NFL Week 3: After further thought
The alumni of those perfect 1972 Miami Dolphins may indeed be getting ready to put that champagne on ice.
We are down to just a trio of unbeaten clubs in 2014 as the Arizona Cardinals, Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles all ran their records to 3-0 on Sunday.
Of course it’s early but could one of these three franchises be on their way to becoming the 20th different franchise to win a Super Bowl title? The Cardinals have won an NFL title since 1947 when they were in Chicago, the Bengals are 0-2 lifetime in Super Bowls and the Eagles haven’t won a league championship since 1960.
We are just throwing it out there, because that’s what we do on Monday mornings.
Hence, here are some thoughts and some numbers regarding Week 3 of the 2014 season and entering Monday night’s game between the 1-1 Chicago Bears and 1-1 New York Jets.
–By now we have all gotten use to Thursday Night Football. So far this season, the visiting teams have not.
A year ago, home teams were just 8-7 in the 15 prime time Thursday night tilts, a more-than-respectable showing for the road clubs.
This month, we have seen the visiting Green Bay Packers (36-16) and Pittsburgh Steelers (26-6) each beaten by exactly 20 points by the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens, respectively. Last Thursday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visited the Georgia Dome and left 56-14 losers.
So in three Thursday night tilts, the home teams are a perfect 3-0 and have outscored the opposition by a mind-numbing score of 118-36. Let’s see how the New York Giants fare at Washington this week…
–While it’s been a decent start to the season for the Cincinnati Bengals (3-0), Carolina Panthers (2-1) and Detroit Lions (2-1), it has not been the “Year of the Cat” for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And this was after a decent start in Week 1 in the land of cheesesteaks.
Since leading Philadelphia 17-0 in the second quarter on opening weekend, Gus Bradley’s club has been outscored a combined 119-27 by the Eagles (34-0), Washington Redskins (41-10) and Indianapolis Colts (44-17). The Jaguars have been outgained by exactly 600 yards in three games (1,398 to 798) and have already given up 14 total touchdowns in those contests. Veteran quarterback Chad Henne has already been sacked 16 times this season.
Make that 17 per se. According to Jaguars.com, rookie Blake Bortles will make his first NFL start next week after seeing mop-up duty vs. the Colts on Sunday…
–Back to Jacksonville, as well as the other two teams in the Sunshine State. It has been a very rough stretch for the NFL teams from Florida in recent years and 2014 isn’t looking good so far. This past season, both the Jaguars and Buccaneers got off to 0-8 starts and both finished 4-12. Neither one of those franchises has been to the playoffs since 2007.
Meanwhile, it has been all downhill for the Dolphins since rallying to beat the New England Patriots, 33-20, in Week 1. Joe Philbin’s club has dropped two straight by a combined score of 63-25, including a humbling 34-15 setback to the visiting Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. It should be noted that Miami hasn’t had a winning season nor made the playoffs since 2008.
All told, the Buccaneers (56-14), Jaguars (44-17) and Dolphins (34-15) all lost badly in Week 3, by a combined score of 134-46…
–We briefly mentioned the Bengals above but the way they are playing these days, they certainly warrant a lot more attention. The team is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2006 and has been incredibly efficient, especially on the offensive side of the football.
Following a 33-7 drubbing of the Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati has outscored its first three opponents by a combined 80-33 score. The offense has produced eight touchdowns and totaled 190 plays, 102 rushing and 88 passing. And it’s worth noting that Marvin Lewis’ team has committed just one turnover, has not fumbled and has not allowed a sack during its unbeaten start…
–Arguably the most entertaining game on Sunday was Philadelphia’s 37-34 victory over the visiting Washington Redskins. For the third time in as many weeks, Chip Kelly’s club fell behind by double digits. But the Birds would wind up scoring at least 30 points for the third time in as many games. The Eagles are 3-0 for the first time since 2004, the season in which they reached Super Bowl XXXIX.
Meanwhile, after allowing a combined 27 points in their first two contests, Jay Gruden’s club gave up 37 points in the loss. It marked the 11th time in 19 games dating back to the 2013 season that the Redskins allowed at least 27 points in a game. Washington has also now lost seven straight games to NFC East rivals dating back to last season…
–Sunday’s renewing of acquaintances between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks was far more exciting than the last time we saw the clubs playing in a meaningful game. The Seahawks dominated Denver in all phases in Super Bowl XLVIII, 43-8.
For just the sixth time, the two teams that met in the Super Bowl squared off the following year in the regular season.
Unfortunately for Peyton Manning and company, the game was more competitive but the result was the same. Pete Carroll’s club came away with a 26-20 overtime win on Sunday, handing the Broncos their first loss of 2014. And if you are indeed counting and for what it’s actually worth, that means the defending Super Bowl champion is now 4-2 in these rematches…
–In case you’re trying to figure out the postseason chances of the 0-3 Jaguars, Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders, we will make it simple. Only five teams in NFL history have ever rallied from a 0-3 start to reach the postseason. Those clubs are the 1981 New York Jets, ’82 Buccaneers, ’92 San Diego Chargers, ’95 Detroit Lions and ’98 Buffalo Bills.
It’s worth noting that the Bucs turned the trick 32 years ago during the league’s strike-shortened nine-game season and that the Bolts were actually 0-4 before winning 11 of their last 12 games and the AFC West title. Bobby Ross’ ’92 Chargers are the only one of the five clubs mentioned to win a postseason game, defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-0, in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs…
–Here is one for down the road. Keep an eye on that celebrated quarterback Class of 2004 in the form of Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. The Giants, Chargers and Steelers all won on Sunday and Manning (234), Rivers (227) and Roethlisberger (222) are all climbing their way up the NFL’s all-time touchdown pass list. Manning is two scoring passes short of tying George Blanda (236) for 20th place on the all-time rankings and it’s not inconceivable that all three 11-year pros could be in the Top 20 by season’s end…
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