NFL Week Three Previews
NFL Week Three Previews
Every week in the NFL matters, but Week Three is crucial for some teams that started slow out of the gate. The countdown to the last chance for recovery begins. Unless you’re the Rams, who Have Come Back From Under .500 Twice To Make The Playoffs, Most Teams In the NFL Want To Exit Week Three Above The eight-ball. Several Key Players Will Miss Time This Week As Injuries Start Weighing In On The Scoreboard. The NFL Scheduled Some Heavy Hitters In Week Three. The Lions, Fresh Off a Dominating Performance Versus the Bears, Face the Ravens, Fresh Off Their Own Dominating Performance Against A Division Foe. The Eagles Face Another Rematch From Their Playoff Run Against The Rams, who Play Their First Really competitive Matchup Against Philly. The Cardinals and 49ers Face Each Other For Sole Possession Of The NFC West, A Supremely Competitive Division. The Cardinals Have One Of The “easier” Schedules In This Division, and the Niners' Injury Woes make this Game Crucial For Both Teams.
Giants Vs Chiefs
Despite A Herculean Performance From Russell Wilson, passing for 450 yards after Everyone With a Football Platform Declared Him Dead, Whispers Of Jaxson Dart and His Two Snaps Play On Sunday Have Created (More) Tremors That Continue To Shake The Giants Quarterback Hierarchy. The Giants Coaching Brass Want To Stick With Wilson Because They Believe He Gives Them The Best Chance To Win—and Keep Their Jobs—Even When He Throws The Giants in and Out Of Games.
The Chiefs into This Prime Time coming In Off a 0-2 Start, and While The Offense Continues To Earn The Scrutiny of the Football, The Defense—Which Made Up For the Chiefs' Void In Offensive Potency—Has Fallen Just As Fast This Season. Can Russell Wilson Add To His Impressive Week Two Performance? Possibly, Though He’ll Have To Watch Out For Chris Jones Eating Out Space Through The Middle Of The Pass pro. The Giants recorded 13 pressures against the Cowboys, a solid number given their talent level ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE. The Chiefs Can Still Put Together Pressure Packages. The Giants Can Also Dial In Pressure, 26 Pressures and Three Sacks Versus The Cowboys. The Defensive Line Looks Poised To Take Over A Game.
Green Bay Vs the Browns
Except for the Bills’ Over The Last Five Quarters Of Football and That One Fourth Quarter For The Ravens, No Team In The NFL has looked more Dominant Than The Packers At The Early set Of The Season. In Two Dominating Wins Over Former Playoff Opponents, The Packers’ Defense, Especially The Pass Rush, Brought Home The victory. The Offense Hasn’t Controlled Or Carried a Game. Jordan Love ranks 4th in EPA per play, 6th in success rate, and has a 120 passer rating. The Packers have the number one offense according to ESPN's FPI.. Love and The Offense Have Avoided Situation When He’s Put in Winning Game Winning situations With his Arm Through Two Weeks.
On The Surface, the 0-2 Browns don’t Appear Like A Challenge For The Packers, But The Browns' Defense ranks 12th, and If Not For Some careless Play By The Offense, Maybe That Ravens' Game Doesn’t Get Out Of Hand. But The Defense Gave Up Four touchdowns to Lamar, All Of 15+ Yards Down The Field. Love Falls A Few Ranks Below Lamar In Terms Of Play Making, But Averages The Highest Average Depth Of Target(12.5). Joe Flacco Already Has Three interceptions and -0.28 EPA Per Play, -28.58 Per Pass. The Browns probably won't get The Win Against The Packers, but Cleveland's Defense MAy Expose The vulnerability in the Green Bay Offense.
Texans vs Jaguars
Houston Has Gotten Off To an Inauspicious Start At 0-2, Losing Some Pretty Tough Games To Start The Year, And Question Marks are Rising And Fingers are Pointing. The Colts’ Impressive 2-0 Start Makes Things More Complicated In A Two-Horse Race For The Division. Thus Far, The Texans Find Themselves Almost With A Leg In The Race. The Texans' Pass Rush Has lived Up To The Hype Of The Offseason As Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle have combined for 20 Pressure, Including Nine Pressure For Anderson in Week Two, and A combined three Sacks. However, The Pass Defense Has Given Up A Passer Rating Of 102.8, 15th in EPA/Per Pass, and A Completion Percentage Of 68.3% Far Beneath The Level Of Their Talent. The Jags Offensive Line Enters The Season Listed As a “Shaky” Unit By ESPN, But Through Two Weeks The Blocking Earned A Top Five Rating In Both Pass BLOCKING and Run Blocking. So far, The Quarterback The Texans played has been Far Beneath That Threshold at 79.3 Rating. His Second Incarnation Of The Trevor Lawrence Reclamation Has Gotten Off to a Rough Start. Lawrence Needs To Sure Up His Connection With His Receiver Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter As They Prepare To Face A Dangerous Texans Secondary. The Real Reclamation The Jags Run And Travis Ettiene, Who Stands Second in The League In Total Rush Yards And First In Rush Yards Over Expected. The Jags Still Like To Pass The Ball With Lawrence Rocking A +3.5% Pass Rate Over Expected. The Texans' Commitment To Pass Rush Inverts To A Weak Run Defense, Coming In At 23rd in EPA Per Rush, and Gave Up a Winning Touchdown on the Ground To Tampa Up The Middle.
The Jags Defense Has Looked Strong and Ranks Top Ten Against The Pass, Allowing A 57% Completion Rate, -0.20 EPA Per Pass, Coming In Off Of A 25 Pressure Game Against Bengals Passers.
C.J. Stroud Always Produces A Brilliant Moment Or Stretches Of Brilliance In Games That Remind Fans Of His Promising Play, But His Stock Continues To Drop As A passer. He remains in the top ten for success rate, despite the team not scoring. The main issue is Stroud's difficulties with pressure, as well as the Texans' struggles in providing adequate protection. "Pressure disrupts timing," and since Stroud's offense relies on timing, he is making the right reads but just misses the connection. The Texans Face A Win Or Find Themselves Fading Into The Background Of The AFC as Fast as They Came.
Raiders Vs. Commanders
The Raiders Have Endure Censure For Their Under Usage Of Their Number One Running Back, Ashton Jeanty. After Finishing Dead Last In 2024, The Raiders Sought To Revamp The Rushing Game For Pete Carroll. The Raiders pick Jeanty With The Intention That His Presence As A “Singular” Talent Would Serve As The Core To A New Running game Reality. Instead, The Raiders Have What Looks Like An Under Utilized “Ferrari”. I’m Sure Jeanty Can Perform Just Like How He Did At Boise State, with Strength To break tackles, Busting Into The Secondary, and Shifty To escape A Crowd Of Tacklers, But The Raiders Had No Business Drafting Him Over an Offensive Lineman Or A Wide Receiver. The Raiders Entered The Season with the worst Receiving Group In Football. Tet McMillian, The Receiver Off To A Good Start In Carolina, A Proven Deep Threat With Size, Could Have Come Down With One Of Those Double Coverage Interceptions Geno Smith Threw Against The Chargers. Jets Tackle Armand Membou, One Pick After Jeanty, Has Also Had A Strong Start To His Career As a Run Blocker, Earning A PFF Grade Of 86.9. Right now, the Raiders Rank Dead Last In Run Blocking Rate. The Commanders Have A Strong Defensive Line and Rank Second In Run Stop Rate. This probably won't prove to be A Breakout Game for Ashton Jeanty. Geno Smith Will Get ANother Crack At Improving On His Interception Performance against The Commanders' Pass Defense, Only Surrendering an 84.2 Passer Rating and 52.9 Completion Percentage. The Raiders Have Protected Fairly Well, Just A 16.1 Pressure Rate Thus Far, 13 Pressures and Three Sacks Against The Chargers. The Raiders' Defense Has Looked Superb Compared To Relative Expectations, ranked 15th by ESPN FPI, 8th in EPA Per Play Allowed. The Raiders had trouble with Justin Herbert despite holding the Chargers to 20 points. Herbert threw for 242 yards, completing 19 of 37 passes, with two touchdowns and five completions over 15 yards, including the two touchdowns. The Commanders' Offense Hasn’t Hit The Stride They Found Last Season, and With Jayden Daniels Bang up, and Not Playing His Best Ball Thus Far(-7.79 EPa Per Pass), Running Back Austin Ekeler Out This Game Could Come Down To The Wire.
Vikings Vs Bengals
The Vikings' defense has performed well enough for the team to hold a 2-0 record. However, the offense isn’t matching this effort to elevate the team. The Vikings' Defense Held The Falcons To Five Straight Field goals Before A Late Touchdown. Kevin O’Connell’s Offense Has Never Looked Worse, Ranked Dead Last According To ESPN FPI JJ McCarthy Has The worst EPA per drop-back in the NFL despite Cam Ward and Joe Flacco Giving Him A Run For His Money, And Those who don’t have Justin Jefferson, Speedster Jalen Nailor, and TJ Hockenson to Target. O’Connell May Not Have A Decision To Make This Week With McCarthy Out For A Few Weeks Due To Injury. If Backup Carson Wentz Plays “Acceptable” Against The Bengals Defense Or Even Delivers The Win, Questions And Blows His Appraisal Opportunity Out Of The Water, Questions Will Rise About McCarthy's Long-Term Upside With Minnesota. Wentz Has The Arm Talent To Make All The Throws, and two things could Prove True: O’Connell Could Make A Bad Evaluation, in McCarthy’s Development, And Still Revive A Career If Wentz Plays well. The Vikings' Defense Struggled Against The Run in Their Outing, Taking On The Falcons, but they didn't face Bijan Robinson or anything Close Against The Bengals' Rushing Attack. Through Two Games, The Bengals Have Failed To Reach 100 Yards, Total, and Thats Unlikely To Improve With Jake Browning Taking Over For Joe Burrow For An Extended Period. The Bengals won't change Their Offensive Agenda Without Burrow, Browning Can Throw The TeaM “In and out” Of Games. The Vikings' Offensive Line Has Hurt The Team Nearly As Much As The Quarterback, and They Face The Bengals' Trey Hendrickson, the League Leader In Pressures.
