We're three weeks into the 2023 NFL season and some teams are already starting to separate themselves from the pack. Week 3's Thursday Night Football matchup - called by Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on Amazon Prime - feature two teams that made the playoffs last season. So far one of those teams looks like they're headed back. The other is still up in the air.
Who is Playing on Monday Night Football?
The San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants are playing on Thursday Night Football this week. If you've been paying attention, you know which team has looked good during the first couple weeks of the season.
The Niners come into the game at 2-0 with Brock Purdy having won eight consecutive starts. The 23-year old out of Iowa State has completed 66.7 percent of his passes this season and hasn't thrown an interception since New Year's Day. The 49ers have scored 30 points in each of their first two games this season with Christian McCaffery averaging 6.4 yards per carry so far.
Meanwhile the Giants were an Arizona Cardinals collapse / tank job from an 0-2 start. Daniel Jones threw for 321 yards and ran for another 59 yards on the ground as the Giants erased a 21-point second-half deficit. If the game had ended twenty minutes earlier the Jets wouldn't be the only team in New York with fans and pundits begging for a QB trade. So for now the Giants most pressing issue is the state of Saquon Barkley's ankle.
These two storied franchises have quite a bit of history together, splitting eight postseason games in their history, with the Giants most recently beating the Niners in the 2011 NFC Championship Game. As it stands this season, only one of the teams looks elite and the Giants are in for a tough game.
The thing that could work most in the Giants' favor on Thursday night is that the game is on Thursday night. There's no telling which team will lay an egg and there's always a serious possibility that both teams will stink on such short rest. So make sure to tune in!
This article was originally published on thebiglead as NFL Week 3: Who is Playing on Thursday Night Football?.