Week 3 was not exactly a kind one to the Seattle Seahawks. Riding high at 2-0, the Seahawks faltered at home to the New Orleans Saints and lost 33-27 in a game that was never nearly as competitive as the score might indicate.
Not only did the Seahawks lose, but they lost some ground to two competitive division rivals in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both the Rams and the 49ers came away with tight wins to improve to 3-0 and keep their tie for first in the division. The Seahawks currently reside in third place in the division standings, but still well above the winless Cardinals.
Los Angles and San Francisco continued their winning ways, while Arizona showed once more they are a going to be a tough out.
Arizona Cardinals 20, Carolina Panthers 38
While Seattle’s 33-27 loss wasn’t as close as the score says, the exact opposite situation occurred in the Valley of the Sun. The Cardinals may have lost by 18 points, but certainly weren’t blown out early.
Arizona and Carolina engaged in an entertaining back and forth affair for the majority of the afternoon. No. 1 draft pick Kyler Murray and Panthers backup Kyle Allen – playing in relief of the injured Cam Newton – had one of the more unlikely quarterback duels of the season. Going into the fourth quarter the score was only 28-20.
It wasn’t until the final period of the game when the Panthers scored 10 more points to make their lead insurmountable.
San Francisco 49ers 24, Pittsburgh Steelers 20
The Niners and Steelers played in another back and forth game, as Pittsburgh fared much better than many expected in the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s injury.
This was not a great quarterbacking display between either team. Pittsburgh backup Mason Rudolph struggled in his first start. He only completed 14 of 27 passes for 174 yards, throwing two touchdowns and an interception. His 49ers counterpart, Jimmy Garoppolo, had a little better performance, completing 23 of 32 passes for 277 yards. However, Garoppolo threw two picks.
The difference was Garoppolo led the Niners for a game-winning drive with a touchdown pass to former Washington Husky Dante Pettis.
Los Angeles Rams 20, Cleveland Browns 13
The Rams became the first NFC West team to play under the lights on primetime when they took on the Cleveland Browns for Sunday Night Football.
Billed as a showdown between two No. 1 overall pick quarterbacks in Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield, it was the two defenses who stole the show. Goff completed 63% of his passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns but also had two picks. Mayfield only completed 50% for 195 yards, one touchdown but a threw a game-losing interception.
Los Angeles’ defense had a heroic goal-line stance and Cleveland’s second-year quarterback could not make the plays to tie the game up.
