A week ago, Andy Dalton was a 36-year-old backup quarterback for the worst team in football tasked with mentoring last year’s top pick while Bryce Young slogged through a disastrous start to his second season.
Dalton had bounced between five teams in five years. He had 163 NFL starts to his name. He seriously doubted if he’d see a 164th.
Then came last Monday morning, and everything changed. Panthers coach Dave Canales pulled Dalton aside. Young was heading to the bench, Canales told him, and he was heading into the huddle.
“It’s a tough situation,” Dalton said a few days later, admitting he’d grown close to Young over the last year and a half. “I’ve been on both sides of it, and it’s hard on everybody.”
Then, on Sunday, Dalton did what no quarterback in the league has done all year: throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a game. He flung it all over the field, and the Panthers suddenly looked reborn. The result was a 36-22 rout of the Raiders in Las Vegas.
“They’re not all going to go like this,” Dalton said after the win, “but when they do, you’ve got to enjoy that.”
Indeed. Elsewhere in the NFL, the Saints came back to earth after a scorching two-game start, and the Eagles’ one-two punch of Saquon Barkley (156 total yards and two touchdowns) and Dallas Goedert (10 catches for 170 yards) pulled Philadelphia out of its first-half funk and to a 15-12 victory in New Orleans. Still, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni rightly cautioned, “this is not sustainable.”
In Cleveland, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones found out just how special a talent Malik Nabers is, and Nabers’ two touchdowns helped New York earn its first win of the season. The Broncos pulled off an upset in Tampa, routing the Bucs 26-7. The Lions took care of the Cardinals, 20-13.
In Los Angeles, the Rams scored the game’s final 13 points to stun the 49ers, 27-24. Suddenly, San Francisco’s Week 1 rout of the Jets feels like ancient history: Kyle Shanahan’s bruised team — the 49ers were without Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle on Sunday — has dropped two straight and is 1-2 on the season.
After an easy win over the Dolphins, first-year coach Mike Macdonald remains unbeaten in Seattle. Dating to 2000, he’s now the fifth head coach under the age of 40 to win his first three games, joining Mike McDaniel (2022), Matt LeFleur (2019), Josh McDaniels (2009) and Mike Tomlin (2007). In addition to the Seahawks, four more teams remain undefeated: the Vikings, Steelers, Chiefs and Bills. Buffalo (2-0) hosts the Jaguars on Monday night.
The Titans are the league’s only 0-3 team, while the Jaguars and Bengals are also still searching for their first wins at 0-2.
Here’s what we learned in Week 3 of the NFL season.
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What we learned in NFL Week 3: Cowboys defense no-shows at home, Bears offense looks lost
