NFL Week 3 Review on Sunday: Vikings consolidate Super Bowl reputation, Ravens plunge Cowboys into crisis, weak Panthers take first win

CNN
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The topic of the third week was the teams that achieved their first win of the season.

Six franchises started the new season with two losses on Sunday, but that changed this week, as only the Tennessee Titans are still winless after three games played – the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars could join them after Monday night.

Some Super Bowl contenders also showed impressive performances and victories, thus underlining their reputation as title contenders.

Here are the main storylines from Sunday's action.

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Two wins to open the NFL season could be seen as a fluke, but the Minnesota Vikings dispelled any fears that they were a flash in the pan with a dominant 34-7 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Any doubts that Minnesota had hit the jackpot in the first few weeks of the season were dispelled when Sam Darnold, the preseason backup before first-round rookie JJ McCarthy was ruled out for the rest of the season, once again led the offense brilliantly.

Darnold completed 17 of 28 passes for 181 yards and four touchdowns against a strong Texans defense, one each to Justin Jefferson, Aaron Jones, Jalen Nailor and Johnny Mundt.

The 27-year-old is experiencing a new phase in his life with the Vikings under head coach Kevin O'Connell. Sunday's performance with multiple touchdowns was the first time in Darnold's career that he managed to do so in three consecutive games.

In his 66 games with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, Darnold scored four touchdowns in one other game, but he has now accomplished the feat in just his third appearance with Minnesota.

Darnold threw four touchdowns in the win over the Texans.

According to the NFL, Darnold was the fourth quarterback in Vikings history to start a season 3-0, joining Hall of Famers Fran Tarkenton and Brett Favre, as well as Daunte Culpepper.

Afterwards, O'Connell described Darnold's performance against the Texans as “really, really good.”

“Smart, very determined, paid attention to the football, precise,” he said.

On the other hand, the Texans' previously explosive offense was nullified by Minnesota's defense led by coordinator Brian Flores.

Flores' plays seemed to confuse second-year passer CJ Stroud, as Houston started the game with an interception and threw another on a disappointing afternoon for last season's Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard was a regular spoiler against his former team and finished the game with three sacks.

“It's in your best interest not to mess with me,” Greenard said afterward. “I'm glad I'm here in Minnesota because they obviously respect me. If someone else wants to do that, they can try.”

The defeat was so clear that Stroud was benched midway through the fourth quarter to avoid costly injuries, and the Texans suffered their first loss of the season.

Stroud was sacked three times by Greenard in Sunday's Week 3 game.

Both the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday's Week 3 clash in Arlington, Texas, needing a win after disappointing Week 2 performances.

Sunday's encounter was a close one, but the Ravens were able to score points this season and throw “America's Team” into crisis mode with their 28-25 victory.

Baltimore quickly built a big lead, thanks in large part to a breakout play by offseason signing Derrick Henry.

The running back scored two rushing touchdowns and quarterback Lamar Jackson added a pass and a run score, giving the Ravens a 28-6 lead in the fourth quarter.

Henry ended up with 151 yards from 25 rushing attempts and Jackson managed 87 rushing yards himself as the duo dismantled Dallas with their legs.

According to the NFL, Sunday's game was Henry's 12th career game with over 150 rushing yards and two or more rushing touchdowns, tying him with LaDainian Tomlinson for the second-most in NFL history and one spot behind Jim Brown.

Henry had an outstanding game after signing with the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason, winning against the Dallas Cowboys.

Although the offense has struggled recently and the defense has allowed three touchdowns in a row, Baltimore was able to hold on and finally get its first win of the season.

After the team started the season 0-2, Jackson spoke after the win about the importance of achieving preseason goals.

“Honestly, every game is a big game for us because we're trying to get somewhere,” Jackson said. “We've got to win those games to get to the playoffs, man, and win those playoff games to get to the Super Bowl. But it starts with the game that's in front of us.”

It is Dallas' third home defeat in a row and alarm bells are ringing for Mike McCarthy's team.

After losing to the New Orleans Saints in Week 2, Dallas was hoping to bounce back against the Ravens and turn things around.

But the team now sits at 1-2 as the pressure on McCarthy's shoulders continues to mount. With only four days of rest before playing the New York Giants again on Thursday night, the Cowboys head coach says he'd rather focus on the team's late comeback against Baltimore.

“That's something that doesn't show up in the playbook, in the scheme. The heart and soul of your football team and the ability to grow emotionally and have that experience,” McCarthy told reporters. “It's a great fourth quarter for our first-year players.”

“It's the connection that we don't have at the level we're capable of right now. So that's the emotional area where we need to be a lot better. They have a work ethic, it's a really good locker room. There's talent. As far as the mental part, we should have taken a step forward from last week. Last week was absolutely not good enough. The emotional part is the real gold. This end of the game can contribute to that as well.”

McCarthy's Dallas team now has a 1-2 record after three weeks of the 2024 season.

The Panthers were the most disappointing team in the NFL for two weeks after two clear losses to the Saints and the Los Angeles Chargers.

New head coach Dave Canales made the important decision before Week 3 to bench 2023 first-round pick Bryce Young and replace him with experienced Andy Dalton.

And the decision paid off immediately, as the Panthers looked much better in their 36-22 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Dalton threw 26 of 37 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. Carolina looked like a completely different team with the 36-year-old at the helm. In the first half of Sunday's game, they scored more points (21) than in the previous two weeks combined (13).

His connection with wide receiver Diontae Johnson was crucial. The former Pittsburgh Steeler had a career day with 122 receiving yards on eight catches and a touchdown. The duo's success in the air opened up the running game, with Chuba Hubbard adding 117 yards on the ground on 21 carries.

After the win, Dalton said it had been a “tough week” within the organization after Young was benched, but also talked about how special the performance against the Raiders was for him.

“I mean, it was a great feeling. I couldn't have imagined it any better to get the chance to be out there and for it to go the way it did,” Dalton told reporters. “I think our guys had the right attitude, the right mentality from the beginning and we never let up.”

Dalton threw three touchdowns against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“That was the fun part of it. We didn't just put one drive together. We were able to do that the whole game. We played complementary football and the guys had a lot of fun, and that's how it should be.”

It was a disappointing performance for the Raiders after they pulled off a surprise win over the Ravens in Week 2.

Las Vegas scored just seven points in the first three quarters of Sunday's game and the team was booed off the Allegiant Stadium field after the loss.

Following the home loss, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce expressed his anger at his team's performance, saying some of his players made “business decisions” during Sunday's game.

“We got our asses kicked,” Pierce told reporters. “We've got to put pads on, I don't know, got to get on the sled. Same group, all coming back for the most part, and same technique, same coaches, it's not a different scheme, so obviously we've got to practice better and be tough on the guys, and the guys have to put up with some tough training because we just haven't seen that on both sides of the ball.”

“We had the opportunity to move the ball and we didn't. We didn't do that at all. We tried again and again and I would have booed us too. Offensively and defensively we didn't work well enough up front, not well enough.”