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For some, week 3 offers a chance for redemption, while for others it’s a chance to keep the momentum going.

The 2024 NFL season is still in its early stages, but the outlook for the franchise this year is already starting to look promising: both positive and negative.

The first team to make a major change after their winless start is the Carolina Panthers, who have benched last year’s No. 1 draft pick, Bryce Young, after he struggled in the first two weeks of the new season. But there are plenty of other teams willing to take desperate measures if things don’t go their way this weekend.

Here are the top three games in Week 3’s Sunday matches:

The Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings are two of the NFL’s leading teams, each with a story all their own.

The Texans were one of the surprises of last season, with their young core and first-year head coach developing into a playoff team that exceeded expectations – dominating the Cleveland Browns 45-14 in the AFC Wild Card game before falling to the No. 1 Baltimore Ravens 34-10.

With the bar raised this season, sophomore quarterback CJ Stroud and his roster of offensive weapons have lived up to the higher expectations with two hard-fought wins to open the season.

The Vikings also had high expectations for the 2024 season, but those expectations took a major hit when their first-round draft pick in 2024, quarterback JJ McCarthy, was ruled out for the entire year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

With the season seemingly derailed before it even started, Minnesota turned to former No. 3 overall pick-turned-backup Sam Darnold for a spark — and, boy, did he provide it.

Darnold has won his first two games as a player in impressive fashion. His 97-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson was the catalyst to beat the San Francisco 49ers, the team he played for last season, on Sunday.

After tough stints with the New York Jets (the team that drafted him in 2018) and the Panthers, Darnold is relishing the opportunity to lead an offense again.

“I feel like I’m always growing as a quarterback. I think every quarterback in the league or in college and high school would say the same thing,” the 27-year-old told reporters on Wednesday. “You’re always learning and growing from experiences, and I don’t necessarily pay attention to what people say.

“Of course I know there’s positivity around what we’re doing, but you can’t put too much focus on it. I think for us it’s about taking it one day at a time and putting one foot in front of the other every day and approaching it with that mindset.”

The Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints play each other on Sunday, with very different moods among their fans.

The Eagles were left scratching their heads after suffering a final-minute loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night despite a mostly positive performance.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts looked much more like himself and running back Saquon Barkley continued his dynamic start in Philadelphia, but those positives were overshadowed by a pass Barkley dropped late in the game that inadvertently sparked a late Falcons comeback.

The Saints are arguably the highlight of the NFL season thus far, with their explosive offense leading to two impressive wins.

New Orleans scored 91 points in the first two games, beating the Panthers 47-10. Last time out, they scored 44 points against the Dallas Cowboys. The combination of quarterback Derek Carr, running back Alvin Kamara and new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has worked wonders so far.

It will be a tall order for the Saints to continue their explosive offensive performance against the Eagles, but a strong performance at home in the Superdome could cement the team’s position as a serious playoff contender.

It would mark a major turnaround for New Orleans head coach Dennis Allen after two disappointing previous seasons that put a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

Allen called it a “significant challenge” to play the Eagles on Wednesday.

“After that we will have a better idea of ​​where we stand,” he told reporters.

For the Ravens and Cowboys, two teams that had Super Bowl aspirations at the start of the season, the first two weeks have been quite disappointing.

Baltimore is still without a win, with a shocking loss in Week 2 at home to the Las Vegas Raiders raising concerns about the team’s prospects going forward.

Dallas opened the game with an impressive 33-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, but were completely humiliated by the Saints in Week 2.

Both could really use a win on Sunday to get back on track and inject some positivity into what has been a lackluster season thus far. A loss, and alarm bells will undoubtedly ring.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday that he had stressed to his team that they should focus on the upcoming game, not the entire season.

“We are focused on the task at hand. There is a long-term understanding of what we need to achieve and there is a short-term focus which is now – this week,” he told reporters.

“That’s always the focus, (and) that has to be the focus in this competition – it’s a one-week competition. We have to do everything we can to play our best football that we’re capable of right now.”

For the Cowboys, Sunday’s loss was their second straight home defeat, after falling 48-32 to the Green Bay Packers in last year’s playoffs.

And the team’s star player, Micah Parsons, stressed the importance of improving the entire team’s performance to get back on track.

“It’s a weekend to prove it,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “And I’m not just imposing anything on my teammates. I’m also saying to myself – I have to take a step forward. We all have to take a step forward.

“It would hurt me more if we didn’t all step up. If we all went back to that standard, then that just tells me we’re not going in the direction we should be going.”

Whoever wins, one team will breathe a sigh of relief while the other team will panic, despite it being only the third week of the season.

Away vs. Home

New York Giants (0-2) @ Cleveland Browns (1-1) – 1:00pm ET

Chicago Bears (1-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (0-2) – 1:00pm ET

Houston Texans (2-0) @ Minnesota Vikings (2-0) – 1:00pm ET

Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) @ New Orleans Saints (2-0) – 1:00 PM ET

Los Angeles Chargers (2-0) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) – 1:00pm ET

Denver Broncos (0-2) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0) – 1:00pm ET

Green Bay Packers (1-1) @ Tennessee Titans (0-2) – 1:00pm ET

Carolina Panthers (0-2) @ Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) – 4:05pm ET

Miami Dolphins (1-1) @ Seattle Seahawks (2-0) – 4:05 PM ET

Detroit Lions (1-1) @ Arizona Cardinals (1-1) – 4:25 PM ET

Baltimore Ravens (0-2) @ Dallas Cowboys (1-1) – 4:25pm ET

San Francisco 49ers (1-1) @ Los Angeles Rams (0-2) – 4:25 PM ET

Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) @ Atlanta Falcons (1-1) – 8:20pm ET