe it’s harsh to say it is. 181 yards and touchdown when you’ve only really got the 4 foot 2 Wan’Dale Robinson to target should be impressive. But he threw a game-losing interception, in the red zone, directly at the hands of Jevon Holland. That’s bad play!
Wards’ NFL career thus far has been supremely underwhelming, especially when you consider what he did at the University of Miami. He really has been given a rough go of it, too. The guy who drafted him was fired 6 weeks into his rookie season, and he’s now on his second offensive coordinator in as many seasons. They next travel to the Ravens, host the Texans, and travel out to the Colts. If they’re gonna come out of that run with anything, Ward needs to step up. If he doesn’t, Warren Moon might ask for his number to be re-retired.
Beware the Turf Monster
Week Three gave us our second international game of 2026, and the first to ever be hosted at the iconic Maracanã Stadium in Rio di Janeiro. Since its construction in 1950, the stadium has hosted some of the biggest events, not just in football, but full stop. The 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cup finals. Copa America finals. The opening and closing ceremonies at the 2016 Olympic Games. Gigs from Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Sting, The Rolling Stones, Madonna and more, the named of which are the only musicians to have played more than once. None of which surpasses the three events put on by Pope John Paul II in 1980, 1987, and 1997. The papal GOAT, in that regard.
Add to that list now Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, and Tyler Loop, whose 56 yard field goal decided a thrilling 34-31 tie between the victorious Ravens and the hosting Cowboys. In terms of an advert for potential new fans, Rio gave the game its best possible look. A high quality game between two pretty good sides. The sort of game I’m sure plenty of UK based NFL fans would lament not taking place in London.
I don’t think that the game could have been dealt a worse hand, however. In the days leading up to the game, the sports press outlets turned its attention squarely to the state of the field. That hallowed turf had drawn the concern of NFLPA, who suggested the state it was in would result in unnecessary slips as a result of loose turf. Obviously, it ended up being fine. The Maracanã is all grass, compared to most NFL stadiums, which opt for some form of astro turf laid over concrete with little padding to separate them. I don’t claim to be a gardener, but I feel like that is more likely to cause injuries than a patchy lawn.
Rock in Rio
If Australia gave us a hit of the familiar, Rio’s half time show was something completely unfamiliar. For me, at least. My knowledge of popular Brazilian music extends almost exclusively to Michel Teló’s “Ai Se Eu Te Pego“, and Gusttavo Lima’s “Balada“. Both tracks were huge among the Brazilian contingent in the foreign language school I worked for a summer at in 2012. Simpler times, am I right, folks?
At some point in the past 14 years, however, Brazil has produced a new pop man to pen some bangers. Here comes Pedro Sampaio, a young man conveniently also from Rio de Janeiro (easy commute), to play the half time show. And what a fun time he had too, as he jumped and danced along to such tracks as “SEQUÊNCIA FEITICEIRA” and “JETSKI”, before Rickey Martin, fresh from being uncancelled, popped out for the second half. We truly were livin’ la vida loca.
Listen, I don’t expect you to know much about this stuff. Hell, not even I, The Touchdown’s resident Latin American music expert, knows much about this stuff. But I’ll say this: Pedro. Can I call you Pedro? Pedro. Brava. Brava. Bellissma. A magnificent 6 and a half minutes. I will never listen to this chaps music again. BUT, for less than ten minutes one Sunday evening, THIS guy was moving with the best of them (tapping his foot and bobbing his head). Good job, NFL!
Say It Ain't So
I think we can all agree that Joe Burrow is a good quarterback. He’s had exactly the sort of career the Bengals would have wanted from the 2020 first overall pick. He’s taken them to the Super Bowl, and came awfully close to winning it, and has turned a generally turgid franchise into someone that you could probably consider one of the better teams in the AFC…when he’s healthy. Burrow’s managed to complete 3 full seasons out of 6 so far. He can’t be blamed for that, of course.
What he can be blamed for, at least partially, is that his Bengals, consistently, fail to overturn leads when the opportunity arises. For the 34th time in his career, Burrows’ Bengals were losing with 8 minutes to play, and they failed to overturn that scoreline, despite the Pittsburgh Steelers giving them plenty of opportunity to. That game was sealed with a Burrow fumble. It added to this pretty sorry looking statistic.
Joe Burrow is now 1-34 when trailing in the last 8:00 in the NFL.
— Scott Kacsmar (@ScottKacsmar) September 27, 2026
There are plenty of reasons why that record might be that way. In some cases, the scoreline may have been so big it was impossible to overcome. You might suggest that Burrow routinely put his team in winning positions, only for the Bengals’ lacklustre defense to let him down at the end. That may be, but there are only four occasions through his career where he’s taken the lead within 8 minutes and lost. That feels bad! The numbers as they are tell a story of a very good QB failing to create great moments through his career. Am I being too harsh? Possibly. But I don’t think it’s unfair to expect “Joe Brrr” to be cold enough to have a few more successes under pressure, right? A concerning stat, for me.
Kitwatch 2026: Part III
Ok, last mention of the new Falcons jerseys. On Thursday night, they donned their white jerseys/black pants combo to an EXTREMELY successful degree. What was more important to this Falcons offense? Michael Penix returning, or looking good on the road? It’s a toss up, I’d say. This is a great look, and if the Falcons want to be something this season, they’ll adopt it as their permanent road get up.
We got our first look at the NFL Rivalries 2026 class, with the Indianapolis Colts waltzing out in their “Anvil Strike” uniforms. They can waltz right back in with them and never wear them again. Utterly grim. Dark grey jerseys and pants, metallic blue helmet and numbering to match, it’s a mess. No wonder the Colts struggled, I can’t imagine they were actually able to see one another. Nike should be absolutely ashamed of themselves with this.
Speaking of which! The Buffalo Bills have released a brand new alternate jersey named “Nickel City”. IT’S GREY. AND IT HAS BLUE DETAILS. IT’S A DISGRACE. Now, yes, it’s a slightly lighter grey than that nonsense in Indianapolis. That doesn’t make it any less gross. Someone on the NFL side of things at Nike needs to be questioned about these two. Horrendous.
On the flip side, big up the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s throwback week in Jacksonville, apparently, and their retro look is really nice. There really isn’t anything about this I don’t like. I think I prefer the current logo over the old style one, but I’m mature enough to admit that it wouldn’t work in this look at all. Spot on. Good job.
And good job to the Detroit Lions, who opted to combine their current home jersey with silver pants, rather than going all blue, and the results spoke for themselves. Currently unclear why they don’t just do this full time, but apparently they don’t. They ought to. Listen to me, Detroit.
Probably the best kit fixture (kit-sture?) this weekend could be found in Denver, as the all-white Rams stared down the all-dark navy Broncos. Both teams looked sharp, here, especially under the lights on Sunday night. Clean on both sides of the ball. Excellent work.
Features Image Credit: Gregory Payan-AP Photo
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
