Week 3 offered blowout losses, last-minute wins, and a plethora of huge plays! Below we'll look at some of the top plays from Week 3 as if we are in the film room. Enter All-22, an exclusive NFL Pro feature that allows its subscribers to watch film like the pros do. Sign up for NFL+ Premium to gain access.
What is All-22?
As the name suggests, All-22 is a wide-angle film view that allows you to see all 22 players on the field at one time. This is the film view that coaches, scouts and players use to study or review film. Because it reveals how every player is positioned during a play, it's the most comprehensive perspective for evaluating players, schemes and game strategy. It reaches beyond what is visible on a standard broadcast.
NFL+ Premium: Top All-22 plays of Week 3
After two weeks of scrutiny over the Bears' performances, Ben Johnson really said "I still got it" with this one. Chicago tight ends Cole Kmet and Durham Smythe were critical in making this play successful, as they aided the offensive line in holding off the cavalry just long enough for running back D'Andre Swift to get the ball back into the hands of Caleb Williams. Swift even lays down a block on a Cowboys defensive end to give Williams an extra half-second to launch a 65-yard missile to Luther Burden III, who had a step on a Cowboys secondary that looked lost all Sunday.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight
When fantasy analysts projected a breakout for Caleb Williams and Co. under the tutelage of Ben Johnson, this is the kind of thing they expected: creativity, explosivity, excitement. Against a Cowboys defense allowing the most pass EPA in the league this season (40.7) … it worked. Wide receiver Luther Burden III covered 52.4 yards over the 7.7 seconds from snap to catch and was clocked in at 16.98 miles per hour at the moment the ball arrived. Best of all, this was a perfect opportunity to run the flea flicker: Next Gen Stats clocked the likelihood of a pass play on first-and-10 from the Bears' 35-yard line at just 5.8%. Dallas bought the fake.
As Williams continues to learn and grow more comfortable in Johnson's offense, we can expect more plays like this and better overall performances from the second-year QB. In fact, his 0.59 EPA/dropback in Week 3 was the second-highest by any Bears QB in the NGS era, behind Mitchell Trubisky's six-TD game in Week 4, 2018. And with three performances of 16+ fantasy points this year (and two of 24+), Williams is now sitting at QB3 overall, behind Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. He's a fantasy starter, and the better he plays, the more of his pass-catchers we can start as well.
When in doubt, find No. 13. That's it, that's the game plan. The All-22 footage will show Justin Herbert scanning the field for someone -- literally anyone, to throw to. At first, he doesn't see anything he likes, which gives Broncos pass rusher Zach Allen just enough time to gobble him up for a sack. Psych! Herbert practically flicks the 6-foot-5, 285-pound DE off him, scrambles to his left, only to be met by All-Pro LB Nik Bonitto, who is on him like a bee on honey. Still, Herbert is able get the ball off to Keenan Allen, who is fighting for a sliver of separation in a one-on-one battle in the end zone. Spoiler alert: He caught it.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight
Frankly, this might be one of the best passes we see from a quarterback all season. Just to get the pass off, Justin Herbert had to break out of a sack, scramble 16 yards to buy 5.22 seconds and curve the pass around Nik Bonitto while running 12.85 mph. Then, he had to fit the ball into Keenan Allen with 0.6 yards of separation on a 16.7% completion probability throw in the end zone. The All-22 end-zone angle really highlights just how miraculous Herbert was on this pass, which he released with Bonitto's hand literally in his facemask.
Credit is also due to Keenan Allen. Check the footage: When Herbert was contacted in the pocket, Allen was running left-to-right at around the 9-yard line. Four seconds later, he was securing the catch while running the opposite direction 5 yards deep in the end zone. Specifically on red-zone plays, Allen has caught 3 of 6 targets -- all for touchdowns -- clocking a 9.3% catch rate over expected. The only receiver with more fantasy points in the red zone than Allen's 25.1 is Amon-Ra St. Brown (34.5). He and Herbert are back to being an unstoppable fantasy duo, and should both be started without hesitation moving forward.
The craziest thing about this play was how easy he tmade it look. Before we get to how great Jonathan Taylor was on this run, however, let's take a look at how well his teammates set him up to succeed. The Indy offensive line and tight end Mo Alie-Cox do a textbook job at opening the C-gap on the left side to give Taylor a very clear lane to do what he does. Fellow tight end Tyler Warren then lays down a truck-stick block on a Titans defender to finish the job. What followed that sequence of events can only be described as witchcraft. Taylor forces three missed tackles with a combination of jukes, spins and speed. Before you know it, he's put six more points on the board. Blink and you'll miss it.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight
This felt like the play that officially sealed the deal: Jonathan Taylor is all the way back and is the favorite to be fantasy's RB1 overall (again) in 2025. Everything about this play was exquisite. Taylor saw a monster 7.0 yards before contact and then racked up 39.0 yards after contact while dodging a slew of would-be tacklers. The exceptional blocking up front allowed him to hit the line of scrimmage at 14.03 miles per hour, and he proceeded to turn an excellent 15 expected rush yards into an unbelievable 46 and a touchdown.
When Taylor last finished as the RB1 back in 2021, he averaged 21.95 fantasy points per game, 5.45 yards per carry and 1.2 yards over expected per carry. So far in 2025, he's averaging 25.03 PPG, 5.63 yards per carry and 1.0 yards over expected per carry. He has more rush yards just after contact (297) than any other player has in total. With a productive offense and an efficient QB, Taylor has once again been unlocked to flash his All-Pro talent and fantasy superstardom.
Very few teams in the NFL can pull off a play like this. Patrick Mahomes drops back and immediately looks to find Tyquan Thornton on a deep route down the left side. His left guard gets beat by Giants rookie Abdul Carter, however, forcing Mahomes to roll out to his right side (with Carter hot on his heels) and launch the ball across his body to Thornton on the opposite side of the field in a one-on-one situation. The pass seemed destined to fail, only to perfectly into the hands of Thornton on the doorstop of the end zone. Just another day at the office for Mahomes.
NFL Pro Fantasy insight
This play had the second-lowest completion probability of any successful pass in Week 3 (17.6%) -- just behind Herbert and Allen's TD from earlier in this column. Patrick Mahomes was scrambling at 9.43 mph to his right when he launched the ball 47.5 yards of air distance to the other side of the field. He was just outside the tackle box to the right, but Tyquan Thornton caught the ball outside the numbers to the left. But most incredibly, Thornton had 0.5 yards of separation at the catch point … which is another way of saying CB Andru Phillips was literally draped on top of him.
In the absence of both Rashee Rice (six-game suspension) and Xavier Worthy (shoulder), Thornton has been Mahomes' go-to guy down the field. He's the only player in the league with at least five targets through three weeks to see more than half those targets on deep throws (61.1%). And his 23.8 air yards per target is the highest among that same group by a considerable margin. Most impressive of all, the only player with more deep targets than Thornton on the year is Malik Nabers. As a result, Thornton's 2.12 fantasy points per target ranks 13th among qualified wide receivers. At least for now, and possibly even after Rice and Worthy's return, the speedy Thornton is entrenched as the deep threat Mahomes has missed in recent seasons.
