Dan Graziano Sep 27, 2026, 08:05 PM ET Close Dan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, Sports Center, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.

So we're through three weeks of the NFL season, and we don't know anything. And that's not an overreaction. What in the name of John Madden happened on Sunday afternoon? The Seahawks gave up 33 points and lost to the Marcus Mariota-led Commanders? The Bills turned the ball over five times and still won? The stuck-in-the-mud Steelers rolled up 411 yards of offense to beat the red-hot, revamped Bengals defense? The Browns improved to 2-1? Just when you think you can start to make sense of this season, you check the standings and wonder what's up with the 0-3 Chargers, 0-3 Texans, 1-2 Patriots, 2-1 Giants and the entire NFC West.

It's a reminder that it's still too early to draw any real conclusions about how this season is going to go and that so much of what we think we know is actually an overreaction. Which is the fun part, after all, right? It's our Week 3 overreactions column, where we look at five potential takeaways and judge them as legitimate stances or irrational overreactions. Plus, we hit a few fantasy football overreactions at the bottom.

Jump to: Purdy is the next NFL MVP? Giants are just fine with Jameis at QB? The Steelers will avoid a losing season again? Todd Monken will be Coach of the Year? Mendoza isn't playing anytime soon? Fantasy overreactions Brock Purdy should be the MVP favorite right now Has any quarterback in the league been more efficient through the first three weeks? Purdy has completed 72.3% of his passes for an average of 263 passing yards per game. He has thrown for nine touchdowns and one interception. He has rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

The 49ers are bleeding wide receivers due to injury, and Purdy is just out there dicing up defenses like it's nothing. His team is 3-0 with two division wins, including that opener in Australia against everybody's offseason darlings, the Rams. The last pick in the 2022 draft has turned into one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and right now it's hard to find anyone playing the position any better.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION Oh, there are other candidates. Lamar Jackson just finished doing his thing in Rio. Patrick Mahomes will surely be in the conversation if the Chiefs keep it up.

Josh Allen is also there, but he had a rough one Sunday despite Buffalo's win. Trevor Lawrence has been awesome in two out of three games. But no one makes a stronger case right now than Purdy, who just tied Steve Young's 49ers team record for most touchdown passes in the first three games of a season.

The Niners haven't scored this many points in their first three games since 1998, which was the year Young did that. And he had Jerry Rice! The Giants are going to be fine with Jameis Winston at quarterback One of the bummer developments this past week was the Giants losing quarterback Jaxson Dart to a season-ending injury. After Winston's dreadful performance in relief during Monday night's loss to the Rams, the Giants spent a good part of last week discussing potential outside options while preparing Winston to start.

He started Sunday and helped beat the woeful Titans in an ugly 12-7 slopfest. He did not light up the stat sheet, but he also didn't turn the ball over, which is always a massive win with Winston. And considering the game took place during the tail end of a rainy, windy nor'easter, it would have been tough for Dart or anyone else to look much better in those conditions.

Winston and the Giants needed to come out of Sunday with any type of win, and they accomplished that. They're 2-1 through three games, which isn't a bad place to be. Verdict: OVERREACTION.