{"id":160054,"date":"2025-09-21T21:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/160054\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T21:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T21:27:08","slug":"nfl-week-3-winners-and-losers-bengals-implode-without-burrow-falcons-have-qb-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/160054\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 3 winners and losers: Bengals implode without Burrow, Falcons have QB concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another week, another full slate of NFL<\/a> action nearly in the books, and Week 3 has been chock-full of spicy storylines.<\/p>\n

Carson Wentz<\/a> made his debut filling in as the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>‘ quarterback and helped put a historic beatdown on the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>. Several teams celebrated — or hung their heads — thanks to last-minute special teams splashes, including blocked kicks returned for scores. Daniel Jones<\/a> kept the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> humming in the AFC South. Aaron Rodgers<\/a> and the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> rebounded from a Week 2 loss with a clutch finish against the New England Patriots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And all of that was before Patrick Mahomes<\/a> and the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> looked to avoid an 0-3 start — the first of the Mahomes era — by visiting the New York Giants<\/a> on “Sunday Night Football.”<\/p>\n

Which coaches, players and teams were the biggest winners (and losers) of Sunday’s Week 3 action? Here are some of our top picks for this week’s biggest NFL<\/a> difference-makers, for both better and worse:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers passes former Packers teammate Brett Favre on NFL’s career touchdown pass list<\/p>\n

\n Bryan DeArdo <\/p>\n

\"Steelers'<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Eagles<\/a> were far from a juggernaut for much of their anticipated game against the Rams<\/a>, falling behind 26-7 before Jalen Hurts<\/a> and A.J. Brown<\/a> finally gained steam. But Davis was the unsung hero in the Birds’ comeback, chasing down Matthew Stafford<\/a> for a key late-game stand and then literally swatting victory from Los Angeles’ grasp, blocking and then returning a would-be walk-off field goal for a 61-yard touchdown. Jalen Carter<\/a> may be the face of Vic Fangio’s defensive front, but Davis is announcing himself as well.<\/p>\n

Years ago, Jake Browning hollered to the cameras after leading a win over the Vikings, insisting Minnesota should’ve never let him go as a backup. Well, the Bengals quarterback had no reason to boast this time around, filling in for an injured Joe Burrow<\/a> and stumbling all over the yard in a 48-10 embarrassment. An ugly pick six put Cincinnati in an early hole, and it only got worse from there, as the Vikings enjoyed a calm and collected outing from their own emergency starter in Wentz.<\/p>\n

Winner: Brian Flores<\/p>\n

Wentz was the big story under center for Minnesota, stepping in for the injured J.J. McCarthy<\/a> with a chance to write his own redemption story<\/a>. And he was solid, getting Justin Jefferson<\/a> involved while leaning on a strong day from Jordan Mason<\/a>. But Flores was the real MVP of the Bengals beatdown, confusing and pressuring Browning from the jump. Cincinnati didn’t once look comfortable, leaving Zac Taylor totally without answers on the other sideline. Looks like the NFC North isn’t a wrap just yet.<\/p>\n

One week after a cool, if understated, performance in a prime-time rout of the Vikings, Penix crashed to Earth in what many viewed as a very winnable divisional clash with the Panthers<\/a>. His two picks were egregious; one went for a Carolina score, and the other just as well could have. Coach Raheem Morris was borderline defensive after the 30-0 dud, ruling out any chance of Kirk Cousins<\/a> reclaiming the top job, but what if this continues and the Falcons<\/a> lose out on another chance to seriously challenge the South?<\/p>\n

Winner: Shane Steichen<\/p>\n

Another week, another sharp day from Daniel Jones as the undefeated starting quarterback of the Colts. The most impressive thing about Jones in Indianapolis? He’s actually threading the needle down the field, which he rarely did with the Giants. Besides his resurgence, Steichen can also smile about Jonathan Taylor<\/a>, who looks like MVP material, exploding for another 100-yard outing and adding a trio of touchdowns against the Titans<\/a>. Boy does Steichen’s squad look much more formidable than Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Loser: Matt LaFleur<\/p>\n

He may be among the NFL’s<\/a> top coaches, but LaFleur probably deserves most of the blame for the Packers<\/a> laying an egg against the Browns<\/a> to squander a potential 3-0 start to the year. Green Bay easily out-possessed Cleveland, which is no surprise given Joe Flacco<\/a> remaining Kevin Stefanski’s sluggish signal-caller, but undid much of its own progress with 14 penalties. Jordan Love’s<\/a> killer interception late in the fourth quarter also came on a curious play call from LaFleur. The Packers aren’t invincible, after all.<\/p>\n

Winner: Mike Tomlin<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers is quietly off to a pretty stellar start as the Steelers’ quarterback, saving his best for last with a go-ahead touchdown to Calvin Austin III<\/a> against the Patriots. But Tomlin’s defense also finally hit its stride working against Drake Maye<\/a> and the Patriots in Week 3, forcing five turnovers and holding New England to 14 points. This group still feels more scrappy than spectacular, but isn’t that always what Tomlin’s teams are? At any rate, Sunday’s win was historic, marking the Steelers’ first in Foxborough since the Ben Roethlisberger<\/a> days in 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another week, another full slate of NFL action nearly in the books, and Week 3 has been chock-full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[12478,1754,1766,12660,49,15460,48,1744,43032,1740,1724,1765,2221,1730,1732,1771,12476,32404,12483,2213,1757,2217,32402,25579,27561,27240,1727,1769,1749,3150,12472,1726,1718,1728,514,78516,83371,78511,83369,41917,83368,83370,83367,83366,2218,1747,949,82,1741],"class_list":["post-160054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-a-j-brown","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-ben-roethlisberger","tag-ca","tag-calvin-austin-iii","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-carson-wentz","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-daniel-jones","tag-drake-maye","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jake-browning","tag-jalen-carter","tag-jalen-hurts","tag-joe-burrow","tag-joe-flacco","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-jordan-davis","tag-jordan-love","tag-jordan-mason","tag-justin-jefferson","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kirk-cousins","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-highlights","tag-nfl-highlights-week-3","tag-nfl-results","tag-nfl-results-week-3","tag-nfl-scores","tag-nfl-scores-week-3","tag-nfl-week-3-highlights","tag-nfl-week-3-results","tag-nfl-week-3-scores","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-tennessee-titans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}