Steven Ruiz

USATODAY

It was Upset Sunday around the NFL in Week 3, with four popular Super Bowl picks dropping games to teams not expected to make the playoffs. Is it time for those teams to panic? Let's look at each upset one-by-one and figure that out …

Jaguars upset by the Titans

Fun fact that Jaguars fans will not find very fun: Only one team has ever made it to the Super Bowl after losing a home game in which it gave up nine points or fewer. The good news: It happened last season when the Eagles lost to the Cowboys 6-0 in Philadelphia. The bad news: The Eagles treated that Week 17 game like a preseason contest.

So the Jaguars will have to make history in order to get to Atlanta next February after losing to the Titans 9-6 at home on Sunday.

Even more concerning than that little bit of trivia is the play of Blake Bortles. For the second time in his career, the Jaguars quarterback spent the offseason working on his mechanics with renowned throwing guru Tom House. That work hasn't exactly paid off, as Bortles throwing motion still looks funky.

That's not how you throw a football. Seriously, go outside and try to throw a ball like that. You might dislocate your shoulder. That funky delivery has led to inconsistent accuracy throughout Bortles career, which has led through inconsistent play throughout his career. And that's a big reason why we didn't think his "breakout" game against the Patriots in Week 2 was a sign of things to come. A Super Bowl quarterback does not miss throws like this…

</div> <p>The Jaguars receivers dropped a couple of balls, but the putrid offensive display falls on Bortles, who completed just one pass targeted more than 10 yards downfield, and that came on the final drive with the Titans in prevent defense.</p> <p><asset-embed uri="https://twitter.com/theStevenRuiz/status/1043977146320990209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" /> </p> <p>Blame the dink-and-dunk attack on the gameplan all you want, but Bortles did not even seem interested in looking downfield. Here he has a clean pocket to work with, but instead of giving the downfield routes time to develop, he immediately dumps the ball off to his tight end, setting up a third-and-long the Jaguars would not convert.</p> <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:53.8%" class="embed-gfycat"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;" height="100%" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/ThirstyViciousCassowary"/> </div> <p>Jacksonville' defense is still among the best in the league so Bortles will be able to have these games without really hurting the team's playoff chances. But this team has Super Bowl aspirations. Unfortunately, it does not have a quarterback capable of stringing three good games together against quality opponents.</p> <h3 class="presto-h3">Vikings upset the Bills</h3><asset-img UniqueId="779657" /> <p>Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports</p> <p>Welp, nobody saw this on coming. Buffalo absolutely beat up on the Vikings for a half, building a 27-0 lead before the break and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/09/24/underdog-bills-unleash-d-on-cousins-in-27-6-win-vs-vikings/37916811/">holding on for a 27-6 victory.</a> </p> <p>Should we worried about the Vikings after this unexpected display of ineptitude? Nah, not really. Minnesota probably took the Bills lightly, but can you blame them? <a href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/09/vontae-davis-on-the-moment-he-knew-it-was-time-to-retire-from-the-nfl">The had a dude retire at halftime last week</a>. They were up against an offense they didn't really have any tape on. The Vikings fumbled the ball a handful of times, they committed dumb penalties and there were several uncharacteristic coverage busts that gifted the Bills with big plays, including the first touchdown which came on a fake receiver screen that completely fooled rookie CB Mike Hughes.</p> <div class="embed-gfycat"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" height="360" width="640" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/PositiveRemorsefulAlbacoretuna"/> </div> <p>After halftime, the most talented defense in the league started playing like it, the mental mistakes disappeared and the Bills offense could not move the ball. Minnesota did not give up another point after what we can only assume was <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/10/nfl-minnesota-vikings-mike-zimmer-stuffed-animals">a pleasant halftime speech by Mike Zimmer</a>.</p> <p>I would be much more concerned with how the offense played. Specifically, how the offensive line played. The line is the clear weakness of this otherwise stacked offense, and it showed against an OK Bills pass rush. Kirk Cousins was harassed all game and did not manage the pressure very well. That's always been a weakness in his game, and it doesn't appear things have changed. The $84 Million Man was inaccurate, threw into coverage too often and coughed up the ball twice. Cousins may be a better quarterback than Case Keenum, but one of the reasons this offense was so good last year was its former quarterback's ability to produce when the play broke down.</p> <p><asset-embed uri="https://twitter.com/PFF_Broncos/status/1009882184289804288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" /> </p> <p>The Vikings will miss Keenum's creativity if the offensive line continues to struggle.</p> <p>With Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs and Dalvin Cook around, the Vikings offense will be fine for the rest of the regular season, but you have to wonder how this line and Cousins will deal with top-level pass rushes. We should find out when they visit the Eagles in Week 5.</p> <h3 class="presto-h3">Patriots upset by the Lions</h3><asset-img UniqueId="779656" /> <p>Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports</p> <p>I'm not writing the Patriots' eulogy just yet. A convincing loss in Detroit is not enough for me to make that mistake. I'll let others go down that road. It's not like we haven't seen the Patriots get off to this kind of start before. It happened last year; they went to the Super Bowl. It happened in 2014; they won the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, they're still the favorites in the AFC, and it's going to take more than a rough stretch in September to knock them off that perch.</p> <p>New England did not look good on either side of the ball Sunday night, but both offense and defense were missing integral pieces. With Julian Edelman serving the third game of a four-game suspension, the Lions were able to focus all their attention on Rob Gronkowski and dare the Pats wide receivers to beat them one-on-one. They couldn't. The same problem plagued New England in Jacksonville a week ago. But Edelman will be back in two weeks, Josh Gordon will eventually learn the playbook and the Patriots passing game will be as dangerous as ever.</p> <p>The defense will also be better. The Patriots were without their best pass rusher and two key cogs in the secondary. Trey Flowers' absence killed the pass rush, which couldn't get near Matthew Stafford. Patrick Chung's absence thrust Duron Harmon into the lineup and his mistake gifted the Lions with a back-breaking touchdown late in the third quarter.</p> <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:54.23%" class="embed-gfycat"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;" height="100%" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/BigDependableJoey"/> </div> <p>As Cris Collinsworth pointed out on the broadcast, Gilmore was expecting Harmon to pick up Marvin Jones on the crossing route. He did not, and Gilmore was left out to dry. That mistake does not happen with Chung out there.</p> <p>New England is 1-2 and two games back of the Dolphins in the AFC East, but check back in a couple of months when the team is at full strength and Bill Belichick has made his adjustments. The Patriots will cruise to another divisional title and we will all have forgotten this slow start by January.</p> <h3 class="presto-h3">Packers upset by the Redskins</h3> <p>The Packers lost to a good team on Sunday. There is no shame in losing to an underrated Washington team that will be hard to beat when it's running game is working. But that doesn't mean Greeny Bay shouldn't be worried after a 31-17 loss to the Redskins.</p> <p>Aaron Rodgers is still making plays on one knee, but this looks bad…</p> <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:53.96%" class="embed-gfycat"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;" height="100%" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/ObedientParchedDormouse"/> </div> <p>Rodgers said this week he fears his knee will get worse before it gets better. That's bad news for an offense that has struggled to beat man coverage for a few years now. Without Rodgers really posing a threat on the ground, defenses will be able to play more man coverage without having to worry about Rodgers taking off. Washington played more man coverage than we're used to seeing against the Packers, and Green Bay's receivers struggled to get separation, forcing Rodgers to create, which he's just not able to do consistently without putting himself into harm's way.</p> <div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:54.92%" class="embed-gfycat"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;" height="100%" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/ShortHarmlessAuklet"/> </div> <p>If opponents are able to play more man coverage and Rodgers' knee doesn't get better soon, Mike McCarthy will have to make changes to his offense in order to help his receivers get free. That has never been his strength.</p> <p>So what should the Packers do? Rodgers won't go for it, but it might be in the team's best interest to rest him next week. A home game against Buffalo is next on the schedule. That's a winnable game even with No. 12 in street clothes. See how the knee responds to the time off and go from there. 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