FanHouse NFL Week 3 Recaps

The Giants-Redskins game was a tale of two halves - two halves that were complete opposites of each other in nearly every way. It was the Giants who remembered how to make big plays in their 24-17 victory over the Redskins who, fittingly, were wearing throwback uniforms since they became the 2006 version of themselves.

First half: The Redskins went into halftime with a 17-3 lead. The Redskins out-gained the Giants 179 to 109 and had possession of the ball 3:22 longer; The Redskins gained 10 first downs to the Giants' five; New York turned the ball over twice to the Skins zero. The Giants were 2-for-7 on third downs.

Second half: The Giants dominated by scoring all 21 points in the half. The Giants out-gained the Redskins 206 to 81 and had the ball 9:18 longer; New York gained 14 first downs to the Redskins' four. The Giants were 7-for-9 in 3rd downs.

The main reason for the switch was the Giants defense and Plaxico Burress. The Giants were able to apply pressure on Jason Campbell and didn't allow the Redskins any lanes to run the football [just 17 yards on the ground in the 2nd half]. Also, Plaxico Burress ... who wasn't sure if he'd be able to play today ... caught all of his 5 receptions in the 2nd half for 86 yards and a TD.

The Jaguars play in the same division as Peyton Manning. That's worth noting because the game plan they executed to perfection today is the same one teams have been trying, to no avail, against the Colts for years. Keep the offense on the sideline watching while you grind out long drives that end with points, the saying goes, and you can beat the most powerful of offenses.

The Jags held the ball for 39 minutes and held Denver's high-octane offense to just 265 yards in a 23-14 win that could serve as a case study for the above strategy.

The only way you can pull off such a scheme is with a quarterback who doesn't beat himself and David Garrard is quickly proving to be such a signal caller. He's completed 64% of his throws and has no interceptions through three games, leaving little doubt that Jack Del Rio made the right move when he dumped Byron Leftwich before the season.

Garrard also ran for 52 yards today proving that he doesn't just make the right throws, he knows when not to make any throw at all.

Garrard's impressive play made him the winner in a duel with one of the hottest quarterbacking names of the season's first two weeks. Jay Cutler had another strong outing, 222 yards and a touchdown, but when Garrard made his only mistake of the day, he couldn't make anything of it.

If there was a quarterback you thought would be free from on-field controversy this season it was Matt Leinart. Sure he might impregnate a basketball player here or party with an air-headed heiress there but there was no chance that Ken Whisenhunt would replace him with Kurt Warner, right?

Wrong. The new Cardinal coach did just that today and Warner nearly led the Cards back to a win after being down 17 points. But because Kyle Boller wrote another chapter in Baltimore's own book of controversy the Ravens improved to 2-1 with a 26-23 win on Matt Stover's last-second field goal.

Leinart wasn't hurt when Warner trotted onto the field in the second quarter and he was clearly unhappy, wearing a model's pout on the sideline, while the veteran led Arizona to a field goal.

Leinart returned for the rest of the first half but didn't do anything to slow the Raven march to a 20-3 halftime edge. He led one second-half drive, made a terrible throw that forced the Cards to settle for three and that was it for the Golden Boy from Troy.

While Warner was bringing the team back in the second half Leinart looked like the unhappiest camper this side of Michael Vick's pit bulls and even if the move worked out in the short term you have to wonder if Whisenhunt didn't destroy his relationship with his franchise quarterback. You know what you have in Warner, a strong arm and a penchant for mistakes, and it's not a long-term solution.

The good news for the Jets is that they avoided an 0-3 start and finally played some offense. The bad news is that their defense shows no signs of being able to stop opposing offenses. Leading 31-13 with less than 13 minutes to play in the game the Jets allowed the Dolphins to get within an onside kick of sending the game to overtime.

The 31-28 win is sweet but that poor defense overshadows the triumphant return to the lineup by Chad Pennington, the first strong game in green by Thomas Jones and a nifty 98-yard kickoff return by Leon Washington.

It should have been a runaway win for the Jets. Pennington led four long scoring drives on the afternoon, starting with a ten-play number that finished with a short toss to Laveranues Coles.

The Dolphins answered with a touchdown drive of their own but Washington's return quickly negated their positive momentum and the Jets built their lead just before the half when Pennington found Chris Baker for his second touchdown throw of the afternoon. Those scores obscured a defense that was on the field for more than 10 minutes of the second quarter because they couldn't stop Ronnie Brown.