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Five Things We Learned From NFL Week 3

Five Things We Learned From NFL Week 3

Sep 24, 2013

The NFL is only three weeks old, but already there are plenty of interesting trends to dissect and analyse. We are already nearly a quarter of a way through the fast-paced regular season after all. Sports Passion breaks down five lessons learned from the third week of NFL football action.

1. The San Francisco 49ers Are Not Guaranteed A Super Bowl Championship

A team that picked up some great additions was supposed to be the creme de la creme of the league this season, but it hasn’t been quite as easy as that for the 49ers so far. They lost a tough road game against the Seattle Seahawks last weekend, but their 27-7 drubbing at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts was far less acceptable. Colin Kaepernick looked like a man figured out by the Colts’ defense, while even an off-form Andrew Luck ran a pretty successful offense. There is a lot of work for San Francisco to do in 2013, even at this early stage.

2. Don’t Write Off The Baltimore Ravens

On the other side of the coin, those predicting that Baltimore would struggle to even make it back to the postseason after winning the Super Bowl last year might want to think again. The Ravens put together a second successive confident performance on both sides of the ball against a useful Houston Texans team. Particularly encouraging is a defense that hasn’t allowed a touchdown at home in two straight weeks.

3. The New England Patriots Can Score

No Danny Amendola and no Rob Gronkowski, but Tom Brady and the New England Patriots offense still looked pretty good in a 23-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This may not be a dynamic group, but there are some young targets with real potential. Brady hooked up with Kenbrell Thompkins twice in this game. The Patriots are off to a 3-0 start by the way.

4. The NFC East Might Not Be Very Good

Hard to say whether this was known prior to the season or not, but this division is looking weaker every week. Dallas made St Louis’ highly-vaunted defense look bad improving to 2-1 in the process, but the other three teams all lost in discouraging fashion. The Philadelphia Eagles offense looks in serious trouble after a home loss against the Kansas City Chiefs and former coach Andy Reid. The New York Giants look truly awful after a 38-0 hammering by the Carolina Panthers. Finally, things are not looking particularly bright for the Washington Redskins after another slow start from Robert Griffin III and a mediocre defensive effort resulted in a loss to the Detroit Lions.

The good news for all four teams is that it is very possible that a six or seven loss season could win this division. That means nobody is completely behind the game at this stage.

5. Denver and Peyton Manning Probably Deserve The Favorite Tag

The Denver Broncos completed another crushing victory on Monday night to improve to 3-0. Peyton Manning had another fantastic week and it looks like this team just has unlimited weapons on offense. It may have only been the Oakland Raiders, but it is so far so good in Denver.

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