32 things we learned in NFL Week 3: Backup QBs, touchdown returns aplenty Nate Davis, USA TODAY September 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM 0 The 32 things we learned from Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season: 0.
- - 32 things we learned in NFL Week 3: Backup QBs, touchdown returns aplenty
Nate Davis, USA TODAY September 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
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The 32 things we learned from Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season:
0. Number of rushing TDs scored Sunday by Green Bay Packers RB Josh Jacobs, breaking his 11-game streak (including playoffs) of scoring at least once on the ground − the sixth longest in league history. Adding insult to injury, Jacobs averaged just 1.9 yards on his 16 carries, the worst output of his seven-year career when he had at least 12 attempts, as the Pack were shocked 13-10 on the road by the Cleveland Browns.
1. The number of Minnesota Vikings players − ever − to score two defensive touchdowns in a single game, CB Isaiah Rodgers becoming the founding member Sunday. The most dominant Mr. Rodgers in the league this day, he returned an interception 87 yards for a score and brought a fumble back 66 yards for another in the Vikes' 48-10 blowout of the Cincinnati Bengals. For good measure, Rodgers caused two fumbles, including the one he returned, and broke up two passes. He's the first player since 2000 with two TDs and a pair of forced fumbles in the same game. May as well hand Rodgers NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors now.
makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/CgMslcV class=caas-img data-headline="Best images of the 2025 NFL season" data-caption="
Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
">Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
" src=https://ift.tt/CgMslcV class=caas-img>
1 / 4Best images of the 2025 NFL season
Week 1: Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa (18) makes a catch for a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but the call was overturned. Despite TeSlaa's effort, the Packers won the game 27-13.
2. The number of backup quarterbacks saddled with losses Sunday, the New York Jets' Tyrod Taylor and Cincinnati Bengals' Jake Browning unable to pick up the slack for injured Justin Fields and Joe Burrow, respectively.
3. The number of backup quarterbacks who notched victories Sunday, the Vikings' Carson Wentz, Washington Commanders' Marcus Mariota and San Francisco 49ers' Mac Jones all getting fill-in Ws for injured J.J. McCarthy, Jayden Daniels and Brock Purdy, respectively.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers now ranks alone with the fourth-most TD passes in league history (510) after breaking his tie with Brett Favre (508) on Sunday. Rodgers has a way to go to catch Peyton Manning (539), who is third on the list.
Aaron Rodgers passes HOF Brett Favre for the 4th-most career pass TD in NFL history 🔥@AaronRodgers12 | #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/tgMT5d5m6y
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) September 21, 2025
4a. Also Sunday, Rodgers surpassed Philip Rivers for the sixth-most passing yards (63,538) in league history.
5. Speaking of "backup" quarterbacks, the Atlanta Falcons' Kirk Cousins will apparently remain one – for now – even though he's making $27.5 million this season and was called in to take over for highly ineffective second-year QB1 Michael Penix Jr. on Sunday as the Falcons were blown out 30-0 by the previously winless Carolina Panthers.
6. The number of teams that remain undefeated, the Chargers, Bills, Colts, 49ers, Eagles and Bucs all improving to 3-0.
6a. The number of teams that will go into Week 4 winless, the Texans, Jets, Titans, Dolphins and Saints all 0-3 ... and joined by the Giants on Sunday night.
7. The number of games through Sunday afternoon of Week 3 decided in the final 2 minutes and 30 seconds of regulation. This is why we watch!
7a. Per the NFL, the seven games in Week 3 that produced a game-winning score in the final three minutes (none occurred in overtime) is tied for the most in a single week since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
8. Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams has endured his share of (deserved) criticism, some coming from me. But props on Sunday's showing – probably his best in the NFL – when he matched his career high with four TD passes while crafting a personal best 142.6 passer rating in a 31-14 beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe he's about to take off with rookie coach Ben Johnson as the wind beneath his wings after all.
9. The number of non-offensive touchdowns scored Sunday – five coming via defense, two off punt returns and the two from blocked field-goal tries. It's the most in a week since 2020.
10. Combined catches by Minnesota's Justin Jefferson and Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase − former LSU teammates who are now almost inarguably the league's two best receivers − in a strange and lopsided matchup between teams deploying backup QBs.
11. Steelers OLB T.J. Watt had gone six consecutive games, including playoffs, without a sack before finally getting his first two of the season in Sunday's 21-14 defeat of the New England Patriots. Previously, Watt had never had a sack-less streak of more than three games during his nine-year career.
12. Speaking of sacks, Washington Commanders LB Bobby Wagner, a future Hall of Famer if there ever was one, had two Sunday in his undermanned team's 41-24 defeat of the Las Vegas Raiders. Pass rush impact isn't what will eventually put Wagner – one of the best defensive quarterbacks of this century – into Canton, but this was the fifth time the typically effective blitzer has had multiple sacks in a game during his 14-year career.
13. Number of consecutive regular-season games the Buffalo Bills have won at Highmark Stadium going back to the 2023 season, currently the league's lengthiest home heater. Not great news for the rest of the conference as the perennial AFC East champs are very much on track to capture home-field advantage for this season's playoffs in their building's final season.
14. Even with electric Daniels out and RB Austin Ekeler lost for the season, Washington still rushed for 201 yards by committee Sunday – journeyman Jeremy McNichols posting a career-best and game-high 78 on just four carries.
CAN'T STOP @JeremyMcNichols!!!📺 #LVvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/oVL6AKg0Y7
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 21, 2025
15. They weren't necessarily impactful, but Raiders WR Tre Tucker caught three TD passes from Geno Smith in Sunday's loss to Washington. Tucker already has five in 2025, matching his total − combined − from his first two NFL seasons.
16. The number of wins credited to Wentz since the start of the 2020 season. More notably, since then, he's now started for six different teams in each of the past six years − a first in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) − making a (very) successful debut (173 yards, 2 TDs passing) for the Vikes Sunday in their win over the Browning Bengals.
Carson Wentz becomes the first QB to start for 6 different teams in a 6-year span since 1950:🔹 PHI (2020) 🔹 IND (2021) 🔹 WAS (2022) 🔹 LAR (2023) 🔹 KC (2024)🔹 MIN (2025) pic.twitter.com/lIunO3kCb7
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) September 21, 2025
17. "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" If only Al Michaels had been on the call for the Philadelphia Eagles' 33-26 comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams. Not only did Philly win its second nailbiter of the year over LA − the Rams nearly upset the Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs at Lincoln Financial Field in January − 336-pound DT Jordan Davis' 61-yard TD run following a block of the Rams' game-winning field-goal attempt allowed Philadelphia to cover the point spread ... which Michaels would have gleefully made note of.
EAGLES BLOCK THE KICK AND JORDAN DAVIS SCORES A TOUCHDOWN BECAUSE WHY NOT pic.twitter.com/XNcYthVUMm
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025
18. Davis' block came on the heels of another by teammate Jalen Carter. The Eagles became the first team since at least 1978 to block a pair of FG tries in the fourth quarter of the same game.
19. The Jets were in position to get their first win for rookie HC Aaron Glenn, taking 27-26 lead with fewer than two minutes to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after DE Will McDonald IV blocked a field-goal attempt of his own and returned it 50 yards to pay dirt.
JETS BLOCK THE FIELD GOAL. THEY'VE COME BACK FROM 17 POINTS DOWN TO TAKE THE LEAD.NYJvsTB on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/dinScActDQ
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025
20. The number of drives it took for the Indianapolis Colts to finally punt, the most ever to start an NFL season. And speaking of 20, it was a nice punt by Indy's Rigoberto Sanchez, who dropped a 46-yarder inside the Tennessee Titans' 20-yard line.
There it is. Colts punt for the first time this season.INDvsTEN on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/378OqG3xEX
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025
The Colts' first 20 drives with Daniel Jones:10 field goals6 touchdowns2 TO on downs1 end of halfAnd finally, 1 punt(zero giveaways)
— Dante Koplowitz-Fleming (@DanteKopFlem) September 21, 2025
21. Number of combined penalties (14 by Tampa Bay) for 205 aggregate yards in the Bucs-Jets game.
22. Alas, the Jets didn't have enough juice to win the Todd Bowles Bowl, their former coach's Bucs driving 48 yard over the final seven plays to set up Chase McLaughlin's game-winning 36-yard FG at the gun.
23. Perhaps Sunday's close shave was due to Tampa Bay's "Creamsicle" white throwbacks, last worn in 1976 − when the expansion Bucs finished 0-14.
24. Tampa Bay, which has started 2-0 each of the past five seasons, including all four under Bowles, is now 3-0 for the first time since 2005.
Nothing like a home-opener DUB 👏 pic.twitter.com/iBpCJiyBaN
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 21, 2025
25. However Taylor (197 yards, 2 TDs, pick-six passing and team-best 48 rushing yards) – the 15th-year vet was making his first start since 2023 – surprisingly played (very early) MVP candidate Baker Mayfield (233 yards, TD passing plus 44 yards rushing) to a surprising draw. The duo were Browns teammates in 2018, when Mayfield was the No. 1 pick of that year's draft.
26. Not-much-to-see rookie watch: No. 1 pick Cam Ward continues to look overmatched for the Tennessee Titans, throwing an early pick-six and getting sacked four more times for his winless team. Such is the life of a young QB trying to lift a flailing franchise … but the 85-sack pace Ward is on remains highly worrisome.
27. Not-much-to-see rookie watch: No. 2 pick Travis Hunter played another 80 snaps (43 on defense, per PFF) and made six tackles but caught just one ball for 21 yards as a receiver. Again, no intent here to pick on him, but he has yet to display the type of impact on either side of the ball that would justify the bold move rookie GM James Gladstone made to get him in April. But let's give Hunter (a lot) more time.
28. Not-much-to-see rookie watch: No. 6 pick Ashton Jeanty rushed for 63 yards on 17 carries in Sunday's loss. It was easily the best showing of his three games, which also tells you how it's been going thus far.
28a. Jeanty's NFL experience so far can best be described as "Boise to Men" – shoutout to Rich Eisen for turning that phrase.
29. A lot-to-see rookie watch? Browns RB Quinshon Judkins, the 36th pick of this year's draft – and part of what Cleveland got in order to give up the pick used by Jacksonville on Hunter – ran for a 94 yards and a TD on Sunday, his second NFL game after an offseason when Judkins' legal issues drew the kind of attention he didn't want. But he now has 155 rushing yards after two games.
30. A lot-to-see rookie watch? Seattle Seahawks WR Tory Horton, the 166th pick of this year's draft, scored on a 95-yard punt return and a 14-yard reception in Sunday's 44-13 rout of the New Orleans Saints. Horton has already found the end zone three times in three NFL games.
31. The Bucs weren't the only team in throwback – or alternate – uniforms Sunday, though their game against the Jets, who permanently reinstituted their 1980s look last season, was the most aesthetically pleasing game on the slate.
Week 2: Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) runs the ball against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sporting "The Vikings Classic" throwback uniform inspired by the team's look during the 1960s and '70s, Minnesota was defeated, 22-6.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/P36DkCg class=caas-img data-headline="Alternate and throwback uniforms of 2025 NFL season" data-caption="
Week 2: Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) runs the ball against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sporting "The Vikings Classic" throwback uniform inspired by the team's look during the 1960s and '70s, Minnesota was defeated, 22-6.
">Week 2: Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) runs the ball against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sporting "The Vikings Classic" throwback uniform inspired by the team's look during the 1960s and '70s, Minnesota was defeated, 22-6.
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1 / 10Alternate and throwback uniforms of 2025 NFL seasonWeek 3: New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller (5) stiff arms Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight (48) during the second quarter at Lumen Field. The Saints wore their all-white uniform and helmet combo for the first time in the game.
32. Also switching it up: Panthers (black helmet), Browns (debut of their all-brown "Alpha Dawg" look), Jags ("Prowler" throwbacks), Patriots (Pat Patriot throwbacks), Saints (debut of alternate white helmet) and 49ers (throwbacks).
32a. The Baltimore Ravens will be in their all-black kit Monday night – they are 20-6 in those alternates – in a highly anticipated matchup with the Detroit Lions.
The Ravens have a record of 20-6 all-time when wearing their black-on-black uniform combo per @RavensUniforms 📸: @Ravens #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/VwjfQQ7yQV
— SleeperRavens (@SleeperRavenss) September 18, 2025
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL Week 3 takeaways: Backup quarterbacks, touchdown returns aplenty
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