Observations on the state of New Jersey/New York football: Peter King – Of the NFL’s 32 teams, the Giants are 31 and the Jets 32. Though I’d say the Jets are 32 by a lot. Michael Lombardi – @mlombardiNFL There is no professional football in NY since 2017.  Both teams, Jets and Giants combined for a 28-74 record.    Jets, 16-35 31.3% Giants, 12-39 23.5%    Hard to watch…. – – – Brandon Mendoza of NFL.com on scoring with Week 3 almost in the books: Maybe NFL defenses are still in quarantine. Entering Monday Night Football in Week 3, there have been a combined 50.9 points scored per game in 2020, which would be the highest per-game mark in a season in NFL history. For perspective, consider that the record for a full season is 46.8, set in 2013.   There have been 30-plus points scored in a game 38 times in 2020, the most in the first three weeks of a season since the 1970 merger.   The Seahawks and Packers are both undefeated despite allowing more than 28.0 points per game. That’s been accomplished just four previous times through the first three games of a season, by the 1991 Bills, 2000 Rams, 2008 Broncos and 2018 Chiefs.

NFC NORTH

CHICAGO It’s Starting QB NICK FOLES.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com: It’s official: Mitchell Trubisky has been benched for Nick Foles.   Bears coach Matt Nagy announced today that Foles will start this week against the Colts.   “We got up this morning and went through the tape and at the end of it we decided we’re going to go with Nick Foles as the starter,” Nagy said. “It’s never easy when you go into these types of situations. I want to credit both of those guys yesterday for being really supportive of each other.”   That news comes as a surprise to no one after Foles came off the bench for an ineffective Trubisky on Sunday and led the Bears from a 26-10 deficit to a 30-26 win.   The Bears are off to a 3-0 start despite shaky play from Trubisky. If Foles can stabilize the quarterback position, the Bears should be heading for the playoffs. More from Dan Wetzel of YahooSports.com: The Trubisky benching was deserved and also lightning quick, which suggests Nagy may have been eager to move on from the former No. 2 overall pick despite winning the season’s first two games. Foles was probably always the inevitable plan this year. That they got to him while remaining undefeated is a bonus.   Now the question is: What do Foles and Chicago do with it?   There are few NFL careers more confounding than the one Foles is rolling through. He was named Super Bowl MVP after outdueling Tom Brady in Philly’s classic upset three seasons ago in a game where he delivered 373 yards and three touchdown passes and one “Philly Special” touchdown receiving.   He made a Pro Bowl in 2013, throwing seven scores in one game that season, and he routinely pulls off plays like “Get to the ‘L’” that you’d expect from Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers.   Yet across nine seasons with five teams (Philly, Kansas City, St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago) he has never seized control of a starting job, either because of inaccuracy, turnovers or injuries. For every burst of magic, there is the return to the mean that suggests he’s nothing more than a very capable backup. Teams tend to want him, then not so much. He has been traded three times, always as part of some mid-to-late-round draft swaps.   After the 2015 season in St. Louis, where he completed just 56.4 percent of his passes and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (7), he strongly considered retiring and finding a new profession.   Football was no longer fun. It certainly had never been easy. He played high school ball in Texas but the local schools showed little interest. He went to Michigan State but couldn’t crack the lineup. He transferred to Arizona and wound up drafted in the third round. He was just a bad QB with no guarantees for the future.   He went fishing, prayed on it and decided to give it another crack. A year in Kansas City led to a return to Philly and that improbable Super Bowl playoff run.   Since then, he has lost starting QB battles to Carson Wentz, Gardner Minshew and, just a month ago, Trubisky.   So who is the real Nick Foles, as he returns with another golden opportunity to show the league that he is more than just its most famous mop-up guy? When you start 3-0 — no matter how you start 3-0 — you have an inside track on the playoffs, especially as they’ve expanded this season. Chicago should be thinking big.   Foles will have to be a lot better than he was against Atlanta. Winning tends to smooth everything over, but he was just 16-of-29 for 188 yards. There were three touchdowns, against one pick, and that brilliant audible that comes from Foles’ deep confidence, but the warning light should still be flashing.   Foles’ accuracy has long been a problem — a career 61.8 completion percentage. So has his touchdowns-to-interception ratio — 74 to 36. He tends to get banged up often and struggles once defensive coordinators can plan for him.   Still, he’s the kind of guy who subs in and switches the offense on the biggest play of the game. He’s the back-up who spent the fourth quarter walking up and down the Bears sideline reminding everyone that the comeback was possible (and his teammates believed him).   “It’s one play at a time …” Foles said afterward.   That’s Nick Foles at his best, always believing even in the face of doubt, deficits and a blitz. And so now comes one more time for an opportunity to prove he is more than a guy who is so great when little is expected, only to be so befuddling when a lot is.   In his sixth starting stint with his fifth team, can Nick Foles be special in Chicago? This from Albert Breer of SI.com on the process: And really, as Nagy explains it, he really didn’t see this coming so much either. In fact, he told me the first time the topic was really broached was at halftime, when some of the issues the team had early in the opener against Detroit started to resurface—the Bears, again, were having trouble on third down and in the red zone, and in managing down-and-distance. The offensive coaches discussed it, but didn’t raise it to the quarterback.   At that point, they figured they should wait. Then, the Falcons went 75 yards in seven plays to push the lead to 23-10, Blidi Wreh-Wilson picked Trubisky off on a shallow cross on a third-and-8, and the Falcons tacked on another field goal as a result.   At that point, Nagy looked over and gave Lazor a look, then simply said to DeFilippo over the headset: “We’re going to put Nick in.”   “Mitch was on the bench, I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder and told him we’re going to go with Nick,” Nagy said. “Then I went over to Nick and told him he’s in. It was as simple as that. There wasn’t a long discussion, talking through it was as easy as that. And I went onto the play sheet and started figuring out what we wanted to call next.”   One thing Nagy emphasized: One reason he felt OK doing it was because he knew both guys could handle it. Trubisky proved that by facing the music with the press after the game, and Foles proved it first in how he dealt with losing the summer competition, and then with how he played when he got in on Sunday.   And based on statistics alone, he was an upgrade. More than just that, there were nuances to it. First, there was the fact that Foles has had to pinch-hit in the past, and that experience showed in his 16-of-29, 188-yard, three-touchdown second half. But there was also his knowledge and background, which coaches felt would make everyone better.   “He did a good job of getting us into a good position offensively based off what the defense was showing us,” Foles said. “We gave him flexibility to just kind of be himself out there, and if there’s something that he sees, go ahead and make an adjustment at the line of scrimmage.”   Such a case came up when it mattered most—third-and-8 from the Falcons 28 with two minutes left. Before the two-minute warning, Nagy sent Foles and the offense out, and forced the Falcons defense to line up and give them a look. Once he got that look, Foles made an adjustment to Anthony Miller’s route, and the told the guys, If they do that again, we’re going to do this.   Sure enough, after the two-minute warning, Atlanta gave the Bears the same look. Miller adjusted his route, and Foles hit him for the seam for the game winning touchdown.   “Right after that ball was snapped, we all knew what he had gotten to in that play, based off what they gave us on defense,” Nagy said. “We practice that over and over and over in training camp and in meetings and in film review. ‘Hey, if they give you this, let’s have an attacking mindset.’ And that’s what they did, they gave it to us, now you’ve got to execute it. And those are why, it’s like when you play golf.”   Nagy explained the analogy by saying that, in golf, you practice and practice and practice, and then there comes a day when everything lines up and you nailed that hole in one—that was Miller’s game-winning touchdown for Atlanta, and as a result the Bears completed an improbable comeback, and now the team is walking into a quarterback controversy.   Only, Nagy doesn’t think it’ll be a controversy at all. With the team 3-0, his belief is the coaches will make a decision this morning, and the character of the team, and quarterbacks themselves, will carry everyone through into preparation for the Colts next week.

GREEN BAY Averaging over 40 points per game has put a smile in QB AARON RODGERS’ voice per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com: When’s the last time you heard Aaron Rodgers talk like this?   “I loved the call down on the goal line.”   “I loved the call coming out.”   “Just a beautiful call.”   Even last year, when they were winning games at a record clip for a Green Bay Packers rookie head coach, it never looked this smooth between Rodgers and Matt LaFleur. And Rodgers certainly never uttered those kinds of phrases late in the Mike McCarthy era.   But here was Rodgers late Sunday night after another offensively dominant win – this one a 37-30 shootout at the New Orleans Saints – heaping praise on his coach for everything from the game plan to the playcalls themselves.   Aaron Rodgers connected with a multitude of receivers for three touchdowns and 283 passing yards Sunday night against the Saints. Sean Gardner/Getty Images Three games – all victories – into their second season, Rodgers and LaFleur have found their happy place. They have the top-scoring offense and the No. 2 offense in terms of total yards in the NFL through three weeks.   Perhaps the best part for the Packers is that it hasn’t mattered who has gotten the ball. Whether it was Davante Adams and his 14-catch game in Week 1 against the Vikings, Aaron Jones with his 236-yard romp in Week 2 against the Lions or new receiving standout Allen Lazard (six catches for 146 yards and a touchdown while Adams was sidelined because of a hamstring injury) on Sunday against the Saints, the Packers have rolled.   “We’ve gotten in a good flow,” Rodgers said. “I feel like again Matt got into a really nice flow with the calls. We did a nice job on third down for the most part and were opportunistic with some big plays when we needed it. We got a lot of guys involved; I think we had a number of guys catch passes. We had a number of guys who we needed to play well, played well.”   It was worth wondering whether the Packers’ offense would stumble out of the gate this season given all the additions that LaFleur wanted to make after Year 1 and with so little time to actually implement the changes because of the virtual offseason. But anyone who has watched the Packers operate the first three weeks has seen how different – and dynamic – the offense has become.   Just look at the play-action game – a staple of the LaFleur offense but one that came and went at times last year. On Sunday, Rodgers completed 15 of 19 play-action passes for 188 yards and three touchdowns, according to ESPN Stats & Information. It was just the second time in his career that he threw three touchdowns in a game off play-action, and the 15 attempts and 19 completions were play-action career bests.   “It’s just a culmination of banked reps, a lot of the stuff that we’ve been practicing over the last year and a half or however long we’ve been together now,” LaFleur said. “But he also can take in a lot of information, which is such a benefit to us because we can put more on his plate and he never flinches. He handles it. He gets it. He’s really the catalyst for our offense. He gets us going in the right direction.”   With Rodgers and LaFleur fully in sync, everyone else appears to be along for the ride.   Lazard benefited from the player he called “the best deep-ball thrower in the league if not NFL history as well” on his plays of 48 and 72 yards.   Even the tight ends got into the action. Bobby Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis both caught touchdowns, marking the first time since Week 10 of the 2015 season that Rodgers threw multiple touchdowns to tight ends in a game. Throw in Jace Sternberger’s most productive game and the Packers’ tight end trio combined for nine catches, 104 yards and two scores.   And then there was the one that won’t show up on the stat sheet but further illustrated Rodgers’ brilliance. He used his cadence to get linebacker Demario Davis to jump offside on third-and-3 from the Saints’ 15-yard line in the fourth quarter. With the free play – already the fifth one Rodgers has drawn this year in three games (two of which were on the road with no fans, which helps) – Rodgers lofted it into the end zone for Lazard, who drew a pass interference on cornerback Janoris Jenkins that eventually led to a 1-yard touchdown catch by Tonyan.   “I think Matt has really settled into the rhythm of the playcalling,” said Rodgers, who through three games is 71-of-106 passing for 887 yards and nine touchdowns without an interception.   “And it’s made my job a lot easier.”   And it’s made the Packers’ offense nearly unstoppable.

MINNESOTA Big days in defeat for RB DALVIN COOK and WR JUSTIN JEFFERSON.  Courtney Cronin: @CourtneyRCronin The Vikings are the first team in NFL history to have one player record 175 rushing yards and another player record 175 receiving yards in the same game, regardless of win or loss, per Elias.

NFC EAST

DALLAS In a loss where the opposition got 38 points – the Cowboys get one of Peter King’s Defensive Players of the Week: Aldon Smith, pass-rusher, Dallas. If you have watched a football game or three since 2012, you know that Russell Wilson, who entered the league that season and has started all 148 Seattle games (including postseason) since then, is hard to sack. Smith, in his third game back in football after a five-year hiatus, sacked Wilson three times in the first 40 minutes of the game. What’s interesting about Smith’s presence early for the Cowboys is how much he’s playing. Dallas isn’t pacing him—he’s leading the pack of great defensive front players.

PHILADELPHIA Michael David Smith thinks GM Howie Roseman should be nowhere near the end of his rope despite the 0-2-1 start: @MichaelDavSmith Howie Roseman rebuilt a roster that Chip Kelly destroyed, won a Super Bowl in Year 2 and got to the playoffs in Year 3 and Year 4. Now Eagles fans are saying he deserves to be fired two games into Year 5. Philadelphia Eagles General Manager is a thankless job. – – – Tough questions, status quo answers in Philadelphia.  Kevin Patra of NFL.com: The Philadelphia Eagles’ proverbial marriage to Carson Wentz hit a rocky stage, but coach Doug Pederson insists he has zero plans on benching his starter for rookie Jalen Hurts after Sunday’s 23-23 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals.   “No, you don’t go there,” Pederson said Monday morning on WIP, via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philly. “That’s a knee jerk reaction. That’s a reaction to the aura that’s out there. That’s not what we believe internally. We’re going to continue to get better. Carson’s our quarterback.”   Wentz’s struggles have been pervasive to open the season. He’s thrown 2-plus INTs in three straight games for the first time in his career as the Eagles start the season 0-2-1; the QB has six INTs this season after throwing just seven in each of the past three seasons; his seven giveaways are the most by any QB this season (entering MNF); and Wentz has generated three straight games with a sub-75 passer rating for the first time in his career.   It’s not just offensive line woes or receiver issues at the root cause of Wentz’s issues, though those are certainly problems. The fifth-year pro isn’t making good reads, he doesn’t know when to let a play die, his footwork gets wonky far too much, he’s been extremely inaccurate, and he’s making some boneheaded decisions with the football.   Sunday’s inability to carve up a defense that had been scorched the previous week was a low for Wentz. Sunday he completed 29 of 47 passes for 225 yards, one TD and one INT for a 62.8 passer rating. After playing like an MVP candidate in 2017, it’s been a downward spiral for Wentz due to injuries the previous years, but in 2020, he’s simply playing poorly.   Despite the struggles, Pederson won’t walk out on his starting QB.   The Eagles wed themselves to Wentz when he signed a massive extension in 2019. With a dead-money implication of $59 million if Philly wanted to move on in 2021, Wentz isn’t going anywhere, regardless of how loud Eagles fans groan.   Pederson later told reporters later Monday that he doesn’t intend to give up play-calling in an effort to switch things up.   “No. I love doing it,” he said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I haven’t thought about it at all.”   His commitment to Wentz and play-calling weren’t Pederson’s only revelations Monday morning.   The Super Bowl-winning coach admitted he should have gone for it on fourth-and-12 with 19 seconds remaining in overtime instead of punting, which ensured a tie. Pederson defended the decision after the game but had a change of heart overnight.   “But looking back on it, I probably would have gone the other way,” he said.   Wentz should hope his play turns around before the next change-of-heart Pederson has is his commitment to the starting QB. – – – With 19 seconds left in OT, Pederson faced three choices. 1 – Let fly with a 64-yard FG try, which if missed would have given the Bengals the ball at the Eagles 46 and their own 64-yard FG try or maybe one play to get closer. 2 – Try to convert a 4th and 12 that would put a FG inside of 52.  Maybe a 15 to 20% chance? 3 – Or punt and settle for a tie. He chose door #3 and now regrets it. Faced with fourth-and-12 in overtime after a penalty moved their field goal attempt back to an unmakeable distance, Pederson acted nothing like the daring head coach who had called the Philly Special at a critical moment in Super Bowl LII. Instead of letting Wentz try to get a first down to extend the drive, Pederson opted to punt with just 19 seconds left in overtime.   It was a baffling decision, especially with almost no time left. There was little to lose. The analytics were firmly on the side of letting Wentz try to air it out for a first down, or even a touchdown. But Pederson instead chose to play it disappointingly safe, a decision he now regrets.   @Jeff_McLane Doug Pederson on 94.1 WIP this morning: In retrospect, I would have not punted and instead taken a shot down the field on fourth and 12. #Eagles We found this table (from about 10 years ago) that says converting on 4th and 12 might be higher in the abstract (N being the number of plays surveyed). Yds To Go Succ Rt N 1 73.1% 424 2 71.4% 84 3 69.0% 71 4 61.0% 77 5 62.5% 72 6 45.5% 66 7 35.4% 48 8 29.5% 44 9 36.1% 36 10 37.4% 91 11 33.3% 24 12 33.3% 21 13 21.1% 19 14 16.7% 12 15 12.5% 24 16 20.0% 10 17 0.0% 13 18 33.3% 6 19 40.0% 5 20 13.3% 15 21+ 6.3% 32

WASHINGTON Back in Ohio, ex-Ohio State QB DWAYNE HASKINS was the Browns’ best friend and a Peter King goat: Dwayne Haskins, quarterback, Washington. WFT looked a lot more like WTF in the first half of an awful performance at Cleveland, led by the 15th pick in the 2019 draft and presumptive quarterback of the future. Haskins threw two picks in the last eight minutes of the second quarter, both leading to Cleveland touchdowns. The second was particularly egregious. Remember Malcolm Smith, the MVP of the Super Bowl seven seasons ago for Seattle? Well, five teams later, he’s a Brown, and Haskins threw him a pass like Smith was the intended receiver at the two-minute warning before halftime. Nick Chubb scored first, then Kareem Hunt, and Cleveland went into halftime up 17-7. Haskins got the lead back in the third quarter, but then threw his third pick of the day—again turning into a Cleveland TD—to lose the lead for good. In all, Haskins turned it over four times, and the Browns turned the gaffes into 24 points. But this from Ron Rivera: “The truth of the matter is how is [Haskins] going to learn? Is he going to learn while taking the [scout] team snaps? No. The only way we are going to find out where Dwayne is and what he can do is by putting him back out on the football field and let him get exposed. That is how he grows. That is what we did with Cam Newton and look where he is today. Cam Newton was a league MVP because we trusted him and we took our lumps with him. I am going to take my lumps with Dwayne right now.”

NFC SOUTH

ATLANTA Another big lead, another loss for the Falcons.  D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution surveys his odds of surviving very long: Falcons coach Dan Quinn is now the odds-on favorite (-200) to be the first NFL head coach to be fired this year, according to SportsBetting.ag.   “Arthur Blank and Thomas Dimitroff have proven to be a forgiving men, but how do you let something like this continue to happen and allow your team to become the laughingstock of the league,” said Robert Cooper, odds manager at SportsBetting.ag. “The Falcons schedule does ease up after Monday night, but the back half is absolutely loaded, and it’s difficult to envision any scenario where Quinn makes it through this season with job intact.”   Quinn moved to the top of the list after the Falcons blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to the Bears on Sunday. The offense, inexplicably threw five passes over two three-and-outs, instead of running the ball with the late lead. The Falcons didn’t try to protect a defense that was playing without five starters.   Quinn moved ahead of Jets coach Adam Gase, who is followed by Detroit’s Matt Patricia, Houston’s Bill O’Brien and Minnesota’s Mike Zimmer on the dubious list. First Head Coach Fired Dan Quinn (1-2) Adam Gase (3-1) Matt Patricia (5-1) Bill O’Brien (9-1) Mike Zimmer (9-1) Doug Marrone (10-1) Vic Fangio (12-1) Anthony Lynn (16-1)

CAROLINA David Newton of ESPN.com on the state of the Panthers after three games: Coach Matt Rhule said he believes the Panthers, even without injured Christian McCaffrey, can win now. This isn’t to suggest Carolina will be a playoff team this season, but when you consider how they had a chance to beat the Raiders and Bucs in their first two games, and how they beat the Chargers despite mistakes, it shows at the very least the culture Rhule has been preaching is starting to sink in. “Not perfect,” Rhule said. “But that might be the good news. We found a way to win on the road despite not being perfect.” If a young defense can continue to grow as it did Sunday, and if the offense can hold things together until McCaffrey returns in four to six weeks, then the Panthers at the very least will give good teams problems.

NEW ORLEANS A note on RB ALVIN KAMARA: @NFLResearch Alvin Kamara has scored 2+ touchdowns in each of his last 5 games   That’s the longest streak of games with 2+ TD since HOF LaDainian Tomlinson had an 8-game streak on his way to setting the NFL single-season touchdown record (31) in 2006 – – – Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com on the Saints and their 1-2 start: Is it time to give up on Brees and the Saints? No. Losing two of three is a bad start, and it leaves them vulnerable in a tiebreaker race, but the rest of the NFC South is a combined 3-6. The Saints are only a game behind the Bucs and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Their schedule gets easier in the weeks to come. The chances of the Saints turning this around and making a run toward the NFC South title are greater than the possibility they fall off and disappoint everyone.   It’s certainly time to be concerned, which is where I fall on the Brees spectrum after three starts. After a messy end to the 2018 season, I took a closer look at his end to the season and didn’t see anything that concerned me for his future. He did suffer a thumb injury in 2019, but he otherwise stayed healthy and continued to produce at a high level when available.   Now, though, I’m more worried. Brees still has a brilliant mind, an incredible playcaller, an impressive offensive line and two of the best weapons in the league (when healthy) in Kamara and Thomas. His margin for error over the past few years has been thin, but he has set records into his 40s and broken every rule of what we know about NFL quarterbacks to operate one of the league’s best offenses over the past three seasons.   Even given those advantages and his laudable résumé, though, the game is tougher now for him than it was a year ago. He has come into 2020 looking less certain of his abilities and more concerned about making mistakes than ever before. If this is how he will play over the remainder of 2020, his margin for error is even thinner than before, requiring an almost-impossible level of accuracy and consistency. Sunday was the first time he showed anything close to that level of play this season.   A diminished version of Brees would still be functional and an effective quarterback for a playoff contender, especially one as talented as the Saints have been over the past few years. On Sunday, though, the Saints were at home and got an accurate performance from Brees and a career day from Kamara and still lost to a Packers team missing two of their best players in Adams and defensive tackle Kenny Clark.   If the players surrounding Brees aren’t living up to expectations or available to play, he is the one who will have to shoulder more of the workload and carry the Saints to victories. While I’m less worried about him than I was after his performance in Week 2, I’m not sure the Brees we’ve seen so far in 2020 is up to that task. An easy schedule over the next five weeks might cure what’s wrong with New Orleans, but if it doesn’t, I’m not sure the Brees of old will be there to bail out his team.

TAMPA BAY 2 catches, 2 TDs, 2 total yards – WR MIKE EVANS as he went a Mile High in Denver: @JennaLaineESPN Wild stat: Mike Evans finished the Broncos game with two touchdowns but just 2 total receiving yards. Only one other player in the Super Bowl era has finished with two TDs and just 2 receiving yards: Howard Cross in 1994 for the Giants.

NFC WEST

ARIZONA From Zac Jackson: @AkronJackson Here’s one I did not see coming. Since 1970, only three QBs have recorded a rushing TD in each of their team’s first 3 games. Kyler Murray today became the 3rd.   The first two were Terry Bradshaw and … Charlie Frye.

SAN FRANCISCO Kyle Shanahan tells Peter King about the mindset that destroyed the Jets despite a huge run of injuries: “I was like, hey, this NFL’s a tough league. If we don’t change our mindset on this, we’re gonna get embarrassed. You start that on Wednesday and you try and just address it, address the elephant in the room so you can get over it. We started talking about how many guys we lost last year. We lost a ton of guys last year too. The hard thing was, we lost two really good ones in Nick Bosa and Solly [Solomon Thomas, both to ACL injuries]. But a lot of the other guys we lost, we are gonna get back. We need to make sure that we manned up and had a great week of practice. I thought Wednesday was the best practice we’ve had all year. By the time we got back to New Jersey on Saturday night at our meetings and stuff, our team felt good.   “In the game, our team just stuck with it and we kept persevering, and it was 16-9 [late in the third quarter] and finally we just wore ‘em down took over. It was really tough in the first half because our team knew how big of a game plan we had going to Jordan Reed, and to lose him early, with George Kittle not playing, that was a big deal. But then Ross Dwelley comes in and really helps us when we need tight end help, and it was really cool to see.   “It was a good learning experience for everyone. I just learned . . . our team likes football. People kinda counted us out, and that’s how we felt a lot last year. It wasn’t till we were about 7-0 I feel like people started taking us seriously. In football, you never stay the same; you’re always a different team. You go through things together. But our depth and our love of the game—I think those things really helped us through a tough time.” – – – A note on QB NICK MULLINS: @Eric_Branch Nick Mullens has become first #49ers QB since Joe Montana (1985-86) to throw for 220-plus yards in nine straight starts. The DB wouldn’t fall over in a faint if Mullens does a Wally Pipp on QB JIMMY GAROPPOLO.

LOS ANGELES RAMS Is it rare for a team to go the whole game without a single punt and still lose?  Kind of, but not really. The Rams didn’t punt against the Bills in 35-32 defeat – and it marked the 13th time that had happened and actually the 2nd this year.  The Colts did not punt in their 20-27 Week 1 defeat at the hands of Jacksonville. How about a 35-32 game?  Is that score rare?  Not really either, it was the 9th 35-32 NFL game.

SEATTLE Is QB RUSSELL WILSON having the greatest season any NFL QB has ever had?  Brandon Medoza of NFL.com: With 14 passing touchdowns in three games, Russell Wilson is on pace for 74 scoring strikes (Peyton Manning’s 55 in 2013 is the current NFL record) by season’s end. League trends and common sense tell us he’s probably not going to reach that mark. But let’s not totally rule it out! Check out where Wilson stands through three weeks:   He became the first player with at least four passing TDs in each of his team’s first three games in NFL history.   With 14 TD passes through his team’s first three games, he’s eclipsed Patrick Mahomes’ mark of 13 (2018) for the most in NFL history.   He leads the league in passer rating with 139.0. If it held, this would shatter the NFL’s single-season record (Aaron Rodgers’ 122.5 in 2011).   He ranks fourth or better in completion percentage (76.7%, third) and passing yards (925, fourth) heading into Monday night’s game.   So, yeah, 74 seems outlandish. But is it that outlandish? Three QBs have thrown 50 TDs in a season. Peyton Manning          2013                55 Tom Brady                  2007                50 Patrick Mahomes       2018                50 Wilson would need 36 in the last 13 games to join them – or 2.76 per game the rest of the way.  That’s a pace that would produce 44 in a 16-game season.  If he did three per game the rest of the way, he would have 53. – – – If Peter Carroll has his way, NFL Justice will lower the boom on DT TRYSTEN HILL of the Cowboys.  Nick Shook of NFL.com: The Seahawks scored another exciting and impressive win Sunday, but it came at a cost.   Seattle lost running back Chris Carson to a knee injury that coach Pete Carroll said Monday was a first-degree strain. Cowboys defensive tackle Trysten Hill wrapped up Carson’s legs from behind before rolling over them late in the fourth quarter, appearing to twist Carson’s leg well after the running back was down, resulting in an injury that has angered Carroll and his players.   “I was really pissed about that one,” Carroll said, via ESPN 710’s Jessamyn McIntyre. … “He really hurt him.”   Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright took to Twitter to voice his anger with the play, calling it “clearly intentional” and asking for a harsher punishment for Hill. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Hill will likely be fined but not suspended for the act.   Carroll said the Seahawks will have to see how Carson’s knee responds during the week.   Safety Jamal Adams also exited Sunday’s contest with a groin injury that Carroll also described as a first-degree strain, which the coach said the Seahawks will take day to day.   Though they were able to hang on for the win, the Seahawks clearly missed Adams late in Sunday’s game. His replacement, Ryan Neal, made the game-sealing interception only after Dak Prescott managed to stay upright after he was nearly sacked by Benson Mayowa and was forced to heave a prayer to the end zone.

AFC SOUTH

INDIANAPOLIS A milestone for QB PHILIP RIVERS from Mike Wells of ESPN.com: Quarterback Philip Rivers joined elite company, becoming just the sixth quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 400 career touchdown passes and for 60,000 yards. He reached the career touchdown mark on the second play of the second quarter when he completed a 1-yard score to tight end Mo Alie-Cox. The Colts were never really threatened past the first quarter, but Rivers finished 17-of-21 for 217 yards and a touchdown as the Indianapolis offense looked efficient.

JACKSONVILLE Veteran PK STEPHEN HAUSCHKA is the new kicker of the Jaguars with two other PKs already injured. Incumbent Jags kicker Josh Lambo was placed on injured reserve last week and his replacement Brandon Wright, an undrafted rookie promoted from the practice squad, was injured in Thursday night’s loss against the Dolphins.  Enter the 35-year-old Hauschka, a 12-year NFL veteran who served as the kicker in Buffalo the past three seasons but lost his job this September to rookie Tyler Bass.  Hauschka was also the kicker in Seattle for six seasons and is considered a reliable veteran, although he has been under 80-percent on his field goals the past two seasons.  Buffalo is a notoriously hard place to kick so we will see if that percentage improves in Jacksonville.

TENNESSEE We don’t know how to look this up – but has anyone kicked 260 yards worth of field goals in a game before? The Week One near goat is a hero in Week Three (see MITCH TRUBISKY for the inverse).  Peter King: Stephen Gostkowski, kicker, Tennessee. Kicking six field goals in six tries is good enough, but Gostkowski’s last three were simply huge, all coming in the last 25 minutes of the game. His 51-yarder with nine minutes left in the third quarter made it 17-12, Minnesota. His 54-yarder with 6:36 left in the fourth made it 30-28, Minnesota. His 55-yarder, snaking over the crossbar, with 1:48 left gave Tennessee a 31-30 win. For the game, Gostkowski was good from 39, 31 30, 51, 54 and 55, and it sure seems a long time ago that he was a liability in the Monday night opener for the Titans. When another Titans kicker, the late Robbie Bironis, make the NFL record 8 FGs they totaled 257 yards (52, 25, 21, 30, 28, 43, 29, 29). When Jim Baaken became the first kicker with 7 field goals in 1967, his longest, that’s longest, was only 33 with a total of just 183. Ah, when Billy Cundiff kicked 7 field goals in 2003, they added up to 262 (37- 49 – 42 – 21 – 36 – 52 – 25). And in 1996, Chris Boniol’s 7 field goals were even more – 271. (45 – 37- 42 – 45 – 35 – 39 – 28) So, no, 260 isn’t the record.  It might be 3rd.

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND The Patriots beat the Raiders, but QB CAM NEWTON was unhappy. Cam Newton’s New England Patriots are back above .500 after Sunday’s win over Las Vegas, but the quarterback isn’t all that happy with his own performance.   Newton completed 17 of 28 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown, but also threw an interception. He also ran for just 27 yards on nine attempts.   When asked during an appearance on WEEI what grade he’d give himself for Sunday’s outing, he was realistic: 75 percent, or a C.   “Yesterday was kind of frustrating in itself. … There will be games like that, and when there is games like that, you’ve just got to find ways to win,” Newton said.   “Me, personally? With lackluster ball security, just a slow start offensively, this is subpar performance. I know I can play better, I know I can do better and I know I will be better.”   After a 397-yard outing in a Week 2 thriller against Seattle, Newton wasn’t the same flashy passer for the Patriots on Sunday, but he didn’t really need to be. Other than his interception — which he explained was a case of him losing a defender while scrambling and looking to make a play — the offense didn’t need to rely heavily on Newton’s abilities.

THIS AND THAT

COPING WITH COVID The NFL did have a positive player for COVID last week – and the game went on.  Pete King: I think this is what you need to know about Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell‘s positive COVID-19 experience over the weekend, in chronological order:   • Thursday: Terrell, the rookie cornerback from Clemson, tested negative for COVID-19 in the daily testing regimen that every NFL player undergoes.   • Friday: Terrell was tested when he arrived for practice. The test results are usually not known by the Falcons till the early hours of the next morning. Terrell went through his normal day of work, wearing a tracking device through the day. Every player wears a tracking device; in the event a test comes back positive, Falcons’ Infection Control Officer and director of sports medicine Marty Lauzon can check to see if any player or person in the organization should be quarantined because of close contact with the infected person for longer than 15 minutes.   • Saturday: Early in the morning, Lauzon gets a report that Terrell has tested positive. When Terrell arrivers for Saturday practice, he is not allowed out of his car. He is given the regular test all players take daily, plus a rapid test. He then is sent home, where reportedly he lives alone. Also, the testing facility will re-check the positive test from Friday. All three tests, reportedly, came back positive. Terrell is out for Sunday’s game versus Chicago. It is likely that others who were close to Terrell on Friday would have a close eye on their regular Saturday tests.   • Sunday: It is believed that only Terrell’s tests came back positive, and all other Falcons tests results from Saturday’s regular batch came back negative. So the game against Chicago will go on. It’s likely it would have been postponed only in the event of more than a few positive tests on Saturday.   Moral of the story: The system put in place by the league and the players association works. It’s unlikely this will be the only time a player tests positive this year, but the checks negotiated by the league and union worked in this case. For those wondering how Terrell contracted COVID-19, I don’t know. We can’t find any reports that Terrell had any symptoms or in any other way has actually been stricken with a definable illness.  Apparently, asymptomatic. – – – Meanwhile, the Raiders are being investigated for a protocol violation last Monday night after beating the Saints.  Initially, it sounded like a postgame party with outsiders, but apparently the breach was much less awful and perhaps a misunderstanding. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, an unauthorized person allegedly gained access to the Raiders locker room after their Week 2 win against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.   Schefter reported that the Raiders’ unauthorized guest evaded several security checkpoints before entering the locker room. It’s unknown who this person was or how long they were in the locker room, but the NFL reportedly believes that it has evidence that the security breach happened.   As part of the NFL’s effort to keep COVID-19 from breaking out on one or multiple teams, access to team locker rooms is limited this season. Only 40 employees per team can be allowed into the locker room, and they must be either coaching staff, training staff or equipment staff. The general manager is also allowed entry, as is one security person and one member of the public relations staff. All 40 employees must be credentialed. It’s possible that the Raiders could be disciplined if the NFL’s investigation finds that a non-credentialed employee entered the locker room. Some reports say the “unauthorized person” was a team employee from outside the magic list of 40, such as an extra equipment staffer who was tested and cleared to be in the building. Other reports talk about the person “eluding” security, implying a willful breach, not a misunderstanding of who was on the list of 40 and who wasn’t. – – – Meanwhile, as baseball hits its postseason, Trevor Bauer is not happy with the “protocols” being imposed: @BauerOutage Home team: family members can attend the games. Visiting team: family members cannot attend the games. @mlb : Yup! Checks out!   Guess we didn’t win enough games this year to earn the right for our family to watch us play. Sorry Mom and Dad!

BROADCAST NEWS Peter King on why ESPN gets the presumptive game of the year: Of course CBS wanted this for one of its eight Sunday late-window doubleheader games, and NBC for a Sunday-nighter. ESPN got it for a few reasons. One: as a thank-you back-pat for doing a great job on the NFL draft telecast during the height of the pandemic, for making the abnormal so kitschy and fun and Americana at a time the country needed it. Two: ESPN pays $1.9 billion for the Monday night games and a sweet package of highlights and programming; that’s double what NBC pays for the Sunday night games, and the Sunday package has traditionally been better than the Monday. TV negotiations are happening now. ESPN’s deal expires after the 2021 season, a year earlier than the other network deals. So why not give ESPN a better schedule than usual this year—and perhaps the game of the year in the process? One other note: CBS can’t be too upset. Its most important games are the eight doubleheader windows, and not only did they get Patrick Mahomes for four of the eight games, CBS also got three attractive cross-flex game from FOX: Giants-Dallas, San Francisco-New England, Philadelphia-Green Bay. Although we should not that the NFL on Monday flexed some help for Giants-Dallas in Week 5, bringing Denver at New England to the late 4:25 window.  We understand the Patriots, but not sure what Denver brings on the road.  They left Bills-Titans early – will that be where Nantz and Romo go while the country splits three late games at 4:25 (market size aside, isn’t Indianapolis at Cleveland the best of the three games?) Giants-Dallas Denver-New England Indianapolis-Cleveland Colts-Browns is the most likely to be decided inside of two minutes late.