Tag: 2023 NFL Week 3

Tua Tagovailoa’s no-look shovel TD pass was so ridiculous the Miami crowd gasped in shock

And he threw it with his RIGHT hand!!!

It’s still extremely early in the 2023 NFL season, but Tua Tagovailoa has more or less picked up where he left off. The fourth-year Miami Dolphins starter once again resembles an MVP candidate and is at the helm of an offense absolutely cruising at the top of the AFC.

On Sunday, the left-handed quarterback with a reputation for a lightning-quick release showed us all that he has a lot more creativity up his sleeve.

Let’s take it to the early second quarter. As the Dolphins offense tried to punch in another touchdown over a hapless Denver Broncos defense, Mike McDaniel dialed up a sleight-of-hand play for Tagovailoa to delightful results. After using a dastardly play fake, Tagovailoa no-looked a shovel pass — with his right hand — to Devon Achane for a touchdown.

Yeah, doesn’t get any better than this. The watching Miami home crowd couldn’t even believe what they witnessed:

That is perfection. That is offensive football at its finest.

Through just about 2.5 games, Tagovailoa is near the top of the NFL in most relevant passing statistics and is one of the sport’s most efficient signal callers. And with savvy plays like this, he’s putting together quite the potential MVP highlight reel.

Terry Bradshaw excused himself for not knowing Desmond Ridder’s name with the worst logic

This was so unprofessional by Terry Bradshaw.

If you’re going to be a professional broadcaster, you shouldn’t advertise that you don’t know essential information about a game you’re analyzing. Taken a step further, you shouldn’t use an awful excuse for your specific lack of knowledge.

Evidently, no one passed this message on to Terry Bradshaw on Sunday.

As the NFL on Fox pregame crew offered some quick words about the Atlanta Falcons’ matchup with the Detroit Lions, Bradshaw started complimenting Atlanta amid its early-season success. He even said he “liked their quarterback out of Cincinnati.” But, crucially, he didn’t say Desmond Ridder’s name. Hmm. And when Bradshaw tried to clarify who Ridder is, he excused his knowledge gap by jokingly saying Ridder isn’t good enough to justify knowing his name yet.

Hmm, maybe don’t compliment Ridder on live air then, if that’s the case?

Look, covering and discussing an entire league of 32 different teams can be challenging. There’s a lot to digest on any given week. But if you’re going to put yourself out there and say something (read: anything) about one of them, you should at least know the names of the important players. It doesn’t matter if Ridder isn’t “good” yet. He deserves enough respect — like anyone — to actually be called by his name when highlighted. There has to be some kind of baseline standard for quality analysis.

This was a terrible on-air moment for Bradshaw, to say the least.

Jordan Love nearly hurt himself trying to launch an ill-advised pass on a hopeless trick play

Cue the Benny Hill music on Jordan Love’s pass!

Jordan Love is learning a lot in his full-time stint as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback. During Sunday’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints, he should really take what happened on a fourth down to heart. And in his first home opener, no less.

With the Packers trying to force the issue in opposition territory, they took a chance on what should have been an easy fourth-and-short. Instead, third-string running back Emanuel Wilson botched the throwback to Love on a trick play. Love would struggle to get a handle of the ball and, for some reason, tried to launch a pass into pressure while sliding.

He is extremely lucky it didn’t turn into a turnover OR injury:

Look, one of the best hallmarks of playing well at quarterback is understanding when a play has a chance. Sometimes, it’s worth taking a risk — even preferred, depending on the game situation. Sometimes, you just gotta take a negative play and live to fight another day.

Hopefully, for the Packers’ sake, Love now understands that distinction after this bizarre sequence.

Super Bowl Contender Rankings, Week 3: The Cowboys and 49ers are so much better than everyone else

A potential Cowboys and 49ers playoff rematch might decide this year’s Super Bowl.

Every other week here at For The Win, we’ll be keeping tabs on the NFL’s top Super Bowl 58 contenders. This index is our way of gauging the current temperature of the league while trying to get a sense of what might await us in the playoff crucible of January and February. This is an unscientific rationale rooted in recent developments from one football writer’s crystal ball. 

The Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers are the NFL’s premier teams. You can check your calendar, but rest assured: It is not 1993. Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy start for Dallas and San Francisco now, not Troy Aikman and Steve Young. What a time to be alive.

Two weeks into the 2023 NFL season, we are watching two marquee franchises slowly reignite one of the sport’s most heated rivalries. As long as the Cowboys and 49ers maintain their scorching paces, a tense playoff rematch that could decide the winner of Super Bowl 58 feels like an inevitability. And the most exciting part is they’ll square off on Sunday Night Football in a few weeks to give us an early teaser of the fireworks.

Can anyone break up the party between Dallas and San Francisco? Let’s dive into this week’s Super Bowl Contender Index and make a case.

NFL Power Rankings Week 3: Cowboys’ early dominance could set them up for an epic playoff collapse

Expectations for the Cowboys are growing and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

We’re two weeks into the 2023 NFL season, and the Dallas Cowboys look like they’re prepared to steamroll the professional football landscape. As fun as it is to deride the Cowboys, let’s give credit where credit’s due.

Dallas has the league’s best defense (by far) — a suffocating unit that’s surrendered just 10 points in two games while seemingly making a field-tilting play every possession. That defense has already created seven turnovers, which complements a Dak Prescott-Mike McCarthy offensive medley that has yet to give the ball away and continues to play perfectly within itself. And by virtue of its own dominance, Dallas hasn’t really had to unleash its full offensive arsenal yet. But between usual flashes from CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard, it’s terrifying to consider what happens when Brandin Cooks re-enters this mix.

None of what the Cowboys are achieving right now should be surprising to anyone who saw their understated offseason. This is essentially the same exact team that won 12 games and advanced to last year’s Divisional Round. Except now it has Cooks and another lockdown corner in Stephon Gilmore taking snaps. These Cowboys were flat-out built to cruise through this regular season and bully everyone.

All of this makes the Cowboys seem like they’re prepared for a casual 13-14-win campaign, the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and, of course, the conference’s only playoff bye. So … when does the other shoe drop?

While these Cowboys are starting to resemble the best team in Big D in decades, no one in North Texas will remember their regular-season success if Dallas steps on countless rakes again come the postseason. It simply pales in comparison to the importance of the playoffs — especially in a football-crazed Texas town. The pressure’s on for the Cowboys. Let’s see if they predictably fall flat on their face or actually rise to the occasion this time.

Here are For The Win’s power rankings for Week 3 of the 2023 NFL season, featuring the Cowboys and some other top NFC juggernauts starting to settle in.