NFC Hierarchy/Obituary with Week 3 in the books

With Week 3 in the books, only two teams in the NFC remain unbeaten, the Eagles and Cardinals. The Buccaneers are the only remaining winless team. I'm not quite ready to bury the Bucs yet, because I haven't seen any team in their division look all that great, but they are hanging by a thread. The hierarchy:

I think the first three quarters against the Falcons last Thursday night tell you all you need to know about the Buccaneers:

Bad defense, atrocious offense.

Matt Cassel broke his foot last Sunday against the Saints, and so, the Teddy Bridegwater era begins in the Minnesota. The Vikings won't win many games this season, but at least now there's a small reason to watch them.

The first three Thursday night games this season have been completely one-sided in favor of the home team.

• Seahawks over Packers: 36-16

• Ravens over Steelers: 26-6

• Falcons over Buccaneers: 56-16

Each home team has won by at least 20, and the home teams have outscored the road teams 118-38. The Giants are already 1-2 and they have a road Thursday game in Washington.

The Rams had 53 sacks and 21 forced fumbles last season. So far in 2014, they are dead last in the NFL with one sack, and they've only forced one fumble. The Rams still have a talented pass rush, but that's a unit that has to carry this team, and so far they haven't.

If the Cowboys can handle the Saints this week, which is a home game, they'll be 3-1 with the chance to be 4-1 against a bad Texans team at home next Sunday. At that point, maybe they'll be more than just a harmless little lamb barreling toward mediocrity for the 15th consecutive season, and perhaps a legitimate threat to contend for the division?

On the whole, the Skins are a very flawed football team. What they do have, however, is playmakers on both sides of the ball, which makes them the Eagles' most dangerous competition in the NFC East.

And surprise... The Redskins are the only team in the NFL in the top five in total offense and total defense.

The five worst offenses in the NFL so far this year are the Raiders, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Vikings, and...

The Packers?!?

Green Bay doesn't have much in the way of a good defense, but their inability to move the ball so far this season have been a huge surprise.

The 49ers have been terrible in the second half this season.

They'll be playing a pretty good second half team this Sunday:

The Saints' defense was among the most overrated units in the NFL last season. Their defense was their offense. Drew Brees and Co stayed on the field for long, sustained drives and kept their defense off the field. They were third in the NFL in time of possession, and their defense faced the fewest number of plays in the NFL. In fact, the Saints defense only faced 943 total plays in 2013. To put that in perspective, the Eagles' defense faced 1150, a difference of 207 plays, or the equivalent of around three full games' worth.

Against the Vikings last week, the Saints' three TD drives were all over five minutes in duration, and they had a seven minute drive that did not result in a score, but bled the remaining time in the game off the clock. That's how they win.

In their Week 2 loss to the Browns, the Saints' first six drives were the following number of plays: 3, 3, 6, 5, 7, 2. When the Saints' offense can't put together long sustained drives, the defense is out on the field longer and the results don't exactly equal what was, on paper anyway, the fourth ranked defense in the NFL last season.

Kyle Fuller is already a bigtime player. Three interceptions, two forced fumbles -- badass hard-nosed CB. The Bears may have themselves a rookie Pro Bowl player there.

I was not a Kelvin Benjamin fan at all leading up to the draft. But he's been great. 16 catches, 253 yards, two TDs. Guess I got that one wrong.

You can bash the Buccaneers for being awful all you want, but the bootstomping the Falcons put on them last Thursday was extremely impressive no matter who the opponent. The Falcons are the #1 in the NFL in total offense, passing offense and points scored.

Detroit has the best defense in the NFL so far. Their numbers after Week 3:

It was fairly easy to dismiss the Lions' D after they played two offenses without many weapons in the Giants and Panthers, but it's hard not to be impressed after holding Aaron Rodgers and Co to 223 total yards and seven points last Sunday.

The Cardinals may be the NFC version of the Bengals. They have a very good overall roster, but how far can they reasonably go in the playoffs with an average QB? For now, the Cards are a good bet to rack up a lot of regular season wins.

The Eagles will get a boost when Lane Johnson returns Week 5, provided he's not rusty, but that makeshift OL sans Jason Kelce will be tested. Expect opposing defenses to show a lot of blitzes, hoping to expose the Eagles' compromised communication up front.

The champs are among the first group of teams to have their bye Week 4. Through three games, they have faced Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, and Peyton Manning, and came away from that with a winning record. I think you can chalk that up as a successful first leg of their 2014 campaign.

Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski