NFL Preseason 2017: Week 3 Schedule, Ticket Info and Predictions

There's nothing quite like the third week of the NFL preseason.

The third week isn't the return of football. That happened two weeks earlier. But fans know the drill and watched as guys like Kellen Moore and Matt McGloin dominated the box scores while getting the majority of snaps in games with results that don't matter.

Results still don't mean anything in the third week, but it's at least usually when teams give starters the most snaps. This means coaches and fans alike get a barometer of where teams are ahead of the regular season, at least for a full half of play.

Seeing August wind down is exciting from a football standpoint, with teams prepping to whittle down rosters as well. Here's a look at the Week 3 slate.

NFL Preseason Week 3 

Thursday, August 24

Miami at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET, NFL Network

Carolina at Jacksonville, 7:30 p.m. ET

Friday, August 25

New England at Detroit, 7 p.m. ET

Kansas City at Seattle, 8 p.m. ET, CBS

Saturday, August 26

N.Y. Jets at N.Y. Giants, 7 p.m. ET

Buffalo at Baltimore, 7 p.m. ET

Arizona at Atlanta, 7 p.m. ET

Indianapolis at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. ET

Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m. ET

Houston at New Orleans, 8 p.m. ET

L.A. Chargers at L.A. Rams, 8 p.m. ET, CBS

Oakland at Dallas, 8 p.m. ET

Green Bay at Denver, 9 p.m. ET

Sunday, August 27

Chicago at Tennessee, 1 p.m. ET, Fox

Cincinnati at Washington, 4:30 p.m. ET, Fox

San Francisco at Minnesota, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

Full schedule available at ESPN.com. Live-streaming at NFL.com. Tickets available at StubHub. Bold denotes predicted winner.

Miami at Philadelphia

This matchup, nationally televised or not, didn't seem like too big of a deal a few weeks ago.

Now it features Jay Cutler.

Cutler inked a deal to become a broadcaster before the Miami Dolphins lost quarterback Ryan Tannehill for the season. Now No. 6 has another starting gig on short notice, and it will be interesting to see how he changes the dynamic of an offense featuring Jarvis Landry at wideout and Jay Ajayi in the backfield.  

The former Chicago Bear hasn't done anything of note, though the NFL provided a roundup of his highlights:

The third preseason game marks a likely launching point for Cutler to eat up most of the snaps, just in time to face a Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham-led defense ready to get after him in a final snap-heavy tuneup for starters.

The Philadelphia Eagles earned most of the attention thrown their way this offseason by getting signal-caller Carson Wentz some help in the form of Alshon Jeffery to pair with Torrey Smith. Perhaps the underrated move was drafting Tennessee's Derek Barnett at No. 14—the rookie already has three sacks through two games.

Call it the perfect tug-of-war scenario for two teams needing stress tests on opposite sides of the football, with Cutler's rust and the fact he's still digesting the offense creating the difference.

Prediction: Eagles 23, Dolphins 17 

L.A. Chargers at L.A. Rams

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

It's not often a venue takes precedence over the matchup in a preseason game, yet here we are.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosts both the Chargers and Rams on Saturday night for a game featuring two teams with loads more questions than answers.

Perhaps the biggest question facing the Chargers is a simple one: Can the team survive an onslaught of injuries? It's hard to say when the team will have rookie wide receiver Mike Williams back. Linebacker Denzel Perryman is hurt. Rookie Forrest Lamp won't be able to suit up this year.

For those keeping track, this means 35-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers will be down a planned top target and a critical piece of his offensive line. He'll still lean on the oft-injured Keenan Allen and the 37-year-old Antonio Gates.

Things are more positive surrounding the Rams, especially after the Chargers took a 48-17 loss in their first preseason game. The Rams have won both of their exhibitions through two weeks, with signal-caller Jared Goff impressing in the second, a 24-21 escape of the Oakland Raiders, going 16-of-20 for 160 yards and a score.

"We started the way we wanted to start, and we were aggressive offensively," Goff said, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We were able to score on those two early drives and did what we wanted to out there."

Goff is the biggest overall question in the world of Los Angeles football, especially with Todd Gurley behind him and with the team having drafted Cooper Kupp and traded for Sammy Watkins. One has to think the offense will keep rolling against the Chargers.

Prediction: Rams 28, Chargers 10 

Chicago at Tennessee

From a quarterback outlook, a nationally televised meet between the Chicago Bears and Tennessee Titans couldn't be more interesting.

Mitchell Trubisky has made the Bears look like geniuses for moving up to get him with the second pick in this year's draft. In his debut, he went 18-of-25 for 166 yards and a score and followed that up with a smooth 6-of-8 line for 60 yards and a score.

Chicago went out of its way to remake important parts of the roster this offseason, revamping at wideout and cornerback. Otherwise, the team focused on getting healthy after having one of the highest salary-cap numbers on injured reserve a year ago.

Trubisky, though, has changed the narrative, as SportsTalk Live's David Kaplan pointed out:

The hype almost feels similar to what Marcus Mariota did for the Titans a few years ago. He hasn't played much this offseason, though it's hard to imagine he will have a hard time getting his feet under him when a wideout trio of Eric Decker, Corey Davis and Tajae Sharpe finally gets healthy.

Tennessee's defense has impressed in the interim, forcing four turnovers over two games. The speed there and the fact Mariota will likely get more snaps than usual should make for an interesting counter to Chicago's exciting upstart preseason.

Advantage goes to Mariota over a rookie. 

Prediction: Titans 17, Bears 10  

Stats courtesy of NFL.com.