CNN
 — 

For some, Week 3 offers a chance at redemption, while for others, it’s an opportunity to keep the momentum going.

The 2024 NFL season is still in its formative stages, but franchise fortunes are already starting to be told this year: both positively and negatively.

The first team to make a significant change after their winless start is the Carolina Panthers, who have benched last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young after struggling in the first two weeks of the new season, but there are plenty more ready to take desperate measures if things don’t go well this weekend.

Here are the three marquee matchups in Week 3’s Sunday games:

The Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings are two of the early pacesetters in the NFL, both with very different stories.

The Texans were one of the surprises of last season, with their young core and first-year head coach growing into a playoff team that exceeded expectations – dominating the Cleveland Browns 45-14 in the AFC Wild Card game before falling to the No. 1 seed Baltimore Ravens 34-10.

With the bar raised this campaign, second-year quarterback CJ Stroud and his cast of offensive weapons have risen to those higher expectations, with two hard-fought victories to begin the season.

The Vikings also had high hopes entering the 2024 season, but those were dealt a huge blow when their 2024 first-round draft pick, quarterback JJ McCarthy, was ruled out for the entirety of the year after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear.

With the season seemingly unraveling before it even began, Minnesota turned to former No. 3 overall pick-turned-back-up Sam Darnold for a spark – and, boy, has he provided it.

Darnold has won his first two games at the helm in impressive fashion; his 97-yard touchdown connection with Justin Jefferson was the catalyst to beating last year’s Super Bowl runners-up, the San Francisco 49ers, the team he played for last season, this past Sunday.

After tough stints with the New York Jets – the team who drafted him in 2018 – and the Panthers, Darnold is relishing the opportunity to lead an offense once again.

“I feel like I’m always growing as a quarterback. I think any quarterback in the league or in college and high school would say the same thing,” the 27-year-old told reporters on Wednesday. “You’re always continuing to learn and grow from experiences, and for me, I don’t necessarily pay attention to what people are saying.

“Obviously, I know the positivity around what we’re doing, but with that, you can’t pay attention to it too much. I think for us, it’s about taking it one day at a time and continuing to put one foot in front of the other every single day and attack it with that mindset.”

The Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints meet on Sunday with very different moods among their respective fanbases.

The Eagles were left scratching their heads after suffering a last-minute defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, despite a largely positive performance.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts looked much more like himself and running back Saquon Barkley continued his dynamic start to life in Philadelphia, but those positives were overshadowed by a Barkley dropped pass late in the game which inadvertently led to the Falcons’ late comeback.

The Saints are arguably the story of the NFL season so far, with their explosive offense leading them to two impressive victories.

New Orleans has scored 91 points in its first two tilts, drubbing the Panthers 47-10 before putting up 44 against the Dallas Cowboys last time out, with the combination of quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak working wonders so far.

It’s a tall order for the Saints’ offensive explosion to continue against the Eagles, but another big showing at home in the Superdome could cement the team as a serious playoff contender.

It would be quite the turn-around for New Orleans head coach Dennis Allen after two underwhelming previous seasons which piled pressure on his shoulders.

On Wednesday, Allen called facing the Eagles a “significant challenge.”

“We’ll have a better idea where we’re at after that,” he told reporters.

For two teams with Super Bowl aspirations at the beginning of the season, the first two weeks have been quite underwhelming for the Ravens and Cowboys.

Baltimore is winless so far, with its shock Week 2 loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders raising concerns about the team’s prospects moving forward.

Dallas, meanwhile, began with an impressive 33-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns, but were then thoroughly humbled by the Saints in Week 2.

Both could really use a victory on Sunday to get back on track and inject some positivity into what have been lackluster seasons so far. Lose, and undoubtedly, alarm bells will be raised.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he stressed to his team Wednesday the need to keep their eyes on the upcoming game, not on the season as a whole.

“We’re focusing on the task at hand. There’s a long-term understanding of what we need to accomplish and there’s a short-term focus which is right now – this week,” he told reporters.

“That is always the focus, (and) it needs to be the focus in this league – it’s a one-week league. We have to do everything we can to play our best football that we’re capable of right now.”

For the Cowboys, Sunday’s defeat was their second straight big home loss after losing 48-32 to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs last year.

And the team’s star pass rusher, Micah Parsons, stressed the importance of improving performances all around the squad in order to get back on track.

“It’s a prove it weekend,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “And I’m not just putting anything on any of my teammates. I’m saying myself included – I need to step up. We all need to step up.

“It would hurt me more if we all didn’t step up. If we all played down to that standard again, that just tells me we’re not moving in the direction that we should be moving.”

Whoever wins, one team will breathe a slight sigh of relief while the other will start experiencing some sense of panic despite it only being the third week of the season.

Away vs. home

New York Giants (0-2) @ Cleveland Browns (1-1) – 1 p.m. ET

Chicago Bears (1-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (0-2) – 1 p.m. ET

Houston Texans (2-0) @ Minnesota Vikings (2-0) – 1 p.m. ET

Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) @ New Orleans Saints (2-0) – 1 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Chargers (2-0) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) – 1 p.m. ET

Denver Broncos (0-2) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0) – 1 p.m. ET

Green Bay Packers (1-1) @ Tennessee Titans (0-2) – 1 p.m. ET

Carolina Panthers (0-2) @ Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) – 4:05 p.m. ET

Miami Dolphins (1-1) @ Seattle Seahawks (2-0) – 4:05 p.m. ET

Detroit Lions (1-1) @ Arizona Cardinals (1-1) – 4:25 p.m. ET

Baltimore Ravens (0-2) @ Dallas Cowboys (1-1) – 4:25 p.m. ET

San Francisco 49ers (1-1) @ Los Angeles Rams (0-2) – 4:25 p.m. ET

Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) @ Atlanta Falcons (1-1) – 8:20 p.m. ET