Biggest Plays of Week 3

One play can change a game; one game can change a season. That's just as true in Week 3 as it is in Week 18, so there's no reason to only start caring about close wins and losses at the end of the year. If your team blows a lead or has a clutch, come-from-behind victory in September, that might end up being the difference between winning the division and being a wild card – or staying home entirely.

Week 3 was a week of pretty significant upsets. Who would have expected both the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams to lose – in games where they played well enough to win, to boot? Who had the Green Bay Packers falling to the Michael Penix-led Falcons? Bears over Eagles, Raiders over Saints, Steelers over Bengals – this ended up being a pretty tough week to call, overall, and the very early playoff picture has been shaken up as a result.

So which Week 3 play might come back to haunt/help people when all is said and done? Let's look back.

Denver Broncos 30, Los Angeles Rams 26

Matthew Stafford Becomes the Pick-Six King

I have a whole piece on Matthew Stafford's historic 33rd pick six – suffice it to say, I believe it's a record that will never fall, because Stafford has a long track record of throwing passes just like this. Talanoa Hufanga, who has one of Stafford's earlier 33 back when he was a 49er, times his read perfectly and jumps all over this little flat route to Kyren Williams. Once he does so, all he has to do is weave his way around a 38-year-old man, and he's home free. The Rams could have bled the clock here and gone up two scores, icing this one for good, but Hufanga meant they had to work the rest of the way – and opened them up to the penalties that came later.

OK, Maybe a Bit Too Cocky

On the next drive, perhaps made overly confident from Hufanga's pick-six, Riley Moss tried to jump the initial cut. Whoops.

Konata Mumpfield was going up and over, and Moss had no safety help behind him. That leaves one of the easiest pitch-and-catches you'll see, and the Rams had a late lead.

Before the Flop...

The Broncos' go-ahead score was a bit marred by a controversial pass interference call on Pat Bryant. Bryant absolutely sold Josh Wallace's interference and had a bit of jersey himself – I do think Wallace did equally interfere with Bryant on the play, but it should have been offsetting penalties or no foul whatsoever.

But we only got into that position because the Rams left themselves wide open here. On 2nd-and-20, Bo Nix hit Bryant wide open in space, who turned up the field and ran the Broncos into game-tying field goal range. You can't be burned by borderline penalties if you put away your opponents when you have the chance!

Hufanga Calls Game

Not satisfied with one, Hufanga picks Stafford a second time to end the game. Not exactly the outcome we expected when they were down 16-0 at the half!

Flip the result, and the 1-2 Broncos are sitting in 10th in the AFC, wondering why they've sputtered out twice in primetime already. Instead, they're in a wildcard spot, while the 1-2 Rams are entering panic mode, with a huge game against the 2-1 Eagles this week. Fall to 1-3, and they might just go nuclear; there's only so far you can fall back behind the 49ers and Seahawks before your odds of coming back to take the division get too small.

Pittsburgh Steelers 30, Cincinnati Bengals 27

Wait, I Thought You Had Him

Eschewing a field goal to turn a one-score game into a one-score game, Joe Burrow and the Bengals dropped back on fourth down, and the Steelers very politely let Mike Gesicki get behind everyone for the go-ahead touchdown.

Total miscommunication in the Steelers secondary – it looks like Rayshawn Jenkins is jumping down to help underneath, presumably expecting someone else to rotate to take Gesicki on the seam. Daylen Everette was kind of heading that way, but he crashed into Jalen Ramsey. That's how you let a tight end get wide open and give up a fourth-quarter lead.

Wait, I Thought I Had It

Not only did Gesicki give the Bengals the lead, but a struggling Cincinnati defense actually got off the field the next drive before letting Pittsburgh cross midfield. Time to take the ball and put things away...

...at least, until Keyshawn Williams muffed the punt! It was the second punt disaster of the day for the Bengals, after they roughed the punter the first time, and this set the Steelers up inside the red zone. Sure, they only got a field goal out of it, but that still ties the game.

Living in Harmon-y

An additional Steelers field goal later, and Cincinnati finds themselves needing to score again in the final minute. They get the ball into the edge of field goal range alright, but then Derrick Harmon destroys Dalton Risner, and basically ends up in Burrow's lap.

If you're only going to have one team sack on the day, might as well make it a game-winning strip sack, right? And instead of being a game on top of the division with a division win in hand, now Cincinnati is at the bottom of a four-way tie at 2-1 in the AFC North, with the division lead now going to the winner of the Steelers-Browns game on Thursday.

New York Giants 12, Tennessee Titans 7

Holland Calls Game

Yes, a Giants-Titans game is still important enough this early to make the list, at least when you have a game-ending interception in the closing seconds. Jevon Holland's pick here actually kept the Giants in playoff position for a while, though they're at the bottom of the 2-1 pile in the NFC. It's a little hard to see what happened; can you help us out, Jevon?

Thanks, Jevon.

Washington Commanders 33, Seattle Seahawks 31

Welcome Back, Sam Darnold

I don't think Sam Darnold ever sees Kain Medrano on this play. Medrano, a special teamer playing due to injuries, just undercuts the route and takes it home, essentially ending this one and handing Seattle their first loss of the season. Pressure from Odafeh Oweh forces Darnold into making a decision and, well, it's the wrong one.

Medrano also called out Sonny Styles for helping Washington get into the right look defensively before the play. Styles was also there to make the tackle if Medrano hadn't made the play, but a pick-six is better. They'll take that.

Las Vegas Raiders 35, New Orleans Saints 27

Ah, Shoughs.

The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-0. Really? We're sure about that? That isn't some kind of massive practical joke? OK.

Seeking to lead New Orleans on a comeback drive, Tyler Shough gets pressured. He tries to force a ball anyway, hit as he throws, and instead just floats one up the sideline, where Hezekiah Masses comes down with it. Masses ends up fumbling the return, perhaps a little too excited, but it ends up Raiders ball anyway. Three plays later, Kirk Cousins finds Brock Bowers for a touchdown, and the game was out of reach.

Flip the result, and we're talking about the 2-1 Saints on top of the NFC South. Instead, the Raiders are one of five remaining 3-0 teams, with a huge game against the Chiefs this week. I suspect the Raiders aren't really for real, or at least not actual playoff contenders – but I suppose we'll find out this week, won't we?