NFL Weeks 1-3 Recap

The last three weeks in the NFL have been very interesting, whether a key fantasy football player has gotten hurt or players have protested. But many people are still tuning in to watch their favorite teams.

In week one, we saw an unexpected victory on opening night when the Kansas City Chiefs visited Foxboro and upset the defending Super Bowl Champions, the New England Patriots 42-27. This game was also the debut of Chiefs rookie running back Kareem Hunt, who ran for 148 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries. He also caught five passes for 58 yards and a TD. A key injury that week was Cardinals running back David Johnson, who dislocated his wrist in a 35-23 loss against the Lions. As a result, Johnson, a top fantasy pick for 2017, will be out for two to three months after undergoing wrist surgery.

In week two, the Patriots got back to their winning ways with a 36-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints, while Trevor Siemien’s four passing scores and top-notch defense led by Von Miller were the reason for the Broncos’ 42-17 blowout over the Cowboys. Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott had the worst game of his career, finishing the game with -8 rushing yards on nine carries.

Week three was full of exciting finishes, especially with the 1 p.m. games Sunday afternoon. Brady tossed a game-winning TD pass to Brandin Cooks that gave the Pats a 36-33 victory over the Texans, the Bears upset the Steelers on a Jordan Howard 19-yard TD run in overtime, Golden Tate scored the go-ahead TD for the Lions until he didn’t, when he was ruled short of the end zone as the Falcons held on 30-26, and rookie Jake Elliott nailed a game-winning 61-yard field goal to lift the Eagles to a 27-24 victory over the win-less Giants. Later that Sunday, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers rallied from a 21-7 deficit to force overtime and defeat the Bengals 27-24, while the Redskins unexpectedly looked dominant on both sides of the ball against Derek Carr and the Raiders, prevailing 27-10 behind 365 passing yards and three TDs from Kirk Cousins and 188 all-purpose yards from Chris Thompson.

Through three and a half weeks, Rodgers and Brady are the top two quarterbacks in terms of passing yards; Rodgers with 1,146 yards and Brady with 1,092 yards. Kareem Hunt and Dalvin Cook lead the league in rushing yards, while Antonio Brown is currently at the top of the receiving yards list.

On the defensive side of things, Chargers linebacker Jatavius Brown leads the NFL in tackles with 36, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence is the sack leader after three weeks with a total of 6.5, and five different players, including the Jets’ Terence Brooks and the Ravens’ Brandon Carr, all have two interceptions, though it’s still early in the season.