Rob Issa, FISM News
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Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa once battled to be Nick Saban’s starting signal caller. Now the pair of former Alabama quarterbacks are leading the only 3-0 teams in the NFL.
Hurts had another excellent performance in Philadelphia’s 24-8 victory at Washington Sunday, while Tagovailoa shook off what appeared to be a head and back injury to help Miami defeat the Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bills 21-19.
Daniel Jones and the New York Giants have an opportunity tonight to join the Eagles and Dolphins in the 3-0 club. The Giants host the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
Eagles 24, Commanders 8
Hurts threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns in a dominating performance against the Commanders. His favorite target on the day was former Crimson Tide teammate DeVonta Smith, who caught eight passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. A.J. Brown, who faced off against the two as a member of SEC West rival Ole Miss in college, caught five passes from Hurts for 85 yards and a touchdown.
The Eagles are 3-0 for the first time since 2016.
“Honestly, in terms of us playing to our standard and being who we think we can be as a football team, I say it’s about the same,” Hurts said. “I think we have yet to play our best ball. I think we’re close in terms of executing on a consistent basis through all four quarters of the football game. Last year, I remember being asked the question of ‘How close are you? You’re saying this every week?’ Well, I think it’s the same situation here. Just got three wins in our column but I could care less about it because we haven’t played to our standard yet. If we can continue to strive and play to our standard, everything else will handle itself. It’s a day-by-day thing.”
Hurts, an outspoken Christian, is quick to give the glory to God, as FISM News reported last week.
Dolphins 21, Bills 19
Tagovailoa had 186 yards passing and one TD against the Bills.
Tagovailoa fought through injuries to guide the Dolphins past Josh Allen and the Bills despite possessing the ball for only 19:20 and running 51 fewer offensive plays.
“We never knew when our next (opportunity) would be, and then when we did get an opportunity, we had penalties on those, and then we would go three-and-out in some instances,” Tagovailoa said. “Against a good team like this, you can’t do that. I think we rallied. You really look at it – the defense came through, and it kind of tells a picture story of what our team is capable of. It’s not just our offense being able to help win a game, but it’s the defense as well. And we’ve seen that with their performance.”
The handling of Tagovailoa’s injury caused concern in the players association’s front office, however.
The NFL Players Association plans to initiate a review of whether the Miami Dolphins followed the league’s concussion protocol when they allowed Tagovailoa to return to the game, according to Reuters.
Tagovailoa left the game with 2:19 left in the second quarter. Bills linebacker Matt Milano shoved him to the ground for a roughing-the-passer penalty, and the back of Tagovailoa’s head hit the turf. He was wobbly and stumbled to the ground while running off under his own power.
Tagovailoa ended up returning for the Dolphins‘ first possession of the third quarter. After the game, the quarterback said he hurt his back on a quarterback sneak earlier in the game.
“But for the most part, I’m good,” Tagovailoa said. “Passed whatever concussion protocol they had.”
Packers 14, Buccaneers 12
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell short in their bid to improve to 3-0, losing 14-12 at home to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the matchup between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Brady led the Bucs on a 99-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter, tossing a 1-yard TD pass to Russell Gage, but the following 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete after a penalty for delay of game forced Tampa to start from the 7.
The Buccaneers fumbled twice and couldn’t generate much on offense with their top three receivers out of the lineup. So far, Brady has just three TD passes and Tampa’s offense only has three TDs in three games.
“Our job is to go out there and score points so we haven’t – we’re just not doing it but, you’re not going to score points if we don’t execute well,” Brady said. “They did a better job than us. They have a good defense — a good physical defense. I give them a lot of credit. They forced us to make a lot of good plays and we just didn’t do a great job on execution.”
NFL Roundup
In other games in Week 3, the Indianapolis Colts earned their first win of the season, a 20-17 upset over the Kansas City Chiefs. Matt Ryan tossed a 12-yard TD pass to rookie Jelani Woods with 24 seconds left.
Lamar Jackson threw four TD passes and ran for a score to lead the Baltimore Ravens over the New England Patriots 37-26. Mac Jones sustained an ankle injury, a big blow for New England.
The Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints 22-14 for their first win with quarterback Baker Mayfield.
The Chicago Bears improved to 2-1 with a 23-20 win over the Houston Texans.
Kirk Cousins threw a 28-yard TD pass to K.J. Osborn with 45 seconds left to lift the Minnesota Vikings over the Detroit Lions 28-24.
The Cincinnati Bengals cruised over the New York Jets 27-12.
The Tennessee Titans held off the winless Las Vegas Raiders 24-22.
The Jacksonville Jaguars routed the Los Angeles Chargers 38-10.
The Los Angeles Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals 20-12.
The Atlanta Falcons knocked off the Seattle Seahawks 27-23.
The Denver Broncos edged the San Francisco 49ers 11-10 on Sunday night.
This report was aided by a report from Reuters.