NFL Week 3: 12 Biggest Winners, Losers

Each week of the NFL regular season, there are many individual winners and losers around the league.

With each winner and loser, there is usually a story behind it.

For every great performance by Lions QB Matthew Stafford, there are always poor performances, like the one from Packers RB James Starks on Sunday.

Here are 12 winners and losers from Week 3 of the NFL regular season.

Winner: Wes Welker

Even though his team lost, Wes Welker still had arguably the best game of his career on Sunday afternoon.

The Pats wideout had a huge day in Week 3, catching 16 passes for 217 yards (a franchise record) and two touchdowns.

He helped Pro Bowl QB Tom Brady and the New England offense stay in this game.

Winner: Matthew Stafford

The Lions QB turned in yet another very impressive performance on Sunday, as he helped his squad outlast the Vikings in overtime.

He passed for 378 yards and two touchdowns, while turning in a QB rating of 108.8 on the day.

If he keeps playing like this each week, his Lions are going to make the playoffs rather easily this season.

Winner: Jared Allen

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has been one of the best players at his position for quite some time.

He proved once again that he is still one of the best DEs in all of football with his performance on Sunday. Allen had three sacks and six total tackles against a resurgent Detroit Lions offense.

Winner: Darren McFadden

DMC had another huge day for the Raiders in their Week 3 contest against the New York Jets.

McFadden rushed for 171 yards and two TDs for an Oakland offense that scored 30-plus points for the second straight week.

He seems to be getting better every week and appears headed for stardom in only his fourth season in the league.

Winner: Ray Rice

Ravens back Ray Rice was nearly unstoppable against the Rams on Sunday.

He had 162 yards from scrimmage, including 83 receiving yards, on the afternoon.

Rice was a big reason why Baltimore was able to rack up 37 points against St. Louis on the road, as he helped provide QB Joe Flacco and the passing game with a balanced attack on offense.

Winner: Joe Flacco/Torrey Smith

The Baltimore QB/WR combo completely lit up the Rams defense on Sunday.

Smith had 152 receiving yards and three TDs while QB Joe Flacco had 389 passing yards and three touchdowns in the game.

With the help of another winner on this list (Ray Rice), they were able to completely dismantle the Rams by the score of 37-7.

Loser: Michael Vick

The Eagles' starting QB had arguably his worst game of the '11 season on Sunday.

He passed for just 173 yards and an interception before breaking his right hand on an apparent late hit in the third quarter of his team's game against the Giants.

Vick also fumbled the ball three times in this lackluster effort by the former Virginia Tech star.

Loser: Matt Cassel

Matt Cassel threw for under 200 passing yards once again and made a crucial mistake late in the game for the Chiefs.

With his team trailing by a field goal and less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, Cassel threw a terrible screen pass intended for RB Dexter McCluster that was intercepted by the Chargers defense.

He also overthrew receivers several times earlier in the game to add to his team's losing effort on the field.

Loser: Rams Defense

The Rams D was beat early and often on Sunday by Baltimore's high-powered offensive attack.

It gave up an incredible 553 total yards and 25 first downs to the Ravens, while allowing 37 points, as well.

For the Rams' sake, hopefully the defense just had one of its worst performances of the season or it could be another long year in St. Louis.

Loser: James Starks

After a game where he had 85 rushing yards, RB James Starks really dropped the ball in Week 3 for the Packers.

He had 11 carries for an anemic five yards and also fumbled the ball as well.

Luckily for the Packers offense, veteran Ryan Grant was able to get going, which helped take away some of the sting from Starks' performance in this game.

Loser: Kerry Collins

Fill-in QB Kerry Collins had another dreadful performance for the Colts in Sunday.

He completed just 13 passes out of 29 attempts for only 93 yards in the game.

It's clear that without Peyton Manning, the Colts offense has and will continue to struggle until he comes back.

Loser: Jay Feely

Jay Feely might be the biggest loser on this entire list after his terrible Week 3 performance.

The Cardinals' kicker missed not one, but two field goal attempts (of 51 and 49 yards) against Seattle, with one of the misses being late in the fourth quarter.

He finished the day going 1-of-3 on field goal tries, which is never a good day for a kicker in this league.