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tunes by the Bills Jordan Thomas Color Rush Jersey , Giants, Seahawks, Lions and Browns, there remain lots of questions about each of them.At least they aren’t winless.Then there are the projected contenders who are struggling through three games: New England, Atlanta, Green Bay, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and the Chargers.Several figure to get going: the Patriots always seem to, and get Julian Edelman back in Week 5; the Packers when Aaron Rodgers is healthier; the Steelers if things ever calm down in the locker room.Unfortunately, the injuries that have ravaged the Falcons might be too much to overcome.Still, they have a win, which is more than Houston , Oakland and Arizona can say. Man, are things getting ugly in those places.“It’s frustrating,” says Texans coach Bill O’Brien, whose team has been outscored only 74-59. “It is, but that’s the way it is. That’s the NFL. These are close games and it’s the team that doesn’t beat themselves that ends up winning, and we’ve been beating ourselves too much.”As have the Raiders , who can’t hold onto a lead. They are the second team in the past 20 seasons to start the season with three straight losses after leading the first three games at halftime.“Nobody cares right now. They want results,” returning coach Jon Gruden insists. “We want to win. I think the players see a lot of things to be confident about, but we know we got to finish football games much better.”The Cardinals need to start and finish games much better. They were blown out in their first two matches, then led Chicago for most of last Sunday’s game before folding.“The guys are disappointed, they’re down, but they understand right now it’s still early Stephen Anderson Color Rush Jersey ,” new coach Steve Wilks says. “We need to find a way to finish football games, as we did not do (Sunday).”Wilks is correct that it is still early, and 0-3 is not a sentence to purgatory for the remainder of the schedule. Last season, the Chargers began 0-4 and nearly made the playoffs.The difference between these three 2018 stragglers and the 2017 Chargers is, for one, talent.Let’s start with Oakland.RAIDERSWhen Gruden and upper management opted to deal Khalil Mack, it not only was a massive hit to the linebacker position, but to the entire defense. Super defenders such as Mack are like a Tom Brady on the other side of the ball, making everyone around them better.His departure created a major void in the locker room as well. Sometimes a player is worth whatever he’s asking, or close to it. This seems to be such a case.Opponents can run on the Raiders, and there’s virtually no one to fear as a pass rusher. Oakland has a total of three sacks and one takeaway.Only Buffalo in the AFC has scored fewer than the Raiders’ 52 points. The passing game hasn’t flopped, but Derek Carr has been picked off five times already; he threw 13 last year. Marshawn Lynch, to his credit, has three rushing touchdowns, but otherwise the ground game has been mediocre.All of that enthusiasm in the Bay Area has been dampened by the Mack trade and the 0-3 record. Should the Raiders fall to the Browns on Sunday, whatever honeymoon period Gruden had would be over.CARDINALSThis is the least surprising of the early collapses. While Arizona went 8-8 last season, it lost so much offensive firepower and brain power that having scored 20 points so far 鈥?the next-worse team is Dallas with 41 鈥?isn’t shocking.Coach Bruce Arians, all three quarterbacks, including solid veteran Carson Palmer, and wideouts John Brown and Jaron Brown are all gone. The new attack installed for Wilks by Mike McCoy has been a dud despite the presence of versatile running back David Johnson, who missed all but the opener last year, and all-time receiving great Larry Fitzgerald.Only the Jets have more giveaways than Arizona’s seven, and now rookie QB Josh Rosen gets the call. He likes to gamble, which could lead to a lot more turnovers.The defense under Wilks can get to the quarterback. It hasn’t done much else Jeff Allen Color Rush Jersey , though.TEXANSThis slump is most confounding.Unlike the Cardinals, the Texans got back a ton of skill in J.J. Watt 鈥?the NFL’s best defender when he has been healthy 鈥?Whitney Mercilus and Deshaun Watson. Many prognosticators picked them to win the AFC South or contend for a wild card in an improved division.Instead, the Texans have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of September. Watson hasn’t been nearly as dynamic as in his six starts of 2017 before tearing up his knee. The offense has sputtered badly in the red zone.Watt had a big second half against the Giants last Sunday, the first time he’s looked like a star.Of the three winless teams, though, Houston would seem to be the best bet to get headed in an upward direction.“There’s no magic dust, there’s no magic wand we can just say, ‘Hey, wave this magic wand and everything’s going to be OK,'” O’Brien says. “It’s hard work, it’s trying to figure out what we do best, do it better, and the things we’re not doing well, either stop doing them or figure out how to improve them.“There’s no other way out of it. There’s no choice. … You have to go to work and you have to figure it out. That’s sports, that’s life and that’s the way it is.”___ HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans didn't pick until the third round in this year's draft.That hasn't stopped them from getting plenty of contributions from their unsung rookies, led by Justin Reid, a third-round pick whose 101-yard interception return for a TD helped Houston extend its winning streak to seven games last week.Houston did not have a pick in the first two rounds after trading a first-round pick to Cleveland in 2017 to move up to get quarterback Deshaun Watson at No. 12. They previously sent their second-round pick in the 2018 draft to the Browns as part of the deal to get rid of Brock Osweiler. Because of those moves their first pick this year was at No. 68 and they used it to select Reid, a safety from Stanford. They got center Martinas Rankin and tight end Jordan Akins later in the third round; picked up receiver Keke Coutee in the fourth; and added tight end Jordan Thomas in the sixth."Those guys have really been an impressive class just from a personal standpoint — maturity, work ethic and they really work hard to improve, and they understand their role on the team, their spot on the team," coach Bill O'Brien said."Guys in that class are very respectful of the veterans in the locker room. I think they've added a lot to the chemistry of the locker room."Reid has appeared in every game for the Texans, has 53 tackles and leads the team with three interceptions. He might have had a leg up on most rookies because his older brother, Eric Zach Fulton Color Rush Jersey , is a six-year NFL veteran who recently returned to the NFL with Carolina. Justin said the two used to sit outside the house and break down film when he was still in college.He knows it's sometimes difficult for lower draft picks to contribute so quickly, but believes the success of this rookie class has been important to Houston's turnaround."You need that," he said. "All good teams you need your role players to play well. You need guys to step up in big-time situations and make some plays. That's one of the best things about this team is we don't know week to week who's going to come up and make a big play … and when you have guys all around the field making plays and able to contribute to a team win, that's when you know you have a good thing going."Veteran defensive back Tyrann Mathieu agreed and raved about Houston's rookie class."I hear a lot of people talk about our leadership, obviously, coming from an 0-3 start, but I would probably say that our young guys have really helped us out a lot, too," he said. "Just their character … just those guys showing up to work every day. That's all you can ask for from rookies."Rankin has appeared in each game with three starts, and Akins, Thomas and Coutee have also contributed on offense. Coutee has played a bigger role since Will Fuller suffered a season-ending knee injury, and he has 26 receptions for 273 yards and a touchdown.Akins has 11 receptions for 131 yards. Thomas has 10 receptions for 138 yards and has become a favorite red-zone target of Watson and has three short touchdowns.Coutee said a key to finding success as a rookie is making sure the veterans know they can count on you."Just earning everybody's trust and showing everyone that you can play and that you belong, as well," he said. "Once you get these guys' trust in this locker room, then you can make plays, and that's what a lot of our rookies are doing this year."Reid credits his success this season to the work he puts in off the field and estimates that he spends 10-12 hours a week at home doing extra work to make sure he's prepared for the games."You should see my IPad and the notes that I take," he said. "I take notes on everything and I study it, and I'm a film rat and I love to be able to see things on tape. And when you see it over and over on film, then you see it in the game, you can almost anticipate it. And then you combine that with the leadership you have on this team and just with experience with having reps, things just slow down more and more."