Week 3 of the NFL season held many unusual surprises. There were shocking results, riveting plays, and lots of wild moments to cap off this week. There were many players who performed better than expected, and some who performed under their regular threshold, which left many fantasy members and team fans shocked or disappointed with their results.
The first piece of shocking news came from the Bank of America stadium, where the Carolina Panthers took on the Atlanta Falcons. Carolina’s history made them heavy underdogs, as a result of last year’s disappointing results, granting them the bottom spot in the NFC South Conference. The Falcons did a lot better and possessed a better record prior to this game, making them the favorite. However, this was not the case during the game. The game went very unexpectedly, as the Falcons struggled to get anything going on offense, with the Panthers defense dominating the game and causing a shutout to occur, whereas the Atlanta Falcons scored zero points to finish the game. The Carolina Panthers offense thrived, putting up thirty points on a confused and struggling Atlanta Falcons defensive line. In this game, the Carolina Panthers defense stole the show, getting two interceptions and shutting out the Atlanta Falcons offense. A reason for this failure for the Falcons offense could have been the under usage of Bijan Robinson, who only ran for 72 yards off a small amount of 13 carries. This makes one wonder if the score would be any different if Bijan was used in the game more often.
Another surprise in Week 3 of the NFL season took place at Soldier Field where the Chicago Bears took on the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears have recently been projected as a bottom team for the 2025 regular season, with losses in their first two games. The Bears pulled out a large surprise in this matchup, winning this game comfortably 14-31. This was surprising as Dallas holds a lot more high profile names. This includes Ceedee Lamb, Dak Prescott, Treveyon Diggs and more. The Chicago Bears, on the contrary, does not possess this high profile roster, with stars being DJ Moore and Caleb Williams. The lack of star power in the Chicago Bears squad usually makes it easy to shut down, but this was not the case today, as the Bears scored 31 points and Rome Odunze, who is entering his second year in the NFL, had a great breakout game. Similarly, Luther Burden III, the rookie out of Missouri, scored a touchdown along with three receptions for 101 yards.
Monday night proved to be a night of surprises as the Baltimore Ravens played against the Detroit Lions at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens were the favorite for this game, as Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens defense have proved to be a formidable opponent for any NFL team. However, running back Derrick Henry did not have the best game ultimately leading to an 8 point loss to the Lions. The Detroit Lions running back tandem of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs dominated the Ravens, with Jahmyr Gibbs scoring 2 touchdowns off 22 carries and 67 yards. David Montgomery topped this stat line by running for 151 yards with 2 touchdowns off of 12 carries. Lamar Jackson, despite his loss, played a great game throwing for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns going 21/27 passing. Derrick Henry did quite the opposite going for 50 yards and a touchdown off of 12 carries. Mark Andrews surprised many people with a great game, catching six balls for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. Fantasy managers who chose not to drop Andrews must be very happy as this was his first game of the season scoring over seven points.
The Cleveland Browns surprised many NFL fans in week 3 of the NFL season, pulling a shock win against the Green Bay Packers. This was the first loss for the Green Bay Packers this season, and it came from an unexpected opponent. This was also the Browns first win of the season. This win was surprising for the Browns, as the old and seasoned Joe Flacco is the starting quarterback and they possess little to no offensive weapons. It is clear the defense did most of the Browns heavy lifting, as the Browns scored a grand total of 13 offensive points, winning by a mere three points against the Packers ten points. Although this result is not good at all for the Packers, the Green Bay defense for the most part thrived, only letting up one touchdown through the whole game. This game has shown that the new transfer middle linebacker from the Dallas Cowboys, Mich Parsons, holds a heavy impact on the Green Bay Packers Defense, along with veteran Rashaan Gary who sacked quarterback Joe Flacco twice on the night.
The Seattle Seahawks played a surprising lights-out game against the New Orleans Saints, scoring 44 shocking points from week 3. The NFL points on the sad Saints defense. The Seahawks were favored to win this game, however, they were not favored to win the game by this margin of victory, as everything was going right for the Seattle offense, and it seemed like nearly every player wearing blue and white could score if given the chance. The Seahawks defense also proved very dominant, shutting down any sort of attack that was getting thrown on them by the Saints offense. Inexperienced New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler, being the first year starting on a team, struggled with the dangerous Seattle defense, throwing an interception that was brought back for a pick six. Wide Receiver Jaxon Smith Njigba continued his offensive dominance in this game, scoring yet another touchdown off nearly 100 yards and 5 receptions. Alvin Kamara underperformed in this game, running for only 42 yards off of a large carry total of 18. Chris Olave performed somewhat well 57 yards, but catching the ball ten times.
Week 3 was a very fun and high pace week of football and was very fun to watch. This week broke the norm of normal and predictable wins from the prior two weeks and offered something new. This week hopefully acts as the blueprint for an exciting season ahead.
