Sports
NFL Week 3 roundtable: Bryce Young’s benching, Saints’ hot start and unbeaten matchups
Four of the NFL’s nine unbeaten teams meet Sunday, which should provide some buzz, albeit so early in the season.
While C.J. Stroud’s Houston Texans meet the resurgent Sam Darnold’s Minnesota Vikings, Justin Herbert — questionable with a high ankle sprain as of Friday — and the Los Angeles Chargers meet the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have one touchdown through eight quarters.
Elsewhere around the league, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s concussions land him on IR as doubts surrounding his career continue. The Saints’ offense is off to a torrid start. Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young has been benched in favor of veteran Andy Dalton. The Atlanta Falcons — coming off a thrilling win at Philadelphia — host the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s nightcap.
What will Sunday’s action bring? The Athletic’s NFL writers Mike Sando, Zak Keefer and Jeff Howe discuss.
We have a pair of matchups between unbeatens in Week 3 — Texans-Vikings and Chargers-Steelers. What are you watching for in each of these games?
Sando: I’ll be interested in seeing how Sam Darnold plays if the Vikings fall behind. Can he continue to avoid the errors that have marked his career? In the other game, I want to see how Chargers right tackle Joe Alt fares against the Steelers’ T.J. Watt. Alt has been pretty dominant so far. This will be a fun matchup and if Alt wins it, he’s going to be voted All-Pro this year. He might be anyway.
Howe: Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is off to a hot start, but C.J. Stroud is going to be his greatest challenge so far. If Flores can make life tough on Stroud, it could mean the Vikings have real staying power in the race for a playoff spot. The Chargers-Steelers game will be a brawl, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if neither team scores 20 points. I’m very interested to see how Justin Herbert and Justin Fields handle those stifling defenses. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has Herbert playing a more conservative style, and that could be important in a game like this. But with Herbert questionable with a high ankle sprain, the element of a measuring-stick game might be wiped away if he’s unavailable or significantly limited. I still think this will be a fun game from a defensive perspective, though.
Keefer: I’m with Jeff — the Texans’ offense struggled a bit in the second half Sunday night against an excellent Bears defense, and I’m wondering if Flores’ unit can give them some of the same problems. As for Chargers-Steelers, how many touchdowns will we see? Less than four? For a Pittsburgh team that’s 2-0 despite scoring one touchdown in eight quarters, I can’t see that formula working for long. The Steelers are going to have to unlock something offensively to keep winning games.
Panthers QB Bryce Young has been benched 18 games into his career as Carolina travels to Las Vegas to face the Raiders. What’s next for Young? Would the league benefit from sitting more rookie/young QBs to start their careers?
Sando: While the Panthers did a poor job supporting Young, the situation serves as a reminder against betting big on outlier quarterbacks. Young’s size was an issue coming into the 2023 draft. It’s a bigger issue now that teams have seen just how much his stature has complicated his ability to play well. The Panthers will either draft a quarterback early in 2025 or find a veteran. I don’t see Young in the picture.
Howe: The Panthers have to do everything in their power to rebuild Young’s confidence because he clearly hasn’t been playing with any. That’s on the Panthers for dropping him into a bad situation — three head coaches, a dearth of talent at the skill positions and a line that has failed to protect him. They can’t put Young back on the field until everything else is operating at a higher capacity, even if that’s not until 2025. I don’t think the league should change its consideration over how quickly to play its QBs, though. Quarterbacks enter the league far more ready to start now than ever before because of all the camps, all-star games and everything else that comes with the high school and college spotlight. However, if a team can’t protect its QB due to a lack of talent, it’s better to avoid shattering his confidence by playing him too early and exposing him to failure. I think that’s what you’re seeing with the Patriots and Drake Maye.
Bryce Young: “For the last year and these two games, every snap hit my hands and I didn’t do enough with it.”
h/t @SteveReedAP for the video. pic.twitter.com/l1QFOfjurl
— Joe Person (@josephperson) September 19, 2024
Keefer: Young’s benching is an organizational failure, and one of the worst we’ve seen in this league in some time. I don’t get the sense Dave Canales is ready to give up Young — he raved about his poise and processing in the preseason — so I’d assume the thinking is: Give the young quarterback a breather, let him reset, and see if he can rediscover his confidence on the practice field the next few weeks and months. And yes, I’ve long felt that only a select few rookie quarterbacks are ready for the rigors of starting a rookie season. But teams are in too much of a hurry to play the long game. It’s backfired before, and it backfired here.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was placed on injured reserve this week while in concussion protocol and can’t return to action before Week 8. Are the playoffs a realistic goal for Miami if Tagovailoa’s absence stretches even longer?
Sando: Not without acquiring a quarterback from another team. Tyler Huntley’s signing from the Ravens’ practice squad isn’t going to be enough, in my view. It’ll be fun to see if Mike McDaniel can scheme the Dolphins out of this, much the way Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur did for the Packers against Indy. I just don’t think that’s plausible for a long stretch. If Tagovailoa is out for a long time, Miami will need to do something to upgrade the position and send a message of hope to the locker room.
Howe: No, the AFC has too many quality teams, and the Dolphins have too difficult of a schedule. They’re going to need to play terrific defense and scheme up a run game and quick passing attack to play perfect complementary football to steal some games along the way, and I think that’s too much to ask. It’s not unrealistic to think the Dolphins can get to 3-3 by the time Tagovailoa is eligible to return, but a longer absence could cost him games against the Cardinals, Bills and Rams. That’s going to be a season-defining stretch regardless of who’s at QB.
Keefer: I don’t see this team making the playoffs with Tua sidelined for the next month — and likely longer. Tua may have limitations, but he’s an excellent fit for McDaniels’ offensive system, one built on speed. Tua’s accuracy is what makes it go, accentuating the talents of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Without the QB, the Dolphins lose a part of their identity, and I don’t trust the defense, either, not after the way Josh Allen and the Bills ran over them last week. It could be a long couple of months in Miami.
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The New Orleans Saints and their offense are the talk of the league as they host the Eagles in Week 3. What is so different about the Saints than in the past?
Sando: They have a very well-schemed rushing attack and it’s giving them a refocused identity, something they needed, in retrospect, after the transition out of the Drew Brees/Sean Payton era. Adding left tackle Taliese Fuaga in the draft was another important move. It’s not going to look as good when the Saints fall behind, but their rushing attack and defense have given the offense, and especially quarterback Derek Carr, a favorable context.
Howe: Klint Kubiak is off to a tremendous start. The Saints had gotten stale on offense under Pete Carmichael, and they had been looking to replace him after Payton stepped away. Now with an innovative coordinator, the Saints are clicking in a way we haven’t seen since Brees was running the show. Thing is, they’ve shown flashes in short spurts the past couple of years but never sustained it, so I’m intrigued to see if this continues.
Keefer: Early-down success in the run game has changed everything for the Saints, opening up the playbook on later downs, which has allowed Carr to be aggressive. Alvin Kamara has not-so-subtly reminded the league how dangerous he is, giving this offense the type of balance that’ll scare defensive coordinators for most of the rest of the season. To think: The Saints opened the season with 15 straight scoring drives. I’ll be eager to see how defenses counter them the rest of the way, and if they find any way of slowing them down.
Kirk Cousins’ prime-time record didn’t matter much Monday night, when the Falcons earned one of the best wins of Week 2 in Philadelphia. Sunday night, they host the Chiefs, who have won a pair of nail-biters to start the season. What are your thoughts on this matchup?
Sando: I think the Chiefs will start fast offensively and then get after Cousins when Atlanta has to depart from its run-oriented script. The Chiefs will do a better job in coverage as well.
Howe: Cousins’ game-winning drive was clutch and showed he can still play at a higher level, but it also masked a number of earlier mistakes when he didn’t trust his reads or simply didn’t see open receivers. Whether it’s the injury-related layoff or adjusting to a new offense and organization, Cousins is still playing catchup. I think he’ll get there eventually, but it looks like it’s going to require patience. However, there was a pivotal point midway through the Monday nighter when the Falcons recognized they could bully the Eagles with Bijan Robinson. They’ve absolutely got to see if that will work against the Chiefs because that’s a well-coached, veteran defense that I’d expect to give Cousins a headache if he’s put in too many passing situations.
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Keefer: Impressive as Atlanta’s game-winning drive was, the Falcons were sloppy most of Monday’s game, and Cousins admitted he needed to be better in his postgame interview. The Chiefs, similarly, eeked out a narrow win over the Bengals they probably shouldn’t have had. In a game headlined by the offenses, I think Kansas City’s defense will be the difference. The Falcons still have a ways to go.
(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
For years, Stephen A. Smith’s many football blunders have been easy enough to explain away.
He’s not an NFL guy (remember when he said the three key players for a game were three guys who weren’t playing in the game?)
Stephen A. Smith falsely claimed the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, but Golden State reached the second round in both 2023 and 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
He’s definitely not a college football guy (remember when he called Jalen Milroe Jalen “Milroy” multiple times and then read the wrong stat line after a College Football Playoff game?).
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ESPN forces him into those conversations because First Take has to talk football, and Smith knows that football is the most popular sport in the country and he needs to be seen as an authority (even though he isn’t).
But Monday’s latest mistake is a lot tougher to excuse, because this time Smith wasn’t talking about the NFL or college football. He was talking about the Golden State Warriors, one of the defining NBA dynasties of the last decade.
In other words, he was talking about the sport and the league that’s supposed to be his bread and butter.
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While discussing whether Steve Kerr has coached his last game with Golden State, Smith confidently stated the Warriors “haven’t been back to the playoffs since that championship in 2022.”
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on during a game against the Sacramento Kings. (Robert Edwards/Imagn Images)
That’s not even close to true. Not only did Golden State make the playoffs last season, but they also reached the postseason in 2023. Last year, the Warriors made the playoffs, beat the Rockets in seven games and advanced to the second round before losing to the Timberwolves. In 2023, they beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round and before losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
So, Smith wouldn’t even have been right if he said they haven’t won a playoff series since 2022. But he didn’t say that. He said they didn’t make the playoffs in any of the past four years, except they did it twice.
Yikes.
This is not an obscure piece of NBA trivia that Smith could be easily forgiven for not knowing. Perhaps he was too busy playing solitaire on his phone and just missed two of the past three NBA postseasons. That’s a tough look for the guy who fancies himself as the No. 1 NBA analyst in the country.
And it’s a terrible look for ESPN, as they keep selling Smith as one of the faces of their NBA coverage.
Stephen A. Smith made a brutal gaffe while talking Warriors playoff history
If Smith made this kind of mistake while talking about the NFL, nobody would be shocked. At this point, sports fans practically expect him to butcher football analysis. It’s almost endearing that a guy with the ego of Smith can be so consistently wrong while also delivering every “fact” with the utmost confidence. It’s part of the Stephen A. experience.
But this one hits differently because the NBA is where he’s supposed to at least know the basics. This is where Smith prides himself as being an authority figure.
Stephen A. Smith incorrectly stated the Golden State Warriors haven’t made the playoffs since their 2022 championship, despite the team reaching the postseason twice since then. (Candice Ward/Imagn Images)
And yet he couldn’t keep the recent playoff history of the Warriors straight. The team whose head coach is in the news every other week. The team that has won four championships since 2014. Arguably one of the most important franchises in the NBA over the past 15 years.
Yes, Golden State missed the playoffs in 2024 after getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament (although they won 46 games that season). And yes, it fell short again this season. But that’s a lot different from acting like Steve Kerr has spent four years wandering the basketball wilderness since winning that 2022 title.
He hasn’t. In fact, the team is 175-153 in the past four regular seasons.
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The Warriors made the second round in 2023. They made the second round again in 2025.
Before burying Steve Kerr on national television, maybe Stephen A. Smith could take 10 seconds to confirm whether the Warriors were actually, you know, in the playoffs.
A legendary NFL coach found linebacker Rod Martin not by scouting him at USC, but almost by accident.
The Oakland Raiders had a throwaway 12th-round pick in the 1977 draft, and then-coach John Madden grew frustrated hearing his personnel executives contemplate using it on a basketball player or track guy. Finally, Madden blurted out that he could find a random kid walking around the USC campus in sandals who could make more of an impact than that.
“Ron Wolf says, ‘All right, smart guy,’” recalled Madden’s son, Mike. “So they were a couple picks away and dad goes, ‘Let me call [USC coach] John Robinson.’”
Robinson had one question: Has Rod Martin been drafted?
Raiders linebacker Rod Martin stands on the field during a game against the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 6, 1987, at the Coliseum.
(Mike Powell / Getty Images)
“Dad goes, ‘What position does he play?’” the younger Madden said. “Robinson tells him Martin is a linebacker, and dad goes, ‘Good. Tough guy we can knock around in training camp. Have him run down on kicks.’ And Robinson says, ‘No, John. Rod Martin will make your team.’”
Martin did a lot more than make the team. He would go on to set a Super Bowl record with three interceptions in one of the most dominant defensive performances in championship history.
Martin, who would play his entire 12-year career with the Oakland then Los Angeles Raiders, is dead at age 72. The Raiders announced his death Monday but did not specify a cause of death.
“The Raiders family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams,” read a team statement.
The franchise called Martin, “a beloved member of the Raiders Family and a favorite of Raiders fans everywhere.”
A two-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time Pro Bowl selection, Martin saved his best game for the biggest stage. In Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome, he intercepted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski three times in a 27-10 Raiders victory.
“What I remember about Rod was his ability to diagnose and react,” Jaworski said by phone Monday. “In the Super Bowl, he makes two phenomenal plays. He has three interceptions, but interceptions one and two — I’d like to say they were bad decisions on my part. They weren’t. I tried to squeeze throws in. He just made a great play. He was a great athlete.”
Three years later, Martin was still a key component to the Raiders’ defense in a Super Bowl victory over Washington. He had a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann, a fumble recovery, and a fourth-and-one stop of John Riggins late in the third quarter of a 38-9 blowout.
Born in Welch, W. Va., the son of a coal miner grew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High before going on to play at Los Angeles City College and USC. The NFL saw him as a tweener, too small for linebacker at 210 pounds and too slow to play safety. Clearly, that was a faulty assessment.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was two years behind Martin at Hamilton, and the two remained friends throughout the decades that followed.
“We met when I was a sophomore,” Moon said. “He was a senior — middle linebacker, fullback and center on the basketball team. He was the ultimate athlete. At the time I was there, I looked up to him quite a lot.
“He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he was big enough. He had the strongest hands and the strongest forearms. He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play. He was just a real solid player.”
It was those hands that grabbed an opportunity with the Raiders and didn’t let go.
“So dad goes marching into the draft room,” Madden said, “looks at Ron and everybody else and says, ‘We’re going to take Rod Martin, linebacker, USC.’ And they did.”
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New details have emerged surrounding the arrest of former Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who is facing two misdemeanor charges following a run-in with law enforcement just days ahead of the NFL Draft.
Branch, who is a projected second-round pick, was arrested early Sunday morning in Athens, Georgia, and charged with two counts of obstructing public sidewalks/streets – prowling and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Nov. 28, 2025. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
He was released after more than two hours in jail after posting $39 in bonds.
The NFL Network obtained the police report from Branch’s arrest, which described an encounter over an alleged sidewalk incident with law enforcement, in which police alleged that the former Bulldogs star failed “to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands.”
“A male, later identified as Zacharia Branch, continued to stand on the sidewalk without making an attempt to move. I continued to give Zacharia Branch verbal commands to move from blocking the sidewalk and advised that if he did not, he would receive a citation for blocking the sidewalk,” the excerpt from the report read.
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch runs during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 28, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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“Zacharia Branch smirked, then stepped backwards and to the right, then remained standing upon the public sidewalk, so as to obstruct, hinder, and impede free passage upon the sidewalk as well as impede free ingress/egress to or from the adjacent places of business,” the report continued.
“Due to those actions and Zacharia Branch’s failure to comply with multiple verbal lawful commands, he was placed under arrest for misdemeanor Obstruction of LEO and received a citation for Obstructing Public Sidewalks.”
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch celebrates with wide receiver Colbie Young after scoring a touchdown against Ole Miss during the Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 1, 2026. (IMAGN)
Branch transferred after two seasons at Southern California and immediately became quarterback Gunner Stockton’s favorite target. He finished the season with a team-high 811 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns.
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His status as a projected second-round pick was bolstered after an impressive showing at the combine, where he clocked a 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
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