NFL Week 3 Winners & Losers

By Lee Wakefield

Well, week 3 was something, wasn’t it? We had a raft of games with teams with a wide range of outcomes. I’m looking at you, Miami and Tennessee. 

Both of these were discussed on this week’s podcast, which is available over on our YouTube page and drops each and every Tuesday evening for your listening pleasure. 

Don’t forget to subscribe and all that good stuff to make sure you don’t miss out on the pods and all of the other video content.

Anyway, without further advertisement or ado, let’s get into our week 3 winners and losers.

Winners

The Dolphins' offensive brain trust, Tua Tagovailoa, and anyone else associated with the Miami offense

Just as in Week 1, the Dolphins make a return to the winners column here and they’ve been the stars of the season when it comes to offensive football. Tua Tagovailoa has looked exceptional, Tyreek Hill looked like the most dangerous weapon in the league. The speed that they possess on offense is scaring the rest of the league to death.

The Dolphins put up more yards of offense in this game alone (726) than the Titans (721) have done through three weeks of the season.

Tua is clearly loving life in this offense, and who wouldn’t be when you’re being asked to execute fun plays like this one?

The Dolphins could run into trouble if they get sussed out, as I mentioned on this week’s podcast – Tua isn’t using the left side of the field too often and isn’t being asked to do too much aside from making a quick read and deliver. If a defensive mind works out how to defend their speed then this could be troublesome, but right now, it’s unbelievable to watch and great coaching by Mike McDaniel and the rest of the offensive minds down in South Beach.

Myles Garrett

Despite J.J. Watt rooting for his Brother, I am defending the hill on which I will die that Myles Garrett is Edge1 in the NFL.

Myles Garrett was an utterly destructive force on Sunday against the Titans. Garrett had 3.5 sacks as he abused Andre Dillard and the rest of the Titans’ offensive line and is playing with the confidence of a guy who is really enjoying himself this season.

Jim Schwartz’s aggressive defensive system coupled with Cleveland’s investment in the rest of their defensive line is leading to some excellent results, with the Browns’ defense as a whole only allowing a league-low 163.7 yards/game so far.

It’s a small sample size of just three games but the Browns look absolutely terrifying on defense right now and Garrett is the leader of a pack of wolves on the defensive line.

Aside from his 3.5 sacks, Garrett registered 8 pressures and had an average get-off time of 0.62 seconds on six pressures in the first half. Teams are scared of him, with good reason, and are finding unique ways of dealing with him.

Although nobody has found the antidote as of yet through week 3 of this season.

C.J. Stroud

It was a ballsy callsy call for three of our guys this week, but I wanted to reserve a space for giving a shout out to the Houston Texans, after their 20-point win over the Jaguars.

As an extension of that, I needed to heap praise on their rookie quarterback, C.J Stroud.  In his third NFL start, looked poised, made big throws, and had exceptional pocket movement all day.

Stroud is also doing all of this whilst looking after the football and not putting his team in a bad spot. A reminder – It’s week 3 of his NFL career.

It is subtle pocket movement like this in the play above that is really making me sit up and take notice. That kind of movement to evade pressure is really advanced and can only say good things about Stroud moving forward.

When you have a talent deficiency, and are in the infancy of a rebuild you need to hit on your high draft picks, especially at quarterback. It looks like H-town has a good one. 

Losers

Sean Payton

“…we live in a glass house. We know that, and it’s one of those things that there’s a code, there’s a way things are done in that house. This past week, it’s frustrating and it sucks, but we’re all susceptible to it.”

These were the words of Nathaniel Hackett when he was questioned about the criticism that was laid on him by Sean Payton prior to the season’s start.

Boy, oh boy… The phrase, those who live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones, has never rang more true after Miami’s obliteration of Payton’s hapless Broncos on Sunday.

Payton is going to be a marked man after this and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Hackett saw the scoreline.

This week, there is no bigger loser than Sean Payton, that is for certain.

Image Credit: NFL.com

Josh McDaniels

Had it not been for Payton’s demise, Josh McDaniels would have certainly been the biggest loser around the league this week.

With the Raiders down 8 in the final three minutes of the game, McDaniels opted to send out the field goal unit, from the 8-yard line.

Either way, the Raiders needed a touchdown and a defensive stop. But you’ve got to think it’s better to try to score a touchdown first.

You have Devante Adams! You paid good money for Jakobi Myers… Josh Jacobs was last year’s rushing leader.

McDaniels can try to explain it away as much as he wants but it just doesn’t wash.

According to ESPN analytics, going for it would have given the Raiders a 15.8% win probability, compared to 10.2% by kicking the field goal.

Just awful game management.

New Orleans Saints

I’m a Chargers fan, so I know a thing or two about teams who can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Saints made an unbelievable impression of a heartbreaking, Chargers-style loss on Sunday.

Giving up 18 fourth quarter points to lose 18-17 to the Green Bay Packers with this list of inactives on Sunday must be driving Saints fans up the wall.

Yes, Derek Carr was injured but Jameis Winston is an experienced NFL quarterback and former number one overall pick. I’m not sure it works as an excuse.

Jordan Love left things late, but he got things started with a 1-yard rushing score, before chucking the 2-pointer to Samori Toure. The Packers then followed up their 8-point drive with a winning field goal… Take notes, Josh McDaniels.

Prior to this, all the Saints had to do was hold on to the lead for another 6 minutes 58.

The Saints simply can’t allow this to happen if they have aspirations of winning the NFC South.

Feature Image Credit: USA Today

Lee Wakefield

NFL, CFB & NFL Draft

Lee Wakefield IS A defensive line enthusiast, Chargers Sufferer, and LONG-TIME writer and podcaster with a number of publications. Find his Chargers content over at Bolt Beat. @Wakefield90 on twitter

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