NFL Rumors: Jerry Jones takes blame, Steelers deadline plans, Vikings coach buzz

In what feels like an eye blink, Week 3 of the NFL season has come to its conclusion. We're nearly a full month into the 2024 campaign, and it's safe to say that there have been tons of surprises so far.

Did anyone have the Cincinnati Bengals starting 0-3? What about the Minnesota Vikings going 3-0? It's still pretty early, but there are teams that look better and worse than most NFL fans expected entering the season.

With the season picking up steam, the NFL rumor mill is buzzing. Here are the latest rumors on that front for your consumption on t Wednesday afternoon.

NFL Rumors: Brian Flores receiving tons of head coaching buzz

As mentioned above, one of the biggest shocks thus far in the 2024 campaign has been the play of the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota beating the New York Giants to begin the season was expected, but they pulled off back-to-back wins against legitimate Super Bowl contenders in the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans. Sure, the 49ers were banged up, but they still found a way to win and then annihilated the Texans by a final score of 34-7.

Sam Darnold deserves a ton of praise for how well he has played thus far, but the Vikings' defense has completely stolen the show. Through the first three weeks of the season, they've allowed a total of 30 points, holding the Giants and Texans to single digits and keeping the 49ers under 20 points. They've allowed the second-fewest points in the NFL only trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A big reason for their emergence has to do with defensive coordinator Brian Flores who thanks to their early-season success, is receiving head coach buzz according to ESPN's Dan Graziano.

"My answer is a little bit complicated, because right now the buzziest coordinator in the league is former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who's in his second season running the Vikings' defense. On performance alone, he's unassailable. The Vikings have allowed a total of 30 points this season to the Giants, 49ers and Texans, and Flores is drawing raves for the way he disguises pressures and confuses quarterbacks. It started last season in Minnesota, but the players are executing it at a much higher level in Year 2 of the system."

Flores had an interesting tenure as a head coach with the Miami Dolphins, doing a decent job getting the most out of his players and putting together two winning seasons in his three years but also finding himself involved with tons of drama. His relationship with Tua Tagovailoa was and still is strained, to say the least.

Whether teams will take another chance on Flores as a head coach remains to be seen, especially when he has a lawsuit pending against the NFL alleging racial discrimination, but the fact that he is getting more buzz than any other coordinator is interesting and deserved.

NFL Rumors: Steelers trade deadline plans revealed

Another one of the big surprises thus far has been the play of the Pittsburgh Steelers who through the first three weeks are 3-0. They began the season with an impressive win on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, and followed that up with another road win against the Denver Broncos and a win in their home opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Their defense has been stellar, but Justin Fields has exceeded all expectations thus far filling in for the injured Russell Wilson. Through three games, the 25-year-old has completed 73.3 percent of his throws and has just one interception on his ledger. He hasn't taken many risks, but what he's been doing in Arthur Smith's offense has been good enough. Mike Tomlin still won't fully commit to him as the team's starter, for some reason, but it's hard to envision Pittsburgh removing him from the starting lineup even if Wilson is healthy, barring unforeseen struggles.

While the Steelers might not be considered Super Bowl contenders, they're absolutely playoff contenders. For them to make it to the playoffs and potentially do some damage in January, they're going to need to bolster their receiving corps. Fortunately, according to Graziano, Pittsburgh is expected to be active in the receiver trade market at this year's trade deadline.

"The Steelers were active on the wide receiver market in the offseason -- remember, they had a real chance to land Brandon Aiyuk had the 49ers not been able to extend him -- and I expect them to continue to monitor the receiver trade market as the deadline approaches."

The Steelers are 3-0, but their offense, even with Fields playing well, has been less than stellar. The team has averaged just 17.0 points per game thus far, fewer than teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos. A lot of that has to do with there being no reliable option not named George Pickens, even if Calvin Austin III did have a good game in Week 3.

Two names Graziano links to the Steelers are DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk, both of which would represent major upgrades over the complimentary pieces like Austin and Van Jefferson that the Steelers have right now and would go a long way in making this offense more dynamic.

NFL Rumors: Jerry Jones takes blame for lackluster Cowboys start

Yet another surprise to the 2024 NFL season has been the start that the Dallas Cowboys have gotten off to. They looked very good in their Week 1 win on the road against the Cleveland Browns, but that appears to have been more about the Browns being subpar than it is about the Cowboys being good, as they were embarrassed in each of their next two games, both at home.

Dallas lost its home opener 44-19 against a New Orleans Saints team that managed just 12 points against a floundering Philadelphia Eagles defense. They then nearly completed an epic comeback against the Baltimore Ravens, but for the first three quarters, were dominated on their home turf.

Many Cowboys fans have blamed new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer for their early-season woes, understandably, but the No. 1 punching bag for Cowboys fans has been owner and general manager Jerry Jones, which is often the case in Dallas.

Instead of deflecting blame, Jones, somewhat shockingly, took the blame in stride on the "Shan and RJ" show on 105.3 The Fan.

"That's very fair," Jones said Tuesday. "It's well known that no decision is ultimately made here for what I either have acquiesced [to] or approved it. That's very fair. How could you think otherwise, whether it be who's out there coaching, whether it be who's out there playing, whether it be the stadium you're walking into? Whatever it is here, that's the way it is."

Jones has the final say in everything, from personnel to coaching hires. When the team underperforms, the one who put it together always deserves part of the blame, at the very least.

To the surprise of mostly nobody, what has really held this Cowboys team back has been its ground game. For whatever reason, Jones thought that 29-year-old Ezekiel Elliott was good enough to be their starter at this stage of his career, and he has been proven wrong very quickly, with Dallas ranking 30th in the NFL thus far, averaging just 73.7 rushing yards per game.

That's one of many areas Dallas is going to have to improve if they want to turn their season around.