Wyatt Cushman, Staff Writer |
Week Three in the NFL was easily the best week of the season so far. It’s obvious that every game becomes more important as the weeks go on, but this week was filled with a number of games that came down to the wire. If you’re a football fan, then Sunday was a perfect day to relax in front of the TV screen. You certainly wouldn’t have been disappointed.
This Sunday, the NFL wasn’t all about the events on the field though. Ever since Colin Kaepernick went down to one knee during the National Anthem a season ago to protest social injustice in the United States, more and more players have joined him in protesting many things that are currently going on in this country. This weekend, we saw hundreds of players kneel, lock arms, or raise a fist during the National Anthem at their respective games. We even saw the entire teams for the Steelers, Titans, and Seahawks all choose to not stand on the sideline during the Anthem. These protests may not all be for the same reason, but it seems that the NFL and its teams are committed to their cause and will likely be something that will continue for weeks to come.
Aside from all the pregame activities, the on-the-field action this Sunday was incredible. We saw two games go into overtime, resulting in wins for a pair of NFC North teams: the Bears and the Packers. In London, the Jaguars put a beatdown on the undefeated Ravens, winning 44-7. The Saints went into Carolina and beat the Panthers handily 34-13 behind Drew Brees’ three touchdowns. Tom Brady did what only Tom Brady does and led the Patriots on a game winning drive to beat the Texans in the final minute of the game. These games all had something to grab your attention, whether it was the fact that the competition was close and exciting, or that the final score wasn’t anything close to what everyone thought it would be.
The two craziest games of the weekend came from Detroit and Philadelphia. In Detroit, the Falcons took a big lead early on, only to see it vanish on a game winning touchdown by Lions Receiver Golden Tate with eight seconds left. This score looked as though it would knock the Falcons from the list of unbeaten teams, but a review of the play showed that Tate’s knee was down with the ball short of the goal line. After the review, the referee ruled a 10 second runoff, ending the game. This may be one of the wildest finishes we’ll see all year. The game in Philadelphia was probably the worst game to watch of the entire weekend, until the fourth quarter. The Giants hadn’t scored a point through three quarters, but exploded for 24 points in the final frame. All that offense in such a short amount of time wasn’t enough though. Eagles rookie kicker Jake Elliott kicked a game winning 61-yard field goal to drop the rival Giants to 0-3. This kick was the longest made field goal by a rookie in NFL history and sent Eagles players rushing onto the field to mob their rookie kicker.
As we look ahead to Week Four we see a few matchups that are especially intriguing. In New England, there will be a matchup of two great quarterbacks in Cam Newton and Tom Brady. Two former MVPs going up against each other always has potential to be a fantastic game. In Atlanta, the Falcons will look to stay undefeated as they face a Bills team that is 2-1 to start the year, and Denver hopes to bounce back from their first loss of the season as they take on their division rival, the Oakland Raiders.
We can’t expect the number of great games we saw in Week Three every single week, but we can appreciate them when they happen. We were reminded why we love football this weekend and saw that a game can end in wild fashion. Let’s all hope that Week Four will be just as exciting and that our teams can come out with a victory.
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