NFL Week 3: 15 Observations on overtime rules, Josh Allen and more
By Zach Cohen
15 observations from a wild, wacky and highly entertaining NFL Week 3.
Amidst a melting pot of annual NFL rituals — ties shouldn’t be a thing — was a savory slate of Sunday NFL games. Week 3 delivered us a tasty assortment of football’s weirdest happenings. It gave us crazy endings, blown leads, missed kicks, dropped balls and a tie. And that’s just from the early games.
I have thoughts about everything from Josh Allen to Carson Wentz to Russell Wilson. Are quarterbacks not your flavor? I got takes hot and ready for Adam Gase, the Browns and the Panthers-Chargers game.
So let’s sink our teeth into the heaping pile of madness that the NFL offered us this week, starting with the worst rule in football.
15. The NFL’s overtime rules are horrendous
Why haven’t they been changed yet? Supporters for the current overtime rules may point out that if a team deserves to win, they can do it with their defense. Well, I say if you want a fairer, more legitimate outcome, both team’s offenses need to get the ball.
Games are won on both sides of the ball, so why does only one unit get to decide the game’s outcome? If the NFL were smart, they’d adopt college football’s fantastic overtime rules. If you’re unfamiliar with them, just know they make overtime a lot more exciting (and they’re much fairer). Ties are for suits, not NFL games.
14. The last four teams to make the Super Bowl out of the NFC are cursed
The Falcons (2017 NFC champions) have blown big leads in back-to-back weeks. The Eagles (2018) are winless and dealing with injury after injury. The Rams (2019) lost a game off a bad pass interference call — quite the opposite of their infamous win over New Orleans. The 49ers (2020) have also been ravaged by injuries, though at least they got to play the Bears and Giants. But about those Falcons…
13. Poor Atlanta
They have gone downhill since their Super Bowl trip four seasons ago. They’ve gone 7-9 in the last two seasons, which is enough to keep Dan Quinn’s seat ablaze. Of course, the real story here is their blown leads. 28-3, 39-24, 26-10. Eventually, something has to give. Quinn hasn’t been a terrible coach, but a change is needed. Falcons’ fans have suffered enough already.
12. Mitchell Trubisky isn’t on a short leash — he’s hanging by a thread
And that’s being generous, considering coach Matt Nagy pulled him in favor of Nick Foles. Foles helped to orchestrate the Bears’ comeback, who were down 26-10 to the Falcons. (I’ll get to Atlanta in a minute.) After getting benched, Trubisky looked visibly upset on the sideline.
He didn’t look terrible during Chicago’s first three games, though the team was a dropped touchdown away from not being undefeated. As for Trubisky, if Nagy gave him a short leash before this game, I can only imagine what the quarterback’s future will look on the team beyond the season.