NFL's Week 3 Games' Recaps

By Wayne Lin, editor at  Football Maniaxs

Miami @ New England:This one was a shocker. Ronnie Brown scored five touchdowns. No, You didn’t read that incorrectly! He had four rushing touchdowns and one passing dismantling a defense that was one of the best in the league last year. The Patriots ended their 21-game win streak (all-time NFL record) with this loss.

Matt Cassel proved to be ineffective with only one touchdown and one interception.  Kevin O’Connell came in and passed for 25 yards in relief. The Patriots' defense showed its vulnerability and the offensive line looked absolutely demoralized. Chad Pennington, however, had a pretty good day passing for 226 yards, but no touchdowns. All the Dolphin’s touchdowns were scored in one fashion or another by Ronnie Brown.
Miami 38 – Patriots 13.

Kansas City @ Atlanta: Is Atlanta for real, or is Kansas City that bad?  Neither question was really answered.  Michael Turner keeps burning up the turf and Kansas City is still looking for a defensive identity.  Only time will tell what these two teams are capable of, but for now, it’s up in the air.  

Matt Ryan threw for 192 yards and a touchdown, a 70-yard bomb to Roddy White.  Atlanta has a brutal stretch of games before their bye week facing Carolina and Green Bay.  If Atlanta is for real, we’ll find out the next two weeks.  Kansas City is in trouble. They now drop to 0-3 on the season.  Larry Johnson rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough. 

Atlanta 38 – Kansas City 14.

Carolina @ Minnesota: Minnesota used Adrian Peterson sparingly, but fortunately, journeyman Gus Frerotte threw for 204 yards with a touchdown and an interception.  Along with that, Frerotte gave the Vikings their first win and took Brad Childress off the hot seat, at least for now.  

Jake Delhomme and the team's passing game is still in disarray; Delhomme may not be completely over his shoulder injury.  Steve Smith’s return was all for not, and the Panthers lost their first game of the season; there was no last possession heroics this week.  
Vikings 20 – Panthers 10.

Houston @ Tennessee: Kerry Collins can pass. He threw for 189 yards, and commanded the offense very well in a convincing win against the Texans.  The Titan defense is as advertised picking off the ball three times. LenDale White had two touchdowns.  

Matt Schaub seems to be digressing from last season, but don’t blame it all on him.  His offensive line didn’t give him any help.  If Schaub is to be effective, he will need better protection.  The only bright spot for the Texans was rookie RB Steve Slaton who ran for 118 yards and a touchdown.  
Tennessee 31 – Houston 12.

Oakland @ Buffalo: This game also had some questions: is Oakland really improving or is Buffalo and Trent Edwards for real?  JaMarcus Russell broke the 100-yard passing plateau, but Trent Edwards did him one better to the tune of 279 yards and a touchdown.  

The Bills came back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win a nail biter on a last second field goal.  Roscoe Parrish scored a touchdown and Marshawn Lynch scored two.  The Raiders played stellar defense until the fourth quarter.  Rian Lindell was perfect from snap to kick.  
Buffalo 24 – Raiders 23.  

Cincinnati @ NY Giants: Carson Palmer broke out of an early slump, passing for a touchdown to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chris Perry ran for 74 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough. The Giants prevailed in OT. Manning had a rocket throw to Amani Toomer to put one of the final nails in the coffin for the Bengals and possibly Marvin Lewis’s career.  

Eli Manning passed for 289 yards and a touchdown and that was enough to put the Giants in position to win. Derrick Ward looked like a premier rusher going for 80 yards on the ground.  Eli is starting to use his Tight End throwing to Kevin Boss for 51 yards and touchdown.  
Giants 26 – Bengals 23. (OT)

Tampa Bay @ Chicago: Matt Forte continues to impress in his rookie campaign snagging a touchdown and running for 89 yards.  Kyle Orton didn’t do that badly either passing for 268 yards and two touchdowns.  He also had two interceptions, but one of them was not his fault.  

His counterpart and former teammate, Brian Griese, passed for 407 yards, 138 of those to Antonio Bryant who didn’t have a job last season.  The Bucs run game was ineffective gaining only 47 yards with Graham and Dunn combined, but the Bucs still managed to win the game.  Chicago’s secondary was absolutely diminished, but they did have three interceptions.  
Tampa Bay 27 – Chicago 24. (OT)

Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia: The battle for Pennsylvania went to Philadelphia this weekend.  It was a pretty ugly game for Ben Roethlisberger who was sacked nine times and was forced out of the game with an apparent hand injury near the end of the game. Pittsburgh’s offensive line was dominated and it didn’t look like they were in sync with the snap counts.  Roethlisberger passed for only 131 yards and had an interception. 

Willie Parker struggled on the ground rushing for only 20 yards.  Donovan McNabb, who went out of the game in the early goings but later returned, fared better tossing a touchdown to Correl Buckhalter.  Hank Baskett had a brilliant return catching eight passes for 85 yards. Stud RB Brian Westbrook rushed five times for 12 yards before spraining an ankle that kept him out of the remainder of the game.
Philadelphia 15 – Pittsburgh 6.  

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis: This game came down to a last second field goal.  The game ended in much suspense, but it was Jacksonville who finally found a win on the season.  What’s better, Jacksonville beat Indianapolis for the first time in their last seven tries.  Jacksonville showed their defensive prowess keeping Manning to only 216 yards passing and Joseph Addai to 78 yards rushing. 

David Garrard looked comfortable in the pocket and the running game finally got off the ground.  Fred Taylor ran for 121 yards and Maurice Jones-Drew added another 107 rushing yards and a TD .  The real hero was Josh Scobee who hit three field goals, including the game winner with .04 seconds to go.
Jacksonville 23 – Indianapolis 21. 

Detroit @ San Francisco: This year doesn’t look very uplifting for Lion fans.  Detroit made San Francisco’s offense look unstoppable. Mike Martz got revenge on his former employer, and his offense looked dominant in doing so. 
J.T. O’Sullivan passed for 189 yards and two touchdowns while Frank Gore rushed for 130 and a score. 

John Kitna didn’t look like John Kitna of old; he only passed for 146 yards and appeared to have injured his right knee near the end of the game. He was replaced by Dan Orlovski who threw an interception in his only pass attempt of the game.
San Francisco 31 – Detroit 13.

St. Louis @ Seattle: St. Louis joins Detroit as the few 0-3 teams and a long season ahead of them.  St. Louis can’t seem to find a defense and their offense looks woefully inadequate.  On the flip side Seattle looked like the Seattle of old getting quality rushing from Julius Jones and mixing it the pass.  This is by far the best looking performance all season for the ‘Hawks. 

This was done with three important offensive members gone from the lineup.  Billy McMullen stepped up in a big way with three catches for 78 yards.  St. Louis couldn’t find the end zone until the third quarter when Dane Looker converted his only pass thrown his way into a 21-yard TD catch.
Seattle 37 – St. Louis 13. 

New Orleans @ Denver: This game wasn’t defensive at all.  Drew Brees passed for an astounding 421 yards with Robert Meachem catching 86 of those to lead all Saints.  Jay Cutler passed for 264 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.  Brandon Marshall is showing that he is the go-to wide receiver netting 155 yards and a touchdown.  Rookie phenom Eddie Royal was held to only 11 yards all day.  This game showed the Saints resilience but all was for not.  Martin Gramatica’s last second field goal went wide right. 
Denver 34 – New Orleans 32. 

Cleveland @ Baltimore: The Browns are in trouble. They are now in a 0-3 hole. Their offense sputtered all afternoon and their defense looked terrible.  Derek Anderson looked bad throwing three picks and Braylon Edwards only caught three passes for 27 yards.  The Ravens didn’t get good quarterback play either.  Flacco threw for 129 yards and two picks. 

The Ravens rushing wasn’t that bad going for 151 total yards.  Ed Reed intercepted a pass for a touchdown.  The Ravens defense looked like the defense in 2000 when they won the Super Bowl.  It is unlikely the Ravens will go that far this season, but their defense will keep them in many games. 
Ravens 28 – Cleveland 10.

Dallas @ Green Bay:  Dallas didn’t show any ill effects from last week’s shoot out against the Eagles.  Dallas held Green Bay to one touchdown and three field goals.  Rodgers and the Packers tested the Cowboys early, but they also went against one of the best offenses in the league.  Rodgers didn’t have a bad day, but he didn’t win the game.  He had 290 yards passing.  Ryan Grant struggled, rushing for 54 yards while Rodgers passed for 2. 

Tony Romo passed for 260 yards but he had a touchdown to Miles Austin.  Terrell Owens didn’t get flagged for a celebration penalty because he didn’t find the end zone.  In fact, he only had 17 yards on two receptions.  Marion Barber ground out 142 yards.  Not to take anything from the Packers, but you can’t win games trading field goals for touchdowns. 

Dallas 27 – Green Bay 16.