I state that week three of the 2026 NFL season produced several historical moments and notable upsets. We recount a rare primetime home collapse by the Packers and note that the Texans and Chargers sit at 0–3 despite historical examples of teams recovering from similar starts. I describe the Cowboys’ critical late-game time management error when they elected a touchback and failed to remove clock time. We note Denver’s back-to-back comeback wins from double-digit second half deficits and Washington scoring twenty points off turnovers for the first time in twenty-one years. I highlight that the Raiders and Saints tied the all-time mark for tight end touchdowns in a game and that Jameer Gibbs passed Billy Sims for second in franchise rushing touchdowns. We conclude that these events will shape narratives heading into week four and that we will present our week four picks tomorrow.
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Transcript
We have these and more coming up with Ed CLE as we do a recap of the history made in week three.
Speaker A:K check.
Speaker A:Happy Wednesday morning, everybody.
Speaker A:Just like we do every week in the NFL season, we are going to recap the history of.
Speaker A:Of the week before.
Speaker A:his week is week three of the:Speaker A:Ed, welcome back to the Pig pen.
Speaker B:Hey, Darren, how are you today?
Speaker A:I'm doing great, Ed, and what a great weekend of football that we just witnessed.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker B:It was finally a great weekend of football.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was great for you and I personally.
Speaker A:Maybe not for our records that we did on our predictions and things like that from last week, but I guess we'll find out about that in a later episode.
Speaker B:Yes, we'll put that off till tomorrow.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:So, Ed, what was your.
Speaker A:Your findings on the week?
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What are your feelings?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Well, we'll start.
Speaker B:We'll start with Thursday and just a.
Speaker B:A shockingly miserable performance by the Packers.
Speaker B:I would say that's about as bad as it gets.
Speaker B:And we have to go back 22 years, Darren, to find a Packers primetime home loss that was as bad as what we saw.
Speaker B:They lost by 21 the other night.
Speaker B:in:Speaker B:They lost that game 48 to 27.
Speaker B:That is 22 years ago.
Speaker B:So that was a pretty rare, terrible primetime performance at home by the Packers.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was kind of a miserable thing if you're up in Green Bay and rooting for the green and yellow there.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker A:So what else did you find out?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Well, we've got two AFC playoff teams that from last year that are now 03.
Speaker B:The Texans and the Chargers.
Speaker B:Now, ironically, there's been seven teams in history, Darren, that have wound up making the playoffs at 03.
Speaker B:Somewhat.
Speaker B:Ironically, the two most recent are the Texans.
Speaker B:Last year, you might remember that they went 03 and made the playoffs.
Speaker B:They also did that in:Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They went 03 and made the playoffs.
Speaker B:And then even more ironically, the only team in history, a somewhat famous team, only one team in history has ever gone oh and four to make the playoffs, which was the Chargers.
Speaker B:Believe it or not, in:Speaker B:I think they ended the season with 11 out of 12 after that to make the playoffs.
Speaker B:So two teams that are 0 and 3 are the only, you know, got a little history on their side, but they're going to have to do some hustling.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:While you're talking about the Chargers, they made some history some more.
Speaker A:In a bad way, I guess I could say.
Speaker A:Now the Chargers have lost three games, which they won the turnover battle by at least plus four, while the rest of the league in that same span has only had it happen twice.
Speaker A:past week's loss to Buffalo,:Speaker A:Not too many teams have done it and the Charger have done it more than the whole rest of the league combined in that same time frame.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Speaking of turnovers, last Sunday The Washington was plus 3 over Seattle in the turnover margin.
Speaker B:But more Importantly, they scored 20 points off of those three turnovers.
Speaker B:That is the most points that the Washington franchise has scored off of turnover, turnover, turnovers in a game in 21 years.
Speaker B:The finale of the:Speaker B:It was a game that they clinched the playoffs in.
Speaker B:Very famous still photo of Sean Taylor jumping over the end zone to sort of clinch the game, to put it out of reach on a scoop and score, which put them over the top in that game, got them in the playoffs since the last time Washington has scored that many points off turnovers in a game.
Speaker A:,:Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:So, so that's pretty good feat in the last eight years.
Speaker B:So he, he has been everywhere so far going to Cleveland.
Speaker B:Darren, normally I wouldn't put out something this kind of obscure, but because it's the Browns, I think we need to mention it.
Speaker B:The Browns actually now have a three game winning streak against the Panthers.
Speaker B:There aren't going to be too many teams in recent history where they can say that against.
Speaker B:at home to the Panthers since:Speaker B:So the Browns like to see Carolina coming to Cleveland.
Speaker A:Well, I think they like seeing that whole NFC south coming to Cleveland because with these last two weeks, with their wins over the Bucks, wins over the Panthers, Cleveland finally has a winning record against one of the divisions in the NFL.
Speaker A:They are 14 and 13 against that division with those two wins the last two weeks and not a winning record against any other division.
Speaker A:That's the.
Speaker A:Cleveland can also be proud.
Speaker A:You know, they might not like their quarterback, but he had the longest air pass of anybody in the NFL last week, 62.6 yards for DeSean Watson on that touchdown pass that he threw against the Panthers.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:Well, good for him and good for the Browns fans for sure.
Speaker B:Staying in your division, in the.
Speaker B:And talking about your team a little bit.
Speaker B:You know, we, we touched, we briefed on it.
Speaker B:We briefly touched on it last week about how terrible the Steelers offense has been.
Speaker B:But I guess the Bengals might be the elixir for the Steelers offensive woes because that is now the sixth time in the last eight games that the Steelers have scored at least 30 on the Bengals.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's not because of a bad Bengals defense like it has been in years past.
Speaker A:You know, there's a lot of elements that went in there.
Speaker A:I think making things a little easier by Mike McCarthy for his offense and changing a couple offensive linemen sort of gave Aaron Rodgers some more time and just looked like old Aaron.
Speaker B:Okay, staying in the afc, we're gonna talk about the Chiefs, who have now won six straight against the Dolphins.
Speaker B:Got a little trivia question for you here.
Speaker B:last loss to the Dolphins in:Speaker B:hat started for the Chiefs in:Speaker B:Can you name any of them?
Speaker A:Oh, for the Chiefs, I'll say maybe Trent Green is one of them.
Speaker B:Nope.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Well, it's way after Montana was playing there.
Speaker A:I'm drawing sort of a blank on there.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:It was Matt Castle, Tyler Palko and Kyle Orton.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And then they had a pretty bad year that year under Todd Haley.
Speaker B:And then the next year was the Romeo Cornell year and then the year right after that, Andy Reid arrived.
Speaker B:ngs turned for them really in:Speaker B:But if we go back to:Speaker A:You know, and I feel bad because I officiated Tyler Palko's last high school game as a state championship game.
Speaker A:And I should know that.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:Well, another thing you should know is that whenever the Texans play in Indianapolis, you should watch it because 11 of the last 13 times those teams have played in Indy, it has been a one score game and Houston had won the last four of those.
Speaker B:They not.
Speaker B:And if you might remember, in:Speaker B:So those two teams have had a lot of good games over the years in Indy and Sunday was no exception.
Speaker A:Yeah, and I don't think many were expecting that to be that game that we came out that way.
Speaker A:But the Colts definitely look good and Houston might be in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker B:Yeah, that for sure.
Speaker B:Going Back to the 0 and 3 thing we talked about.
Speaker B:Talk about trouble.
Speaker B:I cannot believe that the Dallas Cowboys did not learn from history because one of the most famous sort of plays moments in recent NFL history is the 13 second game.
Speaker B:Buffalo and Kansas City.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker B:Everybody knows what we're talking.
Speaker B:All you have to say is 13 seconds.
Speaker B:We know what you're talking about.
Speaker B:And Darren, we.
Speaker B:What was the Bill's biggest mistake in that whole stanza in Kansas City that day?
Speaker B:What was the one thing that they really screwed up doing?
Speaker A:Time management.
Speaker B:Well, time management, but specifically they, they kicked the ball for a touchback which brings no time off the clock.
Speaker B:There is this paranoia amongst NFL coaches.
Speaker B:It seems that if we, if we allow a return, maybe it'll be a big busted return.
Speaker B:We'll give up a touchdown or they'll get it into field goal range on the return.
Speaker B:That is a baseless fear.
Speaker B:That is a very.
Speaker B:That's so much less likely to happen than Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson making a play.
Speaker B:Especially when you give the other team the ball at the 35 yard line because you don't need that much yardage now to get into with, with these kickers.
Speaker B:So they.
Speaker B:The biggest.
Speaker B:The Cowboys made a ton of mistakes at the end of that game.
Speaker B:The biggest one is kicking the ball in the end zone on purpose for a touchback where no time comes off the clock.
Speaker B:They did not learn a lesson from one of the biggest mistakes we've had in recent history.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's very true.
Speaker A:It could have changed the whole complexion of that game.
Speaker B:And as you can tell, I'm very excited to point that out.
Speaker B:The Cowboys making a massive, massive mistake.
Speaker A:At the end of the game.
Speaker B:Game.
Speaker B:Denver made a little bit of history.
Speaker B:As many.
Speaker B:You know, Denver's pretty famous for having a lot of comebacks.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Especially with la.
Speaker B:Did you know Darren, though, that's actually the first time that Denver's ever had back to back games where they overcame double digit deficits in the second half to win.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yep, first time.
Speaker B:And if we want to get really specific, they are the first team in back to back seasons, to ever have a game where they were shut out in the first half, losing by more than 13, and then came back to win and scored 30 or more points.
Speaker B:Last year they did it against the Giants.
Speaker B:They were, they were shut out in the first half.
Speaker B:And last year the Broncos scored 33 points in the fourth quarter against the Giants.
Speaker A:Sean Payton must have an amazing halftime speech and halftime adjustments, that's for sure.
Speaker B:He must, he must, he must.
Speaker B:And then ending on sort of a sour note.
Speaker B:Baker Mayfield has been in the NFL for eight seasons now.
Speaker B:I'm eliminating the one year he didn't play much.
Speaker B:The 27 QBR he's got right now is by far the lowest of his career.
Speaker B:So things have gone way south in Tampa for Baker and the Bucs.
Speaker A:Yeah, they're another team that might be in a little bit of trouble here coming in week four.
Speaker A:So maybe some of these teams will rebound on that.
Speaker A:Is that, that all your games?
Speaker B:My news and notes.
Speaker B:I won't rush into Scoragami yet.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I got, I got a few things that made history here.
Speaker A:I want to talk about the Raiders and the Saints game.
Speaker A:You know, these are two teams that I don't think many were expecting to do much this year.
Speaker A:And so far in the, the first three games of the season, these two teams look like they might be contenders.
Speaker A:Might be pretty good to go somewhere and maybe make a playoff run here.
Speaker A:That game had a, on Sunday between them, had a record, a tied a record in the NFL all time for touchdowns by tight ends, which I found kind of interesting.
Speaker A:The Saints had four touchdowns, two from Noah Fant, two from Juwan Johnson, and the Raiders had two, including one from Brock Bauer.
Speaker A:So that got them into the history books.
Speaker A:Tied to the Lions and the jets was another game that sort of caught my eye.
Speaker A:Made a little bit of history.
Speaker A:After a three touchdown in the second half performance by Jameer Gibbs, he now has 43 career rushing touchdowns and has officially leapfrogged Billy Sims for second place in franchise history and trails only Barry Sanders who had 99 on his career.
Speaker A:So he's got quite a ways to go to catch Barry Sanders, but catching Billy Sims is quite a feat himself.
Speaker A:And that, that's what I have so far for the, the history.
Speaker A:So I guess it's time to hit some score gummy.
Speaker B:Let's hit some score of me, Darren.
Speaker B:So we'll start Scoragami.
Speaker A:Well, first of all, did we have a scoregasm?
Speaker B:No scoregasm, no scoregasm.
Speaker B:Okay, no scoregasms.
Speaker B:Or score gummies.
Speaker A:So, okay, so.
Speaker A:So Washington and Pittsburgh's score winning scores were not a score gummy.
Speaker B:No, I don't.
Speaker B:But I will start with Washington though because their final of 33 to 31 was fairly rare.
Speaker B:It's only the 16th time that scores happened in history, that is.
Speaker B:But 25 of those are Washington wins.
Speaker B:ashington has won four of the:Speaker B:But my question for you is.
Speaker B:So I kind of.
Speaker B:I'll tell you right now that that is not the answer to the question.
Speaker B:So I'm going to make it a little bit easier for you.
Speaker B:My question for you is Darren, which score this week was the most rare?
Speaker B:And I'm going to give you a hint.
Speaker B:You've got double the chances this week because it was a tie.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I think that the rares.
Speaker A:Because now you got me thinking about.
Speaker A:I'm watching these scores come across the ticker and I'm flicking through the channels and I think that maybe that Denver and LA Rams score, what was it was 30 to 26.
Speaker A:That seems kind of rare to me.
Speaker A:I don't remember too many having that and I think maybe that might be one of the rares.
Speaker B:It's incorrect.
Speaker B:You're close.
Speaker B:It's only happened 13 times in history.
Speaker B:So that was number three on our list.
Speaker B:But you did not get either of the top two which have both tied.
Speaker B:Both of these have only happened nine times.
Speaker B:That would be the 36 to 30 final in San Francisco where the really 49ers beat the Cardinals.
Speaker B:Now it's funny, this is the ninth time, Darren, that it's happened 36 to 30, but only the second time that it's happened in regulation.
Speaker B:The seven of the other nine 36 to 30 finals were all in overtime and then the other game would be 35 to 6, the Jags over the Patriots.
Speaker B:That hadn't happened in.
Speaker B:Let's see Here it From:Speaker B:It hadn't happened.
Speaker B:And then in:Speaker B:And now in:Speaker B:So nine times for each of those.
Speaker A:You know, if, even if you would have let me do a second guess, I would have got it wrong because I would have said that Giants game 12 to 7.
Speaker A:But I guess I was.
Speaker B:Let's see, Giants, the 12 to 7.
Speaker B:That actually wasn't quite as rare as you would think because that's happened 25 times.
Speaker B:Because, Darren, back in the old days, there was a decent amount of a 12 to 7 type of games for the week.
Speaker B:Believe it or not, Darren, week three has now surpassed week one as the most rare score, a ME index score.
Speaker B:We have a score for week three of 53.18, which just edges out week one, which is at 53.75.
Speaker B:The main reason for that is we didn't have any super, super common scores this week.
Speaker B:The only one that was over 100 times was the 24 to 10 Chiefs Dolphins game had happened 140 times.
Speaker A:And just for relevance, point, we were like 75 on week two, right?
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker B:73.18.
Speaker B:So much, much less rare.
Speaker B:In week two weeks, weeks one and three, we've been a little more unique.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:I wonder maybe if those, those first week one and week three are going to be maybe carrying their way all the way through the season here.
Speaker B:We shall see.
Speaker A:Sounds kind of rare.
Speaker A:Yes, very interesting.
Speaker B:That's what I got for you.
Speaker A:All right, well, Ed, we really appreciate you digging in and taking a look at this history and, you know, even making these games that we just watched just a few days ago are even part of football history.
Speaker A:And, and that's what we like to celebrate here in Pixicand.
Speaker A:Dispatch.com Ed, we thank you for celebrating that with us and joining us here.
Speaker A:And stay tuned.
Speaker A:Tomorrow we will have on our podcast, Pixie and Dispatch, that your favorite podcast provider, Ed and I will go through and make our weekly picks going into the season for week four.
Speaker A:So, Ed, thank you for joining us and we will talk to you again real soon.
Speaker A:Thanks, Darren.
Speaker B:See you later.