After three weekends of NFL football in 2016, there are five undefeated teams remainings. Three in the AFC: New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos; and two in the NFC: Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings.
On a less happy note, three teams are still winless after three games: The Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears. The New Orleans Saints are also win-less, but they still have a Monday Night Football game to play vs the Atlanta Falcons.
The Eagles might be the most impressive of the five undefeated teams, because they’re playing with a rookie quarterback. Carson Wentz has been fantastic, throwing five touchdowns and 0 interceptions, while leading the Eagles to the best offense in the league so far (30 points per game). They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-3, have yet to score less than 29 points or give up more than 14 points in any of their games.
The New England Patriots played a rookie quarterback in 1.5 of their games, the other 1.5 going to Jimmy Garoppolo. It just makes Bill Belichick look even better, as the Pats shutout the Houston Texans 27-0 on Thursday Night, in a game Houston came into Gillette Stadium favored to win. The Pats led the NFL in rushing yards with 150.7 per game so far, while holding their opponents to only 15 points per outing.
The Denver Broncos are another team with a previously less than impressive quarterback, Trevor Siemian, leading the way. To be honest, he wasn’t that hot in the first two games, but the second-year player, barely a third-stringer before this season began, really broke out in the 29-17 win at Cincinnati over the Bengals, throwing four touchdown passes. Surprisingly, the Broncos have the 4th best offensive output in the league so far, scoring 28 points per game.
Another team that should have had quarterback problems, the Minnesota Vikings, are getting it done despite losing Teddy Bridgewater just before the season opened. Shaun Hill carried the torch in week 1, Sam Bradford has taken over in weeks 2 & 3, throwing 3 touchdown passes with 0 interceptions. Adrian Peterson missing? Doesn’t seem to be a problem. The Vikings beat the Carolina Panthers 22-10 in Charlotte, and despite one of the worst offenses in the NFL in terms of moving the ball down the field, they win by an average of more than a touchdown per game, holding their opponents to 13.3 points a game so far.
Least impressive of the undefeated teams have to be the Baltimore Ravens, winning their games by a combined 13 points, including 19-17 over the Jacksonville Jaguars, with Justin Tucker (who else) hitting a game winning field goal in the final two minutes. This is the only team without any quarterback issues, riding Joe Flacco, who hasn’t done anything special, to a slightly surprising 3-0 start.
Three previously undefeated teams lost this weekend: The New York Giants (at home to the Redskins), the Steelers (to the Eagles) and the Texans (to the Patriots).
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