As the earth shifts, Vikings remain upright
They're a surprising 3-0 in a league that has multiple surprises each week.
The lifespan of a fact in the NFL, at least in the middle of September, is generally no longer than one week.
Not when the Carolina Panthers can leap from the brink of relegation to score 36 points on the road. Not when the Denver Broncos can fly to Tampa Bay and bully the bullies of the NFC South. Not when the New York Giants can actually look explosive on a field occupied by an AFC North member.
Last week’s assumptions are this week’s fallacies. Sure, the two-time defending Super Bowl champs are 3-0, but Patrick Mahomes is having trouble finding Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs are relying on last-minute defensive heroics and/or officiating decisions. The 49ers are playing without a full deck but suffered a come-from-ahead loss to the Rams, who are down to deuces in their offensive line and receiving room.
Then there’s the Minnesota Vikings, who were supposed to devote 2024 to the care and feeding of rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy. When he got hurt in training camp, their offense and their purpose seemed to take a hit.
Instead, they are 3-0 with home wins over San Francisco and now Houston, whom they spanked, 34-7, on Sunday. Is this real, or should we remember that Ryan Leaf began his Chargers’ career 3-0?
Hard to say, but there was nothing speculative about the way Minnesota’s playmakers took apart Houston (2-1). Aaron Jones scampered for 102 yards and got a TD pass, as did Justin Jefferson and the previously unheralded Jalen Nailor. Jonathan Greenard, who was with Houston last year, had three sacks, and the Vikings, bringing Brian Flores’ diagrams to malevolent life, had eight tackles for loss. They also became the second team ever to intercept C.J. Stroud twice in a game.
The fans also joined in. They mounted such a din that the Texans had seven pre-snap penalties, including three false starts by Laremy Tunsil.
But the leader of the rescue squad is Sam Darnold, whose grandfather Dick Hammer was the real Marlboro Man.
Darnold came to the Vikings with a 21-35 record as a starting quarterback. That’s a bogus stat, of course, based heavily on the competence of teammates. Darnold was drafted third overall by the Jets in 2018. He wasn’t ready to start and they weren’t ready for him, but he started anyway and threw 15 interceptions. Two more years of that and he was sent, or banished, to Carolina. Last year he was Brock Purdy’s backup in San Francisco.
Darnold has been accused of taking on too much responsibility, all the way back to USC, trying for hero plays instead of staying within the parameters. But in Minnesota he has Jefferson, with whom he connected for a 97-yard touchdown against the 49ers. He has Jones, too, and that defense. Darnold threw four touchdown passes, giving him an NFL-high eight for the year, and no picks on Sunday.
Defensively the Vikings have profited from shrewd, quiet free agency pickups like Greenard, who had 12 ½ sacks in Houston last year. Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel has big play instincts, and the Vikings also picked up linebackers Blake Cashman and Kamu Grugier-Hill, who intercepted Stroud on Houston’s second play of the game and set up a Darnold-to-Jefferson score. Two series later Greenard sacked Stroud, forcing a 54-yard field goal attempt that went awry.
Minnesota seized a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter when Darnold connected with Nailor, who was a sixth-round pick from Michigan State. Nailor drifted because he “only” ran a 4.5 in the 40, which belied his college nickname, “Speedy.” He has a TD catch in each of the first three games.
If Stroud were to rush Houston back into the game, this was the time. Instead, Greenard began the series with another sack. Eventually Houston removed Stroud in the interests of physical safety.
It can be hazardous to one’s mental health to take the good moments seriously and pretend the bad moments are aberrations. The Vikings will have opportunities to pick themselves off the floor, probably as soon as everyone buys what they’re selling. Until then, there’s six more glorious days to savor a fact.
Other confetti:
Kansas City 22, Atlanta 17
— Nick Bolton’s third tackle-for–loss wrapped up the Chiefs’ third consecutive win, as he stopped Bijan Robinson on fourth-on-one at the 13. The Falcons’ final drive was moved along by three Chiefs’ penalties, and that came after KC gave up the ball on Patrick Mahomes’ strange misfire on third-and-12.
— With Isiah Pacheco hurt, undrafted rookie Carson Steele bulled for 72 yards in 17 carries. For the second consecutive week, Kansas City had only one explosive play, a 27-yarder to Rashee Rice, who caught 12 for 110 yards. But Travis Kelce has only eight catches for 69 yards this season.
— The Falcons (1-2) had 13 snaps inside the Chiefs’ 30 on their last two drives and got no points. They also lost two offensive linemen, which explained why Kirk Cousins suffered 10 hits from the Chiefs, who have won their past nine games by a total of 54 points.
Carolina 36, Las Vegas 22
— In a vivid illustration of why no one should bet on football, the Panthers (1–2) were unrecognizably good as Andy Dalton replaced Bryce Young. They led 33-7 at one point, had touchdown drives of 70, 68 and 75 yards and held the ball for over 36 minutes. Dalton, who was part of division-winning seasons in Cincinnati, dropped hints by completing two passes to Adam Thielen in the first three plays. Thielen, the Panthers’ leading receiver last year, had become no factor when Young was playing.
— The Panthers had converted two third downs in their first two games. They cashed five on Sunday. They ran for 148 yards while going 0-2. They ran for 135 here. They had three explosive plays coming into Sunday. They had six in Las Vegas. Young’s QB ratings were 31.8 and 57.2; Dalton’s, on Sunday, was 123.6. Their defense also got three sacks and held Vegas to 55 rush yards.
— Aidan O’Connell relieved Gardner Minshew and went 9 for 12 with a touchdown. Aside from a 54-yard pass to Tre Tucker, the Raiders (1-2) didn’t have a play longer than 22 yards.
Pittsburgh 20, L.A. Chargers 10
— Sending an aching quarterback against T.J. Watt and Co. is either sadism or masochism, depending on where you stand. Justin Herbert came to Pittsburgh with a high ankle sprain, and Elandon Roberts turned it into high pain with a third quarter sack. Herbert left the game one play later, in a 10-10 game, and the Chargers got one first down the rest of the way.
— The Steelers (3–0) have QB questions, too, but they’re pleasant ones. Has Justin Fields played well enough to keep Russell Wilson benched? Probably. Fields was 25 for 32 with a 55-yard TD to Calvin Austin, and he has thrown only one interception.
— The Chargers (2-1) appeared to have stopped Pittsburgh when Tuli Tuipulotu sacked Fields on third down, but Asante Samuel was whistled for holding. That allowed Chris Boswell’s kick to put Pittsburgh ahead, 13-10. In three games, the Steelers have given up three offensive TDs.
Philadelphia 15, New Orleans 12
— Saquan Barkley dropped a pass that would have nailed down a Monday Night win over Atlanta. He only had to wait six days to erase the chalkboard. He ran for 147 of Philadelphia’s 172 rushing yards and got the winning 4-yard touchdown and the 2-point conversion, with 61 seconds left, as the Eagles moved to 2-1.
— The Saints, who had scored touchdowns in their first six possessions at Dallas, didn’t score one until their ninth on Sunday, and that was a go-ahead score from Derek Carr to Chris Olave. But the Eagles got a 61-yard play from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert, who was freed up when Saints’ defenders Marcus Lattimore and Jordan Howden collided. That put Barkley in position to score.
— A five-man defensive front disrupted a Saints’ offense that had scored 91 points the first two weeks, but the Saints’ defense was strong, too. Rookie Brian Bresee continued to impress, with two sacks of Hurts.
L.A. Rams 27, San Francisco 24
— Down 14-0 and 21-7, and missing receivers Cooper Kupp and Puca Nacua, the Rams needed major help. They got it from the 49ers and from Xavier Smith, their own undrafted receiver from Florida A&M who took a punt back 38 yards. A pass interference penalty on De’Vondre Campbell put rookie Joshua Carty in position to win it with a 37-yard kick.
— Smith was a walk-on at Florida A&M and got a job at Amazon in case this football thing didn’t work out. The Rams (1–2) also got three rushing TDs from Kyren Williams, behind an offense line of duct tape. Only right guard Kevin Dotson has started all three games at the same position.
— Brock Purdy had a sensational day for the 49ers (1-2), with a 137 passer rating, and Jauan Jennings filled in for Deebo Samuel by scoring three touchdowns. They didn’t have Christian McCaffrey but it wouldn’t have mattered if Ron Bell hadn’t dropped a deep ball with 1:08 left. A catch would have given Jake Moody a good chance to win it, but then he’d already came up empty on a 51-yard try with 2:47 left and the 49ers up seven.
N.Y Giants 21, Cleveland 15
— For a change, Daniel Jones didn’t want to switch places with the opposing quarterback. He was solid, going 24 for 35 and finding rookie Malik Nabers twice for touchdowns. DeShaun Watson wasn’t terrible for Cleveland but got only 196 yards out of 37 attempts. He was also under siege, getting sacked eight times (twice by Dexter Lawrence) and hit 17 times.
– This is largely the same offensive line that was considered one of the NFL’s best two years ago, but the lack of a running game has encouraged defenses to go after Watson. The Browns scored only once after their first play, when Watson hit Amari Cooper with a 24-yard scoring pass after Grant Delpit had recovered a fumbled kickoff return by Eric Gray.
— Nabers, one of two first-round picks out of LSU’s receiver room (with Brian Thomas), caught three passes on the Giants’ go-ahead drive and had seven catches for 87 yards overall. After New York (1-2) took that 14-7 lead, Brian Burns sacked Watson, who fumbled to Elijah Chatman of the Giants. Jones then found Nabers for a 5-yard score.
Baltimore 28, Dallas 25
— The Ravens (1-2) didn’t complicate things in Dallas. They ran the ball 45 times, gained 274 yards, rushed for 16 first downs and three touchdowns, and drove to a 21-3 lead before the Cowboys got rid of the cobwebs. Derrick Henry’s 151 yards led the march, and he scored twice.
— Dak Prescott rallied Dallas in the second half and threw a 16-yard TD pass to Turpin with 2:58 left that got the Cowboys to within three points. But on third-and-six, Lamar Jackson threw nine yards to Zay Flowers. Later he ran straight at the Cowboys for 10 yards, which enabled him to employ the victory formation.
— The Dallas defense, now coordinated by Mike Zimmer, had no tackles for loss. It has yielded 72 points in its past two games and 46 rush yards, which, in this case, canceled out Prescott’s 379-yard passing day. But the Cowboys’ longest run went six yards.
Detroit 20, Arizona 13
— The Lions (2-1) are known for French-pastry plays like the 20-yard hook-and-ladder that Jahmyr Gibbs took to the end zone, but this was a hamburger steak win. They had 43 running plays and held the ball for more than 36 minutes, and Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 188 yards on the ground.
— Arizona is hoping to ride back into contention with rookie receiver Marvin Harrison, who got his third TD catch in two games. Harrison was the target of 11 of Kyler Murray’s passes, and he caught five, although none or more than 17 yards.
– Aidan Hutchinson has six-and-a-half sacks in three games, including one on Sunday. The Lions held Murray to 45 yards in five rushes, and denied the Cardinals on 10 of 11 third down opportunities. The Cardinals (1-2) got a touchdown on their first possession and no others.
Seattle 24, Miami 3
— The Dolphins (1-2) need a new can of quarterbacks after Skylar Thompson was felled with a chest injury. He had 17 attempts and was sacked five times. Tim Boyle relieved Thompson, as the Dolphins’ worst fears about life without Tua Tagovailoa hit home.
— Seattle moved to 3-0 on the strength of 12 quarterback hits, four by Derick Hall, and an offense that proved it was dangerous as any speed. Geno Smith hit DK Metcalf with a 71-yard pass to begin and end one touchdown drive, and the Seahawks plowed 98 yards in the fourth quarter for Zac Charbonnet’s second touchdown of the day. Charbonnet ran 18 times for 91 yards.
— The Dolphins trailed 17-3 early in the fourth quarter and got a first-and-goal on the Seattle three. Boyle threw incomplete to Durham Smythe and Da’Von Achane to end that, and the Seahawks launched that long drive.
N.Y. Jets 24, New England 3
— The Patriots (1-2) started their third left tackle in three games and it wasn’t pretty. Rookie Caeden Wallace, who was a right tackle at Penn State, got submerged by a Jets’ rush that sacked Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye seven times. Wallace was whistled for two holding penalties and an illegal formation. Will McDonald had three of those sacks and has five for the season.
— The game was more lopsided than the score. The Jets (2–1) cashed 10 of 15 third down opportunities and had the ball for more than 40 minutes. The running combination of Breece Hall and rookie Braedon Allen got 27 carries and went 109 yards, and Hall scored on a run for the third consecutive game.
— Rodgers got his first home win for the Jets by completing 27 of 25 for 281 yards and no interceptions. The Jets also outgained New England 400-139 and held the Patriots to 11 first downs.
Indianapolis 21, Chicago 16
— Until Anthony Richardson learns the finer points of NFL quarterbacking, the Colts (1-2) will have to win games with defenses and Jonathan Taylor’s running. Taylor chugged for a 29-yard touchdown and 110 yards on 23 carries, while Richardson was going 10- for 20 with two interceptions. Meanwhile, the Colts’ defense sacked Caleb Williams four times and intercepted him twice, and rookie pass rusher Laiatu Latu had a sack and forced a fumble that led to a touchdown..
— The Bears (1-2) had fourth and goal at the one yard line but DeAndre Swift was thrown backwards by Tyquan Lewis for a 12-yard loss. That preserved the Colts’ 7-0 halftime lead. The Bears rushed for only 63 yards.
— Williams was sacked four more times and went 33 for 52 with two interceptions. However, he did convert 9 of 21 third downs and he improved his connection with fellow rookie Rome Odunze, who caught six for 112 yards. The Bears had the ball for 35:01, to no avail.
Denver 26, Tampa Bay 7
— Baker Mayfield’s first steps on Monday morning were more painful than Bo Nix’s. The Broncos (1–2) sacked Mayfield seven times, blunting several comeback bids in the second half, and Nix was never sacked by Tampa Bay (2-1). Down 23-7, Mayfield brought Tampa Bay to the 25 yard line but Nick Bonitto sacked him on fourth-and-3. Nix was only hit twice the whole afternoon.
— This followed Tampa Bay’s win over Detroit last week in which Mayfield was sacked five times. Denver also limited Chris Godwin (six catches, 53 yards) and Mike Evans (two for 17).
— Nix, the rookie from Oregon, had his best day yet, going 25 for 36 with no interceptions. Five receivers caught at least two passes each, and running back Tyler Bodie had a 43-yard run and carried nine times for 70 overall.
Green Bay 30, Tennessee 14
— Matt LaFleur’s reputation as a quarterback-fixer got another boost when Malik Willis piloted this win. Willis was 13 for 19 with no interceptions, 202 yards and a 120.9 passer rating, and he also ran for 73 yards and six carries, including a five-year touchdown. Jaire Alexander’s 35-yard interception TD also helped.
— The Packers (2-1) scored on four of their first five possessions as Willis, filling in for Jordan Love, looked far better than he ever looked at Tennessee. But Willis benefited from Green Bay’s marauding defense, which had eight sacks and 12 quarterback hits. Devonte Wyatt and Preston Smith had two sacks apiece.
— Tennessee (0-3) ran the ball only 11 times, which didn’t help second-year quarterback Will Levis. He wasn’t bad, completing 26 of 34 while being knocked around, but Alexander’s pick-6 put Tennessee up 17-7. The defense also buckled by allowing Green Bay a 12-play drive en route to a field goal at the end of the half.
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