The 8 best and 7 worst moments from a bizarre Sunday in NFL Week 3

After the Cleveland Browns kicked off the weekend by notching their first win in 635 days, Sunday in the NFL had a lot to live up to by Week 3’s lofty standards. It did that — and then some — in what turned out to be a bizarre day in the league.

It all started with trade rumors. First it was Earl Thomas. Then Le’Veon Bell. Even old Gronk trade rumors popped up.

Then we got some major upsets. The double-digit underdog Bills smoked the Vikings on the road. The Titans beat the Jags in an uggo field goal-only AFC South matchup. The Lions got in the win column against THE PATRIOTS, who are now two games behind the Dolphins in the AFC East AND have a worse record than the Browns.

Unfortunately, we also got some injuries. Just as Carson Wentz returned to start at quarterback 10 months after tearing his ACL and LCL, the 49ers lost Jimmy Garoppolo to an ACL tear.

Here are the moments everyone will be talking about Monday and beyond.

Thanksgiving Day 2013. That was the last time a Lions running back rushed for 100 yards in a game. (It was Reggie Bush, now a fixture on NFL Network.)

After a slow start to the season where nothing looked fixed, the Lions running game found life against the Patriots on Sunday night. And 70 games after Bush, they had a 100-yard rusher.

Rookie Kerryon Johnson finished the night with 16 carries for 101 yards. He received a standing ovation from the crowd and got his teammates all hype:

Johnson even got the Barry Sanders seal of approval:

Now that’s a flag toss:

That was the first of nothing but wins for Patricia. He ended up getting his first win as a head coach, his first win against his old team, his first win against his mentor, and oh yeah, he won that challenge too.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady threw for just 133 yards, his lowest total in a complete game since 2014. He ended the night looking like like this:

Khalil Mack has made quite an impact with the Bears. For the third time in his three games with Chicago, Mack has a sack and a forced fumble, leading a Bears comeback in Arizona.

An early 14-0 lead now gone, the Cardinals turned to rookie quarterback Josh Rosen for his first NFL action, entering the game down two points with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter. Trial by fire.

Rosen’s comeback attempt was thwarted with a late interception, sealing the Bears’ comeback win.

After missing a couple of practices this week due to a “personal” matter, Seahawks safety Earl Thomas still suited up against the Cowboys on Sunday. But the trade rumors were swirling.

This pick probably upped the price too:

Thomas picked off another pass in the fourth quarter, giving him three on the season.

He even took a bow to remind the Cowboys about what could’ve been:

In an all-LA showdown with the Rams, the Chargers kicker Caleb Sturgis missed an extra point, which gave us some Classic Phil Rivers face:

Then Chargers punter Drew Kaser was carted off with a leg injury after this block:

Sturgis at least made a late field goal ... that the Chargers settled for instead of going for it on fourth down trailing 35-20, for #reasons:

The Rams had their own misfortune with bad kicking and injuries. Cornerback Marcus Peters left with an Achilles injury and did not return. Aqib Talib later had to retreat to the locker room, in the third quarter.

Then right before halftime, Sam Ficken, who’s filling in for an injured Greg Zuerlein, missed a field goal attempt.

Despite that, the Rams won the battle of Los Angeles to improve to 3-0, thanks to 354 yards and three touchdown passes from Jared Goff.

Coming into Sunday, Brees only needed 14 more completions to top Brett Favre for most ever in NFL history.

Brees added four on the first drive against the Falcons, including a 4-yard touchdown to Ted Ginn Jr.

By the second quarter, Brees set the record with his, approximately, 400th completion to Michael Thomas this season.

Brees also scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime on a quarterback sneak.

And one last note about Thomas, who had his own historic game — he now has 38 receptions in three games, an NFL record.

The Falcons’ first three touchdowns were all catches by rookie wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who exploded for seven catches and 146 yards.

Interesting bit of trivia for ya: Julio Jones has zero touchdown receptions this year. But he did come up with a HUGE catch late in the game against the Saints, with the Falcons down by 1. He even took a ref with him:

For the second week in a row, the Falcons sure looked better in the red zone. But the bad news for them: They lost in overtime to their most hated rival.

Well this is terrible news for the 49ers. Late in their loss to the Chiefs, Garoppolo was carted off with a knee injury, later confirmed to be a torn ACL.

C.J. Beathard came in for Garoppolo to finish off a field goal drive. The 49ers lost, 38-27. But the injury to Garoppolo, for the rest of the season, is the much bigger loss for an offense that was just starting to jell.

So this looks like a pretty standard hit, right? Technique is good, no lowering of the helmet, Clay Matthews didn’t land with his body weight on Alex Smith:

But the refs threw the flag.

This is THIRD time in three weeks that Matthews has been hit with a controversial roughing the passer call:

Packers coach Mike McCarthy was understandably mad as hell:

The rule made an appearance in the Cowboys-Seahawks game too, so at least it’s not just a conspiracy against Matthews:

Fix your rule, NFL.

How is this even possible?

Mahomes has thrown 13 touchdown passes to nine different players, in just three games. His 13 touchdown passes is a record through the first three weeks of a season, topping the 12 Peyton Manning had in his record 2013 season.

After rushing for 107 yards last week against the Raiders, Lindsay looked like the Broncos’ long-awaited answer to their running back problem.

Maybe the undrafted rookie still is, but getting ejected doesn’t help his cause:

Maybe it’s the Vikings that don’t know where Minnesota is located? Because they sure didn’t look like they showed up to play against the Bills, leaving everyone wondering “WHAT IS HAPPENING?”

First, the Bills took their FIRST lead of the year on this Josh Allen (LeSean McCoy was out) touchdown run:

A Kirk Cousins fumble at the Minnesota 10 led to another easy three points for the Bills. And then ANOTHER fumble by Cousins, this time at the 27-yard line, turned into a 27-yard touchdown from Allen to Jason Croom.

Allen was also out here hurdling a dude for a first down.

That was all in the first quarter, the most the Bills have scored in that period since 2011. The Vikings were 16.5-point favorites.

The bloodshed didn’t stop there, either. A couple plays after the Vikings’ fourth personal foul penalty of the game, the Bills went for it on fourth-and-goal. Allen quarterback sneaked it in for a 24-0 lead.

Buffalo went into the half with a 27-0 lead and ending up winning 27-6. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In his first game since tearing his ACL last December, Wentz picked up right where he left off ... well, sorta. His first throw of the day was high, likely due to a little too much excitement.

After that, Wentz was sharping, going 5 of 7 on the Eagles’ first drive against the Colts. He connected with tight end Dallas Goedert for a 13-yard touchdown.

He’s still got those wheels, too:

Unfortunately for Wentz, he threw a pick that led to the Colts taking a lead. After the Eagles tied it up again, Wentz fumbled and the Colts again retook the lead.

Wentz was able to brush it off once again, coming up with a clutch drive that ended with a Wendell Smallwood touchdown with just three minutes left. The Eagles held on for the win.

Coming into the week, the Texans didn’t look as bad as their 0-2 record would suggest — but you wouldn’t know it by their loss to the previously winless Giants.

Eli Manning was efficient, completing all but four passes and throwing for 297 yards and two touchdowns. Saquon Barkley rushed for 69 yards (nice) and a touchdown in the first half, while Odell Beckham Jr. caught nine passes for 109 yards in the game.

The Houston defense was fairly nonexistent, except for J.J. Watt finally getting a sack for the first time in two years:

Watt added two more, but the Texans didn’t do much with it.

And the offense STILL has a problem finishing drives. In two red zone trips in the first half, the Texans settled for two field goals.

In another trip in the second half, the Texans got pushed out of the red zone, and Deshaun Watson was picked off by Giants linebacker Alec Ogletree.

They eventually got back there and were finally able to score a touchdown — after another one was wiped out by yet another holding call on the Texans offensive line. Watson put up one more with one second left, but it was too late for the Texans, who fell to 0-3.

Nelson had a slow start to his Raiders career, with just five catches for 53 yards in his first two games. But he came out on fire against the Dolphins. The 33-year-old had three catches for 139 yards and a touchdown ... in the first six minutes of the game.

Rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick was having a tough time covering Nelson. Maybe he shouldn’t have tried to trademark Fitzmagic?

Nelson finished with six catches for 173 yards, but the Raiders’ second-half problems continued:

The Dolphins are now 3-0, thanks to some fun (if copycat) plays.

New Orleans Saints 43, Atlanta Falcons, 37 (OT)

Washington 31, Green Bay Packers 17

Philadelphia Eagles 20, Indianapolis Colts 16

Buffalo Bills 27, Minnesota Vikings 6

Miami Dolphins 28, Oakland Raiders 20

Baltimore Ravens 27, Denver Broncos 14

Carolina Panthers 31, Cincinnati Bengals 21

New York Giants 27, Houston Texans, 22

Tennessee Titans 9, Jacksonville Jaguars 6

Kansas City Chiefs 38, San Francisco 49ers 27

Los Angeles Rams 35, Los Angeles Chargers 23

Seattle Seahawks 24, Dallas Cowboys 13

Chicago Bears 16, Arizona Cardinals 14

Detroit Lions 26, New England Patriots 10