Two weeks into the NFL season and there have already been some surprises.
The post-Tom Brady Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first two games. The Super Bowl hopeful Cincinnati Bengals started 0-2 for the second straight season. The NFC East has three of the league's remaining unbeaten teams, including a Cowboys team looking to get off to a dominant 3-0 start.
That quest will be one of the intriguing storylines entering Week 3.
The week began with a matchup between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers on Thursday. Daniel Jones and the Giants, missing the injured Saquon Barkley, couldn't get much going on offense against a tough 49ers defense. San Francisco improved to 3-0 with the dominant 30-12 win, while New York dropped to 1-2.
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The early slate of Sunday games featured nine games with 1 p.m. ET kickoffs. The New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans scored important victories to avoid falling to 0-3, while the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings were unable to avoid that fate.
Elsewhere, the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers scored victories for the NFC North over the NFC South's Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, respectively.
In the afternoon slate, the Kansas City Chiefs' offense returned to form after a lackluster 1-1 start when they hosted a struggling Chicago Bears team. Patrick Mahomes and Co. went off in a 41-10 win that Justin Fields and Co. never got into.
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The Cowboys looked to get off to a 3-0 start for just the fourth time since 2000 (2007, 2008, 2019) when they traveled to Arizona to play the 0-2 Cardinals, but those plans went awry as Josh Dobbs and Co. stunned Dallas with a 28-16 victory. The Seattle Seahawks, meanwhile, pulled away late from Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers 37-27.
The day ended with the Pittsburgh Steelers putting away the Raiders in Las Vegas 23-18 on Sunday Night Football despite a late rally by the home side.
Monday night offered a rare doubleheader of sorts for NFL fans. The action began with a matchup between two unbeaten teams as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Philadelphia Eagles. But it was the latter who kept their unbeaten record alive in a 25-11 win with Jalen Hurts outplaying Baker Mayfield.
Then the Cincinnati Bengals picked up their first win of the year against the now 1-2 Los Angeles Rams at home despite Joe Burrow struggling with a calf injury.
Here is how the full schedule for Week 3 in the NFL panned out...
