Previewing the best week three matchups of the 2024-2025 NFL season.
With so many things clamoring for our attention, the MLB postseason race, WNBA playoffs, television, movies, whatever, time has become an increasingly valuable commodity.
Therefore, I have decided to do you readers a service (no need to thank me), suggesting how to spend your time in regards to the 2024-2025 NFL season, henceforth every week I will try to tell you which games to prioritize and why.
5) New York Giants at Cleveland Browns
Rough start to the list, I know. The Giants are 0-2 this season and are coming off a bizarre loss Sunday to The Washington Commanders, where they scored three touchdowns, didn’t allow any themselves, yet still lost in regulation, as a Giants fan, the 21-18 defeat was one to forget.
Quarterback Daniel Jones was heavily scrutinized since tearing his ACL last season, which full disclosure, I think it is unfair to pick on an easy target specifically because they are an easy target but I digress.
Jones is playing for his career this year, after signing a 4 year 160 million dollar contract extension in 2023, many have called him over paid, and mediocre among other things.
With The Giants letting superstar running back Saquon Barkley go in the off season to their division rival, Philadelphia Eagles, only more pressure has been put on the 27 year old quarterback.
Some Giants fans are starting to grumble about weather or not Giants general manager
Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll should be fired, again I disagree with the detractors, but understand the perspective.
One bright spot for “The G-Men” has been the emergence of rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers who has been outstanding for the first two weeks of his NFL career.
As for The Cleveland Browns, 29 year old quarterback Deshaun Watson is inarguably the most controversial NFL player currently, and has once found himself in legal trouble.
Watson at one point was the highest paid player in the league, and gets paid 46 million dollars a year until he becomes a free agent in 2027.
There are certain athletes that fans and media can tell are right on the cusp of turning the corner from elite to superstar, and Watson was that guy when he was on The Houston Texans, since going to Cleveland he has been horrible, oftentimes looking like deer in the headlights, and underperforming.
Cleveland is going into their home matchup today with a record of 1-1, after making the playoffs last year after Watson got injured when 38 year old quarterback Joe Flacco (now on The Indianapolis Colts) led the team, to a 4-3 record down the stretch of the regular season, before their postseason annihilation at the hands of The Houston Texans.
Both Jones and Watson are playing for their careers, with recent sexual assault and misconduct accusations once again hurled at Watson, he may not get too many other opportunities, its blunt but true, legal issues aside Watson might be out of a gig soon.
While it seems like yesterday Watson was the young gunslinging quarterback of the spunky upstart Houston Texans, but that tenure ended in 2021, time flies and Watson’s poor on field play could make his time in Cleveland expire.
Both teams have looked mediocre this season and are seemingly at organizational crossroads.
The game is at 1:00 EST, from Huntington Bank Field, in Cleveland Ohio, on FOX regionally.
4) Kansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons
Admittedly this is not the most exciting week of NFL matchups we will see this season, however there are a few that stand out, just not at face value.
The two time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs going to Atlanta to take on is one such example.
The Chiefs are The Chiefs, tight end Travis Kelce is a top tier player at his position all time, and had become a household name after he began dating pop music icon Taylor Swift (I mentioned her, you happy now) quarterback Patirck Mahomes is in commercials, constantly dazzling NFL fans with his on field play, and is easily the face of the league right now.
Head coach Andy Reid is one of the most decorated head coaches in the league’s storied history, and has himself begun to transcend into broader popularity off the gridiron.
The Chiefs are one of the nine remaining 2-0 teams so far this season and are looking to continue their quest for the eternally coveted “three peat”, winning three straight Super Bowls has never been done before, their journey to further football immortality continues Sunday against The Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons are the opposite, the lovable losers of The NFL, never really amounting to much success, never having won a Super Bowl themselves, and looking to just be taken seriously again.
They are also coming off one of the most shocking week two upsets, after beating the Philadelphia Eagles 22-21, after getting humiliated 18-10 by the Pittsburgh Steelers week one, while not allowing a single touchdown.
Many people expected them to win the NFC South Division coming into this season, and with such varied results thus far they can be an entertaining team.
Last week 36 year old quarterback Kirk Cousins in his first season with Atlanta, went 20-29 on passing attempts for 241 yards, with two touchdowns, one to wide receiver Darnell Mooney and the other a game winning touchdown to receiver Drake London.
Meanwhile the Falcons rushed for 152 yards as a team, led by second year running back Bijan Robinson who had 97 yards on 14 attempts. Tyler Allgeier had 9 carries for 53 yards.
Defensively The Falcons have quite the anchor in former Patriot linebacker, Matthew Judon who had two tackles for loss, and one sack in last Sunday’s victory.
The Falcons lack the star power and household names of the Chiefs, but the talent is there.
You can watch the Falcons host the two time reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs tonight at 8:20 EST on NBC or streaming on Peacock, from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Georgia.
3) San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams
Surprisingly there are only two divisional matchups this NFL week, the first already took place Thursday night, when the New York Jets defeated their AFC rival New England Patriots 24-3.
The other divisional matchup is the San Francisco 49ers going to Inglewood to take on the Los Angeles Rams.
Both teams are extremely depleted from a health standpoint, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Rams head coach Sean McVay were both on Washington’s coaching staff in 2013, and have made it clear that they know each other well.
Injured or not, these two teams always entertain fans when they play each other because they know each other so well.
Both teams are missing their two most significant offensive weapons, the 49ers are without running back/wide receiver hybrid Deebo Samuel and reigning Offensive Player of The Year running back Christian McCaffrey.
The Rams are without their two best wide receivers in veteran Cooper Kupp (2021 Offensive Player of The Year) and sophomore wide receiver Puka Nacua.
I would say given the injuries and defensive inconsistencies thus far from both teams, these two rivals are fairly even, although San Francisco is likely better. San Francisco still has elite tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Brandon Ayiuk.
I can see veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford leading the Rams to victory given his experience and propensity to keep games close enough to win, all the while shaking off massive hits that would sideline lesser quarterbacks
49ers QB Brock Purdy is still trying to prove himself as one of the truly elite stars at his position in the league. Many people have criticized Purdy by saying he is a product of an elite system, and that his weapons make him look better than his skill and talent suggest. Now with that system failing Purdy, he has a chance to prove he is deserving of that elite status.
This game can be watched on FOX at 4:25 EST, from SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, California.
2) Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) at New Orleans Saints (2-0)
As mentioned previously the Eagles were humiliated Monday night against the Atlanta Falcons and want to prove themselves after getting knocked out of The NFL playoffs in round one last year, following a season in which they went to and lost The Super Bowl to the Chiefs.
The Saints on the other hand, have easily been the hottest team of this young NFL season, outsourcing opponents 91-29 across the first two games.
Running back Alvin Kamara already has 5 touchdowns (one as a receiver), QB Derek Carr has 443 passing yards and 5 touchdowns, while their defense is tied for fifth in the league in sacks with 7.
Their whole team has looked like they belong in a league above the NFL thus far, still a very young season, but they have easily been the most impressive team.
The Eagles have looked lackluster, they were lackluster to end their season last year, and look lackluster now.
The beat the Packers week one 34-29 in a close game that quite frankly neither team looked great in, and then lost to the Falcons.
I wouldn’t be as worried about them if not for their horrid second half of last season, when they went 1-6 over their last seven games.
Saquon Barkley had a costly drop last week that wound up allowing the Falcons to win the game, head coach Nick Siriani is starting to look less and less like the wunderkind people thought he was two seasons ago, and while QB Jalen Hurts is far from mediocre he has struggled at times, throwing 3 interceptions so far this season along with 3 touchdowns.
The Eagles defense is also far from where it was in their Super Bowl appearing year, being around average in most categories
This game could be really interesting, the road to The Super Bowl may no longer go through the raucous Philadelphia crowd.
This game is on FOX at 1:00 EST from The Caesars Superdome, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1) Baltimore Ravens (0-2) at Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
I love a good maybe, possibly Super Bowl preview, especially when both teams are going into the game looking bad!
The Ravens are 0-2 this season and the Cowboys were decimated by The Saints 44-19.
The Ravens were 9.5 point favorites against the Raiders, and wound up blowing a 23-13 lead in the fourth quarter, after just narrowly losing week 1 to the Chiefs 27-20.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson hasn’t been bad this year, already amassing 520 passing yards and 167 rushing yards, with 2 passing touchdowns
Their defense has gotten 7 sacks and 11 tackles for loss, this is not a bad team.
I will like to point out the once automatic kicker, Justin Tucker has missed 2 field goal attempts already both in favorable conditions. Aside from that they aren’t bad, there aren’t too many glaring issues with their roster or performance, they just keep losing.
The Cowboys are a weird team, they went through the Cleveland Browns week one on the road, like a hot knife through butter, before getting starched by the Saints last week.
One problem with the Cowboys so far has been their offensive line, as they have allowed 6 sacks so far, quarterback Dak Prescott has looked less efficient this season than years past with a completion percentage of 64.8.
The Cowboys have yet to establish their run game, relying on the tandem of Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliot both with just 56 yards this season.
As both teams were expected to be high ranking units of their respective divisions before the season began, them being in this weird kind of crossroads could be interesting, an 0-3 start could spell disaster for the Ravens in the loaded AFC North, while Dallas going 1-2 could put more pressure on an already scrutinized team.
This game will be held at AT&T Stadium, in Arlington Texas, at 4:25 on FOX.
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