We’re almost through the first “month” of the NFL season as September draws to a close, and as you might expect, things aren’t exactly going as predicted so far.
We’ve seen some unfortunate history start to repeat itself in just the first few weeks of the season, including multiple NFC teams having to deal with injuries at the quarterback position. Even when you expect the unexpected in the NFL, the league always finds a way to catch you off guard.
Which teams — and players — have been the most surprising in the first three weeks of the season? We’ll take a closer look at the 3 most surprising storylines so far this season in the NFC, what preseason narratives have changed, and how some outlooks have changed dramatically for this year.
3 biggest surprises in the NFC through the month of September
3. Tyler Shough & Bryce Young lead NFL in passing yards
If you had to guess in August which quarterback would lead the NFL in passing yards through the first month of the season, I can almost guarantee you that no one would say, “It’s definitely going to be Bryce Young and Tyler Shough, no question.”
Young leads the NFL with 939 passing yards through three games, and Shough is right behind him with 917 passing yards.
Coincidentally, they are the only two quarterbacks in the entire league with 900 or more passing yards through three games. And to complete the NFC South three-fer, Michael Penix Jr. (who only played one game, to be fair), leads the league in yards per attempt at 10.2.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The idea that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could struggle in the early stages of the season (which they have) is not that surprising.
The idea that they will go 0-3 to finish the month of September? That would be considered a very far-fetched prediction at the start of the season.
The Buccaneers had a road game against the Bengals to start the season, and they were at least slight underdogs in that game. However, they followed that up with home matchups against the Browns and Vikings.
For a team with division title aspirations, 1-2 after the first month of the season would be a worst-case scenario. The world we live in today, with the Bucs at 0-3 and Baker Mayfield out with a thumb injury, is somehow worse than the worst case scenario.
It has the feel of a “it blew up in the middle of the season” kind of situation.
1. The Rams & Cardinals with the same record
The Arizona Cardinals have come out shaky to start this season, picking up an impressive win over the Los Angeles Chargers to go 1-0.
The Los Angeles Rams couldn’t be more on the opposite side of the spectrum with a brutal loss in Australia against the 49ers to open the season, destroying their super-team narrative right out of the gate.
Although the universe seemed to correct in Week 2 where the Cardinals were blown out by the Seahawks and the Rams were blown out by the Giants, both teams lost in Week 3 to finish the month of September at 1-2.
Although the Rams had some tough games to open the season against the 49ers and Broncos, they are expected to completely steamroll their schedule. On the other hand, the Cardinals were expected to be bad early on, but they played the Chargers well and even gave the 49ers a bit of a sweat in Week 3.
These two teams still appear to be going in different directions this season, but the shock factor of both having the same record at the end of September is still high.
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