What else happened in the NFL while the Panthers were getting their first win.
The Carolina Panthers finally notched their first win of the season and snapped all sorts of undesirable streaks in the process. It’s easy to get caught up in that win and all that came with it, but the NFL never stops. A lot of other stuff happened around the league over the weekend, some of which is very relevant to the Panthers.
NFC South
The entire NFC South came back down to Earth
While the Panthers were asserting their dominance over the Raiders and announcing themselves as a team that is capable of playing professional football, the rest of the division turned into a collective pumpkin. All three teams lost. It’s still anyone’s division.
The New Orleans Saints might not be a juggernaut
The Saints won their first two games by a collective score of 91-29 and looked like the best team in the NFL, perhaps in a long time. That completely blew up in Week 3. They hosted an enigmatic Eagles team and lost the sloppy slugfest 15-12. They averaged only four yards per play on offense and turnovers helped the defense look better than they played. It was a humbling loss, and they lost their pro bowl center for the next couple of months as well.
The Buccaneers played what should have been their easiest game of the season and lost convincingly
The Bucs’ 2-0 start got the people chatting about how the team is better than they’d been given credit for. They followed a road win over the Lions with a home tilt against a flailing Broncos team. They lost. They couldn’t force any turnovers out of turnover machine Bo Nix while their own quarterback, Baker Mayfield, was sacked seven times and struggled to move the ball when he got rid of it. They’re now 2-1 and also look very beatable all the sudden.
The Falcons couldn’t anti-Falcon two weeks in a row
One week after an improbable win, the Falcons had to host the masters of the improbable win—the Kansas City Chiefs. The Falcons had two chances to mount a game winning touchdown drive, but the first one stalled out at the Chiefs six yard line. Their last charge was halted by stuffed runs on both 3rd and 4th and 1. The Falcons will always be the Falcons.
The rest of the NFL
Rookie quarterbacks are on the board
The story line of the early season is the lack of passing production around the league. The first touchdown pass from a rookie finally came when Caleb Williams found fellow rookie Rome Odunze from one yard out. Then Jayden Daniels went out and put on a quarterbacking clinic against the Bengals. The kid is good.
Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are undefeated, but the three other undefeated starters might surprise you
Mahomes and Allen are the gold standard of NFL quarterbacks right now. The Bills were supposed to have a down year due to an exodus of talent, but Josh Allen has dragged the team to a 3-0 start. Mahomes and the Chiefs are just doing the usual. Nothing surprising there.
What is surprising is the other three quarterbacks yet to take a loss this season. Sam Darnold (Vikings), Geno Smith (Seahawks), and Justin Fields (Steelers) have all led their teams to undefeated starts through three weeks. Go ahead and add Andy Dalton and his 1-0 record to that group as well. Meanwhile Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence are 0-3.
Go figure.