2024 NFL Week 3: Top Takeaways for Every Game

2024 NFL Week 3: Top Takeaways for Every Game0 of 3

Aaron RodgersAl Bello/Getty Images

Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season was one of the weirder slates in recent memory. Underdogs wreaked havoc across the league. Of the four teams that made the conference championship games last year, only one won—and that was on a last-second field goal.

The chaos of Week 2 has created a long list of questions that will be answered in Week 3.

Can the New Orleans Saints continue their smoking-hot start to the 2024 campaign at the expense of a Philadelphia Eagles squad that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory? Can the reeling Baltimore Ravens earn win No. 1 of the season in Dallas against a Cowboys team that was blasted last week. Can surprise 2-0 teams such as the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks keep the good times rolling against the Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins, respectively? Can 0-2 squads like the Cincinnati Bengals and injury-ravaged Los Angeles Rams get off the mat?

It promises to be another excitement-filled weekend of hard-fought games. And as is the case every week, Bleacher Report NFL analysts Gary Davenport, Kristopher Knox, Maurice Moton and Brent Sobleski have come together to offer their biggest takeaways from every game—beginning with Thursday night’s AFC East beatdown administered by Aaron Rodgers and the new-look New York Jets.

Hey, winning is a new look for that bunch.

Aaron Rodgers-Led Jets Are Legitimate Threat to the Bills in AFC East1 of 3

Al Bello/Getty Images

Score: Jets 24, Patriots 3

We all wondered when it was going to happen. When we were going to see Aaron Rodgers in a Jets uniform. Not the rusty Rodgers who lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Or the inconsistent Rodgers who beat the Tennessee Titans last week.

The Aaron Rodgers. The four-time NFL MVP who Jets fans have been waiting for since last season. The franchise savior for Gang Green.

That last part is a tall ask, even for Rodgers. But Thursday night at MetLife Stadium, we saw a glimpse of one of the best to ever play the game at quarterback—and that should scare the three-time defending AFC East champions upstate more than a little.

The Rodgers who dissected a solid New England defense Thursday was confident, accurate and in complete control of the New York offense. He spread the ball around—eight different receivers caught at least one pass. Its leading receiver was tight end Tyler Conklin, because that’s who was open.

With Mike Williams rounding into shape, the Jets have a solid cadre of pass-catchers. Braelon Allen looks the part as an excellent complement to Breece Hall at running back. New York’s offensive line is light years better than in previous years. Edge-rusher Will McDonald IV has caught fire of late, adding more punch to an already-stout defense.

The Jets still have work to do. There were multiple bad penalties against the Patriots. Offensive lineman Morgan Moses was banged up in the game and would be a big loss were he to miss time.

But this is a good football team finally being led by a quarterback who isn’t awful.

New York’s prime-time tilt with the Bills at home in Week 6 is looking more intriguing by the week.

Get Ready for Calls to Start Drake Maye…and Hope the Patriots Ignore Them2 of 3

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After the New England Patriots’ Week 2 loss to Seattle, mutterings began about starting rookie first-round pick Drake Maye instead of journeyman Jacoby Brissett—talk that head coach Jerod Mayo did his best to dispel while appearing on WEEI Radio earlier this week:

“As a coaching staff, as an organization, we’re 100 percent behind Jacoby. …We have a developmental plan for Drake. I mean, it’s not for you guys to know what the developmental plan is, but we’re developing him as well as getting Jacoby ready to go out there and be our starting quarterback and win games. I’m not sure what else I can say about that.”

Here’s hoping Mayo means that, because there will be more than mutterings after the Patriots lost to the Jets at MetLife Stadium for the first time since 2015.

Frankly, Pandora’s Box may already be open at this point. The New England coach can try to paint the No. 3 overall pick playing late in Thursday’s blowout as just an opportunity for the youngster to get some game reps, but for many fans it was the turning of a page.

The problem is that you can turn the page, but the story will be just as sad.

It’s not Brissett’s fault that the Patriots have, arguably, the worst assemblage of pass-catching talent in the NFL. It’s not Brissett’s fault that New England’s offensive line left him with no time and running back Rhamondre Stevenson with nowhere to run.

The Week 1 win over Cincinnati notwithstanding (football is weird), the Pats are who we thought they are. They are an abysmal offensive team, and the defense is starting to crack under the pressure.

Forget whether Maye is ready for the Patriots. The Patriots aren’t ready for Maye.

Start him, and you’re setting up the 22-year-old to fail.