By Travers Cummings
Vikings over Bengals (Sunday noon): I can’t imagine anyone had Carson Wentz vs. Jake Browning on their bingo card when they saw the Week 3 matchup between the Vikings and Bengals. How did we even end up with this mess? I’m going to blame Bengals upper management for starters. If you’re going to sign your franchise quarterback to a $275 million contract, you’d better invest in some offensive linemen to protect him—and so far, they have failed to do that.
To put it in perspective: former Colts QB Andrew Luck, who was essentially forced to retire due to taking too many hits, was sacked 157 times in his first 71 games played. Joe Burrow, in the same number of games, has been sacked a mind-boggling 201 times! No wonder he’s always getting hurt.
Vikings QB J. J. McCarthy was riding quite the high after Week 1. He became a father and had a nice come-from-behind victory over the Bears. Week 2 saw him come back down to earth as he turned the ball over three times and didn’t manage to lead any touchdown drives. On top of that, he has an injured ankle that will keep him out of the lineup for a few weeks. Enter Carson Wentz—the less said about him, the better. I trust the Vikings’ defence way more than I trust the Bengals’ defence, so they should be able to force a few turnovers, maybe even a pick-six, and get the win.
Eagles over Rams (Sunday afternoon): The Eagles handled their business once again against the Chiefs last week, albeit in a much closer and far less entertaining game compared to the Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts barely had 100 yards passing and zero touchdown passes; the team as a whole only had 216 yards of total offence. If it wasn’t for Kelce dropping a touchdown in the end zone, the result could have turned out differently.
That said, their defence still looked solid, shutting down Mahomes, and they’ll look to do the same thing to Matt Stafford and the Rams. A rematch of their playoff divisional meeting from last year, the Rams will try to avenge their loss and improve to 3-0 on the season. Going into Philadelphia and winning on their field is always a tough task, but if the Rams want to be taken seriously, these are the types of teams they’ll have to beat.
Commanders over Raiders (Sunday noon): I’m making this pick contingent on Jayden Daniels actually playing. He suffered a knee injury last week against the Packers and his status for this week is questionable. What helps the Commanders, regardless of whether Daniels plays or not, is that the Raiders just aren’t very good.
In the off-season, Vegas traded for Geno Smith and then signed him to an extension to make him their starting quarterback for the next couple of years. So far, he has one touchdown and four interceptions—three of those picks coming last week against the Chargers. If that wasn’t bad enough, rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, who had quite a bit of hype entering the season, has managed just 81 yards in two games. Not being able to throw or run the ball efficiently isn’t going to get you many wins. It all starts up front, and the lack of run-blocking by the offensive line might be one of the reasons Jeanty is averaging only 2.7 yards per carry.
Last week: 3-0
Season overall: 5-1