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- GOOD: Don’t sleep on Jacksonville as a legitimate contender
- BAD: Drake Maye looks lost for the Patriots
- UGLY: The Texans’ offense is a broken mess
After two weeks of attempting to figure out fact from fiction around the NFL, Week 3 is putting things in their proper perspective.
In Jacksonville, the Jaguars (2–1) are showing they shouldn’t have been nationally overlooked after winning 13 games and the AFC South last season. After a tough loss in Denver, Liam Coen’s team put on a clinic against the defending conference champions, beating the Patriots (1–2) 35–6 at home.
The game was a tale of two quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence was fantastic, throwing for three touchdowns while the ground attack churned out 137 yards on 4.6 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Drake Maye continued his concerning start. After throwing four interceptions across the first two weeks, Maye tossed two more in the blowout loss.
Elsewhere, the Bills did everything possible to lose, but still won comfortably to keep their record unblemished. Buffalo suffered five turnovers, including three by Josh Allen, but the Chargers only converted all those mistakes into 10 points in a 24–16 defeat. Justin Herbert had another game to forget, with an end-zone interception in the third quarter changing the game, as Los Angeles was in the red zone with a 13–10 lead. Herbert averaged 6.6 yards per attempt while Allen was able to survive myriad mistakes, rushing for two scores to secure a victory.
GOOD: Don’t sleep on Jacksonville as a legitimate contender
The Jaguars are showing their teeth early.
In a battle of two teams entering Sunday 1–1, Jacksonville laid waste to New England, scoring touchdowns on all five red-zone possessions, with Trevor Lawrence throwing for three scores, while Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Bhayshul Tuten each ran for another. Defensively, Jacksonville forced two interceptions and a lost fumble from Maye while sacking him three times.
The secret sauce has been the coaching, with Coen and defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile doing more with less. Jacksonville might not have a single All-Pro player on its roster and only a few Pro Bowl-caliber players such as edge rushers Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, but it’s not a star-studded group. Instead, it’s a team using all of its components to win, highlighted by six players having at least 25 rushing or receiving yards against the Patriots.
In the AFC South, the Jaguars have emerged as the clear favorite. Jacksonville is already two games up on the preseason favorites, with the Texans having already lost to the Bills, the Bengals and the Colts on Sunday. Indianapolis is 1–2, while Tennessee is clearly headed for another long campaign in coach Robert Saleh’s first year at 0–3 as well.
All that said, the road doesn’t get easier for the Jaguars, with matchups against the Bengals, Eagles and Texans before hosting Indianapolis and visiting the Ravens.
BAD: Drake Maye looks lost for the Patriots
If the Patriots are going to do anything with this season, they’ll need their second-team All-Pro quarterback to play like a star and not as a replacement-level starter.
Through three games, Maye has thrown six interceptions and only one touchdown. Dating back to the playoffs, Maye’s previous seven games have been atrocious. He’s thrown for 1,214 yards (6.9 YPA) with seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. It hasn’t been inconsistent or average. It’s been bad for a backup quarterback.
At 1–2, the Patriots are in serious trouble. They now face the unbeaten Bills on the road before getting some winnable home games against the Raiders and the Jets. Still, a loss in Buffalo would make repeating as AFC East champions difficult, especially with Maye struggling to this degree.
It’s also fair to wonder whether offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels needs to change his approach. Yes, it’s going to be a struggle downfield without A.J. Brown as the wide receiver recovers from a high ankle sprain for another month, but New England wasn’t loaded with perimeter playmakers last year and made it work.
Maye needs to be better, and McDaniels needs to reassess. Otherwise, the Patriots are in deep trouble.
UGLY: The Texans’ offense is a broken mess
Last year, Houston started 0–3 and then bounced back to make its third consecutive appearance in the divisional round. The Texans might have a tough time repeating the feat.
After a 19–17 loss in Indianapolis, Houston is tied for last place in the AFC South alongside the Titans. The offense has been rancid, with C.J. Stroud already sacked 10 times on the year. Additionally, Stroud completed less than 60% of his attempts each of the past two weeks while leading the offense to 23 total points against the Cincinnati and Indianapolis defenses.
While the Texans have been without star receiver Nico Collins over the past two weeks, there’s no excuse for Houston to be this inept offensively. General manager Nick Caserio rebuilt the offensive line this offseason, signing right guard Wyatt Teller while using a first-round pick on left guard Keylan Rutledge.
Defensively, it has been far from perfect. Houston had a last-minute lead in Indianapolis but allowed Daniel Jones & Co. to drive 29 yards in 92 seconds for a game-winning field goal. In Week 1, the Texans allowed 36 points. Through three weeks, they have 11 sacks, but have also allowed 776 passing yards.
Two of the next three weeks see the Cowboys and Jaguars coming to Houston. If the Texans can’t find their footing, they could be looking at being sellers come the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
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MATT VERDERAME
Matt Verderame is a national NFL staff writer for Sports Illustrated, writing features, columns and more. Before joining Sports Illustrated in March 2023, Verderame wrote for FanSided and SB Nation. He’s a proud husband to Stephanie and father of two girls, Maisy and Genevieve. In his spare time, Verderame is an avid collector of vintage baseball cards.
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