The Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills are among the NFL teams that should be on upset alert entering Week 3 of the season.
Each week in the NFL season is filled with its own storylines, and the main takeaway from Week 2 was the epic collapse. Three huge collapses — or epic comebacks, from a certain point of view — defined the week in a league that has a few clear top dogs and a lot of chaos in the middle class.
Avoiding upsets is a hard job in this version of the NFL, a lesson that the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts learned the hard way in Week 2. Let’s take a look at three teams that should be on upset alert in Week 3, beginning with the defending Super Bowl champions.
3 Teams That Should Be On Upset Alert In Week 3
3. Los Angeles Rams
There certainly appears to be some kind of Super Bowl hangover for the Rams, who have looked very sloppy over the first two weeks of the season. The Buffalo Bills blew them out in Week 1, and it looked like the Rams were well on their way to a resounding victory over the lowly Atlanta Falcons in Week 2 before things got wacky.
Atlanta cut a 31-10 fourth-quarter deficit to 31-25 and was driving with the football before a late pick helped seal the Rams’ win. Los Angeles may be able to get away with a sloppy effort against a bad team at home, but they will need to step up their game going forward.
Week 3 sees the Rams hit the road for their first divisional matchup as 3.5-point favorites against the Arizona Cardinals, who pulled off a huge comeback on the road to stun the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2. Winning road divisional games isn’t easy, and the Cardinals will be highly motivated to get revenge on the Rams for last year’s playoff defeat, making this a dangerous game for Los Angeles if they continue their sluggish play to start the season.
2. Buffalo Bills
There is little doubt after two weeks that the NFL’s best team is the Bills. Buffalo has not only won its first two games by a combined score of 72-17, but the team has beaten the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Rams, and last year’s No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Tennessee Titans.
Josh Allen has the Bills’ offense clicking on all cylinders despite the departure of offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to New York. Buffalo’s defense has given opposing quarterbacks fits as Von Miller has brought new life to the pass rush. While it is fairly obvious that the path to the Lombardi Trophy will go through Orchard Park, the Bills will still have to navigate a very difficult AFC to get there.
One big test for Buffalo comes this week as they hit the road for a divisional matchup against the 2-0 Dolphins. Oddsmakers have set the Bills 5.5-point favorites in South Florida but, as we said with the Rams, winning road divisional games is never easy.
Miami made a statement on Sunday by coming back to beat the Baltimore Ravens and rallying from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit behind a 469-yard passing day from Tua Tagovailoa. Playing in Miami in September also isn’t easy, as the forecast calls for 85-degree temperatures on Sunday. This could take a toll on the Bills and open the door for the Dolphins to pull an upset.
1. Cincinnati Bengals
While we discussed the Super Bowl hangover with the Rams, the Bengals have had a much rougher go of it in the early going. After early turnovers and missed kicks doomed Cincinnati in Week 1, the Bengals wasted a potential get-right game against Cooper Rush and the Dallas Cowboys in a 20-17 loss.
The big issue for Cincinnati has been its continual poor play on the offensive line, which has allowed Joe Burrow to get hit early and often over the first two weeks of the season. This development is alarming since the Bengals invested significant resources into their line during the offseason but have yet to see any payoff from those investments.
Now 0-2, the Bengals hit the road again as five-point favorites against the New York Jets, who pulled off an epic comeback of their own to stun the Cleveland Browns in Week 2. The Jets have the kind of pass rushers who can make Burrow’s life miserable, including former Bengal Carl Lawson, who will be motivated to have a big day against his former employer.
MetLife Stadium also hasn’t been a friendly environment for these Bengals, who infamously lost the Mike White game to the Jets in New Jersey last season. Cincinnati will need to step up its level of play in a big way if they hope to avoid an 0-3 start, which would put their hopes of making another deep playoff run in significant jeopardy.