32 things we learned in NFL Week 3: These QB truths can't be denied

32 things we learned in NFL Week 3: These QB truths can’t be denied

Posted by Admin September 23, 2024 NFL

The 32 things we learned from Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season:

QB1: Been beating this drum for a month, but any more Russell Wilson truthers left out there after Justin Fields was in the driver’s seat – if not “pole position” – as the Pittsburgh Steelers improved to 3-0 for the fourth time under HC Mike Tomlin? The Steelers made the playoffs following Tomlin’s other 3-0 starts, including a berth in Super Bowl 45 to cap the 2010 season.

2. Fields’ jersey number, by the way, but also the number of touchdowns (1 pass, 1 rush) he generated in Sunday’s win over the previously undefeated Los Angeles Chargers – noteworthy given Pittsburgh entered the game tied for the league low with one TD scored on the season. It hasn’t been spectacular – yet – as Fields continues to adapt to OC Arthur Smith’s offense. But he’s making enough plays – his legs weapons he’s currently using more judiciously than he did in Chicago – and limiting his mistakes, a formula that almost perfectly complements the Steelers’ swarming defense and deadeye K Chris Boswell.

3. Wilson’s jersey number, by the way, but it also signifies Pittsburgh being his third NFL stop. Whenever his lingering calf issue heals, might it make sense for the Steelers to deal Wilson, who’s playing for the veteran’s minimum ($1.2 million) while the Broncos pay him $39 million not to be in Denver? Sure, Fields could get hurt, and Wilson would be a nice fallback. But veteran QB Kyle Allen is also on this roster, and it’s pretty clear at this point that Fields is the only one of these pending 2025 free agents who might have a long-term future in the Steel City. Why not get something for Russ, especially at a time when a team like the Miami Dolphins or Las Vegas Raiders could really use him?

4. Back to that Steelers defense – which became the first in 15 years to allow 10 points or fewer in each of the first three games to start a season.

5. Guess who’s right back in the NFC South race after newly promoted QB Andy Dalton (319 yards, 3 TDs passing) had one of the best games of his 14-year career to beat the Raiders in Sin City? After looking like the worst team in the league through two weeks with former No. 1 pick Bryce Young at the helm − he’d orchestrated a single TD drive – the Carolina Panthers are suddenly a game out of first place after two of the NFL’s early surprises, the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, tripped Sunday. There’s just no telling what’s going to happen in this league.

6. The number of teams since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to make the playoffs following an 0-3 start. Looking at you, Tennessee Titans … and the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars better take heed ahead of this season’s first “Monday Night Football” doubleheader.

6a. Six 0-2 teams won Sunday.

7. The number of interceptions swiped by the Green Bay Packers defense – matching its 2023 total – after pilfering Titans QB Will Levis twice in Sunday’s 30-14 victory.

8. The number of times Levis was sacked Sunday, meaning he’s gone down 15 times in three starts – and is on pace to suffer a record 85 over the course of the season.

8a. Also the number of turnovers Levis, who started the day with a league-worst five giveaways, has committed after coughing the ball up three times against the Pack. Green Bay also enjoyed a 35-yard pick-six from CB Jaire Alexander via the mayonnaise-loving passer.

9. Let’s also give a salute to Green Bay QB2 Malik Willis, who kept it classy during the week before exacting some revenge against the Titans, who drafted him two years ago but appeared to give up on him long before trading Willis to the Packers last month. Sunday, he passed for his second NFL TD and a career-best 202 yards in Nashville and ran for 73 yards and another score while notching his second victory in place of injured starter Jordan Love. Seems like Willis might’ve been a guy who could have helped in Music City about now?

10. But rest assured, Mr. Levis, even if you get sacked 85 times … Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson is actually on track for 91 after going down eight times himself in an unsightly home loss to the previous winless New York Giants on Sunday.

11. Entering Sunday, Denver was the other team (aside from Carolina and Pittsburgh) with one visit to the end zone. But rookie QB Bo Nix ran for a score while playing his first turnover-free NFL game and leading the Broncos to a rather surprising upset of the previously undefeated Bucs in Tampa.

12. But maybe the day’s biggest stunner came in another meeting of 2-0 squads when the Minnesota Vikings thoroughly embarrassed the Houston Texans 34-7, QB Sam Darnold matching his career high with four TD passes.

13. In his first game against his former team, Texans DE Danielle Hunter was limited to two tackles. Hunter had 87½ sacks in eight years with Minnesota before signing a two-year, $49 million deal with Houston in the offseason.

14. In his first game against his former team, Vikings OLB Jonathan Greenard had three sacks. Greenard had 23 sacks – including a career-best 12½ last season – in four years with Houston before signing a four-year, $76 million deal with Minnesota in the offseason.

15. The Vikes collected five sacks Sunday, becoming the first club in the last 23 seasons to have at least that many in each of its first three games.

16. What kind of career might RB Saquon Barkley have truly enjoyed had he not toiled for the Giants for six years? His 351 rushing yards three games into his Philadelphia Eagles tenure are 34 better than his best three-game start for Big Blue. His four touchdowns, two more occurring in Sunday’s defeat of the previously unbeaten Saints, double the total of his best three-game start in New York.

17. After scoring 91 points in their first two games, the Saints posted 12 on Sunday.

18. After not allowing a rush longer than 8 yards in their first two games, the Saints were burned for three of at least 20 yards by Philadelphia – including a 65-yard TD gallop by Barkley.

19. The Dolphins made the longest NFL domestic flight possible – more than 2,700 miles – to get whacked by the Seahawks in Seattle. At least the Fins don’t have to swim back to Miami.

20. Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald is the first to start his career with three straight wins since Miami’s Mike McDaniel two years ago.

21. Even better for Seattle? The Seahawks are now two games clear of the rest of a turbulent NFC West field that saw the listing San Francisco 49ers collapse against the decimated Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon.

22. Number of starts Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has against NFC teams. After after surviving the Dallas Cowboys 28-25 for Baltimore’s first win of the season, he’s now 21-1 in those matchups. If only the Ravens could reach the Super Bowl …

23. The 2024 NFL draft was the first in league history to feature a half-dozen quarterbacks selected among the first 12 picks. Yet it took until Sunday for one of them – No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams – to throw a regular-season touchdown pass, albeit in another loss for his Chicago Bears (1-2).

24. Still, Williams did make a touch of history, his 1-yard scoring pass to WR Rome Odunze marking the first time a quarterback and wide receiver both selected in the top 10 by the same team hooked up for a score in their rookie year. (Still unclear which mantle that ball winds up on.)

25. But let’s put the rookie quarterback on the backburner where they belong for right now – and, heck, Darnold may be Wally Pipp-ing injured Minnesota QB J.J. McCarthy (to the degree a player who hasn’t taken a regular-season snap can be Pipp-ed). But some folks thought the 2024 draft’s best players were its receivers, and that that might manifest when it’s time to cast Offensive Rookie of the Year votes. Predictably, Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. and Giants WR Malik Nabers are the early standouts and seeming front-runners for the award. But Jags WR Brian Thomas Jr. and Raiders TE Brock Bowers have also lived up to their advance billing to date – far more than you can say for the fellas slinging the ball.

26. Harrison and Nabers already have three TD receptions apiece. Sunday, Nabers became the youngest wideout (21 years, 56 days) in league history to haul in a pair of scoring catches in one game.

27. It feels like only a matter of time before Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey drills the longest field goal in NFL history after hitting from 65 yards – the second-longest in league annals – on Sunday, when he also hit a chip-shot 51-yarder.

28. Of more concern to “America’s Team” should be that Aubrey is currently its best offensive weapon.

29. Of further concern to the Cowboys? After winning 16 in a row at AT&T Stadium, they’ve now lost their past three.

30. Uniform note of the week: Apparently a team once dubbed the “Orange Crush” ought to embrace its history. The Broncos finally donned their new orange jerseys Sunday – on the road at Tampa, sadly – and got their first win of the year.

31. Very premature MVP vote goes to … Darnold. It’s not necessarily a surprise his career is being resurrected in Minnesota under the tutelage of HC Kevin O’Connell. But a 3-0 record and eight TD passes while shaking off a knee injury Sunday? If you predicted that, well, we don’t believe you.

32. Always good to see more women making NFL history, as occurred Sunday in Las Vegas.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.