NFL Week 3: Panic Time for Two Teams
No matter how well a team is playing, no team will win the Super Bowl in week three of the season. However, it’s not too early for a team to take itself out of consideration for the playoffs – and the Super Bowl. Only six teams in the NFL’s history have started a season 0-3 and still made the playoffs. None of them went on to win the Super Bowl. Ten teams have started the 2025 season 0-2, and by the math have already virtually eliminated themselves from the playoffs. Of those 10, there are two teams we for sure expected to see in the playoffs this season, and one that we expected to make a Super Bowl run. Who is about to hit the panic button? Let’s take a look.
Houston (0-2) at Jacksonville (1-1)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. TV: CBS FanDuel line: Jacksonville -2.5 VSS line: Houston -2.26
After winning the AFC South and earning a playoff win a year ago, CJ Stroud and the Texans were expected to once again be the class of the division. However, after two weeks, Houston finds itself winless after a low-scoring loss to the Rams in week one and a last-second loss to Tampa Bay a week ago. The offense has been inconsistent at best with issues presenting themselves at every position. Stroud mentioned after the 14-9 loss to the Rams that the team practiced poorly ahead of the opener.
If the Texans are going to break into the win column this week and avoid the dreaded 0-3 mark, they’ll have to do so on the road atJacksonville – another team that had high hopes and expectations in the AFC South this season. After handling the lowly Panthers in week one, the Jaguars fell on the road to the Bengals, who were largely without the services of Joe Burrow. Now in his fifth season, we’re still waiting for Trevor Lawrence to fully live up to the potential he flashed in year two (4,113 yards, 25 passing TDs, 3.1:1 TD:INT ratio, 95.2 passer rating). A home game against a Texans team struggling for consistency on offense and heavily relying on a defense that isn’t good enough to carry the weight, could be the perfect jumping off point for Lawrence and the Jaguars.
The good news for Houston in the event of a loss on Sunday is that it’s a franchise that knows about starting 0-3 and still making the playoffs. The Texans achieved the feat in 2018 – the last team to do so. That version of the Texans finished 11-5 and won the AFC South, but fell victim to Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts on Wild Card Weekend. The bad news is that the Jaguars appear to be ready to make a leap into playoff contention, and Daniel Jones and the Colts have started off much stronger than expected. An 0-3 start is much more likely to spell disaster this time around.
Kansas City (0-2) at N.Y. Giants (0-2)
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. TV: NBC FanDuel line: Kansas City -5.5 VSS line: Kansas City -6.91
After back-to-back losses to the L.A. Chargers and Philadelphia to start the season, Kansas City sits at 0-2 for the first time since 2014 – the year Patrick Mahomes made his first start at quarterback for Texas Tech. A year after every close game seemed to go their way, the Chiefs weren’t able to hold off Justin Herbert in a 27-21 loss in Brazil and were once again held in check by the Eagles defense in a 20-17 decision.
But, if there’s ever been a great medication for a good team starting a season out 0-2, it’s facing a bad team that has started the season out in the same way. Enter the New York Giants, which unlike the Chiefs, had absolutely no expectations placed upon them this year by … anyone. After getting completely shut down in week one by Washington, New York showed signs of life last week against Dallas before ultimately succumbing to the Cowboys in overtime, 40-37. While Mahomes hasn’t been able to work his magic that we’ve become accustomed to him making regardless of circumstances, the Giants simply aren’t on the same level as Los Angeles or Philadelphia when it comes to shutting a team down. However, at least one NFL analyst thinks the Giants have what it takes to spring an upset and send the Chiefs to 0-3 for the first time since 2011, and the reasoning has some merit. New York’s defensive line is the strength of the team and Kansas City has continued to struggle with injuries at wide receiver and inconsistent at best play at offensive line.
If the Giants were to pull the upset and send the Chiefs to 0-3, I think you’d still have plenty of people willing to bet on the Chiefs to make a run at the playoffs. They’re a veteran ball club with a lot of talent and enough leadership to pull things together with the season on the line. However, the AFC West is a different beast than it was even a year ago. Los Angeles and Denver are both heavyweight contenders. At this point it’s more than fair to say that the Chargers have a better offense than the Chiefs and the Broncos have a better defense. After this week Andy Reid’s squad could look a lot like Rocky Balboa in Rocky III … in need of a complete change of direction and gameplan in order to win.
Free 2025 NFL Player Props
Week 3 is here, and playoff hopes are already on the line for teams like Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, and the Giants. Versus Sports Simulator offers free NFL player prop projections for 2025, covering passing, rushing, and receiving stats. Before betting on stars like CJ Stroud, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, or Daniel Jones, check our projections to see how they’re expected to perform this week.
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Jonathan Howard, Sports Analyst
Jonathan Howard is a veteran sports writer from Richmond, Virginia. His work has been featured in newspapers such as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post and The Virginian-Pilot. He enjoys cheering for his alma mater - VCU - and playing golf when time allows.