The 2026 NFL season was running low on close games with just 15-of-33 games presenting a game-winning drive opportunity to start the year. But Sunday changed that with 12 such games, and we saw nine game-winning drives after 10 in Weeks 1-2 combined. It was one of the most competitive days in NFL history, and the only surprise is none of the games reached overtime.
But despite 10 new head coaches and 21 new offensive coordinators, it’s surprising how little positive change we’ve seen around the NFL from last year.
Sure, the Patriots looking much worse against a tough September schedule isn’t a surprise. The Chargers, Texans, and Buccaneers are all 0-3 and playing poorly. But a lot of teams look like the teams we saw last year:
- The Broncos are still relying on huge second-half comebacks while the Rams blew their third 16-point lead since 2025.
- The Bengals are now 1-34 with Joe Burrow at quarterback when trailing in the final 8:00, and the Steelers had the Tomlin Special with an unexpected clutch win as a home underdog after the defense came up with the strip-sack.
- The 49ers are piling up injuries and wins at the same time.
- Jacoby Brissett is putting up passing volume and losses for Arizona at the same time.
- Detroit needs to score 31 points to have a chance to win with their one-man defense (Aidan Hutchinson).
- Geno Smith has improved the Jets’ offense, but he can’t help Aaron Glenn’s defense get a single interception (20 games and counting).
- The Bills can still drop five turnovers at random, and Chargering is still on brand.
- Kyler Murray hasn’t been efficient as the Vikings rely on improbable wins (par for the course for KOC).
- The Cowboys and Ravens kept the win probability charting jumping in the fourth quarter, a reminder you can’t trust either team in big games.
- No second-year quarterback magic to turn a team around after Jaxon Dart had a season-ending injury for the Giants, Cam Ward actually looks worse instead of better in Tennessee, and Tyler Shough can’t seem to play a 60-minute game for the Saints.
At this point, the 3-0 Raiders and 2-1 Browns might actually be the teams that shock the NFL world with their rookie coaches and different veteran quarterbacks taking over. But they’ll play their arch rivals in the Chiefs and Steelers in Week 4, so we’ll see just how real that change is and how much is playing opponents who haven’t actually changed much from 2025.
This season in NFL Stat Oddity:
Bengals at Steelers: Game of the Week
I usually have a solid read on Steelers-Bengals game but not this time. I thought Aaron Rodgers was going to have to throw it 40+ times in a one-dimensional offense that had shown zero ability to run the ball, and they’d have to do it against a new-look Cincinnati defense that was stopping the run (149 yards allowed in two games) without Rico Dowdle, and Jaylen Warren was reportedly banged up in practice late in the week.
However, right from the first drive, you could see Rodgers was dialed in and determined to shred a defense he attacked relentlessly in Cincinnati last year in the Unc Bowl. Rodgers was sharp, they moved the pocket for him so he wasn’t a sitting duck all day, and the receivers had fewer mistakes with drops this week.
Rodgers threw two touchdowns in the first quarter, breaking an embarrassing streak as the Steelers finally scored more than 7 points in an opening quarter. Their 72-game drought of not doing that was the longest (playoffs included) in the NFL since 1940.
And yet, it almost didn’t matter that Rodgers doubled the number of offensive touchdown drives this team had in Weeks 1-2 in one quarter, because the defense wasn’t showing up this week. T.J. Watt wasn’t getting his pressures, and the Bengals were slicing and dicing through a secondary that still didn’t have corner Joey Porter Jr. That led to a lot of free releases for Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase as Joe Burrow completed his first 14 passes, and he even got a touchdown to Higgins while Higgins’ ass was going to the ground.
Roman Wilson did tip a Rodgers completion into an interception before halftime, and that was a big swing as the Bengals used that to get a game-tying touchdown drive to make it 17-17 at the break. The Bengals had their blunders on special teams with a roughing the punter and muffed punt, which led to more scores from the Steelers.
Tied at 27, Jaylen Warren had an 87-yard run negated by a holding penalty from D.K. Metcalf, who did a better job of minimizing his mistakes this week, but that penalty could have been a huge one. Speaking of huge, tight end Darnell Washington proved once again why it’s coaching malpractice that he doesn’t get more targets after his 47-yard YAC-filled stomping of the Cincinnati defense.
Warren should have had a 32-yard touchdown run to take the lead on the next snap, but he stumbled and fell, possibly winded from the 87-yard run that didn’t count earlier. In the end, that cost the Steelers 4 points as they couldn’t get the touchdown, but it did at least help burn over three full minutes off the clock.
Still, the Bengals were only down 30-27 and had plenty of time (2:08) from their own 30. But this has always been the test for Burrow and the Bengals, and sure enough, it was another failure as they looked out of sorts right from the start, needing to burn a timeout before the first snap from scrimmage on the drive as their process wasn’t ready to get the play in.
While Chase made a nice move to get 17 yards into Pittsburgh territory, the drive again went haywire out of the two-minute warning after Burrow threw a late checkdown to Chase Brown that lost 4 yards and 35 seconds on the clock. While Chase converted the 3rd-and-8 to the Pittsburgh 38, the drive was about to implode just as CBS announcer Ian Eagle said Burrow’s “had a flair for the dramatic” in his young career.
Derrick Harmon was the one this time with the pursuit of Burrow, who initially got away only to cough up the ball instead of protecting it on first down. The Steelers got the recovery with 44 seconds left and that’s all she wrote on this one. Steelers get the 30-27 win in exactly the kind of game the Bengals never seem to win with Burrow at quarterback.
Burrow is now 1-34 when trailing in the final 8:00 in his NFL career. The only win was in 2022 at New Orleans. Zac Taylor is now 2-18 (.100) when the Bengals allow 28+ points with Burrow at quarterback and 3-9 (.250) in such games without Burrow. Why do you have the most expensive QB-WR-WR trio in NFL history if they always lose this kind of shootout?
I have covered this for years, including this summer in my Cincinnati preview. The people who try to claim the stat is fake news are just angry that it’s undeniably true:
- While Burrow is 6-21 (.222) at all opportunities when he’s trailed by one score in the fourth quarter or overtime, five of those six wins saw him take the lead for good before the 8:00 mark. Only the 2022 Saints game came later in the game.
- If you study front-runner quarterbacks, which has included the likes of Len Dawson, Bart Starr, Kurt Warner, Cam Newton, and Aaron Rodgers in the past, you’ll find an uncanny correlation that not only do they tend to have fewer 4QC victories than their peers, but the quality of their successes are usually weaker (i.e. smaller deficits, performed earlier in the quarter instead of later, and usually against lesser opponents).
- So, instead of using 7:30 to signify the last half of the fourth quarter, we can just round it to 8:00 because the stat is still 100% true. Burrow has one such win in his NFL career.
- As for the other side of the record, Burrow has lost 36 games including the playoffs. He’s left two losses early before the fourth quarter even started (2020 Washington when he tore his ACL, 2023 Baltimore when he was injured on TNF), so we remove those two games, and that’s how you end up with 1-34.
It’s a horrific record for someone who is supposed to be a top quarterback. Patrick Mahomes is 17-35 (.327) in the same situation. Lamar Jackson is now 11-33 (.250) after starting 1-1 this season. Josh Allen is 15-42 (.263) after starting 2-0 this season.
This is who Burrow has been, and in his first opportunity to turn things around in an important AFC North game, he had one of his worst blunder drives yet.
Meanwhile, Rodgers becomes the 13th quarterback with 40 game-winning drives. It took him the most games (290), four more than Brett Favre needed, as they stand out as outliers here (fittingly).
But in a battle of two of the all-time frontrunners, Rodgers showed he’s still got something in that arm as long as his guys are catching the ball for him. Burrow’s still got some growth to do as he continues to come up short in these situations.
Tale as old as time…
Rams at Broncos: Is It Still 2025?
I wish I had more to say about this one, but you likely saw it play out on SNF with 40 points in the last 1.5 quarters after the Rams were seemingly in control with a 16-0 lead. But when you’re playing Denver, that’s not the end of the game anymore as Bo Nix just seems to wake up when he’s down in the second half.
This game was certainly in his 2025 wheelbarrow, but with Matthew Stafford throwing 55 passes and Nix throwing 34, you’d think the roles were reversed on who was up 16-0. But the Rams threw this one away in similar fashion to their blown leads of 16 and 19 to the Eagles and Seahawks last year on the road too.
Nix threw a bad pick that led to a Rams’ field goal, but then Stafford threw an ugly pick-six (his 33rd; the most in NFL history) that gave the Broncos a 23-19 lead. Stafford answered right back with big throws for 78 yards on three completions to Mumpfield, who was filling in with Puka Nacua out again.
But the Broncos had one more moment of controversy in them with Pat Bryant selling what looked like a game-changing interception in the red zone with 1:09 left. It sure looked like a pick after the receiver cared more about embellishing contact to get a flag than he did actually trying to catch the ball. That was one of the worst calls I saw all Sunday and would not have threw a flag there.
With new life, the Broncos found the end zone eventually with Nix doing the old Brees/Stafford sneak of sticking the ball out before pulling it back quickly. Down 30-26 with just 0:42 left, Stafford did a nice job of driving the ball to the 14 with a chance to win. But I’m not sure what Stafford thought he saw on the final play as the pass was easily intercepted, and Denver held on for the 30-26 comeback win to drop the Rams to 1-2.
The usual caveats: Puka Nacua and Myles Garrett were out. Pretty big deal when you’re talking about the receiver who always gets open and the reigning DPOY. Aaron Donald also isn’t fully back after two years off, and maybe he never gets back on track as an elite player. But he’s still not going to be 100% after two games.
We can’t really call the Rams a superteam if they’ve never put their best players on the field in the same game. However, those new additions at corner were supposed to fix a leaky secondary that hurt them in spots last year, and that was not the case in this game as Nix came alive with his receivers in the second half.
At least the special teams weren’t horrific for the Rams this time. But this was such a 2025 loss for the Rams and such a 2025 win for the Broncos, who got a whopping 10 yards on 7 targets out of Jaylen Waddle, who has been a bust in 2-of-3 games so far.
It’s early, but these teams still seem to be playing that volatile level of ball that could easily implode on them in a big game against a competent opponent.
Ravens at Cowboys: Brazil Gets the Full NFL Experience (Minus Overtime)
The field seemed to hold up fine in Brazil, though the game was fairly defensive for 2.5 quarters before things started to open up more. The Ravens didn’t ignore Derrick Henry in the second half this week, though they may have wished they had gone away from him on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 where he was stuffed for a 3-yard loss with the Ravens up 24-21.
The Cowboys actually turned that into a 96-yard touchdown drive to take the lead, then stuffed Henry again on 3rd-and-1 for a quick three-and-out. That’s when it felt like maybe this day would be different for the predictable Cowboys, who usually lose such a game. But then the offense went three-and-out, and Jackson drove the Ravens 64 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:30 left.
Dak Prescott had the Cowboys driving again, though I think the DPI penalty on Nate Wiggins in coverage with CeeDee Lamb was a terrible call. That’s either OPI, something on both, or let them play and don’t flag anything. They picked the fourth and worst option.
But Dallas did not embrace the moment of the gift. You get first-and-goal at the 2 with one timeout left, you have to get that TD. Settling for the game-tying field goal is not great. Let’s win this now. But the Cowboys didn’t call great plays, they had a big false start penalty, and Prescott just threw the ball away on third down as he was allegedly directed to even though George Pickens appeared wide open in the end zone. Dak just threw it away over him.
I get the sense of caution down there, especially for the new overtime rules that make it fairer. But you have to try to get the touchdown, and I think Dallas missed a big opportunity there. They scored with 7 seconds left, then more mistakes happened.
First, I think the touchback at the 35 is a horrible rule. I know we’re never going back to the 20-yard line as was the standard in the 2000s. I could live with the 30-yard line after a touchback too if it means a few more kick returns. But the 35 is just absurd as you can now complete one pass and suddenly you’re in makeable field-goal range with the way the kickers are these days.
That’s what happened again too. Just when you thought we’d get overtime, the Cowboys kicked it deep, and that’s probably the worst time for Aubrey to have a big leg as it didn’t burn any clock and it put the ball at the Baltimore 35. Lamar Jackson threw a deep pass to Zay Flowers for 27 yards, and they got done with 0:01 left before using that final timeout. The kind of drive you don’t probably get if Flowers was inactive as you’re not trusting Rashod Bateman in that spot.
Can you trust second-year kicker Tyler Loop? A bit easier than his Week 18 gag in Pittsburgh as the playoffs weren’t literally on the line this time. If he missed, the game would have just gone to overtime. That’s why I think it’s a big confidence builder to see him make that one from 56 yards out to lift the Ravens to a 36-30 win.
It wasn’t the prettiest way to get there, but the Ravens didn’t blow another one. But if that ball was 5 yards further back, then you’re looking at a 61-yard field goal. That feels fairer than the 35 and a 27-yard pass getting you right not 56-yard range. Just my pet peeve and something I hope the league reconsiders.
Chargers at Bills: I Think I’m Out on Justin Herbert
As much as I wanted to slot Justin Herbert into the Dan Marino/early Peyton Manning/Drew Brees “Savior” archetype of great quarterbacks, he’s just not that guy anymore. Maybe he never was as his best years were his first two COVID-era years in 2020-21, and the Chargers wasted that potential.
Since then, it’s been a slow decline that we blamed on the turnover of his receivers and offensive line injuries. But in a situation that was supposed to open up the offense this year, Herbert has never been worse on the deep balls, and his decision making looks like that of a guy who is studying Madison Beer instead of his next opponent.
Even with his defense giving him five turnovers (sound familiar?), Herbert lost in Buffalo after throwing this fourth-quarter pick with a chance to add to the lead he did little to build in the first place:
The Bills were having their annual meltdown game with turnovers a bit earlier than usual, and yet Herbert couldn’t take much advantage as the Chargers had no touchdowns on their final 10 drives after starting the game with a 47-yard march after a James Cook fumble.
Josh Allen had the kind of 3-turnover game that reminds you why he’s never been a first-team All-Pro, but he got two more of his 1-yard push touchdowns to pad his total on the year. That was enough combined with a good running game from Cook (154 yards) to close the Chargers with the defense stepping up when it needed to again.
But I don’t actually buy that the Bills won a game they usually lose. They won a game the Chargers always lose. That’s just the truth. Now 0-3, it’s a matter of seeing how bad things can get for Harbaugh and Herbert.
Texans at Colts: Stroud Burnt By the Sun
An AFC South battle to determine who would get a win and who would fall to 0-3. In the end, the Texans took their lumps on the road, burning out in the awful sun-spotted Lucas Oil Stadium after giving up a late lead to Daniel Jones on a game-winning drive after C.J. Stroud had given his team a 17-16 lead with 1:48 left.
For all the hype about Houston’s defense, 2026 just hasn’t been their year. While they did force three takeaways in this game, they couldn’t stop the Colts from using most of the clock on the go-ahead field goal, leaving Stroud with just 11 seconds and no timeouts left to answer. His Hail Mary came up short, and for the second year in a row, the Texans are 0-3.
They obviously rebounded to make the playoffs just as they did from an 0-3 start in 2018 under a different regime. But this is unlikely to happen again, and with Nico Collins out, Stroud just doesn’t have his best weapon and he’s struggling to elevate the remaining receivers.
If Stroud really did turn down a deal worth over $50M, it’s going to probably be a big mistake as his value continues to drop each week while this team keeps losing. As for the Colts, I’m not sure it’s a win to get them on the right path to anywhere meaningful, but it’s good to get a win and avoid 0-3.
Chiefs at Dolphins: Vintage 2021 Chiefs Performance
The Chiefs have to be doing something right if they’re winning by 14 points on the road without playing even a B-game in my view. But the Dolphins being such a weak roster helped with that, and yet this was still a 17-10 game in the fourth quarter as the Chiefs looked like a vintage version of their flawed 2021 selves:
- Rashee Rice tipped a pass into an interception after Patrick Mahomes hit his first 11 throws.
- Kenneth Walker is breaking a ton of tackles because the run blocking isn’t good and he’s being met in the backfield often; the Dolphins have defended the run well this year (their only good unit, arguably) and they stuffed the Chiefs several times to keep this close for a while.
- The Chiefs look like they’re back to a team where Mahomes and Kelce are carrying the load even though Kelce was only targeted on the first play (48 yards) and one of the last for a touchdown to put it away.
- Mahomes was 20-of-24 with a throwaway and drop despite solid pressure in his face from the Dolphins.
- Penalties on the offensive line made some drives harder than it used to be (redundant).
It’s a 24-10 win nonetheless, but it still feels a little disappointing given the way they started hot with two touchdown drives on offense. As for the controversial roughing the passer penalty, it’s a moot point. It only got attention because it benefitted the Chiefs even though the dreaded “body weight” rule for roughing has been in place since 2018 and we’ve already seen it applied in other games this year, including Vikings vs. Packers (the original inspiration for it) in Week 1.
Besides, there was a flag for defensive holding on Miami picked up on that play, so it was a first down either way for the Chiefs. I’m more worried that Rice dropped the ball on that play too, though he at least made up for some of his mistakes with 7 catches for 88 yards on the day.
The Chiefs are using more play-action, so that is a positive change for the offense. But if Mahomes and Kelce aren’t playing at a high level, what exactly is this team right now? Guess we’ll find out soon with tougher games to come.
Jets at Lions: The Mentee Can’t Intercept His Mentor
Geno Smith has definitely energized the offense for the Jets, and he’s no stranger to playing shootouts with the Lions in Detroit as he did with Seattle for a few years in a row recently. He threw for 321 yards on 31-of-37 passing in this one, and yet it wasn’t even enough to get to overtime as the Lions held on for the 31-24 win.
Without a running game to support him, Smith put on a good effort to bring the Jets back to a tie before the defense gave up another touchdown drive. Trying to answer, the fifth and final sack of the day forced Smith to cough up the ball with 45 seconds left to end the threat.
But the story here is Aaron Glenn’s New York defense has now gone 20 games without an interception. Since 1940, the only other streaks longer than 10 games belong to the 2024 Giants (11 games) and 2024-25 49ers (14 games). This kind of drought is more possible in today’s game with relatively fewer picks overall, but it’s astonishing that any defense can go 20 games without a pick.
Pure dumb luck should get you one on a fortunate bounce like we see in the NFL every week. I thought Goff would give them one against his team’s former defensive coordinator, but he hasn’t thrown any yet this season.
The Jets will give it another shot in Chicago next week against some kind of backup quarterback with Caleb Williams out 3-4 weeks. At least the offense is watchable this year, but it won’t matter if the defense isn’t getting any takeaways.
Vikings at Buccaneers: Defund the NFC South Pt. 1
At least we know the reason Kevin O’Connell never wins a playoff game is because he uses up all his devil magic to win regular-season games like this. The Vikings are 3-0 but at what cost? Kyler Murray finished this game, Justin Jefferson didn’t, and the offense was messy with 16 points on 13 drives. The reality was even worse than that average as they had great field position for the last two field goals after the Buccaneers punted nine times and threw two picks on their final drives.
Baker Mayfield tried to make something happen on 4th-and-13 deep in his own end, no man’s land, and he dislocated his thumb on the play. That led to rookie Jalon Daniels throwing a Hail Mary interception to end the game, but things were decided before that.
There’s just not much inspired football from the Bucs as the running game wasn’t there, Mayfield took six sacks against the blitz of Brian Flores’ defense, and you’re seeing a coordinator lead his team while a coach like Todd Bowles seems pretty aloof to the team surrounding him going back to late last year.
The Bucs are 2-10 since the bye week last year after a 6-2 start. I believe it’s 12 straight games where they didn’t cover the spread either, so this is underachieving of the highest order. Even in the NFC South, 0-3 is a rough hole to climb out of, and we’ll see what the prognosis is on Mayfield, but his extension is looking like a disaster.
Panthers at Browns: Defund the NFC South Pt. 2
Two teams that are tough to get a read on so far. The Panthers were scoring so well in the first two weeks, then were sitting on four field goals late into the fourth quarter, making it look like Cleveland still had Myles Garrett or something.
The Browns had that horrible Week 1 loss to the Jaguars, but they have calmed down on defense, and Deshaun Watson has found some success with his new receivers. He threw two touchdowns to Harold Fannin in this one, including the game winner with 1:48 left.
I saw a game similar to this playing out, but I thought Bryce Young would lift the Panthers to a GWD in the end. He had his chance, but like in the playoffs against the Rams, Young quickly went four-and-out. Then with one more chance in the final minute to set up a field goal, he threw a desperation interception with 0:09 left.
Suddenly, the 2-1 Browns are hosting the 2-1 Steelers for first place in the AFC North this Thursday night. As for the Panthers, I’m not sure where they go from here.
Raiders at Saints: Defund the NFC South Pt. 3
To end our NFC South trilogy, it looked like another banner day for Tyler Shough and the Saints after he threw four touchdown passes to his tight ends to take a 27-16 lead in the third quarter.
But this was the opposite script of what we’ve seen from him in the NFL as that great start led to a disastrous finish with the Saints turning it over four times in the fourth quarter, including three from Shough (two strip-sacks and a pick). The Raiders really had him in shambles.
Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins had another efficient game with 3 touchdown passes, and the return of Brock Bowers (10-116-1) was a reminder that he is the best in the game going forward at the position.
The Raiders are 3-0 as rookie coach Klint Kubiak is cooking, but we don’t have to wait long to learn just how real and sustainable this start is. The Raiders play the Chiefs, Patriots, Bills, and Rams in the next four games. We’ll review then.
Patriots at Jaguars: The Quarterback, the Schedule, His Coach, and His Lover
Getting blown out on a day no one else did is a bad look for the Patriots as this 35-6 loss was a brutal outcome for all involved. Drake Maye should get the headlines as the quarterback who has struggled for his last seven starts going back to the 2025 playoffs. I knew he’d struggle in the playoffs against real defenses, and I knew he’d have a tougher September against a schedule that wasn’t kind.
But I never imagined he’d be this overwhelmed and bad as the raw numbers don’t even do it justice when you consider the fumbles he didn’t lose. But on Sunday, he had some bad luck where a ball just came right out of his hand for a fumble when he was hoping to throw. Not that he was throwing it well in this game. Meanwhile, Trevor Lawrence had a nice day and saved his best throws for the red zone to cap off several drives.
However, Lawrence took the weirdest dive I think I’ve ever seen when he had a sure touchdown for the taking. There were just under 9:00 left with the Jaguars up 28-6, and Lawrence slowed down after breaking through tackles to take a knee at the 1-yard line instead of scoring to make it 35-6.
After the game, he mentioned he probably should have scored, then joked about Tuten’s fantasy scoring. Tuten ended up running in the 1-yard touchdown on the next snap anyway, so no harm there. But just a weird decision all around. Are you really that worried about the clock? I know New England was down 28-3 in the third quarter, but you’re playing The Adulterer and The Schedule, not The LOAT x2. Just score, man.
All we’re missing is some $1M position on Kalshi that Lawrence would NOT score a touchdown to make this a gambling conspiracy. But the Jaguars got the easy win while the Patriots are going to have to step up all around with Buffalo next.
Seahawks at Commanders: That Resets Expectations
I thought Seattle had a defense that was so reliable that you could lean on this unit to get through a rough patch even with Drew Lock replacing Sam Darnold. But despite Darnold’s return on Sunday and the Commanders starting veteran Marcus Mariota for an injured Jayden Daniels (elbow), Sunday was the day’s big upset as the Commanders took it to them in a 33-31 final.
As it turns out, maybe Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the most consistent part of this team as JSN put up 10/128/2 on 14 targets with Darnold back. JSN is having another elite season, but is it coming even more at the expense of the rest of the offense? The running game certainly didn’t show up (17 carries for 39 yards), and Darnold threw a bad pick-six in the fourth quarter when it was 27-24. They tried chasing that touchdown back the rest of the game.
But I’m not sure I’d freak out too much about the 27 points the defense allowed here. The Commanders had touchdown drives of 21 and 43 yards, which were set up on short fields by the offensive turnovers. The Commanders didn’t run well (32 carries for 82 yards), but it is troublesome that Mariota was efficient with three touchdown passes.
Then again, Mariota always seems to play well for the Commanders when he has to assume the job. I don’t know if it’s the kind of win that can prevent a lost season in Washington, but Dan Quinn needed this one badly and got it when we least expected it.
The loss ended up not hurting the Seahawks that badly since the Rams also lost on Sunday night.
Cardinals at 49ers: Brock Purdy MVP Campaign?
I’ve established the NFL has a Big 3 at quarterback in Mahomes, Allen, and Jackson. But if you’re going to pick who that No. 4 guy is, based on achievement, consistency, efficiency, impact, and the full body of work, I think 2026 is the season where Brock Purdy can earn that distinction.
He already had an MVP-caliber year in 2023 where schedule sequencing did him in. If the Baltimore game was in Week 4 instead of Christmas, and the game where he shredded the Eagles was on Christmas, he probably wins that MVP.
But I’m not going to talk about who deserves the 2026 MVP after Week 3. I’m just going to say that Purdy has probably been the most consistent, high-efficiency quarterback through Week 3, and if he can keep up a level of play like this while the schedule gets tougher and the injuries keep mounting up for the 49ers (Mike Evans left this game early), then the narrative will be there for a Purdy MVP campaign.
They won this game against Arizona by a final score of 36-30, and even though Arizona never had a possession down one score in the final three quarters, they kept the pressure on the 49ers. But Purdy kept answering, and while the play didn’t count as a touchdown because of a holding penalty on George Kittle at the end, Purdy had a 45-yard touchdown run that showed more athleticism with his legs than anything I’ve ever seen from the likes of Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert, the quarterbacks he’s competing with for that No. 4 spot behind the Big 3.
He finished that drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Kittle anyway, so no harm done on the penalty. The 49ers also started the day with a 3rd-and-12 designed lateral that got the ball in the hands of Deebo Samuel, who took it 80 yards for a touchdown. But since he never got a real catch in the game or even a target, he finished the game with 80 receiving yards and a touchdown on 0 catches (0/80/1) – a true stat oddity in NFL history.
The previous known record for receiving yards without a catch, at least based on available data, was 65 yards for Timmy Brown on the 1961 Eagles against the Steelers. I actually tracked down the video too and it’s funny.
It has to be alarming the rate of injuries that are piling up for the 49ers, but as long as Purdy is upright, you feel like he can make this work as he’s playing at a really high level right now in his fifth season.
Titans at Giants: Cam Ward, the Nonchalant Bust
With the Titans starting 0-3, I think these last few games show us why this team gets buried in the 1 PM Sunday window instead of any national games, why the Jets fired Robert Saleh, and why the Giants fired Brian Daboll. They are a terrible football team right now, and this 12-7 dud against the Giants featured two plays that could even define the Cam Ward era in Tennessee.
First, what is this nonchalant pocket walking when you’re down 12-0? Did you not see the hit Jaxson Dart took last week to end his season? You can’t possibly think this is a good idea to test the speed of NFL pass rushers by being so casual back there.
Maybe Mahomes could get away with that and even make it look cool by making a play, but that’s not for Ward. By the way, that drive ended with three straight incompletions from the Giants’ 7 for a turnover on downs. Fun.
Then when Ward needed to be more decisive and possibly scramble for all he can get with two timeouts in his pocket in the closing seconds of a 12-7 deficit, he decided to throw and threw a horrific game-ending interception.
I wanted to give Ward a fair shake and try to see the positives weighed against the negatives of his situation. But the guy just does nothing to elevate or excite his team. This is why the Titans were a flagship member of the Three Stooges of Who Gives a Fuck? Right there with the Washington franchise and then take your pick of Brady and Belichick’s AFC East Stooges (just not Buffalo anymore).
Blow it up in Tennessee and start fresh again in 2027 if this continues.
Next Week
Thursday night is Steelers vs. Browns with both teams having a winning record. We almost never see that. Colts-Commanders to start Sunday overseas is not a game that’ll get me up at 9:30 AM. But I’m sure I’ll catch the end of it.
The 1 PM slate has Patriots-Bills, Rams-Eagles, and Jags-Bengals. All interesting games where we’ll see if 2025 repeats itself in those matchups. Denver at San Francisco isn’t bad in the late window, but Chiefs at Raiders with both 3-0 is a first for that rivalry. We’ll see if the Chiefs can reestablish their AFC West superiority against a team that’s been scoring to start the year under Kubiak. Should be a good one.
Detroit at Carolina is not good for SNF on a day with so many better choices, but maybe the Panthers can get some scoring going. Saints-Falcons on MNF in the Superdome could be the game that actually launches one of these NFC South bums on the path to a division title. The only question is will they get to 9 wins or are we headed for another 2010 NFC West or 2020 NFC East situation? I’m warming up to the idea of Atlanta, but we need to see more from Penix.
