Things I noticed: Week 3

The first couple weeks of the NFL season have shown us a record setting pace for passing yardage across the league.  Would the trend continue, or are defenses finally catching up?

Here are some things that I noticed this week.

• The Bills legitimized their fast start to the season with a shocking upset against the Patriots, their first against New England in their last 16 meetings.  Buffalo erased a 21 point deficit, sealing the victory with a FG as time expired.
• The Bills were aided by a bogus unnecessary roughness call against New England in the game's final minute.   Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbled the snap, leading to a pile up where the Patriots believed they had come away with the ball.  None of the Bills players seemed all that confident that they hadn't lost the ball.  Luckily for them, the refs seemed to ignore the fact a fumble ever occurred, instead throwing a flag for contact after they assumed the play was over.  With the ball loose the Patriots players should have been allowed to jump into the pile for it.  To top off the botched call, the refs reported the penalty on a player (Logan Mankins) that wasn't even on the field!  The penalty gave the Bills a first down, which allowed them to run the clock all the way down before they kicked the game winning FG.
• Tom Brady, who threw 4 INTs all of last season, threw 4 of them in this game, one of which was returned for a TD.  Despite another big yardage day, Tom was far from terrific today, so maybe he won't run away with the MVP race after all.
• In his defense, two of those INTs were on tipped passes, and another can be blamed on the poor route taken by Ochocinco.  So his poor play wasn't entirely his fault.
• Wes Welker caught 16 passes for a career high 217 yards and two TDs.  So at least someone played well for the Patriots this week.  Entering the game, Welker had never topped 100 yards or scored a TD against Buffalo in his career.
• It looked like a battle between FG kickers in Cincinnati until Kendall Hunter finally scored the game's first TD with about 4 minutes left in the game.  
• Aside from the TD, Hunter didn't impress much with his 2.9 yards per carry, but it was better than Gore's 2.5 average.  As poorly as Gore has played, it might not take much for him to start losing carries to Hunter.  Gore also injured his ankle in the game, which could factor in depending on the severity of the injury.
• Andy Dalton had gotten off to a good start in his rookie season, but he failed to come through in what looked to be a winnable game.  157 yards and 2 INTs isn't going to get it done, even against the 49ers.
• Colt McCoy connected with Mohamed Massaquoi for the game winning TD with under a minute remaining.  Miami once again finds a way to give games away.
• Cleveland won despite playing without Madden 12 cover boy, Peyton Hillis.  Which means this week they were exempt from the Madden Curse.
• The Titans rallied to beat Denver, but it came at the price of losing Kenny Britt to an ugly knee injury (torn ACL, MCL) that caused him to carted off the field.  Looks like a season ending injury for the promising young star.
• As for the most overpaid running back in the league?  Chris Johnson rushed 13 times for a miserable 21 yards.  At least he added 54 receiving yards, including a key 34 yard catch on 3rd down that helped set up their first TD.
• The Lions are off to a 3-0 start for the first time in over 30 years after beating the Vikings with a FG in overtime.  
• Matthew Stafford (378 yards) continued his great rapport with Calvin Johnson (108 yards), connecting with him for both of his TD passes.
• For the 3rd straight week, the Vikings gave up a lead in the second half.  Adrian Peterson, who dominated in the first half (73 yards and a TD), hardly touched the ball in the second half.
• How much longer until McNabb loses his job as the starting QB?  If rookie Christian Ponder is showing any sign of talent in practice then it may be sooner rather than later.
• Drew Brees erupted in the 4th quarter, leading 3 TD drives, including one that ended with a 13 yard TD run by Mark Ingram to put the Saints ahead for good in this good old fashioned shoot out with the Texans.
• With Arian Foster out again with a nagging hamstring injury, Ben Tate had a chance to become only the 2nd RB in history to rush for over 100 yards in each of his first three career starts.  He came up short, with only 82 yards, but has shown enough already to give the Texans confidence that their ground attack will be just fine even without the league's reigning rushing leader.
• For the second straight week, Michael Vick left the game early with an injury.  It was questionable whether he should have been out there to begin with after suffering a concussion last week, but it was a broken right hand that forced him out this time.  The lefty says he'll try to be back on the field next week, but it will be a week long question mark hanging over the Eagles once again.
• The Giants took advantage of Vick's absence to get a big win in Philadelphia.  Given the injuries that depleted the Giants secondary early in the season, who would have thought they'd lead the Eagles in the standings at any point this year?  Thanks to the injury to Vick, that's the case for now.
• In a related note, football is a dangerous game.  
• With injuries limiting the depth of the Giants receiving corps, Victor Cruz stepped up to be the hero with a game high 110 yards and 2 TDs.  His first was a 74 yard catch and run that demonstrated some of the worst tackling you'll ever see from the Eagles defense.  Apparently Asomugha is thrown at so infrequently that he's forgotten how to tackle.
• Cam Newton's run of 400+ passing yard games came to an end, but he did get his first career victory.  I'm pretty sure he'll take that trade off.
• Maurice Jones-Drew (167 total yards) is the lone bright spot on the Jacksonville offense. Without him it would be a wonder if they ever managed to move the ball.
• The Tampa Bay Bucs withstood a Falcon's rally to hold on for a big win at home.  Josh Freeman had a very underwhelming day, but he made some key plays with his legs to run for first downs and even ran one in for a score.
• Atlanta got behind early, which pretty much took Michael Turner out of the game early considering he's next to useless in passing situations.  Matt Ryan did his best to help make up for it, with Roddy White and Julio Jones both going over the 100 yard mark, while the reliable veteran Tony Gonzalez added a TD catch.
• Well, the Chiefs didn't get blown out this week, so that's an improvement.  After losing their first two games by a combined 79 points, Kansas City showed some signs off life by scoring 17 second half points to close the gap with the Chargers.  Sure, they still lost, but it's a start.
• The Chiefs are terrified of giving too many touches to 170 pound Dexter McCluster, but when the alternative is handing off to the ancient Thomas Jones, I think it may be beneficial to feed him the ball a bit more.  With Jamaal Charles out for the season, McCluster is their most explosive weapon.
• Speaking of running back duos, I thought the Chargers were supposed to have a split in their backfield, but it was Ryan Mathews (21 carries, 98 yards) carrying the load in favor of Mike Tolbert (4 carries, 19 yards).  If Mathews can stay healthy and keep up that kind of production then he'll have a chance to keep the bigger role in this time share.
• The Raiders battered Mark Sanchez, sacking him 4 times (and they all looked painful), in their upset win over the Jets.  
• So wait, if the Jets lost... and the Pats lost... so are you telling me that the Buffalo Bills are in first place in the AFC East??  That removes a bit of the luster from the whole New York/New England rivalry.  I'm going to need some time to let this sink in.
• Oakland appears to be one of the few teams left in the league capable of still running the ball in this pass wacky era we live in.  If you're going to move the ball against the Jets, with their tandem of Revis and Cromartie shutting down every receiver that comes their way, you have to be able to effectively run the ball.  Darren McFadden got the memo, rushing for 171 yards and a couple of TDs.
• It was like a bad case of deja vu for the Rams, as every time they looked they were getting burned by Torrey Smith for a TD.  He caught three of them in the first quarter on his way to a 152 yard receiving day as the Ravens blew out the Rams.
• That was nice of the Ravens to let the Rams get on the scoreboard in the second half so they could go home feeling good about themselves.  Or as good as they could feel after getting crushed by 30 points.
• Actually the one score the Rams did get was a beauty.  Sam Bradford, on the run, unleashed a rocket that found Brandon Gibson, who did an impressive job of his own to come down with his feet in the endzone.
• Ray Rice had a decent day when you combine his yardage through the ground and air (162 total yards), but his fantasy owners (including yours truly) can't be happy that Joe Flacco had more rushing attempts (9) than Rice did (8) in a game the Ravens led the entire way.
• The Seahawks took the lead after a gutsy headfirst dive into the endzone by Tavaris Jackson.  If Michael Vick made the same play we'd be questioning his decision making for taking such a risk, but when Jackson does it... great play!  Probably because had he gotten injured on the play, would the Seahawks really be losing much?
• Remember before the season when some people questioned whether Kevin Kolb could be a legit starting QB?  Losing to Seattle while throwing more INTs than TDs makes those people smile.
• JerMichael Finely was a beast, hauling in 3 TD catches in the Packers win in Chicago.  You could argue Finely is their most dangerous receiving option and this team just won a Super Bowl without him!  
• Just when it looked like James Starks had stolen away the role of lead running back in the Packers offense, he hands it back to Ryan Grant on a silver platter.  His 11 carries for a miserable 5 yards was a far cry from Grant's 17 carry, 92 yard performance.  Grant, who missed almost all of last season with a knee injury, is only a year removed from back-to-back 1,200 yard rushing seasons.  Don't forget about him.
• Poor Jay Cutler.  When he had the chance to try to lead a comeback for the Bears, the refs missed a blatant pass interference call that otherwise could have led to a long TD reception.  Then Johnny Knox drops a perfectly thrown pass for what would have been another big gain.  Sure, he still struggled and threw a couple more INTs in the game, but it should have been a lot better than it looked.
• What's up with these Sunday Night games being so exciting?  For the third straight week the SNF game came down to the wire.  The Manning-less Colts didn't appear to have a chance against the defending AFC Champion, but they put a scare into the Steelers, who finally put the Colts away with a FG in the last few seconds of the game.
• The Steelers appeared to be on their way to dominating the game early until they temporarily fell apart near the end of the half.  Their two minute drill was a disaster, as a Ben Roethlisberger fumble was returned for a TD.  He then threw an INT that set up a Colts FG just before halftime.  10 points in about 90 seconds and suddenly the Colts were back in the game.
• Kerry Collins was knocked out of the game with a concussion.  Curtis Painter took his place and after some early struggles, managed to put together a few drives that gave his team a chance to win.  It will go down as another loss, but it's the best this team has looked all year.
• Playing with broken ribs, Tony Romo didn't have much to work with on Monday night, but somehow managed to pull off a win against their rival Redskins.  The win was the first home opening victory for Dallas since they moved into their new mega stadium three years ago.
• Miles Austin missed the game with injury and Dez Bryant was limited due to an injury of his own.  That left the Cowboys with a group of inexperienced receivers, and it showed.  Romo repeatedly showed his frustration as receivers messed up their routes.  On top of that, his center snapped the ball early at least 4 times, leading to broken plays and stalled drives.  
• Felix Jones had a big game (115 yards) that included several big plays, including a run for 40 yards and another for 29.  Before that, Dallas hadn't had a running play for over 10 yards all season.
• The winning drive for Dallas came after Romo converted an unlikely 3rd and 21 by connecting with Dez Bryant.  For reasons known only to them, Washington sent an 8 man blitz on the play, leaving Bryant single covered for a 30 yard gain (which was made worse by a facemask penalty that tacked on another 15 yards).  Had the Redskins not blitzed and instead held more defenders back in coverage they likely would have prevented Dallas from converting.  Their poor play calling put the Cowboys in range for the game winning FG.
• Since 1990, when the current playoff format was adopted, 76% of teams that started the season 3-0 have gone on to make the playoffs.  The teams that got there this week - Green Bay, Detroit, and Buffalo.  Raise your hand if you picked all three of those teams to be the last remaining undefeated teams at this point in the season.  Ok, but your hands down, liars.
• Buffalo and Detroit are tied for the longest postseason draughts, with neither team making the playoffs since 1999.  So if they both make it, does that mean we get to party like it's 1999?