The Hangover: Week 3

By Adam Cancryn and Joe Schackman

I spent part of Sunday at Virginia's esteemed Foxfield Races, which is likely the most southern thing I've ever done. Amid the sundresses, big hats and ridiculous bow ties, the clincher didn't come until the bus ride back home.

Me, talking to another guy on the bus: What are the early game scores looking like?

Girl standing next to the guy: Ugh, nobody cares about the NFL.

Me, based solely on her accent: Let me guess, an SEC fan?

Girl: Of course. The SEC is where the real professionals play.

Of course. For the rest of us misguided souls that prefer watching inferior football on Sundays, here's your Week 3 Hangover:

• New England has survived for a long time without much semblance of a running game. But the Bills demonstrated what happens when a team only needs to focus on one dimension of the offense. The Patriots had no reliable way to burn the clock, and on a rare off day for Tom Brady, they couldn't keep up in a shootout.
• Concussions are not a one-week-and-get-back-in-there kind of injury. Especially not when you’re as exposed on every play as Mike Vick. For as much as Philly depends on Vick, it seemed irresponsible and foolish to throw him out there so soon, no matter how good his "heads" felt. Bite the bullet for another week and live to fight another, more meaningful day.
• Joe: Mike Vick still can't win. On one play v. the Giants, he evaded the rush, rolled right, stepped to the line and fired an incomplete pass. All the announcers, after praising him for becoming a better pocket passer, ripped him for not running for the first down.
• Joe: Giants receiver Victor Cruz channeled his preseason self this week. Although he got some help from the Eagles' terrible tackling. You can have a great cover secondary, but if your linebackers can't tackle, it doesn't matter.
• After a poor showing in Week 1, Matt Hasselbeck is making a good case that he’s still got a lot left in the tank. Between Chris Johnson's slow start and Kenny Britt's injury/legal issues, there are still a bunch of questions circling the Titans. But if Hasselbeck keeps this up, they could be a factor deep in the season.
• Tennessee has flown under the radar so far, given the fast starts for the Bills and Lions (both 3-0). That could help them steal a couple more wins than they should have.
• Joe: The Giants just can't punt against the Eagles. Steve Weatherford hit a terrible kick near the end of the first half, allowing Philadelphia to get into field goal range and tack on three points as time expired.
• The Patriots have always had weaknesses on defense, but when they can’t win a shootout, you know there are major holes there. Though the secondary got torched multiple times, place much of the blame on the front four. They couldn’t sack Fitzpatrick once despite his more than 40 dropbacks.
• Joe: The Texans' struggles in the red zone doomed them v. the Saints. Three field goals from less than 30 yards out and just one touchdown in the first half. Hard to imagine having trouble scoring from within the 20 when you have Andre Johnson lined up at receiver. Just lob it up and let him go get it.
• The Falcons and Chargers are trying real hard to out underachieve each other. Luckily for them, the Chiefs have set the bar much lower. 
• The story for Atlanta and San Diego starts and ends with the turnovers. Through three games, the Falcons have a -2 turnover ratio, which includes four Matt Ryan interceptions. The Chargers are at -6 overall.
• Joe: Last week the Vikings blew a 17-0 lead. This week, they were up 20-0 before collapsing.
• I call shenanigans on anyone who thought Ryan Fitzpatrick would be this good to start the season. That includes the front office that drafted him. He is one of the few QBs of late that has far exceeded expectations.
• Joe: I don't want to live in a world where the Bills don't suck at football.
• Maybe this is a product of the largely media-driven hype machine, but what other QBs have exceeded expectations rather than just met them or underperformed over the past few years? Fitzpatrick definitely, and I would put Matt Schaub in that category as well. Cam Newton is too early to tell. I can’t think of anyone else off the top of my head.
• Burl Rolett touched on this last week, but Matt Forte is on his way to a great year, and not necessarily because he's running better. While he’s picking up yards on the ground, he’s also been a valuable outlet in the passing game, amassing 287 yards through the air through three games. That's already more than half as many yards (547) as he racked up all of last year.
• The state of disarray known as the Chiefs is perhaps the strongest evidence yet that Bill Belichick is the mastermind behind New England’s dominance over the last half decade, not Scott Pioli. Piolo's two biggest moves during his tenure there: hiring Todd Haley and acquiring Matt Cassel, both of whom could be out of a job next year.
• A week after the Ravens’ defense looked too old and QB Joe Flacco looked too clueless, Baltimore put a hurting on the Rams, led by, you guessed it: the defense and Joe Flacco. The question now is, Which versions will we see most often?
• Curious whether San Francisco has taken a step forward this season? Going to have to wait until next week v. Philly to settle it. The 49ers’ 13-8 win over Cincinnati can be interpreted as a promising team toughing out a win, or as a mediocre squad spinning its wheels against an inferior opponent.
• Via NFL Red Zone’s Andrew Siciliano: "The last time the Lions were 3-0 was 1980. Gary Danielson was the QB, Billy Sims the rookie RB."
• Joe: Apparently Nick Mangold is the MVP of the Jets, because the O-line has crumbled without him there. Sanchez took a serious beating this week.
• Larry Fitzgerald deserves better. The only season he hasn’t led the Cardinals in total points scored (excluding the kicker) was his 2004 rookie year. During that time, just one winning season (10-6 in 2009).
• Earlier, we all made guesses on what this would be the year of. But we've all been wrong so far. This is looking more and more like the year of the tight end. Between the Pats’ two-TE sets, Jermichael Finley's ability to connect ball with end zone and the emergence of the Bills’ Scott Chandler, tight ends are bona fide receivers and no longer just check down safety blankets.
• The Packers have very little in common, personnel-wise, with the Greatest Show on Turf Rams of 1999-2001. But so far they've been winning winning the exact same way: tons of offense, with just enough defense to pull it out.
• Great play by the Bears on a punt return w/ under a minute to go in the game. With the punt in the air, Devin Hester moved up into the center of the field and made it look like he was going to call a fair catch. Everyone funneled toward him. Only thing is, he wasn’t the punt returner. It was Johnny Knox, all the way on the right side of the field. He casually fielded the ball and sprinted up the sideline untouched. 
• It was a wonderful, creative play that, in typical Bears fashion, was called back for a hold. Expect to see variations on this in the coming weeks.
• Joe: The officials really blew it in the Jets-Raiders game. New York's punt returner got his helmet ripped off, but the refs didn't blow the play dead. He kept running and took a big hit. The NFL talks about protecting players and then their officials do that?
• The Suck for Luck race is on: The Vikings, Dolphins and Chiefs are front-runners at 0-3, with the Colts close behind.
• Via @NFLFootballinfo: Buffalo is 1st team in NFL history to win consecutive games in which it trailed by at least 18 points in each game"
• Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace registered his third 100+ yard game this year w/ 3:29 left in the first quarter, with much of it coming on his 81-yard TD reception.
• Wallace has now reached 100 yards in six consecutive games going back to last year, the longest streak since Isaac Bruce did it in 1995.
• Things might get even worse for the Colts. With Kerry Collins potentially out due to a concussion, Curtis Painter is now the starter. Have you seen Curtis Painter?

• Have fun with that, Indy.
• In spite of themselves, the Steelers are 2-1. Their matchup v. the Texans next week will tell a lot about whether this team can be a legitimate contender.

That's all folks, enjoy gritty war hero Tony Romo v. the honeymoon period version of Rex Grossman tonight.