NFL 2020 Week 3 Recap: The Falcons do it again!
Week 3 of the NFL gave us another snapshot of just how the league will look in 2020. After a week of favourites winning in Week 2, the third week of the season was a little less by the book. Let’s take a look back an entertaining Week 3 with our latest recap of the 2020 NFL season.
Deja Vu for the Falcons
I don’t want to do it. I really really don’t. I don’t WANT to start with the Atlanta Falcons again… and yet, here we are. Wow. Two weeks in a row; a 15-point fourth quarter lead blown. Yikeeeeees.
Dan Quinn’s seat is so hot it’s pretty much melted at this point. And what’s worse is this wasn’t the high powered Cowboys offense of a week ago. This was the Chicago Bears, who – incredibly – are now 3-0.
On a positive note, it was lovely to see Nick Foles again. I’ll always love him for his role in the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. You beat the Patriots, you’re in my good books. That said, spare a thought for Mitch Trubisky. Gotta feel bad for the guy taken number two overall BEFORE Mahomes and Watson… and he’s been in a subpar situation in Chicago ever since.
As I write this, Matt Nagy has already declared Foles his starter moving forward. What choice did he have? Foles went 16/29-188yds-3TDs in relief of Trubisky. You gotta stick with that guy.
All that said, I’m sad to report that I’m expecting both the Bears (at Colts) and the Falcons to lose next week. The Falcons will fall to 0-4 because…
Rodgers' revenge tour is flying
The Green Bay Packers are a legit Super Bowl contender and they will beat the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4. On Sunday Night, they withstood a “not-as-dead-as-previously-reported” Drew Brees and “maybe-the-best-back-in-the-league-right-now” Alvin Kamara onslaught to remain perfect and send the Saints to 1-2. How on earth New Orleans are below .500 I’ll never understand, though I guess no Michael Thomas has a huge impact.
But for the Packers, no Davante Adams didn’t hurt them as much. I’ve previously stated how much I love Aaron Jones, and I do, but this Aaron Rodgers’ revenge tour is picking up pace and swallowing everything in its path. Mr Rodgers wants some respect on his name The Packers have scored 123 points in 3 games. With Atlanta’s defense… there’s a good chance their average goes up from 41 points per game next week. The Packers are rolling, and good luck to anybody trying to stop them.
There was a tie!!!
One of my favourite NFL quirks reared its head again on Sunday. A tie. A draw. Stalemate. Parity. I love how much it annoys people. It’ll mess up the NFC East standings and playoff picture for months to come. It’s electric.
Philadelphia are in a world of trouble. Is it time to talk about Carson Wentz’ starting role? Jalen Hurts COULD be good?! It’s probably still premature to think about a change, but 0-2-1 is NOT what anybody was expecting from this Philadelphia team. Losing to Washington was bad enough, but to fail to win your next two after that is a real problem. And next week? They’ve only got to go and face the 49ers rushing attack on Sunday Night Football. Eeeeek.
On the flip side – the Bengals are showing some life. Joe Burrow is clearly under fire thanks to a subpar offensive line, but all the noise coming out of Cincinnati is positive where Burrow is concerned. I loved his statement about the tie. “I’m counting it as a loss because it isn’t a win.” That’s the attitude of a winner. The Bengals WILL find success with Burrow in the long term.
The Chiefs take Monday Night Football glory
I was so excited for this game. Jackson vs Mahomes is the obvious pick for “the next Brady vs Manning” in the AFC, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. However, there was a gulf between the two QBs (and their teams) last night.
Not exactly breaking news, but Patrick Mahomes is on another level to everyone else in the league. Maybe Russell Wilson can hold a candle to him right now, but over time this will prove to be the Patrick Mahomes league and everyone knows it. Underhand shovel pass to the fullback? Check. Almost a fade to the O-Lineman? Check. Ridiculous completions to Hill and Hardman for TDs? Double check. He was incredible. Shout out to Andy Reid and Eric Bienemy for the offensive playbook they’ve built. It’s brilliant.
I kept thinking how out of control the score could have been if not for Devin Duvernay’s exhilarating kick return TD. Few things are as exciting as watching someone go 90+ yards completely untouched whilst running at like 85mph.
I was surprised that Harbaugh didn’t go for it on 4th down on an opening drive for the Ravens that took them deeper into KC territory than they would reach again until the second half. From that point on, it was all Chiefs. Jackson had a rough night throwing. He’s still a magician in the open field, but he couldn’t connect with Mark Andrews or Hollywood Brown with any regularity.
This meant the Chiefs could stack the box to try and hold strong against the four-headed monster of the Baltimore rushing attack. The Ravens racked up the yards on the ground, but couldn’t ever scare KC on the scoreboard. They got within 7 at one point… and the Chiefs rammed another Touchdown down their throat. The defending Champs are 100% the team the rest of the league needs to beat. It’s hard to see any way the road to the Super Bowl doesn’t run through Arrowhead.
Week 3 Quick Hits
- Has Bill Belichick secretly always wanted to just run the ball down everyone’s throat? This Patriots rushing attack is scary and varied. Who started Rex Burkhead in fantasy? Yup, me neither.
- Very late but… Fitzmagic babyyyyyyy. The bearded wonder is still cooking and – all bias aside – the Dolphins are not as bad as you think they are. Flores is building something good there. Gaskin also looks like a player.
- I love Josh Allen. Bills for the AFC East. I want Patriots vs Bills NOW.
- The Cowboys are a very good 1-2 team. Don’t panic. They’ll come good and win the NFC East quite easily.
- The Texans have had awful luck with this schedule to start their season, but I feel awful for Deshaun Watson that he doesn’t really have the pieces around him to make a legit charge to success. I’ll never understand trading Hopkins away.
- I’d like to apologise for jinxing the Cardinals by saying they’d be 5-0 by Week 5. However, the Cardinals are still a force and will make the playoffs. Kyler Murray’s jukes >>>> everything else.
- The New York Jets and the New York Giants are really really really bad and the good people of New York deserve better. #TankForTrevor
- Vote Russell Wilson for MVP. He really deserves it. That’s it.
Week 4 Highlights
There’s actually not a lot of really intriguing matchups in Week 4 for me, with the obvious exception being the Patriots travelling to Arrowhead to face the Chiefs. However, if Baker Mayfield and the Browns really want to finally step up and prove they can be contenders, beating the Cowboys in Dallas would be a great statement to make. Give me those two games and the Packers/Falcons on Sunday Night. And let’s all pretend the Jets/Broncos game on Thursday isn’t happening…
