NFL Preseason Week 3, scores and results: Sam Bradford’s injury headlines the week

This video of J.J. Watt playing catch with a fan looks a little too perfect, which means that maybe it’s fake -- but it’s J.J.-freaking-Watt ... at this point we’ll believe anything amazing he does. Plus, it appears he’s been doing this all preseason, so it’s probably real.

Watt has tree trunks for legs that allow him to leap tall boxes in a single bound. Now we know he also has a T-shirt cannon for an arm. Goodness gracious.

The Harbaughs are a notoriously temperamental bunch, so this halftime interview by John Harbaugh probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Hard to be sure what kind of questions Harbaugh would have been happy with, considering the reporter asked about all the major storylines from the first half of the game. John was probably still upset about the bush league tackle and ensuing fight that had occurred, but still...

Week 3 of the NFL preseason came to a close on Sunday with the final two games of the week. It wasn’t a great night for starting offenses with San Francisco, Cincinnati and Arizona struggling to score points. The defenses showed well, however, and there were a few bright spots as cut-down day approaches.

The cart came out twice more, once for Chargers reserve defensive lineman Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe and once for Niners backup center Marcus Martin. Both suffered knee injuries and neither returned to the game.

An ACL tear is the latest in a long line of injuries for Bradford, who’s entering his fifth season after being taken No. 1 overall out of Oklahoma. He’s completed two full seasons but missed significant time in two others, and a major knee injury -- the second of his career -- puts his long-term future with the team into question.

The third week of the preseason is considered the “dress rehearsal” for expected starters and is the closest thing we get to a real game during August. Though the final scores hold no power, really, it’s imperative for players to avoid injury and to fend off the young players looking to do whatever it takes to win a job.

Saturday features the heaviest slate of preseason week three, with eight games taking place for fans looking for the closest thing to “real football” they can get right now.

Dance on Ravens. Dance on.

Via @PatDStat

“Well, I actually got a pick. I picked him off. I picked off Peyton (Manning) today,” Swearinger said via CBS Houston. “I guess that got them a little chippy. The offense did great, ran the ball down their throat. I mean, I would get mad too.”

MICHAEL SAM SACKED JOHNNY MANZIEL. THEN SAM DID THE MONEY SIGN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Bradford was looked at by trainers after twisting his knee awkwardly following a sack by Cleveland Browns’ defensive end Armonty Bryant, as reported by Fox Sports 1’s Mike Garafolo. The injury is to the same knee he tore the ACL in last season.

It might be the preseason, but there’s still few things better for a quarterback than throwing a long touchdown pass against the team that released you in March.

Surely that’s what Matt Cassel was thinking on this bomb to Cordarelle Patterson.

Rarely do you see an omission AND a transposition in a screwed-up bootleg jersey:

I assume that’s a Milawukee Buks hat he’s wearing.

The third preseason game is always the most important. For starters, the first-string players get to see the majority of the snaps, usually playing into the third quarter. Beyond that, coaches begin to loosen the reins on the playbook a bit, seeing what the players can and cannot handle.

Poetry in motion.

Maclin was running a route on the play and was not contacted before his leg gave way. Maclin went to the ground and immediately fell to the ground before holding his knee.

However, Maclin was able to walk off the field under his own power and was smiling on the sideline after the injury. For the Eagles, the injury has to be concerning after Maclin missed all of the 2013 season with a torn ACL.

McCoy looked very sharp while on the field, carrying the ball four times for 24 yards and adding a 22-yard touchdown reception on a perfectly executed screen. The touchdown was McCoy’s last play before walking off the field and into the tunnel with a trainer before getting X-rays.

Fans should get an extended look at starters on both sides while position battles and roster cuts become even clearer with just two weeks left until the regular season.

Either way, the good news for fans of the preseason is that they could be getting at least one half of football that closely resembles a regular season game, and that’s why Week 3 is probably the most important and definitely the most interesting.