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Thursday, December 21, 2023

NFL Week 3 Winners and Losers

Week 3 of the NFL season is in the books. The Los Angeles Rams are off to a great start, but they have yet to face their toughest opponents yet. Is this week’s win streak enough for them to make it into the playoffs?

The NFL Week 3 Winners and Losers is a weekly recap of the top teams, players, and performances in the NFL. Read more in detail here: week 3 nfl scores.

The NFL Week 3 schedule included a number of exciting matchups. With another overtime victory, the Las Vegas Raiders maintained their status as the club of destiny, and Aaron Rodgers continued to demonstrate what the Green Bay Packers would have to give up if they didn’t follow his advice. The rookie quarterbacks looked shaky, and the league’s oldest QB was injured as well. Furthermore, the two LA clubs may be the greatest in football, while the two New York teams may be the worst. Here are the players, coaches, and teams that were the biggest NFL Week 3 winners and losers, based on all of that and more from last Thursday, Sunday, and Monday.

Justin Tucker is the winner.

Setting a significant NFL record qualifies you as a winner, and Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker accomplished just that on Sunday. He etched his mark in league history when his 66-yard field goal effort rebounded off the crossbar and went through the uprights. 

The previous record of 64 yards (more on that below) had only been held for little over eight years. Prior to then, it took 43 years for a kicker to exceed Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints’ 63-yard field goal from 1970. 

We don’t sure whether Tucker’s kick will be as memorable as Dempsey’s or if it will go away soon. However, for the time being, the star kicker is one of the NFL Week 3 victors. 

Matt Prater and his crew are losers.

Matt Prater, then of the Denver Broncos, was the kicker who outkicked Dempsey in 2013. The former UFC Knight connected on a 64-yard strike in the thin air of Mile High Stadium. The fact that he lost the record to Tucker this week isn’t the only reason he’s on the NFL Week 3 losers list. What he did just before Tucker’s boot also plays a role. 

Despite the fact that it was at the instruction of his Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury, Prater was chastised for trying a 68-yard field goal against the Jacksonville Jaguars at the conclusion of the first half. 

It’s not a big deal if you miss a kick for that long. The embarrassment is trying it in the first place, then enabling Jacksonville return man Jamal Agnew to return the kick 109 yards for a score, matching the NFL record for longest touchdown play. Prater, Kingsbury, and the Cardinals’ special teams are all on this list because of it. 

And a smidgeon for squandering the record. 

Mitchell Trubisky is the winner.

Mitchell Trubisky may not be living the life he imagined when the Chicago Bears selected him No. 2 overall in the 2017 draft, but after the NFL Week 3 slate, he had to be feeling pretty good. 

After the Buffalo Bills’ 43-21 thrashing of the Washington Sport Team, Trubisky is suddenly a well-paid ($2.5 million) backup quarterback on what seems to be one of the greatest teams in football. He even got into the game this week, throwing a one-yard pass (which he completed). 

It must feel nice to be highly paid and to have a part in the NFL, no matter how little. It must make you feel victorious. 

So does (at least a little) seeing your former club implode in front of your eyes, particularly when it seems that the coach, not the quarterback, was the real issue in Chicago all along. 

Matt Nagy is the loser.

A Chicago Bears fan reacts to a holding penalty during the first quarter in the NFL Week 3 game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 26, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. During the first quarter of the NFL Week 3 game against the Cleveland Browns, a Chicago Bears fan reacts after a holding penalty | Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

In their NFL Week 3 game, the Cleveland Browns thrashed the Chicago Bears 26-6. But it’s not about the setback. It’s about the team’s defeat. 

The offense looked — and was — utterly incompetent in rookie Justin Fields’ first start. The unit gained 46 total yards, but just one net passing yard when sacks are taken into account (the exact same number as Trubisky). 

On Sunday, head coach Matt Nagy’s offenses, which he tends to think are too complex, looked terrible. There was no coherent game plan, no flow, and no creativity. In other words, Chicago delivered yet another offensive bomb, and this time, it wasn’t the fault of Trubisky. 

The finger of blame needs to go in one way and one one only at this point: straight at Matt Nagy. 

Detroit Lions are the loser. 

The Detroit Lions have lost on a touchdown challenge flag, a picked-up pass interference penalty, an illegal bat, a 61-yard Hail Mary, a 61-yard field goal, and now a record-setting 66-yard from goal off the crossbar since 2010.

— September 26, 2021, Detroit Free Press (@freep)

The Detroit Lions were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. There’s no getting around it. They, too, suffered a devastating defeat. Lamar Jackson and Tucker collaborated to keep the Motor City team winless in 2021 after coming back from a two-score deficit to grab the lead with 1:04 remaining on the clock. 

This is just another setback in the franchise’s ongoing reconstruction.

Another defeat for a team that has gone 0-16 this season and has only reached the playoffs a dozen times in the 54-year history of the Super Bowl. It’s another loss for a club that is renowned for great players departing in their prime (Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson). 

The Lions aren’t only on the NFL Week 3 loser list; they’re also on the all-time list. 

Detroit Lions are the champions.

Big Cat’s NFL Power Rankings are 0-3 this season.

1. The Lions of Detroit (0-3) Indianapolis Colts, No. 2 (0-3) New York Giants, No. 3 (0-3) 4. Jaguars of Jacksonville (0-3) New York Jets, No. 5 (0-3)

September 28, 2021 — Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat)

Regardless of the slander, the Lions were victorious in their defeat against the Ravens. 

As every supporter of a rebuilding club knows, the finest defeats come when a team tries hard, plays well, and comes close to winning but falls short in order to keep their high draft position.

That’s exactly what the Detroit Lions accomplished on Sunday. 

Dan Campbell, the squad’s aggressive coach, gets the players ready to play. It has a strong defense, some talented skill players in D’Andre Swift, Jamaal Williams, and T.J. Hockenson, and a professional quarterback in Jared Goff. 

By no means is this a championship squad, but it may serve as the basis for one in the future. The Lions’ improbable defeat on Sunday should give them optimism while still securing the most skilled athlete available in the 2022 NFL Draft. 

Pro Football Reference provided all stats.

RELATED: Jared Allen, a Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee, no longer enjoys NFL football: ‘All I want to see are some more old-school guys.’

The nfl week 3 power rankings is a weekly ranking of NFL teams from the previous Sunday’s games.

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