Week 3 of the USFFL saw some great football action, including some classic examples of the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat.
The week kicked off with a thriller in New England – cut to the 4th quarter, Patriots leading by 3 but the Raiders have the ball on the New England 18 yard line, :22 second left on the clock. 1st down – spike, 2nd down – incomplete pass, 3rd down – incomplete pass, 4th down – short pass incomplete. Raiders turn it over on downs and lose their first game of the season.
Next up, Dallas at Seattle. Cowboys score with 37 ticks left on the clock to bring the score to 27-19, but fail to recover the onside kickoff attempt. Seattle wins to maintain their perfect record on the season.
Cut to Tampa Bay at Denver. We pick up 4th quarter action, 1:00 to go. Denver has just scored to take the lead 24-23. The Bucs take the kickoff and drive down the field to the Denver 13 yard line. Bucs kicker runs onto the field for the easy chip-shot with 0:01 left on the clock. The ball splits the uprights, but a yellow hanky on the fields marks the spot of an offensive offside violation. The game ends with the Bucs failing to score, and the Home Team leaves the field victorious.
The Kansas City Chiefs are up 28-24 over the Home Team in Baltimore. Baltimore has the ball, 5 minutes left on the clock. Lamar Jackson leads the team up the field to the Chief’s 8 yard line. 4th and 4. Lamar hands the ball off to Gus Edwards who is tackled for a loss, resulting in a turnover on downs with 1:07 to play.
What a great week of action!
The Tennessee Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs are the 2 remaining undefeated teams in the AFC. Packers, Rams and Seahawks each hold a 3-0 record in the NFC.
The NFC West is the most competitive Division in the league to date with San Francisco just behind the Division leaders at 2-1 and Arizona close behind at 1-2.
It’s anyone’s game in the NFC South with the Falcons, Panthers, Saints, and Buccaneers tied at 1-2 for each team.
And now for the Game of the Week

The Carolina Panthers came into SoFi Stadium to play the Los Angeles Chargers with both teams looking for their first win. The Panthers dominated the first half and the Chargers dominated the second half. In the end, the Panthers held on as the Chargers were stopped on downs at the Panthers 40. Final score: 23-16. The Panthers took a 20-3 in the halftime locker room taking advantage of short fields after a long punt return and an interception to score 10 points. The 2 TDs were the result of a Bridgewater to Anderson 14 yard pass and a Mike Davis 11 yard run. The Chargers made halftime adjustments and came out with an 11 play drive ending with a 7 yard TD pass from Herbert to Guyton. A missed extra point left the score 20-9. After a Panthers punt, the Chargers came right back with another long TD drive culminating in a 5 yard TD pass from Herbert to Allen. Coach Anthony was aggressive in the second half going 4 times on 4th down with 100% success, including once in the third quarter on his 29 yard line. With the score 20-16 and early in the 4th quarter, the Panthers drove to the Chargers 32 yard where the drive stalled. A missed FG resulted in Chargers taking over at their 39 yard line with 5 minutes to play. The Chargers drove to the Panthers 39 yard and were stopped on 4th down. The Panthers moved the ball to the Chargers 16 yard using the clock and forcing the Chargers to use 2 timeouts. The Panthers kicked a short field goal with 1:37. With the score 23-16 and only one time out left, the Chargers got to the Panthers 40 yard line when time ran out. Statistically, the game was dead even. 21 first downs for each team and time of possession about 30 minutes for each team. A big advantage for the Panthers was combined punt and KO return yards of 141. The average starting field position for Panthers was 38 vs. 23 for the Chargers. Bridgewater had a good game with his arm and legs ending up with a 105 QBR and 29 yards running mostly on scrambles out of the pocket.Up next for the Panthers is a home game against the Arizona Cardinals. The Chargers travel to Tampa Bay.
Players of the Week
QB – Derek Carr 36/53, 358 yards, 3TDs, 97.8 QBR
Receiver – Cooper Kupp 14 receptions, 128 yards, 2 TDs
Running Backs – Ronald Jones 19 carries, 191 yards, 2 TDs
Special Teams – Kaimi Fairbairn 6 for 6 on field goals and 1/1 extra points