The NFL Wrap: Bills stun the Vikings as a new British talent shines for the Cowboys

Three weeks into the season and another set of results which leave us questioning everything we thought we knew.

From stunning upsets, overdue wins, rising stars and fresh debates, the previous seven days Stateside was not lacking in action.

Here are five key talking points from the NFL’s Week 3…

Upset of the weekend season

Last week I wrote about how bad things were in Buffalo and, the week before that how the Vikings were looking the real deal in terms of a Super Bowl challenge. So naturally, when the two met this weekend, the Bills ran out 27-6 winners, pulling off an upset that is unlikely to be topped all year.

In fact, the sport has ways of working this sort of thing out and rated the Bills as 17-point underdogs going into Sunday’s game. The last time someone was rated more than 17 points worse off and won, was in 1995.

The Bills dominated in every area, completely shutting down the Vikings’ run game, forcing QB Kirk Cousins into three turnovers and watching their own man under centre, rookie Josh Allen, throw for a TD, run for two more himself, and even go hurdling. Some response to an 0-2 start.

Britain has a new NFL star

It’s not easy to break into the NFL as an outsider. Almost all NFL players were born in the U.S. – 97.5% of them last season - and most went through the American collegiate system. But through the International Player Pathway, the league is trying to open up a new pool of talent, and on Sunday a player from that programme appeared in an NFL game for the first time.

Efe Obada was born in Nigeria but arrived in London, via The Netherlands, as a 10-year-old and was taken into foster care, eventually studying at Kingston University. He played five games for the London Warriors American football team, before being spotted by the Dallas Cowboys.

He also spent time with the Chiefs and Falcons, but has had to wait to step onto the field. Now with the Carolina Panthers, the defensive end enjoyed a dream debut on Sunday with an interception and a sack in the 31-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Rookie ruling the Falcons’ roost

Sunday’s crunch divisional match-up against the New Orleans Saints may well have ended in over-time defeat for the Atlanta Falcons, but if their season does end with a home Super Bowl appearance, they may still remember this night as a crucial step in the right direction.

It was the night when their passing offense got its dual threat back, the night when first-round draft pick Calvin Ridley announced himself to the NFL. The rookie wide receiver finished with seven receptions for 146 yards, including three TDs – the first Falcon in a dozen years to score a receiving hat-trick.

And all while one of the best receivers in the league, Julio Jones, is yet to score this season. With most teams doubling up on Jones, QB Matt Ryan has been struggling to find his most reliable target in the red zone. But if Ridley can become a consistent second threat, defences will surely have to re-think – a prospect that will have Jones purring.

Has the game gone soft?

That’s the latest debate raging in Green Bay and beyond, after linebacker Clay Matthews was penalised for the second week in a row under the new ‘roughing the passer’ law. As of this season, the defensive player cannot land with ‘all or most’ of their weight on the quarterback when making a tackle.

The trouble is, that when you’re six-foot-three and weigh 116kg, it’s not particularly easy to burst through the offensive line, fly into the quarterback, but then slam the brakes on in time to not fall over on top of him.

“This league’s going in a direction a lot of people don’t like,” Matthews told the Green Bay Press Gazette. The great irony, of course, is that the rule was brought in to put a stop to the kind of tackle which put Matthews’ team mate Aaron Rodgers out for much of last season with a broken collar bone.

Streak is over and the padlocks are off

First, a disclaimer: had this not happened in this week’s Thursday night game, it would have been top of the billing. But, inconveniently, it did.

After 635 days and 19 games, the Browns finally won.

The number one draft pick, Baker Mayfield, came in, inspired a 21-17 comeback win against the Jets and, unbelievably, after three weeks of the season, Cleveland has a better record than Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. Cue glorious scenes across the city, including the opening of fridges full of free beer, which had been padlocked shut until the Browns found a way to win. Mayfield has since been named as starter and the win streak stands at one…