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Players of the week

Players of the week · NFL · Week 3

NFL players of the week: Week 3, 2026

Four of this week's six made plays in the last five minutes that decided their games: Talanoa Hufanga's pick-six and last-play interception against the Rams, Kain Medrano's pick-six against Seattle, Lamar Jackson's two late drives in Rio de Janeiro and Spencer Shrader's 53-yarder with 16 seconds left. Bijan Robinson ran for 194 yards at Green Bay, and Myles Price returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown at Tampa Bay.

AFC

AFC offense

Lamar Jackson

QB · Baltimore Ravens

W Ravens 34, Cowboys 31 · vs Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro

15 of 20, 186 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT (136.7 rating); 6 rushes, 50 yards

Baltimore got the ball at its own 36, down 28-24, with 5:45 left. Jackson ran for 17 yards, completed passes of 10, 14 and 14 yards, and threw a 2-yard touchdown to Matthew Hibner with 1:30 to go. After Dallas tied it with seven seconds left, he hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards to the Dallas 38 and called timeout with a second left for Tyler Loop's 56-yarder. No turnovers. Kirk Cousins threw three touchdown passes on the road, one more than Jackson, but his last two scoring drives started at the Las Vegas 45 and the New Orleans 4 after takeaways. James Cook ran for 154 yards but lost a fumble on Buffalo's first play.

Runner-up: Kirk Cousins, Raiders: 22 of 33, 248 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT in a 35-27 comeback win at New Orleans

Box score

AFC defense

Talanoa Hufanga

S · Denver Broncos

W Broncos 30, Rams 26 · vs Los Angeles Rams

5 tackles, 1 sack, 3 passes defensed, 2 INT (66 return yards), 1 pick-six

Three plays in the last 9:22 swung it. With the game tied 16-16 and the Rams on third-and-5 at the Denver 20, he sacked Matthew Stafford for a 10-yard loss, and the Rams settled for a 48-yard field goal. With the Rams up 19-16 at the Denver 38 and 4:49 left, he stepped in front of a pass for Kyren Williams at the 34 and returned it 66 yards for Denver's first lead. On the final play, with the Rams at the Denver 19 needing a touchdown, he intercepted Stafford in the end zone. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks in Houston's loss, but nobody else had a hand in three plays that decided a game.

Runner-up: Will Anderson Jr., Texans: 7 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a strip-sack in a 19-17 loss at Indianapolis

Box score

AFC special teams

Spencer Shrader

K · Indianapolis Colts

W Colts 19, Texans 17 · vs Houston Texans

4 of 4 field goals (39, 58, 37 and 53 yards), 1 of 1 extra points, 13 points

Four field goals in a two-point game, two of them from beyond 50. His 58-yarder with 1:03 left in the first half made it 13-7. After Houston went ahead 17-16 on a touchdown with 1:48 to play, Indianapolis got to the Houston 36 and Shrader made a 53-yarder with 16 seconds left. Tyler Loop's 56-yarder as time expired in Rio de Janeiro was longer, but it was one of his two field goals. Shrader made four and scored 13 of Indianapolis's 19 points.

Runner-up: Tyler Loop, Ravens: 2 of 2 field goals, including a 56-yarder as time expired, and 4 of 4 extra points in a 34-31 win over Dallas in Rio de Janeiro

Box score

NFC

NFC offense

Bijan Robinson

RB · Atlanta Falcons

W Falcons 35, Packers 14 · at Green Bay Packers

29 rushes, 194 yards, 2 TD (long 55); 2 catches, 19 yards

Robinson had 213 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on the road. With Green Bay up 7-0 late in the first quarter, his 55-yard run went from the Atlanta 40 to the Packers' 5, and he scored from 3 yards out two plays later to tie it at 1:32. His 31-yard run was the big gain on a 92-yard touchdown drive that made it 24-7 in the third, and his 2-yard score with 3:33 left made it 35-14. Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes and put Arizona away with a 20-yarder to George Kittle at 1:31, and Jahmyr Gibbs scored the winner against the Jets with 2:25 left, but both were at home and neither matched Robinson's volume.

Runner-up: Brock Purdy, 49ers: 15 of 27, 297 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT in a 36-30 win over Arizona

Box score

NFC defense

Kain Medrano

LB · Washington Commanders

W Commanders 33, Seahawks 31 · vs Seattle Seahawks

5 tackles, 1 INT returned 50 yards for a touchdown

His interception decided a two-point game. Washington led 27-24 with 3:57 left and Seattle at the Washington 49 when Medrano stepped in front of Sam Darnold's pass for AJ Barner at midfield and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown. Seattle scored with 2:51 left, and Washington ran out the clock, so the pick-six was the margin. It ended Seattle's 12-game winning streak. Chuck Clark's strip-sack of Geno Smith with the Jets at the Detroit 28 and 51 seconds left also ended a game, but Medrano's play produced the points that decided his.

Runner-up: Chuck Clark, Lions: 7 tackles, 1 sack and a strip-sack with 51 seconds left that sealed a 31-24 win over the Jets

Box score

NFC special teams

Myles Price

WR · Minnesota Vikings

W Vikings 23, Buccaneers 16 · at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

86-yard punt return touchdown; 4 punt returns, 106 yards; 5 kickoff returns, 132 yards

An 86-yard punt return for a touchdown on the road in a seven-point game. Tampa Bay punted from its own 45 in the first quarter, and Price took it at the Minnesota 14 and went the distance for a 10-0 lead. He added 132 yards on five kickoff returns. Will Reichard was close: field goals of 54, 56 and 43 yards, the 56-yarder stretching a one-point lead to four with 3:10 left. Price's return was the longest play of the game, and Minnesota won by seven.

Runner-up: Will Reichard, Vikings: 3 of 3 field goals (54, 56 and 43 yards) and 2 of 2 extra points in the same 23-16 win at Tampa Bay

Box score

How we pick

One player per slot, judged the way the power rankings judge teams: what happened on the field, against whom and where. Production counts, and so does the opponent. A big game against a good defense or on the road beats the same numbers at home against a bad one, and a play that decided the game beats one that padded a lead. A great game in a loss can still win if nothing else comes close.

NFL awards follow the league's format, AFC and NFC, and go up on Tuesday morning, a day before the league names its own. College awards are national and go up on Sunday morning. Where there's an official pick (the NFL's, or Walter Camp's for college offense and defense), it's listed under ours, agree or not.

Sources: ESPN NFL scoreboard, Week 3. Stat lines from each game's ESPN box score.

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