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Who's up, who's down after Week 3 in the NFL

The NFL's last two unbeaten teams are led by former Alabama quarterbacks.

By Mark Craig

September 27, 2022 at 10:22PM

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was sacked by Titans linebacker Rashad Weaver on Sunday in Nashville. Las Vegas is off to an 0-3 start. (Mark Zaleski, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

SUPER BOWL LVIII

Jalen vs. Tua? Maybe move the game to Tuscaloosa and have Nick Saban flip the coin to decide who gets the ball, a la 2017 when both these budding NFL star QBs helped Nick win another national title. And what a show it could be. Jalen Hurts leads the league in yards per pass attempt (9.3) for his Eagles, the NFC's only undefeated team. Tua Tagovailoa ranks second (9.2) for Miami, the AFC's only undefeated team.

WORST TEAM

32. Raiders (0-3). The Raiders are a big reason they're the league's only 0-3 team. Three teams — the Chargers, Cardinals and Titans — have beaten only the Raiders. But, cheer up, Raiders Nation. The last two No. 32s in this space — Jets and Colts — won the following week.

RANKING THE VIKINGS

9. (Last week: 11) This team has a loooong way to go before anyone should get too excited, but it does, however, play in a 32-team league that has 18 sub-.500 squads, no flawless 2-1 teams (right Buffalo, K.C. & Tampa Bay?) and only two unbeatens. For now, winning gritty isn't great, but it's good enough for a top-10 spot.

STATS OF THE WEEK

9 Three-and-outs for Denver's offense — and a career high for Russell Wilson — in an 11-10 win over the 49ers. Denver has 43 points with Wilson. That's 11 fewer than Pittsburgh has with Mitchell Trubisky. And Sunday's winning points came via 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo inadvertently stepping out of the end zone for a safety.

13 Vikings penalties, for 60 yards, through three games under Kevin O'Connell. A year ago, they had 12 for 116 in the first game alone. They averaged 7.3 penalties for 61.4 yards last year. Rookie right guard Ed Ingram has one penalty for 5 yards this year. Last year's right guard, Oli Udoh, had 16 for 114 for the season. Only Baltimore (10) has fewer penalties than the Vikings this season.

40:40 Time of possession for the Bills in their 21-19 loss at Miami. Buffalo ran 90 plays to Miami's 39.

100 Career sacks for Aaron Donald after posting two in Sunday's win over Arizona. He joins Vikings Hall of Famer John Randle (137.5) as the only defensive tackles with at least 100 sacks since they became an official stat in 1982.

+5 The turnover differential for the 2-1 Jaguars, first in the league. Last year they ended with 3-14 and were dead last in turnover differential (minus-20).

WEEK 4 SNEAK PEAK

Doug Pederson at Philadelphia. Yes, Eagles fans infamously threw snowballs at Santa Claus once upon a time. But even they can't boo former Philly coach Doug Pederson when he brings his surging Jaguars into Lincoln Financial Field to face the undefeated Eagles, right? We'll see. The only coach to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory now has Trevor Lawrence ranked sixth in passer rating (103.1), one spot below the Eagles' Hurts (106.5).

about the writer

Mark Craig

Sports reporter

Mark Craig has covered the NFL nearly every year since Brett Favre was a rookie back in 1991. A sports writer since 1987, he is covering his 30th NFL season out of 37 years with the Canton (Ohio) Repository (1987-99) and the Star Tribune (1999-present).