3 standout stars in Patriots’ Week 3 win over Jets

Who were the standout stars for the Patriots in Week 3?

The New England Patriots earned a slow-burning 15-10 victory over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

Although the ultimate goal was a win, the Patriots’ offense was sluggish in a game where they should have taken advantage of the poor offense the Jets trotted out on the field.

Regardless, as we do each week, we’re going to hand out some standout star awards to the top-three Patriots players. Even if this was a game that lacked excitement and offensive progression, it still had some big-time playmakers on the Patriots’ side.

Lions snap count notes and observations from Week 3

Three Lions made their NFL debuts, and the OL and DB splits show just how banged up the Lions were in Week 3

An injury-riddled Detroit Lions roster nicely rallied around the home crowd and a more aggressive defensive approach to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 20-6, in Week 3.

The game saw many Lions playing much bigger roles and heftier snap counts than they typically do. Nowhere was this more evident than the offensive line.

In his first start since returning to Detroit, Graham Glasgow played all 70 offensive snaps at right guard. Glasgow was one of five Lions on offense who never left the field. QB Jared Goff and OL Penei Sewell, Jonah Jackson and Frank Ragnow were the iron men of the Detroit offense.

Three players saw double-digit reps filling in at right tackle. Matt Nelson started and managed 18 snaps before leaving with a knee injury. Dan Skipper lasted 16 before departing with a leg injury of his own, which left fifth-round rookie Colby Sorsdal to play the other 36 in his NFL debut.

Jahmyr Gibbs took over for an injured David Montgomery as the starting RB, and he played 42 snaps, or 60 percent. Behind Gibbs, Craig Reynolds out-snapped Zonovan Knight, 20 to 7.

Sam LaPorta continues to dominate the TE reps. The second-round rookie played 52 snaps to Brock Wright’s 29. James Mitchell played just two offensive reps for the second game in a row, while Jason Cabinda played 10 at fullback.

On defense, four players were in on all 67 snaps:

  • DB Brian Branch
  • CB Cam Sutton
  • S Tracy Walker
  • LB Alex Anzalone

Jerry Jacobs missed one play, replaced at outside CB by Will Harris — and that was Harris’ only appearance on defense. Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu saw a season-high 48 snaps on defense, the same number as LB Derrick Barnes.

The linebacking corps saw much more action overall, thanks to the Lions largely rolling with a 4-3 front. Rookie Jack Campbell played 38 of the 67 snaps and Malcolm Rodriguez played 20. That’s with Anzalone always on the field and Barnes playing over 70 percent of the snaps. Jalen Reeves-Maybin, typically only used on special teams, played three defensive snaps too.

Up front, Isaiah Buggs earned 18 snaps. That’s one more than Benito Jones and double what Levi Onwuzurike played in the game at DT. Alim McNeill played 40 snaps as the primary attack DT.

Aside from Sorsdal, two other Lions made their NFL debuts in the game. Undrafted rookie DBs Steven Gilmore (11) and Brandon Joseph (6) each saw their initial action on special teams duty against the Falcons. Neither recorded a statistic.

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Tyreek Hill’s wholehearted endorsement of Tua Tagovailoa was so humble

Tyreek Hill showed so much confidence in his QB with this classy gesture.

Amidst a blistering 3-0 start, the Miami Dolphins have become the talk of the NFL. Their latest stunt? An unprecedented 70-20 shellacking (!) of the Denver Broncos in which they scored 10 offensive touchdowns. That is not a typo. Tua Tagovailoa and Co. reached paydirt on 10 separate occasions against a purported “professional” Denver defense.

Tagovailoa himself was predictably sharp. The fourth-year starter completed 23-of-26 passes for 309 yards and four scores. And frankly, perhaps the current leading MVP candidate achieved it with little resistance.

As such, after the game, Tagovailoa earned quite a ringing endorsement from another important Dolphin — Tyreek Hill. In a response to compliments of his own game from Robert Griffin III, Hill deferred to Tagovailoa, calling the Miami signal-caller “special”:

If Hill, a no-doubt future Hall of Fame receiver, is all the way in on Tagovailoa, then we should all be. The Dolphins resemble an early AFC favorite for the Super Bowl — in no small part thanks to this dynamic duo. It looks like both are very much on the same page.

The Titans were tired of Myles Garrett wrecking their offense so they hilariously sent 2 guys to shadow him

The Titans respected Myles Garrett’s dominance so much that they abandoned traditional offense.

Three games into the 2023 season, the incomparable Myles Garrett looks capable of winning his first career Defensive Player of the Year Award. (And he won’t have to unleash his nasty crossover to do it.) On Sunday, amidst a one-man rampage, the Tennessee Titans showed they were tired of Garrett’s pure domination in an unconventional way.

In a game that saw Garrett amass five quarterback hits, three-and-a-half sacks, and three tackles-for-loss, the Titans just threw their hands up by the fourth quarter. In the name of trying to sustain any offense against an unblockable monster, Tennessee started shadowing Garrett with not one but two blockers.

I am not exaggerating. They literally had two people follow Garrett wherever he went across their offensive formation. But in a 20-3 affair at the time (Tennessee eventually 27-3), the effort was already too little, too late.

Oh, and they even got a delay of game penalty for this sequence:

Garrett has long been one of the NFL’s more terrifying forces off the edge. In 2023, with the Browns’ star-studded elite defense finally playing up to snuff, he’s deservedly getting more shine than ever.

Bengals: Aaron Donald says last year’s fight won’t carry over to Monday night

Aaron Donald was asked about the helmet-swinging fight with the Bengals.

In a Cincinnati Bengals preseason joint practice in 2022 with the Los Angeles Rams, there was a fight between the teams that saw Aaron Donald swinging his helmet at Bengals players.

The Week 3 Monday night game will be the first time the two teams meet since the practice, but Donald doesn’t think the issue will bleed into the matchup coming up, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

“My main focus is trying to find a way to win a game,” Donald said. “It isn’t about going out there trying to fight, physically fight, but with my pads we can do some fighting, but I’m just trying to play a game. Not trying to do anything dirty. I’m just here trying to do my job and win a game. That’s it.”

There were no consequences for Donald after the incident since the NFL doesn’t have jurisdiction over joint practices, but they will have a close eye on this game after that incident.

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Houston Texans official Twitter jokes about Jaguars having a script for 37-17 beatdown

The Houston Texans official Twitter account joked that the Jacksonville Jaguars may have had a script for their 37-17 beating in Week 3.

One of the weird claims to come out of Super Bowl LVII is how the NFL may be scripted. Even the league has poked fun at the notion in its 2023 tagline that “you can’t make this stuff up.”

Anytime something outlandish happens, the reaction has been whether or not “the script” has called for it.

Very few could have envisioned the Houston Texans dominating the Jacksonville Jaguars 37-17 for the first win of coach DeMeco Ryans’ career Sept. 24 in Week 3 at EverBank Field.

The Texans’ official Twitter account had fun with the concept of the NFL being scripted and played back a video from the Jumbotron at EverBank Field during warmups wherein a C.J. Stroud mascot was landing punches right in the face of the Jaguars mascot.

“Jags must’ve had the script ahead of this game too,” the Texans’ account wrote.

Stroud maintaining his composure on the road and delivering 280 yards and two touchdowns is an outcome Texans fans have been hoping for from their rookie quarterback — improvised, scripted, or otherwise.

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The Morning After…How much longer can defense carry Patriots?

How much longer can the defense carry the Patriots?

The New England Patriots got on the board with their first win of the season against an Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets team in a 15-10 victory on Sunday.

The Jets were held to just 171 total yards, and only 38 of those yards came on the ground.

New England’s defense has continued to look elite so far this season, but the offense has been bland. Although it looks like a competent offense in comparison to last year, they have been struggling to put together consistent drives and capitalizing on opportunities.

It was an ugly performance in a Week 3 game where it took four quarters before either team even made it to the red zone. Here are some leftover thoughts as we have now had time to reflect on the victory.

Bengals vs. Rams live stream, time, viewing info for Week 3

Viewing info for Monday night’s Rams vs. Bengals game.

The Cincinnati Bengals are looking to get their first win on “Monday Night Football” against the Los Angeles Rams. After two straight AFC North losses to start the season, the Bengals desperately need a win since 0-3 is as close to a death sentence a team can have this early in the season.

It certainly doesn’t help that Joe Burrow’s status is a question for the game after he reaggravated his calf injury that kept him out of most of the preseason. He has said the extra day of rest is a good thing, but even if he plays, it seems like he is going to be doing so without much mobility.

The Rams are off to a pretty good start to the season despite the 1-1 record. The loss they picked up was only by a touchdown to what looks to be a possible Super Bowl-contending San Francisco 49ers team in Week 2. They began the season with a blowout, beating the team that surprised everyone last season, the Seattle Seahawks, 30-13.

Having Matthew Stafford back from his injury that kept him out of much of last season has been very big for Los Angeles even without their star wide receiver Cooper Kupp to start the season. Rookie Puka Nacua has been filling that role well and seems to be able to get open whenever he wants with 15 catches and 147 yards on 20 targets just last week.

It’s a very important game for the Bengals, who did look much better in the second half of their three-point loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but all eyes are going to be on whether Burrow is able to play this week.

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams on Monday, September 25 (8:15 p.m. ET)

TV info: ESPN

In-market live stream: NFL+, Fubo, Sling TV, YouTube TV/NFL Sunday Ticket

Radio: Cincinnati – WCKY-AM (1530), Cincinnati – WEBN-FM (102.7), Cincinnati – WLW-AM (700)

Location: Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati

Forecast: Cloudy, 77 degrees

Referee: John Hussey

Opponent Wire site: Rams Wire

Odds: Bengals -2.5

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Justin Fields’ introspective answer about appreciating ‘little things’ after Bears’ latest loss was so sad

The Bears should be ashamed of what they’ve done to Justin Fields.

After an avalanche of catastrophe, the Chicago Bears hit a new rock bottom on Sunday. The juggernaut Kansas City Chiefs ran the Bears off the field and off of America’s television screens. Chicago was so utterly uncompetitive that not even a megastar like Taylor Swift made it worth keeping an eye on the team.

Standing out from the latest Bears’ exercise in frustration was Justin Fields. Once expected to take a monster leap in his third NFL season, Fields has been lost in 2023. On Sunday, in particular, the 24-year-old quarterback completed just 11-of-22 passes for an abysmal 99 yards, one touchdown, and one pick. There was a low point where he even needed to be saved by teammate D.J. Moore after seemingly suffering a head injury.

Fields spoke candidly to a gathered media contingent following Chicago’s latest defeat. And in an extended answer about what he’s learned during the Bears’ challenging 0-3 start, the signal caller sounded like a broken quarterback looking for a silver lining that probably isn’t there anymore.

Fields was once hailed as the franchise quarterback the Bears had desperately been seeking for decades. An electric weapon who did all the “hard” things easy, he presented a tantalizing game-changing element Chicago never had under center. Three games into his third season, he looks like yet another bust at football’s most important position for a bottom-feeding franchise that has no idea what it’s doing. And, based on his short speech here, he certainly seems to know it.

At the very least, it sounds like Fields might want a chance to prove what he can do somewhere else. Because he’s probably (definitely?) not going to get the opportunity as a member of the Bears.

A testy Sean Payton cut a reporter off mid-question after the Broncos surrendered 70 points

Sean Payton can clearly feel the walls closing in.

It is almost October, and Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos have yet to record a win. Sunday’s embarrassing laugh of a loss to the Miami Dolphins — where Denver surrendered an unthinkable 70 points — was unquestionably an early rock bottom.

And based on Payton’s shortness after the game, he certainly understood that reality.

A reporter started asking Payton about the Broncos’ historic margin of defeat. But before they got to their question, they tried adding additional context to what they were saying. A frustrated Payton didn’t even let the reporter get to their question.

He cut them off and moved on without a second thought:

In a way, even with the Denver Nuggets’ recent NBA title, the Broncos are still easily the most popular team in town. Denver is a football city when it comes to sports first. For Payton to sit winless three weeks in after all the hype about his arrival in the offseason is a failure. And he knows it.

The above clip reads like a guy who might already be in over his head.