Another week has passed in the NFL, which means a lot of new film to review. We’re starting to see what teams are made of, especially ones with new coaches. Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak is turning the Raiders around right in front of our eyes. Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen has his team firing on all cylinders again in year two.

Not every team is finding success early; the Dallas Cowboys are struggling on defense despite all the offseason moves. Many topics to discuss, so let’s dive into these from the NFL’s Week 3 action.

Raiders start 3-0

The Raiders, for the first time in years, look like a competent football team. Yes, the 3-0 start has fans pumped, but what is more exciting is how it’s looked. The win over New Orleans was close, but the most important part is how they did it. An old Raiders team down 27-16 midway through the third quarter would lose. Raiders fans will tell you. With Kubiak at the helm, the team battled back and forced multiple turnovers in the fourth quarter to secure the road win.

Kubiak got back his “football robot from heaven” in All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers. Bowers lined up all over the field even as a tight end. 16 snaps in the slot, 16 out wide, and seven in-line, Kubiak made sure his top weapon would have a favorable matchup.

By the end of it all, Bowers had 116 yards on 12 targets, catching 10 of them and scoring what would be the game-winning touchdown for the Raiders. The performance had shades of Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba when you look at the route charts from Smith-Njigba’s first game with Kubiak as a playcaller.

Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins has been lights out for this team, running the Kubiak scheme perfectly. Cousins doesn’t have the biggest arm to push the ball downfield consistently, but he’s always on time in his dropbacks and gets the ball out quickly. Cousins has a time to throw of 2.58 seconds, which is the seventh-fastest in the league (min. 50 dropbacks).

Everyone is caught up with the passing attack with Bowers back, and for good reason. But one concerning part of this Raiders team is its rushing attack over three weeks. It’s looked night and day from last year, but the stats show it’s still not where Kubiak wants it to be. The Raiders rank 31st in EPA/Rush (-0.25) and 32nd in rushing success rate (29 percent).

Watching the film, it doesn’t feel as bad as those numbers suggest, but the Raiders have big games against Kansas City, Buffalo, and New England in the coming weeks. The Raiders can’t be one-dimensional on offense; they’ll have to get the run game going.

Jaguars bounce back

It wasn’t a pretty loss to Denver in Week 2, but it was close. Jacksonville responded in the best way it could, beating New England 35-6. Coen did a great job with the offensive game plan, giving quarterback Trevor Lawrence easy reads throughout the day. Coming into the matchup, New England ran man coverage at the third-highest rate in the NFL, at 42.5 percent. Against Jacksonville, they ran man at 29 percent, with more zone.

The change in scheme didn’t fool Lawrence at all, given how the Jaguars attacked the Patriots all day. Spread-out formations, heavier sets, and an efficient run game were enough for this Jaguars offense to get the job done. It’s not like the Patriots didn’t try to get creative to stump Lawrence. They showed crowded looks at the line, dropped back into zone coverage, and the run defense wasn’t as bad as it looked on paper. New England held Jacksonville to 0.68 rushing yards before contact per carry. Jacksonville was just able to fight through the contact, with 106 of the 137 rushing yards coming after contact.

Defensively, Jacksonville was dominant, forcing New England into three turnovers and giving the Jaguars’ offense short fields to work with. That shifts the attention towards Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Is it as bad as everyone says? The general consensus is about ready to give up on Maye this season, and for a fair reason. To the naked eye, this offense doesn’t look good in the slightest, and Maye hasn’t been able to get on track this season.

Multiple factors are at play, but the main one is the run game. Against Jacksonville, the Patriots had an EPA/Rush of -0.05 and just 83 yards on the day. Falling behind early forces teams to lean on the pass, which New England did, but early on, this unit couldn’t move the ball on the ground.

Jacksonville blitzed at a 13.5 percent rate against New England (fourth lowest in the league) and still pressured Maye on 54.1 percent of his dropbacks. Jaguars edge rusher Travon Walker led the team in pressure with four, and the team totaled 19 pressures as a group. The Patriots have to sort out this offensive line situation. On top of it all, it’s clear New England misses AJ Brown right about now.

Cowboys defense struggles again

Let’s just throw away all the advanced stats. When you’re giving up 179 rushing yards per game, it’s not a good sign. By other stats, Dallas ranks 32nd in EPA/Play, 32nd in success rate allowed, and 23rd in pressure rate. Hiring defensive coordinator Christian Parker was supposed to fix this defense. Through three weeks, that hasn’t been the case.

Don’t worry, Cowboy fans. Help is on the way.

Dallas traded for Pittsburgh Steelers corner Joey Porter Jr., who was amid a contract dispute with Pittsburgh. We’ve seen this story before. Unhappy Steelers player gets traded to Dallas and thrives. Porter was fifth in yards per target, second in passer rating allowed, and gave up zero touchdowns for the Steelers last season. Now he enters a scheme under Parker in which he could thrive.

One thing the Cowboys were missing was a dominant No.1 corner on the roster who can shut down whoever lines up in front of them. Now they do, and Porter will be left on an island in Parker’s scheme, primarily in zone looks. Parker will run a ton of match zone coverage to wherever Porter is lined up, hoping he can survive on his own. He’s the perfect player for this Cowboys defensive scheme; now it’s about stopping the run.