The NFL can be a wild place. Sometimes teams force five turnovers and lose. Sometimes a team gets outgained in total yardage, 437-258, and wins. You just never know who’s going to win. Madness ensued again on Sunday with teams finding triumph and others finding sorrow.

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Here are some interesting stats from the bigger results in Sunday’s early games.

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Carolina loses to Cleveland

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The Carolina Panthers weren’t a dominant rushing team. In the first two weeks of the season, Carolina had a 50 percent rushing success rate. In today’s loss to Cleveland, the Panthers had a 30.4 percent rushing success rate.

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Not only that, but quarterback Bryce Young was pressured on roughly 64 percent of his dropbacks and got sacked three times. It’s not like something Young hasn’t seen. Among quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks in the first two weeks, Young was pressured seventh most in the league at 38.8 percent of the time; he just had answers. Against Cleveland, he didn’t.

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Cleveland Browns edge rusher Jared Verse had a day with eight pressures, and his teammate defensive lineman Mason Graham had seven, which led the league. Browns dominated the line of scrimmage.

Chargers offense continues to struggle

Justin Herbert

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Does the Los Angeles Chargers offense want to win a game? The defense forced five turnovers against Buffalo and held the unit to 350 yards. To put that into perspective, the Bills had over 400 yards of total offense in the first two games of the season.

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Four trips to the red zone and winning the time-of-possession battle. Typically, teams with those numbers will win a game, but not for Los Angeles. Justin Herbert struggled all day with the passing offense, having an EPA/Play of -0.35.

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The worrying part for Chargers fans should be this. The running game finally found success this season against Buffalo, averaging 4.68 yards per carry compared to 3.92 in the first two weeks. This game was given to the Chargers’ offense, but they didn’t make the necessary plays.

Trevor Lawrence plays clean; Drake Maye turns it over

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The Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense executed efficiently against New England. The Jaguars had just 315 total yards, but executed in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on all five trips. The Jaguars’ offense got help from the defense, which forced three turnovers.

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Jacksonville had an EPA/Play of 0.18, but found more success in the run game. Coming into the game, the New England rushing defense allowed an EPA/Rush of -0.12. Against Jacksonville, they allowed 0.19, which is just a testament to the entire offensive line.

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It didn’t matter whether it was 11 or 12 personnel; the rushing attack worked. Trevor Lawrence didn’t have to do much; he just had to play a clean game, and he did. Lawrence, despite decent box score numbers, has been absolutely dealing. Today was another strong performance, with him influencing the defense with his eyes and firing passes across the intermediate parts of the field.

Overall, a concerning performance from Drake Maye, who hasn’t looked comfortable at all this season. It seems like teams have figured out that Maye crumbles under pressure, and Jacksonville pressured him on 56.7 percent of his dropbacks. New England is gonna have to figure it out; they host Buffalo next week.

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Commanders Surprise Seattle

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Not many people expected the Washington Commanders to beat Seattle, but they did. That’s the beauty of the NFL. Looking at the stats, you’d think the Commanders’ defense had a big day, allowing an EPA/Rush of -0.47. But they, in fact, didn’t. Seahawks actually got outgained 437-258 in total yardage; they lost the turnover margin and the game.

Seattle welcomed back Sam Darnold for the first time this season, and it was clear he had to knock off some rust. Darnold threw two interceptions, and rookie Jadarian Price fumbled the ball once.

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Washington turned up the heat against Seattle, and rookie linebacker Sonny Styles thrived, having three total pressures in the win.

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