NFL Week 3 awards for Best Coach, Rookie, players, and more

We’re three weeks into the NFL season, and it’s unclear if we’ve gotten much closer to separating the wheat from the chaff in the league. Everything is still up in the air, but we has some absolutely stellar performances in Week 3 that deserve individual recognition.

This week is really a case of picking out players who surprised, turning the corner for their teams in games that their team either didn’t stand a chance in, or became the difference maker in a tight matchup. Here are our picls.

Best Coach of Week 3: Ben Johnson

Week 3 was arguably the biggest test of Ben Johnson’s brief head coaching career.

The Chicago Bears head coach passed that test with flying colors.

After being throttled by the Detroit Lions — Johnson’s former team — 52-21 in Week 2 the Bears were 0-2, and facing a host of questions. But the Bears bounced back in a big way Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, dispatching the visitors by a final score of 31-14.

But beyond all that, Caleb Williams played perhaps the best game of his career, connecting on 19-of-28 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns. With Williams’ development the biggest item on Johnson’s to-do list this season, getting a much-needed win and a performance like that from his QB was a massive one-two from Johnson.

Best Rookie of Week 3: Mason Graham

It’s been really easy to overlook Graham playing on a mediocre Browns team, but this week against the Packers the rookie showed the potential he has on the Cleveland line, and the mayhem he can create alongside Myles Garrett.

Graham was an absolute difference maker. The state sheet might only show three tackles and 0.5 sacks, but his impact was absolutely ridiculous.

This was the highest single game pass rush win rate by a defensive tackle this season, and it’s not even close. Up to this point the season leader was Milton Williams of the Patriots in Week 2, and he had a win rate of 23%. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that when you’re almost DOUBLE the best player at your position leading up to that point then something is going very, very well.

Graham was a huge reason for the Packers win, and the sky is the limit for him.

Best Offensive Player of Week 3: Caleb Williams

This was the moment Bears fans were waiting for.

The game where everything seemed to click for Caleb Williams.

Everything did click for Williams on Sunday against the Cowboys, as he completed 19-of-28 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns.

In addition to the production, Ben Johnson was impressed with the operation he saw from the Chicago offense, and from Williams in particular.

“He’s doing a much better job getting us in and out of the huddle,” said the Bears head coach after the win. “I thought we weren’t as pressed on the [play] clock as maybe what we’d been the first two games. We still have some room for improvement just in terms of our alignments and all being on the same page. I think there are a few plays we want back just as an entire unit that we didn’t get off as clean as we wanted to from a procedure standpoint. But I do see growth there.

“And then in terms of the execution, he’s getting a lot better, a lot more comfortable with his footwork, his repetitions, not just for the concepts that we’ve been doing from the springtime to training camp, but we’re putting in new ones each week. He’s got a good system in place right now that he’s adhering to and it’s showing up on gameday where we’re starting to reap some of the awards from that.”

Best Defensive Player of Week 3: Isaiah Rodgers

As we wrote on Sunday afternoon, Isaiah Rodgers almost beat the Cincinnati Bengals by himself.

Yes, his Minnesota Vikings played a role, but in the first half alone Rodgers scored a pair of defensive touchdowns, first on a Pick Six of Jake Browning and later on a scoop-and-score, where he punched out the football from tight end Noah Fant and raced to the end zone with the ball to stake Minnesota to a 24-3 lead.

Rodgers was not done, as he forced another Bengals’ fumble moments later, separating Ja’Marr Chase from the football.

When the game finally came to an end, Minnesota was on top by a final score of 48-10. Rodgers had a pair of touchdowns, two forced fumbles, and two passes broken up in the win.

Along with the highly coveted honors he secured here.

Best Special Teams Player of Week 3: Jordan Davis

Sunday was filled with dramatic special teams moments.

But none was bigger than Jordan Davis blocking a game-winning field goal attempt, and returning the loose football for a touchdown to put an exclamation point on a stunning Philadelphia Eagles’ comeback.

In case you were wondering, Davis hit 18.59 miles per hour on the return:

Simply incredible.

MVP of Week 3: Justin Herbert

The Los Angeles Chargers are 3-0 for the first time since 2002.

To give that some context, Drew Brees was their starting quarterback that season, George W. Bush was in the Oval Office, and Schofield was finishing his final year of law school.

Yes, it was a long time ago.

But thanks to Sunday’s comeback win, 23-20 over the Denver Broncos, the Chargers are undefeated through three games and sit atop the AFC West. And while Herbert struggled early in the game, in the face of Denver’s imposing pass rush, he was near-perfect in the fourth quarter:

That throw to Keenan Allen, coming with an expected completion probability of just 16.7%, was the standout moment. Not many quarterbacks in the NFL can complete that play, but Herbert delivered that moment late in the fourth quarter against one of the league’s elite defenses.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and the Chargers are also 3-0.

NFL Week 3 awards for Best Coach, Rookie, players, and more

Tags: