What We Learned From Week 3 in the N.F.L.

Titans 24, Raiders 22: The Raiders’ defense did the Titans’ offense a solid by giving Derrick Henry a “get right” game. Through Week 2, Tennessee had perhaps the worst rushing offense in the league because of faulty offensive line play and Henry’s looking less explosive than he did in his peak years from 2018 to 2020. Henry ripped off a number of rushes of 10 or more yards through the first half, barreling over linebackers on a few occasions just like old times. Getting an effective running game back allowed Ryan Tannehill to do everything he is good at in the play-action passing game, including slowing down the pass rush off the edge.

Colts 20, Kansas City 17: Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes should have teed off against Gus Bradley and Indianapolis’s vanilla defense. But Kansas City’s running game was shut out entirely, sticking with too many shotgun formations and with the Colts’ interior duo of DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart dominating the trenches. The Colts’ offense wasn’t much of a force, either, but it mustered a 16-play, 76-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to finish things off. Indianapolis squeezed 8 minutes 14 seconds off the clock, leaving just 24 seconds for Mahomes to respond. That is usually more than enough, just not with Kansas City stuck in the mud this season.

Dolphins 21, Bills 19: Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami receivers’ speed finally wore down the Bills’ defense by the fourth quarter, and the Dolphins went ahead on a third-and-22 connection to Jaylen Waddle. The Bills played a wild sequence of football over the game’s final minutes, but failed on a potential game-winning drive that stalled inside the 5-yard line. Then, working from the end zone, Thomas Morstead’s punt bounced off the rear end of his teammate Trent Sherfield, giving Buffalo a 2-point safety. On Buffalo’s last drive, time expired as Josh Allen tried to spike the ball to set up a last-chance field-goal attempt.

Vikings 28, Lions 24: Make it two consecutive weeks in which the Lions have collapsed in the second half after starting games with a big lead. Kirk Cousins found K.J. Osborn on a crossing route for a 28-yard touchdown pass to take the lead with less than a minute to go. Jared Goff and the Lions tried to get down the field with 45 seconds remaining and no timeouts, but Goff eventually had no choice but to throw up a prayer that was answered by Vikings safety Josh Metellus’s interception.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/sports/football/nfl-week-3-takeaways.html