The Football Five 🏈
- Usually when Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady meet, we expect points galore. Not this time. Green Bay hung on for a 14-12 win after Brady's two-point conversion attempt -- and a costly delay of game -- was tipped away. Mike Evans (suspension), Chris Godwin (hamstring) and Julio Jones (knee) all missed the contest.
- Jalen Hurts' early-season MVP candidacy (that's no overreaction) improved as he threw for 340 yards, three touchdowns and the Eagles dominated the Commanders, 24-8. Carson Wentz played miserably in his first game against his former team, averaging 4.9 yards per pass attempt, losing a fumble and being sacked a career-high nine times.
- The Colts beat the Chiefs 20-17, for their first win of the year. Matt Ryan found Jelani Woods from 12 yards out -- their second touchdown connection of the day -- with under a minute left, and Rodney McLeod picked off Patrick Mahomes to clinch it. Kansas City's special teams were a disaster, with Skyy Moore muffing a punt, Matt Ammendola missing a field goal and an extra point, and Tommy Townsend misfiring on a fake field goal.
- The Rams are now 11-1 against the Cardinals under Sean McVay after Los Angeles beat Arizona 20-12. The Cardinals are yet to play a single down with a lead this year: They trailed wire-to-wire in their two losses, and their win came on a walk-off touchdown.
- The Broncos beat the 49ers 11-10 -- the second 11-10 game in NFL history -- with Melvin Gordon providing the game-winning score. Jimmy Garoppolo took one of the worst safeties in NFL history (yes, it was that bad), and four of San Francisco's seven second-half drives ended in either a turnover or a safety.
Good morning to everyone but especially to...
LAMAR JACKSON...
Lamar Jackson bet on himself by not signing an extension this offseason. He's making good on that bet in extraordinary, historic fashion after another incredible performance in the Ravens' 37-26 win over the Patriots.
- First, the Week 3 stats: 218 passing yards, four touchdown passes, one interception; 107 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown
- Second, the history: Jackson is the first player to have multiple games of three passing touchdowns and 100 rushing yards in a season... and he's done it in each of the last two weeks.
- Third, more history: This was Jackson's seventh career game with at least 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, most in NFL history (and more than double anyone else). He's 25 years old.
- Fourth, the dominance: Jackson currently leads the NFL in passer rating (119.0) and passing touchdowns (10).
Our NFL expert Cody Benjamin named Jackson the Week 3 AFC MVP in his Sunday Scramble, and the Ravens earned an A- in our weekly grades.
... AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO THE MIAMI DOLPHINS
There's one 3-0 team in the AFC, and it's probably not the one you would have guessed before the season started: The Dolphins remain perfect after a 21-19 win over Buffalo that included a little bit of everything.
- Tua Tagovailoa took a violent fall in the first half, returned (though the NFLPA will investigate the team's handling of the injury) and found Jaylen Waddle on a deep pass to set up Chase Edmonds' go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
- The Bills then drove all the way to the Miami goal line but couldn't punch it in.
- Then came the butt punt. You have to see it to believe it. Miami punter Thomas Morstead booted the ball into teammate Trent Sherfield's derriere, resulting in a safety.
- The Bills got one more chance but ran out of time before being able to kick a field goal or attempt one final shot at the end zone, and offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey threw a temper tantrum. The Bills also mismanaged the clock to end the first half.
Miami has shown the ability to win in a variety of ways. In Week 1, it was a dominant defense. In Week 2, Tagovailoa threw for six touchdowns in a shootout. In Week 3, it was a bit of both: Tagovailoa making some big throws and the defense coming up with timely stops. That's a recipe for success.
Honorable mentions
- Rihanna will be the Super Bowl LVII halftime performer.
- The Pelicans gave C.J. McCollum a big extension.
- Tyler Reddick won the Autotrader Echopark Automotive 500.
And not such a good morning for...
Every good team has games that, at the end of the season, you look back on and wonder what happened. The Chargers will hope Sunday's 38-10 blowout loss to the Jaguars was just that, rather than the start of a more concerning trend.
- This ended a streak of 18 straight road losses for the Jaguars and was Jacksonville's largest road win since 2001.
- Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns and did not have a turnover or get sacked. James Robinson ran for 100 yards.
- Justin Herbert, meanwhile, played through a rib cartilage injury but was clearly not 100 percent and took several hits.
- The Chargers were without Keenan Allen (hamstring), Corey Linsley (knee) and J.C. Jackson (ankle) and lost Joey Bosa, Rashawn Slater and Jalen Guyton to injury during the game. To give you an idea of the injury issues, the Chargers had nine players on Pete Prisco's Top 100 NFL players, most of any team. Six of those nine either didn't play, left with an injury, or played through a significant one.
The Jaguars are showing they're nothing to scoff at -- our NFL expert Jeff Kerr says they're the best team in the AFC South -- but this is still a bad loss for the Chargers. They're currently last in the NFL in yards per rush, meaning an already banged-up Herbert has to carry the load even more. Not helping matters is that the star-studded defense fell flat.
Not so honorable mentions
- Mac Jones is believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain. Same for Trent Williams .
- An unidentified drone paused the Falcons-Seahawks game.
- Jae Crowder won't report to Suns training camp.
- The Mariners blew a nine-run lead Sunday.
- Georgia Tech fired head coach Geoff Collins. Here's who could replace him.
U.S. dominates for ninth straight Presidents Cup win ⛳
Things got closer than expected -- but never truly close -- as the United States romped to its ninth straight Presidents Cup, beating the International team 17.5-12.5. Xander Schauffele provided the Cup-clinching win, beating Corey Conners 1-up to give the U.S. the requisite 15.5 points. The International team had 9.5 at the time.
Here were some highlights:
- Jordan Spieth went 5-0-0, becoming just the sixth player in Presidents Cup history to accomplish the feat.
- The Spieth/Justin Thomas pairing went 4-0-0 as a team.
- Max Homa, in his U.S. team debut, went 4-0-0.
- Trailing 8-2 after the first two days, the International team rallied to make it 11-7 entering Sunday, with 20-year-old Tom Kim emerging as a star with excellent play and huge celebrations.
It may not have been particularly close, but the joy of team golf was very much on display... and will continue to be in the future, writes golf expert Kyle Porter.
Two top-10 teams fall, two survive thrillers in wild CFB Saturday 🏈
College football never disappoints. Two top-10 teams lost Saturday and two top-10 teams needed late rallies to survive. Here's a roundup of what you might've missed:
- No. 5 Clemson beat No. 21 Wake Forest 51-45 in double overtime.
- Kansas State beat No. 6 Oklahoma 41-34, the third win for the Wildcats over the Sooners in the last four seasons.
- No. 7 USC rallied late to beat Oregon State 17-14.
- No. 10 Arkansas lost in gut-wrenching fashion, 23-21, against No. 23 Texas A&M. Razorbacks kicker Cam Little's 42-yard field goal late in the game bounced off the top of the goalpost.
- No. 11 Tennessee earned an impressive 38-33 win over No. 20 Florida.
- Middle Tennessee blew out No. 25 Miami 45-31, for its first win over a ranked opponent ever. The U is not back. Not even close.
This type of week-to-week unpredictability is what makes college football so fun. Nine days ago, Kansas State lost to Tulane, and Middle Tennessee lost to James Madison.
Anyway, here's the top 10 of the newest AP Poll:
- 1. Georgia (prev: 1)
- 2. Alabama (prev: 2)
- 3. Ohio State (prev: 3)
- 4. Michigan (prev: 4)
- 5. Clemson (prev: 5)
- 6. USC (prev: 7)
- 7. Kentucky (prev: 8)
- 8. Tennessee (prev: 11)
- 9. Oklahoma State (prev: 9)
- 10. NC State (prev: 12)
As for everything else from the weekend:
Aaron Judge watch: Wait for No. 61 continues after rain-shortened game ⚾
The wait for Aaron Judge's much-anticipated 61st home run got a little longer -- and a lot wetter -- after a rain-shortened 2-0 win for the Yankees over the Red Sox on Sunday night. Roger Maris' 61 homers in 1961 remains the AL single-season record... for now.
- Judge went 1 for 2 with a walk and was due up next before the game ended prematurely.
- He's now gone five straight games without a home run.
- Could today be the day? Judge is 8 for 22 with three home runs in his career against today's starter for the Blue Jays, Kevin Gausman.