NFL Week 3 takeaways: Jeff Stoutland, genius; Dallas Goedert, stud; Dallas Cowboys, duds

The big-picture takeaway from the Big Easy Miracle doesn’t concern the 25th and 26th turnovers from Jalen Hurts since the beginning of last season, which are most in the NFL.

Nor does it concern Sirianni’s fifth fourth-down blunder in two weeks — kicking when he should go for it, kicking from too far out, not kicking when points are precious. Nor does it concern freshly concussed DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson, who, like hamstrung A.J. Brown, aren’t likely to play in Tampa on Sunday with a bye looming the next weekend. It wasn’t that Jalen Carter showed that he can be a game wrecker, or that Saquon Barkley looks like the best running back in Eagles history, and it doesn’t even concern holding the Saints to 12 points at home after they’d scored 91 points in their first two games.

But then, Nick’s in-game decisions are often questionable, guys get hurt, Saquon’s a stud, and the defense is talented, pedigreed, and run by a master, Vic Fangio.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni’s toughest critics say lack of preseason play hurt the Eagles but still think they’ll be ‘special’

Rather, the big-picture takeaway from Sunday involves the continued genius of offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.

The Eagles lost right guard Mekhi Becton (finger) and Johnson on the same second-quarter drive. They had scored zero points. Tyler Steen, a second-year, third-round pick who’d lost a preseason battle for the spot with Becton, had taken 71 offensive snaps in his career and no meaningful snaps in the Eagles’ 11 games (counting playoffs) since a Nov. 5 win against Dallas. He replaced Becton. Fred Johnson, a journeyman in his fifth season, hadn’t taken a non-gimmick meaningful snap in a game since 2021. He replaced Lane Johnson.

Stoutland had them both ready. Of course he did. Stout made Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson Hall of Famers, made Brandon Brooks and Landon Dickerson Pro Bowlers, and turned mediocre rugby player Jordan Mailata into an elite left tackle. He is without peer among NFL position coaches.

Steen and Fred Johnson collapsed the left side of the Saints’ line on Saquon Barkley’s 65-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. They double-teamed defensive end Carl Granderson on the 61-yard catch-and-run by Dallas Goedert that set up the winning touchdown with 61 seconds to play.

» READ MORE: Eagles offensive line loses two key pieces, but Fred Johnson and Tyler Steen step in and deliver

They did much good and little harm.

If Sunday’s skeleton-crew win by the Eagles proved anything, it’s this:

Jalen Hurts has vastly underutilized tight end Dallas Goedert since becoming the full-time starter three seasons and two games ago. It took injuries to Smith and Brown for Hurts to finally exploit Goedert properly. According to stathead.com, it’s just the 12th time in NFL history that a tight end has caught at least 10 passes for at least 170 yards. It’s only happened twice since 2020, both times by Travis Kelce, who is one of the five best tight ends in history.

We’ve been telling you: This is how good Goedert can be if the quarterback gives him a chance.

It took two phantom calls from the officials to keep viewers’ eyes on the Cowboys’ failed “comeback” against the Ravens on Sunday (a bogus illegal contact and a bogus roughing-the-passer), but that didn’t keep Dak Prescott from insulting any fans that might be disappointed at a 1-2 team that just allotted $376 million to him and CeeDee Lamb, who fumbled near the goal line.

As he strode down the tunnel postgame, homefield boos echoing in his sensitive ears, Prescott grumbled, “Jump off if you want. Please.”

Such is the hubris of a team brainwashed by its cultlike following. After all, how big can the bandwagon be for a franchise that hasn’t sniffed a championship, much less a Super Bowl, since the 1995 season, when Dak was a two-year-old in Louisiana?

Jaunty ginger Andy Dalton, also known as the “Red Rifle,” replaced super-bust Bryce Young as the Panthers’ starting quarterback Sunday. He did so in a game against the Raiders and Gardner Minshew, also known as the “Mississippi Mustache.”

Dalton, 36, looked like the guy who went to three Pro Bowls as a Bengal: 26-for-37 for 319 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni doesn’t elaborate much on his decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 against the Saints

Minshew, 28, looked like his 2021 Halloween costume Uncle Rico, from Napoleon Dynamite: 18-for-28, 214 yards, one touchdown, one pick. Minshew is a former Eagles backup who is still living off a few weeks of glory in Jacksonville at the expense of Nick Foles in 2019, and he was replaced by Aiden O’Connell late in the game … for how long?

“There was definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” said Raiders coach Antonio Pierce.

A year removed from rupturing his Achilles tendon and three years removed from lying about being vaccinated against COVID-19, Aaron Rodgers, 40, played his best game in almost two years on Thursday night. His Jets beat the Patriots, 24-3, as Rodgers completed 27-of-35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. After a rocky opener, he was good in Game 2, but on Thursday he looked particularly spry, and smooth, and very, very hard for the visiting Broncos to beat when they play Sunday.

The Vikings defense exited Sunday allowing a second-best 10.0 points per game after a 34-7 win over C.J. Stroud and the Texans, who appeared to have started smelling themselves. The 10 ppg is second-best behind the Steelers’ 8.7. Not surprisingly, both the Vikings and Steelers are 3-0, despite starting Sam Darnold and Justin Fields, respectively, at quarterback. … Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores arrived there in 2023 after two years as an assistant in Pittsburgh. Formerly the head coach of the Dolphins, who fired him after consecutive winning seasons, he is in the middle of a lawsuit against the NFL and four teams, in which Flores, who is Black, alleges racial discrimination. … The Steelers had five sacks and have an unlikely, athletic quarterback completing an unexpectedly high percentage of his passes (73.3%). It’s like 2005 all over again (Ben Roethlisberger and the sack-happy Steelers won the Super Bowl). … Camden native son and former Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick continues his ill-conceived holdout from the Jets, where Howie Roseman traded him this offseason. … The Chargers are allowing just 11.0 points per game, but quarterback Justin Herbert (ankle) and fragile defensive end Joey Bosa (hip) both left Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh with lingering maladies. That does not bode well for the immediate future, which is a Sunday afternoon visit from the unbeaten Chiefs. … Malik Nabers, the swampland’s new Odell Beckham Jr., just might save the jobs of coach Brian Daboll and quarterback Daniel Jones. The 21-year-old Giants rookie had eight catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns in Cleveland on Sunday. … Titans DC Dennard Wilson, the Eagles’ Super Bowl DBs coach (who got fired when he should have been hired as the DC in Philadelphia for 2023), has the No. 5 defense in yards allowed for winless Tennessee, quarterbacked by Will Levis, who has a 76.5 passer rating. … The Cardinals lost to the Lions by seven points. The featured play: The Lions executed a hook-and-lateral for a TD just before halftime — just after the referees screwed up a 2-minute warning call that negated a pick-6 by the Cards. … The Rams (1-2) beat the 49ers (1-2) in the No-Name Bowl (no Christian McCaffrey, no Deebo Samuel, no Cooper Kupp, no Puka Nacua, et al). How? In his NFL debut, undrafted second-year receiver Xavier Smith ripped off a 38-yard punt return to set up a 37-yard field goal from rookie Joshua Karty, who nailed his first game-winner despite nursing a groin injury.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni fired his DB coach after the Super Bowl. The Eagles stumbled. Can the new staff rebound?