ClutchPoints
The playoff picture and some individual award races are starting to take shape after Week 3 of the NFL season, and a couple of Week 3 games went a long way toward forming some of those narratives for those awards a month into the season.
While teams like the Ravens, Patriots and Falcons struggled in Week 3, others like the Lions, Bears and Chargers surged. Did they crack the list of winners around the league? Let’s find out.
The sky was falling in Chicago after an 0-2 start in the first year of the Ben Johnson era, but it turns out the Dallas Cowboys defense can be an antidote for any struggling offense. Caleb Williams had shown flashes during an uneven couple of weeks to open the season, but he had the best game of his career against his old head coach and current Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus on Sunday to get the Bears in the win column.
Williams finished the day 19-for-28 with 298 yards and four touchdowns, including the throw of the day to Luther Burden III on a flea-flicker for one of those four scores. His 0.59 EPA per dropback was the second-best mark of Week 3, trailing only Sam Darnold in what was essentially a glorified scrimmage against the dismal Saints.
Williams has been better than the box score seems in the first two weeks, and that finally resulted in some points and a win against a Cowboys defense that is really struggling. This Bears offense was always going to take a bit of time in its first season in Johnson’s unique system, but maybe it is starting to find its stride.
A blowout loss to the Packers in Week 1 had questions flying about Dan Campbell. Did he need his old coordinators, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, to be successful? What would this Lions team look like without them? Could Campbell still maintain a Super Bowl contender even with the brain drain of the offseason?
After a road win on Monday Night Football against the Ravens, the answer looks like a resounding yes. For two weeks now, the Lions have looked like the Lions of old. They go for it on fourth down, pull out trick plays that work in the biggest spots and get timely stops on defense.
Aidan Hutchinson is off to a great start in his return from a broken leg, Jameson Williams is a bigger part of the offense, and the stars are still the stars. Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs all have been excellent in the last two weeks, and it looks like the Lions are an NFC contender once again as a result.
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