Week Three Notes: Picture becoming FAR clearer now...

Updated for the Sunday Night non-competitive game...

• Bye bye Minnesota.  Didn't think they'd be pushing you this year, probably after the Sendejo statement, but I think today probably sealed the deal -- the largest-scale upset probably in the history of the league!

Buffalo was a 17-point underdog and deserved every consideration on that level in the book!

So what happens?  Non-competitive game, yes.

But Buffalo runs out to a 27-0 lead and wins 27-6!

It is, and I checked Pro Football Reference, so I think I'm right, only the fourth time in league history (and definitely the first in 23 years -- that was reported in the media) that a 17+ point favorite lost the game.

But all three previous that I could find on PFR were either 3 or 7 point margins.  If this is true, this would be the first time in the history of the league that a 17-point underdog won by anything CLOSE to three touchdowns!!

• See ya Green Bay.  If they knew Week 1, Chicago would probably be 3-0 right now, and probably will win the division anyway.

After a draw in which they got screwed by the refs to cement it, the refs doubled-down today and Washington won a non-competitive 31-17 victory over the Packers.

The Packers actually got called for defensive pass interference three separate times in Washington's second TD run.

And, for the third week in a row, Clay Matthews is bitching.

That's because, for the third week in a row, Matthews will be up for a fine for a 15-yard Roughing the Passer penalty!

THIS, at 28-17 Washington, late third quarter, was a 19 yard QB sack by Matthews, flagged for a net +34 that changed the field position and probably blew a chance for the Pack to get to 31-24...

Roughing the passer. Clay Matthews may actually kill a referee at this point pic.twitter.com/ta9zJqrAOO

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 23, 2018

A POSSIBLE helmet, MAYBE the Rodgers Rule???

But nope -- it's time to officially put the Packers to bed.  I gave it a pass last week when I really should not have.  But I'm not doing it twice.

• Bye-bye New England.  It sounds like whatever demons actually helped precipitate the Super Bowl LII(E) loss (and, more and more, I'm beginning to think it's a revolt/throwing against the Alex Guerrero contingent on this team! by Belichick!!) are back and in full force.

They lose to the FUCKING LIONS????

Yeah, the story is "Is the Belichick motivation getting through?", but this would stand to reason for a team whose coach may have taken the pins of Championship Number Six out from under them at the last feasible moments!

Both last week and this week, neither game competitive.  Weren't within one score in the fourth quarter in either of the last two games, and, as I said last week, you have to go back to 2014 to find a New England game under Brady where that happened!

And the next non-competitive game Brady played and lost:  Week 9 2010 against the Browns -- 34-14!

It's been eight years (before the last two games) that Tom Brady has quarterbacked two games in which the New England Patriots lost and were never within eight points in the fourth quarter.

I'm now officially down to the Rams (3-0) and Philly (2-1) in the NFC.  You can make a case for Tampa to go quite a distance (2-0 and the only other NFC undefeated, Monday Night for the 3rd game of the suspension) for a Matt Ryan reset motif like they did in Atlanta IF AND ONLY IF Winston does not see the field again, but I don't think it gets through the Rams and that new LA stadium.

AFC?  Good God only knows. The Dolphins and Chiefs are the only two undefeated teams.  There are 5 2-1 teams at the moment and the Browns are 1-1-1.

Yeah, beginning to get that LA feeling....

• The 43-37 overtime win by the Saints over the Falcons is the second 80+ point game the Saints have had in three weeks.
• By contrast, Tennessee and Jacksonville scored only five field goals in the 9-6 Tennessee win!
• Average Week 3 score through Sunday:  44.4.  Last year's Week 3 was almost 50!
• Seven non-competitive games so far this week.  (As many as the first two weeks combined.)
• Only one Cliffhanger (the OT game).
• Only six games with margins of eight points or less.  Have to go back to Week 16 last year for fewer (4).
• Eight teams had double-digit penalties.  The fifth and sixth of the eight were in the same game.  The first five all lost.  The last two both won.