Week 3 Game Balls
Offense: Trevor Siemian, QB, Denver Broncos. Peyton who? Against the Bengals, Siemian had 308 total yards, 4 touchdowns, 132.1 passer rating.
Defense: Everson Griffen, DL, Minnesota Vikings. Three sacks for 37 yards. All three sacks cost the Panthers at least 10 yards.
Special Teams: Ryan Allen, P, New England Patriots. So good the announcers noticed. He averaged 47.6 yards, none of his seven punts were returned, and six of them pinned Houston inside the 15-yard line.
Rookie: Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles. Sorry, Ezekiel Elliott. Against Pittsburgh, Wentz had 301 passing yards, 2 TDs, no sacks or interceptions, and a 125.9 rating.
Honorable Mentions: WR T.Y. Hilton, DL Fletcher Cox, P Matt Darr
A Brief Word About Carson Wentz and Hype
Carson Wentz is off to a nice start. He hasn't played any great defenses yet, but he's got a 103.8 passer rating and no turnovers, and his team is undefeated. I'm not here to say anything bad about Carson Wentz, because the early indications are that he will be a very good quarterback.
But let's not put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, and let's take it easy on the Browns. On the FOX pregame show — which, let's get back to pregame shows in a moment — Jimmy Johnson said, "Cleveland passed on [Wentz]. Obviously, they messed up." On CBS, Boomer Esiason raved, "They are so happy in Philadelphia that Cleveland passed on this young man." I don't doubt that the Eagles are happy. But if I'm a Browns fan — which I'm not; I've been to Cleveland once, to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I thought it was kind of disappointing — I still think my team did the right thing.
Essentially, the Browns traded Wentz for two 1st-round draft picks, a 2nd-round pick, and a 3rd-round pick. They have extra 1st- and 2nd-round picks next year, and an extra 2nd-rounder in 2018. They have 16 rookies on the active roster, players who can develop and improve. Even if Wentz does go on to the Hall of Fame — and that's getting pretty far ahead of ourselves — the Browns could still come out of that trade okay. If you really want to slam a team for passing on Wentz, how about the Rams, who paid a fortune to move up, and then chose Jared Goff instead of Wentz? Goff is currently backing up Case Keenum.
Bashing the Browns for making a great trade, while giving the Rams a total pass, doesn't make any sense. But that's the level of discourse on the studio shows now, especially pregame. The "analysts" assume we're stupid — they treat the viewers like morons, it's insulting — and they have an agenda. It's disinformation, and if you pay attention, it will make you stupider.
On to the Week 3 NFL Power Rankings. Brackets indicate previous rank.
1. Denver Broncos [3] — Trevor Siemian passed for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns, they had two 100-yard receivers, Shane Ray had 3 sacks, and they had a takeaway on special teams. Complete performance on the road against a team that is probably pretty good.
2. New England Patriots [5] — QB situation remains unsettled. Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett may or may not be available next week, and Brissett didn't show much passing chops in the win over Houston. He gained only 97 net passing yards and picked up only 4 first downs through the air. New England went 4-of-14 (29%) on third downs and 1-of-3 in the red zone, with 6 three-and-outs, the second-highest total for any team this season.
3. Minnesota Vikings [8] — Sam Bradford sacked Cam Newton 8 times, tackled him in the end zone for a safety, intercepted him 3 times, and returned a punt for a touchdown.
That was my Cris Collinsworth/Peter King impression.
4. Green Bay Packers [9] — Opponents have 71 rush attempts for 128 rushing yards, giving Green Bay by far the best rush defense of any team.
5. Houston Texans [2] — Handed off on 3rd-and-long several times. Apparently Houston's coaches aren't any more impressed by Brock Osweiler than I am.
6. Carolina Panthers [4] — Already more losses than they had last season.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers [1] — Worst loss since Chuck Noll was the head coach. The Steelers haven't won in Philadelphia since before Noll was head coach: 1965. That's a nine-game streak.
8. Cincinnati Bengals [7] — Margus Hunt, 6-foot-8, has blocked two kicks in three games.
9. Kansas City Chiefs [11] — Won with defense (15 passes defensed and 6 INTs) and special teams (fumble recovery for touchdown, punts pinned Jets deep). Derrick Johnson had nine solo tackles and an interception. Marcus Peters had 2 picks on Sunday, and leads the NFL (4).
10. Philadelphia Eagles [20] — Won all three games by at least 15 points. They're the only team in the league not to commit a turnover.
11. Seattle Seahawks [12] — Russell Wilson, who sprained his right ankle in Week 1, now has sprained his left knee as well. It's an MCL sprain, so Wilson might be able to play in Week 4 — the guess right now is that he will — but Wilson's mobility is a big part of his value, and this has to worry Seahawk fans and fantasy owners.
12. Arizona Cardinals [6] — First five drives went three-and-out, last four drives resulted in interceptions. The ones in between were mostly okay.
13. New York Jets [10] — Remarkably, they're not the only team whose last four drives resulted in interceptions.
14. Baltimore Ravens [18] — The Ravens are 3-0, but the teams they've beaten are 1-8, and every game was close.
15. Buffalo Bills [19] — Lorenzo Alexander, a longtime special teamer who started a total of 16 games in his first 10 seasons, has 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, ranking among the league leaders in both categories.
16. Dallas Cowboys [22] — Could be 3-0 with better clock management in Week 1.
17. Miami Dolphins [13] — They're not proud of needing overtime to beat Cleveland, but had a standout in each phase of the game. Jarvis Landry gained 136 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown. Reshad Jones made 9 solo tackles, including 3 tackles for loss, and defensed a pass. Matt Darr punted 6 times for 293 yards (48.8 avg), with no return yards or touchbacks, and four of the six punts down inside the 20, including two inside the 10.
18. Oakland Raiders [14] — Rookie safety Karl Joseph got his first start and promptly led the team in tackles. Oakland needs the help; they've only forced 2 three-and-outs in three games.
19. Indianapolis Colts [15] — Both teams were flagged for double-digit penalties. NFL officials are too hands-on and call too many maybes. Phantom calls are among the biggest problems in the league today.
20. San Diego Chargers [16] — In Week 1, Keenan Allen tore his ACL. He's out for the season. In Week 2, Danny Woodhead tore his ACL. He's out for the season. In Week 3, Manti Te'o tore his Achilles. He's out for the season. This is San Diego's third year in a row dealing with significant injury problems, and at this point it's not just bad luck. There's an organizational issue that puts the Chargers at higher risk for injury.
21. Atlanta Falcons [24] — Devonta Freeman gained 207 yards from scrimmage, but as was my policy last year, offensive performances against the Saints are ineligible for game balls.
22. Detroit Lions [17] — Marvin Jones had 205 receiving yards and 2 TDs. Jones leads the NFL in receiving yardage (408), far ahead of second-place Stefon Diggs (325).
23. Washington [25] — Caught a huge break from Andrew Adams' foolish penalty that negated a blocked punt. This was an important victory, but Washington didn't win so much as the Giants lost.
24. New York Giants [21] — Eli Manning really did play well in the 2007-08 and 2011-12 postseasons. And he has led some impressive comebacks, but so has every QB who started for a decade in a row. Manning's clutch reputation is just silly. On Sunday, he threw a critical pick in the end zone, had another end zone INT saved by a questionable replay ruling, and threw the game-clinching interception with a minute left. If that's clutch, what does a choker look like?
25. Los Angeles Rams [27] — Most points in a game since 2014. After scoring no touchdowns in the first two games, the Rams tallied five TDs this weekend. They're still last in the NFL in yardage, though, averaging just 263 per game. A majority of the league, 17 teams, are beating that by over 100 yards per game. Their offense stinks.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [23] — Weird loss, even beyond the thunder and lightning that delayed the game by 69 minutes with only 2:00 remaining.
They out-gained the Rams 472-320, and 30 first downs to 18. The turnovers were equal, two each, and both teams scored on a return. If you tried to isolate where the Rams excelled, you would eventually settle on special teams. Los Angeles made a 53-yard field goal and had a long kickoff return, while the Bucs' Roberto Aguayo missed a 41-yard field goal and an extra point. The PAT was especially critical, because in the fourth quarter, the Bucs twice went for two, trying to make up the difference, and missed both times. That one missed extra point probably ended up costing them 2-3 points. Add in the missed FG — NFL kickers make 41-yard field goals over 85% of the time — and you could argue that Tampa lost six points in the kicking game. The Rams won by five.
27. San Francisco 49ers [26] — Lost by 19 for the second week in a row, and for the second week in a row, it was worse than the score implies. San Francisco scored meaningless touchdowns on its last two drives, when the game was already decided and the Seahawks were coasting.
28. Tennessee Titans [30] — Awful on third and fourth downs, 2-of-13. What DeMarco Murray is doing on their otherwise putrid offense is remarkable.
29. Cleveland Browns [32] — Kicker Cody Parkey missed three field goals, all from less than 50 yards. This was their second pretty heart-breaking defeat in a row.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars [28] — Every team in the AFC South has been outscored by double-digits this season. Jacksonville's point differential is -30. The Jaguars have a "home" game in London next week. It's on at 9:30 AM Eastern, if Jags/Colts is how you want to spend your Sunday morning.
31. New Orleans Saints [29] — In any given week, they can score 30 points and lose by double-digits.
32. Chicago Bears [31] — They've played a tough schedule, against opponents who are 4-2 in their other games. But none of their losses were close, all by more than 8 points.
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