Week Three had full moons, backup quarterbacks, and the NFL’s most unhinged week yet. The moon was full and chaos across the board was stranger than fiction. We should start with the biggest surprise; the Patriots. Drake Maye had a nightmare against Jacksonville, but three weeks of NFL chaos should remind Patriots fans that one terrible Sunday doesn’t define a quarterback.
But seriously…what was up with Maye?
He wasn’t who he was meant to be on the field. Maye finished 14-of-25 for 199 yards while committing three turnovers; two of them interceptions and a lost fumble. Maybe his favorite Dancing With The Stars celebrity got voted off last week. Maybe the millions in his bank account were weighing heavily on his mind. Maybe his steak had too much ketchup on it. Given the full moon hanging over NFL Week Three, fans and players aren’t ruling anything out.
We can only blame the moon so much. Maye’s turnover problem didn’t appear out of a bewitched curse or haunted football. The Patriots haven’t been performing well since Week One. One catastrophic Sunday doesn’t erase an MVP-caliber 2025. But three straight weeks of giving the football away is a trend worth watching.
Drake Maye was awful. That doesn’t mean that Drake Maye is awful.
Whatever Maye was thinking about on Sunday, it wasn’t Travis Hunter. Hunter picked him off in the end zone. Maybe the Patriots didn’t struggle because of Jacksonville’s defense. Maybe Mercury was in Gatorade or whatever. Either way, half of the NFL was playing off in Week Three.
ESPN noted that twelve of Sunday’s fifteen games were decided by one score, tying the NFL record for the most one-score games in a single week. Week One had already opened the season with the highest-scoring opening Sunday in NFL history, averaging 53.3 combined points per game. Three weeks into the season it’s hard to view September as the season’s warm-up period.
Baker Mayfield dislocated his throwing-hand thumb late in Tampa Bay’s loss. Justin Jefferson injured his ankle and left Minnesota’s game in the first quarter. De’Von Achane suffered a non-contact knee injury. Breece Hall hurt his thigh and headed for an MRI. Mike Evans exited with a rib/oblique issue.
Daniel Jones committed three turnovers and the Colts still won 19-17. The defending champion Seahawks lost to a Washington team quarterbacked by Marcus Mariota, who threw three touchdowns. The Raiders are 3-0, because the moon thinks normal football is boring. Las Vegas has already matched its entire 2025 win total with its 3-0 start.
Denver trailed the Rams 16-0 and somehow came back to win 30-26. Baltimore needed a last-second field goal in Brazil to beat Dallas 34-31, and then on Monday, third-string QB Case Keenum, making his first NFL appearance since 2023, led Chicago to a 27-7 beatdown of Philadelphia.
What in the waning gibbous is going on?
Drake Maye isn’t the only thing NFL fans need to worry about.
Week Three changed fantasy football all over the league. One miserable Sunday can tank a weekly matchup, but it shouldn’t automatically torch a player’s rest-of-season value. Maye’s disaster was annoying for anyone who started him, but at least he walked away with all of his limbs attached. Week Three created much bigger problems elsewhere.
De’Von Achane’s non-contact knee injury turned into the nightmare fantasy managers feared, with reports that he will miss the remainder of the season. That immediately makes Miami’s backfield one of the biggest waiver-wire messes in football, with Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon II all of a sudden much more relevant.
Breece Hall’s thigh injury creates another potential backfield scramble in New York. If Hall can’t go in Week Four, Braelon Allen becomes more interesting to fantasy managers who enjoy spending Tuesday night frantically bidding fake money on backup running backs. Justin Jefferson leaving Minnesota’s game with an ankle injury is an entirely different level of panic. You don’t replace Justin Jefferson. You stare at your roster, whisper something inappropriate, and wait for the injury report.
Then there’s Baker Mayfield, who dislocated the thumb on his throwing hand. That’s obviously significant for Mayfield managers, but it also threatens the fantasy value of everybody who catches footballs in Tampa Bay if the Buccaneers are forced to turn to a backup quarterback. That’s why rest-of-season rankings exist. Week Three didn’t suddenly make every good player bad, but injuries and changing workloads absolutely can alter fantasy value overnight. Maye’s ugly afternoon is something to monitor. Achane’s injury can rearrange an entire roster.
Fantasy football is less about refusing to overreact than figuring out exactly what deserves an overreaction.
Rest-of-season NFL rankings exist for a reason. They account for opportunity, schedule, injuries, and what a player has shown over more than one game. If we rebuilt our entire fantasy roster every time somebody had a meltdown under a full moon, waivers would look like the aftermath of a Black Friday doorbuster deal on ketchup.
The Patriots go to Buffalo on Sunday, October 4 at 1 p.m. ET. New England is 1-2; Buffalo is 3-0. The Bills are averaging 33.7 points per game, best in the NFL, while the Patriots are averaging just 12.0, tied for 31st. Buffalo also has nine sacks through three games. It’s not looking like a daydream for Maye.
This is the fun part about September football. Every team has the potential to be weird.
The Raiders are 3-0. The Patriots just lost by 29. Case Keenum resurfaced like somebody opened a time capsule from his college days. Star players are already landing on injury reports. Teams that looked unbeatable two weeks ago currently look mortal.
Week Four is usually where some of the September nonsense starts sorting itself out. Are the Bills really the class of the AFC East? Can the Patriots’ defense keep them close enough for Drake Maye to settle down? Can Maye finally get through four quarters without gifting the other team the football? Those are much more useful questions than whether one disastrous Sunday means his career is doomed.
If Maye responds well in Buffalo, Week Three becomes a warning sign. If the turnovers continue, then the conversation changes. For now, the full moon defense remains admissible.
But barely.
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