NFL Week 3: Is Brock Purdy the New MVP Front-Runner?

Three weeks into the NFL season, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has completed 72.3% of his passes for an average of 263 yards per game and thrown nine touchdown passes, numbers that have put him at the center of early MVP conversation, according to ESPN senior NFL national reporter Dan Graziano's Week 3 overreactions column.

The column, published Sunday night, frames the season's first three weeks as a stretch defined less by clarity than by confusion. "So we're through three weeks of the NFL season, and we don't know anything," Graziano wrote. "And that's not an overreaction."

How has Brock Purdy performed through three weeks?

Purdy's efficiency numbers — a 72.3% completion rate and 263 passing yards per game, per ESPN — have made him the early standard-bearer in a league where several presumptive contenders have stumbled. The column poses the question directly: has any quarterback in the league been more efficient through the first three weeks than Purdy. Whether that pace holds, or whether it becomes one more Week 3 overreaction, is the framing device for the rest of the piece.

Which Week 3 results reshaped the picture?

Sunday's slate produced a run of results that complicated any tidy narrative about the season, according to ESPN. The Seattle Seahawks gave up 33 points and lost to a Washington Commanders team quarterbacked by Marcus Mariota. The Buffalo Bills turned the ball over five times and still won. The Pittsburgh Steelers piled up 411 yards of offense to beat a Cincinnati Bengals defense that had been considered revamped and red-hot entering the game. The Cleveland Browns improved to 2-1.

Graziano's column treats those results as evidence that early-season form is unreliable. "What in the name of John Madden happened on Sunday afternoon?" he asked, cataloging the day's results before turning to the standings.

By the Numbers

• Purdy: 72.3% completion rate, 263 passing yards per game, nine touchdown passes through three weeks, per ESPN.
• Steelers: 411 yards of total offense in their win over the Bengals, per ESPN.
• Standings after Week 3: Los Angeles Chargers 0-3, Houston Texans 0-3, New England Patriots 1-2, New York Giants 2-1, per ESPN.

What does the Steelers' offensive output signal?

The Steelers' 411-yard performance against the Bengals is one of five specific storylines Graziano's column puts up for judgment, alongside the question of whether Pittsburgh can avoid a losing season again. The column does not resolve that question in the material reviewed here; it is posed as one of the five overreactions the piece evaluates, alongside whether the Giants are "just fine" at quarterback with Jameis Winston, whether Browns coach Todd Monken should be considered a Coach of the Year candidate, and questions surrounding the availability of a player referred to in the column as Mendoza.

Which teams are struggling to start the season?

Beyond the marquee matchups, the standings reflect a scattered league three weeks in. The Chargers and Texans are both 0-3, the Patriots sit at 1-2, and the Giants — despite the quarterback questions raised elsewhere in the column — are 2-1, according to ESPN. The entire NFC West is also unsettled, the column notes, without a division leader that matches preseason expectations.

What other overreaction questions is ESPN weighing?

Graziano's column structures its analysis around five yes-or-no questions for the season's opening stretch: whether Purdy should be the MVP favorite, whether the Giants are fine with Winston at quarterback, whether the Steelers will again avoid a losing season, whether Monken will be Coach of the Year, and whether a player identified as Mendoza will return to the field soon. The column also includes a fantasy football section addressing similar overreaction questions tied to Week 3 performances.

How should fans read three weeks of NFL statistics?

The column's framing — built around the idea that "so much of what we think we know is actually an overreaction" — cautions against treating any single week's results, including Purdy's efficiency numbers or the Steelers' offensive output, as a fixed trend. Three games represent roughly a sixth of the regular season, and the results cited by ESPN, from Seattle's loss to a Mariota-led Commanders team to Buffalo's five-turnover win, underscore how quickly outcomes have diverged from preseason form. Full context on each of the five questions, along with the fantasy football section, is available in the original ESPN column.

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