The NFL arrives in London, while Rex Ryan remains fixated on the Patriots and Aaron Rodgers moves closer to his clean sweep.

The Big Stories

Rex Ryan fixated with the Patriots

One of the fiercest rivalries in the NFL is not between two teams but between two head coaches, Rex Yan and Bill Belichick.

It’s a rivalry that has continued as Ryan moved from the Jets to the Bills this year... but his new team did not have an answer for the fired – up Patriots who won 40-31 in week two.

It is a loss that Ryan has yet to recover from, despite the Bills week three victory over the Miami Dolphins.

In a press conference ahead of this weekend’s game against the New York Giants, Ryan spoke of his appreciation for Giants quarterback Eli Manning; “I like the fact that he beat Brady twice. I like that. I’m, not all the way over the Brady butt-kicking he did against us.”

He referred to the loss, saying; “our emotions got the better of us, but I loved how we battled back when a team was clearly trying to embarrass us.”

Ryan should be focused on the Bills next game, not a loss from two weeks ago, to a team they won’t meet again until Week 11. The only person doing the embarrassing here is Ryan.

Brady reaches 400 milestone

Tom Brady joined an exclusive group last weekend by throwing his 400th touchdown pass in the Patriots game against the Jaguars.

Given Brady’s performance so far this season, it was inevitable that this milestone would be reached and Brady did so in a game where he threw eight touchdown passes.

It was his connection to Danny Amendola at the end of the second quarter that was the magic number 400 and allowed Brady to join Dan Marino, Brett Farve and Peyton Manning in that privileged group.

In other Brady news, it was announced this week that the Court of Appeals would hear no arguments until February in the deflategate case. The NFL is appealing the decision by Judge Richard Berman to overturn Brady’s four game suspension over the now infamous deflated balls incident in last year’s AFC Championship game.

Steelers and Rams light up the field

  • Pittsburgh Steelers 12
  • St Louis Rams 6

The Steelers and the Rams set the field alight last Sunday, literally. A pregame pyrotechnic set the turf on fire and caused the game to be delayed by 28 minutes while officials dealt with the problem.

It wasn’t the biggest problem of the night for the Steelers, with quarterback Ben Roethisberger limping off the field after a low hit in the third quarter.

Roethisberger suffered a sprained MCL and bruised bone in his left knee and is sidelined for the next four to six weeks. A big blow for a team that had gotten off to a promising start.

Rodgers closes in on clean sweep

Aaron Rodgers moved one step closer to an NFL clean sweep as he led the Packers to a 38-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Before Monday Night, the Chiefs were one of just two teams that Rodgers had yet to beat in the eight years since he took over starting quarterback duties in Green Bay.

This leaves only the Cincinnati Bengals as a team for Rodgers to beat and unless a Superbowl match-up occurs beforehand, the two won’t meet until 2017.

Week Four Preview 

Jets @ Dolphins

The NFL returns to London this week, with the first game in the International Series as AFC rivals the Jets and the Dolphins face-off at Wembley Stadium.

The Jets are the favourites going in, despite coming off a tough loss to the Eagles. They have beaten the Dolphins in the last three meets and with a good offense they can put up big numbers.

In contrast the Dolphins are struggling and Coach Joe Philbin is fighting for his job. The defense looks strong on paper but has just one sack in three games, while quarterback Ryan Tannehill is struggling to find his rhythm on the field.

However...

The location of the game could be a big factor on Sunday. The Dolphins have travelled to Wembley before, last year defeating the Oakland Raiders to keep their season alive.

The Jets, on the other hand, have never crossed the Atlantic for a game and only arrived on Thursday.

The Jets have the advantage but experience could play into the Dolphins hands.

Live on BBC Two, with coverage hosted by Nat Coombs and Mike Carlson from 2pm.

Eagles @ Redskins

It’s not the on-field action that has people talking ahead of this NFC East match-up, it’s the weather. Reports emerged on Thursday that the NFL was exploring scheduling contingencies while monitoring the progress of Hurricane Joaquin, a category four storm, which could hit Maryland.

Regardless of the weather there is a lot at stake in this game, as both the Eagles and the Redskins want to avoid the bottom spot in the division.

The Eagles are coming off their first win of the season but their passing game is problematic, forcing them to relay on a running game that is nothing to write home about.

This is to the Redskin’s advantage, as the Giants struggled to run ball against them in their week three match-up.

The key to this game are the quarterbacks.

Kirk Cousins went from looking strong in week two, to falling apart in week three. In front of a home crowd, he needs to relax and focus on his plays.

Eli Manning and Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford have similar styles of play, so Bradford needs to attack the Redskins secondary like Eli did, to get those all important points on the board.

Chiefs @ Bengals

Andy Dalton is having a good 2015, he’s playing well and the Bengals are 3-0 up, but it was the same last year and it quickly fell to pieces.

Dalton will have to concentrate and deliver on Sunday, as the Bengals look for their first 4-0 start in ten years.

The Chiefs on the other hand sit joint bottom of the AFC West and are struggling.

In the first three weeks of the season they have given up 861 passing yards and ten touchdowns, half of which went to Aaron Rodgers in the Chiefs crushing defeat to Green Bay.

Despite the stats, the biggest problem for the Chiefs is not defense, it’s an inconsistent quarterback. Alex Smith has been sacked 11 times in two games and completed just two of seven passes in the first half of the Packers game.

Unless Smith can change how he is playing, the Chiefs problems will continue.

Cowboys @ Saints

Drew Brees remains adamant that he will take to the field on Sunday after missing last week with a shoulder injury, but given his limited practice this week, it is likely the Sunday night game will be the battle of the back-ups.

For the Saints this is a make or break game. History informs us that the chances of an 0-4 team making the playoffs are slim, so the Saints must win to keep their season alive.

Even with Drew Brees the Saints offense is struggling, lacking the depth and talent to make them a serious contender.

The Cowboys are trying to limit the on-field damage from the injuries to Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, but their offensive line is in trouble. After looking strong in the first half of week three, they crumbled in the second, with no scoring drives.

The Cowboys defense also put in a lacklustre second half performance, allowing the Falcons to run the ball and score 22 points.

Can the Saints take advantage of a weakened Cowboys team and get that elusive first win?

Next Week: A charging Patriots team take on the Cowboys and how will a buoyed Raiders team fare against a revitalised Bronco’s offense?