Week 3 of Sunday Night Football could be a season-defining moment for two teams entering 0-2. The Kansas City Chiefs take their show on the road to visit the New York Giants in an early must-win situation.
Only four out of 162 teams (2.5%) to begin a season 0-3 have made the playoffs since 1990. With those odds, neither team can afford another loss this early in the season. Five years ago, this would have been a marquee quarterback matchup between Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. However, in 2025, it’s merely a matchup of two teams struggling to find their footing through the first two weeks.
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The Chiefs have not been the team the league is used to seeing in the first two weeks of the 2025 season. An offensive unit that is accustomed to ranking toward the top of the league, through two games this year, Kansas City is averaging 19 points per game and ranks in the league’s lower third in scoring. The offense looks out of sync, and they’ve generated little to no run game outside of Patrick Mahomes creating on the fly. Can KC generate a consistent run game against the Giants? This is one of the questions the Chiefs will need to figure out to save the season.
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New York is playing with house money heading into the home opener in Week 3. A clear underdog (+6.5 to open) against the Chiefs, the Giants showed a ton of fight in last week’s overtime loss to Dallas, 40-37. Russell Wilson looked like he’d entered his prime once again, passing for 450 yards and three touchdowns in the loss. Can Wilson turn back the clock once again for the Giants? Will the defense find a way to stop the Chiefs? If they can’t figure things out this week, it’s going to be another long season for Giants fans.
Chiefs-Giants inactives for Week 3
Chiefs inactives: WR Xavier Worthy, CB Kristian Fulton, TE Jared Wiley, RB Elijah Mitchell, DE Michael Danna, C Hunter Nourzad
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Giants inactives: LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, LB Darius Muasau, DL Chauncey Golston, OL Evan Neal, TE Thomas Fidone II, DL Rakeem Nuñez-Roches Sr., QB Jameis Winston (Emergency 3rd QB)
Date: Sunday, September 21
Chiefs-Giants start time: 8:20 p.m. ET
Location: MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, New Jersey
TV channel/live stream: NBC, Peacock
Chiefs vs. Giants live blog
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for live updates, highlights and more as the Chiefs face the Giants in Week 3 on “Sunday Night Football.”