The Best And Worst Of Week Three In The NFL

We are already three weeks into the NFL season, and just like last week, things get more and more interesting. The Giants got blasted and are struggling badly. There are six teams in the league that still don't have a win yet: the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Those teams really can't seem to buy a break through the first three games of the year. We also have seven teams that are unbeaten at 3-0: New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, and Seattle Seahawks. Payton Manning has gone off like a firecracker to start off, and doesn't seem to be showing signs of slowing down. So with that in mind, lets take a look at the best and worst of week three of this season.

Best:
Payton Manning Quarterback Denver Broncos
After throwing three touchdowns Monday night against the Raiders, Payton has 12 TD passes through the first three games of the season, giving him a new NFL record for most TD passes through the first three games. The old record had been 11, which was set by Tom Brady back in 2011. Manning has yet to throw an interception this year either, which shows just how great he has been for the Broncos to start a year.

Worst:
New York Giants Offensive Line
The Giants just had an awful game on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, losing 38-0. You could point out the horrible performance of pretty much any positional group, but the blockers were especially egregious, giving up seven sacks and only paving the way for a total of 60 rushing yards during the loss. If the Giants are going to get any better at all over the final 13 games of the year, their offensive line has got to step up and play better. The running game can't get going if they don't have any running lanes to work through. Plus if Eli Manning is supposed to play better, he has to stay on his feet. For him to do that, his line has got to protect him a lot better.

Best:
Ahmad Bradshaw Running Back Indianapolis Colts
Going into this week's game against the 49ers, everybody was wondering what was going to happen with the Colts and new running back Trent Richardson. Well Ahmad Bradshaw made a claim that he should still be getting more of the carries for the Colts. Averaging five yards per carry in his 95 yard, one touchdown performance versus the 49ers, Bradshaw made his statement that he still wants to be a feature back in Indy. If both backs stay healthy, they could pack a really nice 1-2 punch in the Indianapolis backfield.

Worst:
CJ Spiller Running Back Buffalo Bills
This one isn't just on Spiller, its on the Bills running game as a whole. Fred Jackson had 72 yards on the ground including one big run against the Jets, but that was it. And Spiller was way worse, having 10 carries for just nine total yards. The Bills running game was absent, which can't happen if you're Buffalo/ For the Bills to even attempt to stay in this hunt in the AFC East, they need to get the running game going, othewise it will be another disappointing season for Buffalo.

Best:
Cleveland Browns Offense
Going into this week, some people, me included, felt bad for the Browns. The reason is they just gave up their best player in Richardson, and it looked like they were giving up hope on the season. That didn't happen at all. The Browns surprised everybody, picking up their first win of the season, 31-27 over the Vikings. Brian Hoyer powered the offense with 354 yards passing and three touchdowns. Sure he was picked off three times, but all three TD passes went to the same guy, Jordan Cameron. This gives the Browns a little something to work with going forward.

Worst:
Washington Redskins Secondary
For parts of the game against the Lions, it looked like this was going to be the week that the Redskins got off the slid and finally got their first win of the season. A DeAngelo Hall pick six on the Lions’ second drive made it seem like the unit was about to rebound from its terrible performances in the Redskins’ first two games. They did not, allowing Matthew Stafford to throw for 378 yards and two touchdowns, including seven passes of over 15 yards in Detroit’s 27-20 win.

Best:
Ryan Tannehill Quarterback Miami Dolphins
Miami is 3-0 right now, a lot of that having to do with the play of their 2nd year quarterback. Tannehill played great in the week three win, his best drive of the day being a a 13-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dion Sims with 38 seconds left in the game. The score gave the Dolphins a 27-23 victory.

Worst:
Kyle Wilson Cornerback New York Jets
Yes I know the Jets got the win over the Bills, but it was a lot closer than it should have been. The Jets as a team took 20 penalties, five of which were taken by Kyle Wilson. The cornerback was benched in the fourth quarter by Rex Ryan after two consecutive dumb personal fouls gave the Bills 20 free yards on what ended up being a game-tying drive. All this part of four straight penalties that were taken by Wilson on that same drive. The Jets amazingly hung on to win 27-20 despite committing a franchise record 20 penalties in the game.