Another thrilling week as far as the NFC South teams were concerned.
New Orleans Saints @ Atlanta Falcons
An absolute barnstormer of a game between the Saints and Falcons in Atlanta. A seemingly never ending highlight reel of explosive play sounds resulted in the Saints picking up a road win in Overtime.
It was fitting Drew Brees capped off a sensational overtime winning drive by sneaking into the end zone on the day he passed Brett Favres all-time completions record. In fact, this was Brees second rushing touchdown of the day after he meandered into the end zone a team the end of regulation on what was quite possibly the slowest rushing touchdown in NFL history. What made this second touchdown even more remarkable was the fact the Brees left two Falcons floundering with his slow motion spin move.
Despite being on the losing side, a special shout out for Falcons rookie Wide Receiver, Calvin Ridley, who made the rest of the league sit up and take notice after his three touchdown performance.
Cincinatti Bengals @ Carolina Panthers
Cincinatti took their unbeaten record on the road to Carolina in a game which was close until the fourth quarter. The inform Bengals minus their Running Back, Joe Mixon, went toe to toe with their hosts until running out of steam towards the end.
Whereas Drew Brees rushing for two touchdowns in a game is a rare sight, Cam Newton is a regular visitor to the end zone as he added a brace of rushing touchdowns to his seemingly never ending tally.
With Christian McCaffrey and CJ Anderson aiding their mobile man under centre, the Panthers runnning game is difficult to stop when in full flow. Aided by a pair of interceptions form rookie Cornerback, Donte Jackson, the Panthers eventually ran out comfortable winners.
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Monday Night Football returned to Tampa to see the high flying Bucs and Ryan Fitmagic after their blistering start to the campaign. Winless Pittsburgh were the visitors as they tried to finally kick start their campaign.
The Bucs started the game as unusual favourites and, as is always the case when Tampa are anything other than underdogs, the tag seemed to weigh heavy on their shoulders after an insipid second quarter display where they turned the ball overon four successive drives left them in a huge hole. It didn’t help Tampa that Big Ben was putting on a virtuoso first half performance as he lead his team to a 20 point advantage.
In years gone by, this game would have been over, but this Tampa team is different. An inspired second half performance saw the Bucs shut out the Steelers but just fell short of an epic comeback as Tampa couldn’t put together a game winning drive with two minutes left to play.
Roll on week 4
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