Week 3 in the NFL is here! In NFC South, between the Falcons and the Saints, the Packers have to go to Washington. Philadelphia finally welcomes Carson Wentz back, the Chargers and the Rams meet for the Los Angeles duel and Jimmy Garoppolos 49ers have to meet Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. SPOX takes a quick look at all 16 games of the coming matchday – including the forecast by NFL editor Adrian Franke, the Sunday games will be live on DAZN as usual at the RedZone conference.
It’s time! The Browns are winning this week. Why? Because their defense lures Sam Darnold into two turnovers and the jets lose the game offensively and defensively on the line of scrimmage. The Jets don’t have the means to stop Myles Garrett, Larry Ogunjobi and Company. Tyrod Taylor delivers his first flawless game in Cleveland and that’s enough to finally end the victorless series.
Tip: Brown’s vs. Jets 20:16.
Shootout potential in the NFC South smash. The Falcons will have great trouble defending Alvin Kamara without Deion Jones, while the secondary with Michael Thomas will have his hands full. At the same time, however, Atlanta’s offensive line against Carolina was significantly improved, while the Saints’ pass rush, apart from Cam Jordan, is far too toothless. Not a good combination, considering what’s heading for the unexpectedly error-prone Saints-Secondary on Sunday.
Tip: Falcons v. Saints 30:27.
Washington is one of those teams I still don’t feel that way about. The performance against the Colts in particular was sobering, and with Alex Smith Downfield passes will be rather rare. This will not work against the Packers, whose aggressive Secondary Washington receivers should cause big problems – only with Chris Thompson and Jordan Reed Washington won’t win the game. Rodgers and the Packers-Offense look too strong for that, since Rodgers plays primarily from his pocket.
Tip: Redskins vs. Packers 17:24.
Carson Wentz is back! This makes the game all the more exciting, of course, while Philly is now running out of receivers at the same time as the Wallace injury. Jordan Matthews was retrieved on Wednesday and could directly see a significant number of snaps. What else is conceivable? Many 2 tight end sets and a decent dose of Corey Clement in the passing game. Philly will make the colts one-dimensional in any case, but this front is much too strong and Indianapolis’ Run Game is much too non-existent. So much will rest on Lucks shoulders, and he looked really good so far. But against this defense, it’s gonna be a whole different set of collars.
Tip: Eagles vs. Colts 20:16.
I think this can be dealt with quickly. Minnesota’s defensive line alone will probably decide this game, if Mike Zimmer unpacks his hard to identify coverages and creative flash packages on it, one has to fear for Josh Allen. And by the way, Kirk Cousins looks really good with his great receiver duo and the Bills Secondary looks unexpectedly bad. Sure thing.
Tip: Vikings vs. Bills 30:6.
How ’bout them Dolphins? One of the positive surprises of the season, especially in view of the defense. Offensively the passing game is certainly still a considerable distance from what Adam Gase imagines, but Ryan Tannehill plays as stable as possible and the run game already works well. Against a Raiders team that allows almost six yards per run after two games and puts one of the more harmless pass rushes on the field, that’s a good start. But beware of this Raiders opener – it looked much more competent against Denver than in Week 1.
Tip: Dolphins vs. Raiders 17:14.
One of the two, three toughest games to type this week. Baltimore’s defense against Cincinnati was partially lost, and the Broncos have shown that they can score. On the other side of the ball, the Ravens Line had surprisingly big problems in pass protection against their division rivals – with Von Miller, Bradley Chubb and Co. this task is not really getting any easier now.
Tip: Ravens vs. Broncos 17:20.
Cam Newton has played a very good season so far, but overall the offense with the offensive line decimated by injuries, a run game that hardly exists outside Newton and the injury of Greg Olsen is quite a miracle bag. The outstanding Bengals front should be able to start here, and then it will be important for the Panthers-Secondary to be able to stop the Bengals’ strong passing game. Without the injured Joe Mixon this will be even more in focus.
Tip: Panthers vs. Bengals 23:24.
Crisis summit in Houston, both must win – and the Texans have shown me at least a little bit more so far. New York’s offensive line is anything but repaired, now Center Jon Halapio’s season has ended prematurely due to injury. This will make Manning even more vulnerable, while the defense currently has more holes than answers. Watt and Clowney should dominate the Giants line and Deshaun Watson may have made the expected setbacks compared to the pre-season, but he still gives the team more than Manning on the other side.
Tip: Texans vs. Giants 24:20.
If Blake Bortles were to play every week like against the Patriots, you’d have to list Jacksonville as a super bowl favourite. Maybe it would help to approach games in terms of game plan more often as if Leonard Fournette wasn’t around instead of building the offense around him. Either way, against the injury-decimated Titans Line, the impressive Jaguars front should dominate the game, and without Delanie Walker, Tennessee has no player who can make an individual difference in passing. Especially not against this defense.
Tip: Jaguars vs. Titans 27:13.
The Chiefs-Offense is really a feast for the eyes. Andy Reid gives Patrick Mahomes a great scaffolding, and Mahomes makes brilliant use of the NFL’s most versatile and dangerous arsenal of weapons. This should continue against the Niners, who have talent at all levels of defense – and Reuben Foster gets back – but are schematically also comparatively predictable. For Andy Reid this should offer some advantageous approaches. The Chiefs will, you can assume, put some points back on the scoreboard. Then San Francisco’s offense has to be more consistent to keep up.
Tip: Chiefs vs. 49ers 31:24.
Great duel! The Chargers Offense looks great so far, Rivers has played big in the first two weeks and in the backfield Austin Ekeler and Melvin Gordon are well on their way to becoming one of the best running back duo in the league – also because both are used very well in passing. After the Chiefs and Bills, however, a completely different defense test awaits the offense, while the Rams-Offense, especially in the deep-passing game with Brandin Cook, seems much more dangerous than last year. Joey Bosa is still out, can the Chargers put enough pressure on Goff?
Tip: Rams vs. Chargers 24:20.
Smells like a defensive game. Dallas’ defensive line is no joke, and Seattle once again has great problems protecting Russell Wilson and can’t raise a run game. There’s a lot on Wilson’s shoulders again, all the more so as long as Doug Baldwin is out. But even Dallas are no fireworks, even if there was finally a more creative approach against the Giants. But that could look quite different against Seattle, even if the Seahawks’ pass rush is still looking for itself, apart from Frank Clark. Ergo: very close game in which I go with the better quarterback.
Tip: Seahawks vs. Cowboys 13:10.
Arizona’s offense is at historic lows, the first two games were an oath of disclosure and it’s hard to imagine how to win a single game with Sam Bradford and the current scheme. The fact that Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks are now waiting doesn’t make things any better. Will Arizona finally succeed in using David Johnson better? Their own pass rush could keep the game reasonably tight, Chicago’s offense has only been convincing at times so far.
Tip: Cardinals vs. Bears 10:17.
The Lions have never really run smoothly in any part of the team under ex-Belichick assistant Matt Patricia. Stafford has caught up after the disaster in Week 1, but is certainly not yet on his actual level. There’s not much to see of the run game, in which so much has been invested, and the defense reveals gaps again and again. In addition, there are individual mistakes, for example in the special team – and now comes an angry Patriots team. Detroit is unable to eliminate New England’s weapons as Jacksonville did. The biggest question from Pats’ point of view: Does the pass rush work halfway? After a very aggressive approach against Jacksonville was not successful, there could be the familiar, waiting picture again.
Tip: Lions vs. Patriots 16:27.
It could be the last game of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jameis Winston’s suspension ends after this game – the week in Tampa would be quite interesting when Fitzmagic makes a three-pack of his gala appearances. And that’s quite possible if you look at this Steelers Secondary; all the more so if Joe Haden drops out again. Then there is quick shootout potential here, but Pittsburgh’s offense is certainly not supposed to hide. JuJu Smith-Schuster in particular had an outstanding start to the season. The question will be: will Pittsburgh’s defense succeed in presenting Fitzpatrick with complex coverage? There was nothing to be seen against Kansas City.
Tip: Buccaneers v Steelers 27:24.