NFL week three: Chiefs at Dolphins, Chargers at Bills, Bengals at Steelers and more – live

Some big news today is Super Bowl winning quarterback Sam Darnold returning for the Seattle Seahawks. Drew Lock deputised in style with good wins over the Patriots and Cardinals but the main man returns from a glute injury to face the winless Washington Commanders.

There are no layups in the NFL but, with Washington missing their star QB Jayden Daniels, the pressure won’t be quite so high on Darnold to come out swinging for the fences. He can rely on arguably the NFL’s best defense to shutdown Commanders backup passer Marcus Mariota and keep it conservative through the air. Though hopefully he will still let a few bombs go to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

So what has been the difference for Cincinnati on defense? The acquisition of tackle Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants. The Bengals traded the 10th overall pick for him in the offseason as they searched for an elite gamechanger. And they seem to have found exactly that after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans. Lawrence has been a rock solid base for Cincinnati to go to work and lead the NFL in both sacks (eight) and turnovers (three).

Lawrence and company will be feeling good about continuing their impressive start against the Pittsburgh Steelers today. Mike McCarthy’s team are 1-1 but struggling on offense and have retooled the whole right side of their offensive line to remedy having scored the league’s fewest points (23) after two games.

Hello there, pig-skin-istas and welcome to week three of the NFL. Missing the Premier League? Real football would never leave you hanging for three weeks with only scraps like England v Spain (who?) to watch. Yes, the intimidatingly large muscle of the National Football League is here to fill the hole in your sporting heart and put a smile on your face for the foreseeable with a ridiculous compendium of nine games starting at 11am CST/12pm EST/6pm BST (home teams listed second):

• (0-2) Los Angeles Chargers v Buffalo Bills (2-0)

• (1-1) Carolina Panthers v Cleveland Browns (1-1)

• (1-1) New York Jets v Detroit Lions (1-1)

• (0-2) Houston Texans v Indianapolis Colts (0-2)

• (1-1) New England Patriots v Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1)

• (2-0) Kansas City Chiefs v Miami Dolphins (0-2)

• (0-2) Tennessee Titans v New York Giants (1-1)

• (2-0) Cincinnati Bengals v Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)

• (2-0) Seattle Seahawks v Washington Commanders (0-2)

We are going to get a really good luck at some early standouts. Are the 2-0 club of Buffalo, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Seattle are legit or a little lucky? My money is on legit. The Bills’ offense looks ferocious, ditto the Chiefs while the Seahawks’ stopping power remains unmatched. The Bengals have surprised the most with huge improvements on defense after being one of the NFL’s worst last season. All four will be confident of making it 3-0 when the evening is over, but you never know …