If there was any hope that Week 3 of the NFL season would make any more sense than the previous two, it was dashed before the late games even kicked off. The league has gone off the rails this season. From Thursday through Sunday, underdogs went 9-6 against the spread. That’s after going 10-6 in Week 2.
If you’re a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and see your team is a -1.5 favorite over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight, maybe you should be worried.
Still, there’s a difference between a triumphant underdog and a Bad Beat. The New York Giants defeating the Houston Texans 27-22 was an upset, but I don’t think it counts. If anything, the spread was too high at Texans -6 for the way both teams had played up to that point. It’s why I picked the Giants to win outright in The FAQ. I mean, can you really be surprised that a Bill O’Brien-coached team is 0-3 right now?
Here are your two baddest Bad Beats for Week 3:
Buffalo Bills 27, Minnesota Vikings 6
Spread: Vikings -16.5
If you bet the Vikings, and I guarantee plenty of you did, this game was a nightmare from Minnesota’s first possession. The Bills had already laid down a methodical opening drive to go up 7-0, meaning that their offense not only was showing some life, but could actually move the ball against the vaunted Vikings defense.
Still, there was no reason to panic. Minnesota has its own high-powered offense and surely they could score with the Bills. Three plays and three yards later, the Vikings had turned the ball over and trailed 10-0 after a Steven Hauschka field goal.
https://twitter.com/joshallen_facts/status/1044023172247556097
Alright. Still, no big deal. You’ve got Kirk Cousins. You’ve got Adam Thielen. You’ve got Stefon Diggs. You’ve got another three-play drive ending in a fumble. This time the Bills score a touchdown on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Josh Crooms to go up 17-0. At this point, not even 10 minutes into the game, all hopes of covering 16.5 are out the door. Now, if you’re a Vikings fan, you’re just hoping your team can come back from three scores down to beat the Buffalo Bills at US Bank Stadium.
Needless to say, not only did that not happen, but this had to be a survivor pool bloodbath. Parlays and teasers all over the country ate it hard as the Vikings defeating the Bills Sunday was one of the surest bets you could have made in sports. Minnesota is a Super Bowl contender. The Bills were in danger of going 0-16. What could go wrong?
The Vikings made Josh Allen look like Superman: https://t.co/GLBAFXhXAt pic.twitter.com/ChbHdxSUr5
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 24, 2018
At halftime, Buffalo led 27-0. So, you know, plenty.
Detroit Lions 26, New England Patriots 10
Spread: Patriots -7
You could count the times a Bill Belichick-coached Patriots team lost back-to-back games on one hand. Since he and Brady joined forces, it had been 16 seasons since they’d lost consecutive games by double digits. Yet they did it Sunday night. And they did it against the formerly hapless Detroit Lions.
This Detroit squad wasn’t just 0-2 coming in, but a serious 0-2. They didn’t just lose to the New York Jets, the team that just surrendered the Cleveland Browns their first victory in nearly two calendar years, but were dominated by them. A week later, even though the final score was close in a 30-27 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, it took two fourth quarter touchdowns to get there when game was all but over.
Sad Tom Brady is the best Tom Brady. pic.twitter.com/8djRDXfPzc
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) September 24, 2018
This is the team that possibly put the nail in the Brady-Belichick coffin? What makes this one worse is, the Patriots weren’t out of it until they completely soiled the bed in the fourth quarter. New England picked off Matthew Stafford to set up a quick scoring drive after halftime. Brady tossed a little 10-yard touchdown to James White and New England had pulled within three, 13-10.
I could have written the script at that point and I guarantee everyone watching the game knew exactly how it was going to end. Only that’s not what happened. Stafford hit Marvin Jones for a 33-yard touchdown and the Pats never scored another point. Now, just in case you’re keeping track, the Bills, Jets and Patriots are all tied at the bottom of the AFC East at 1-2.
