For yesterday’s rematch of last year’s AFC Championship, New England head coach Bill Belichick devised the perfect defensive game plan to slow down Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker as the Patriots made clear that they’re still the Super Bowl favorites in a 23-20 win.

Coming off a loss against the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots needed to beat the Steelers to avoid slipping into a 1-2 hole. At 2-1, New England remains a favorite. Knowing Parker had torched the Steelers’ first two opponents, Belichick and defensive coordinator Eric Mangini devised a strategy that centered around their defensive linemen maintaining gap discipline and clogging the line of scrimmage, rather than rushing upfield and risking Parker getting past them. It worked. Parker gained only 55 yards on 17 carries.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed only 12 of his 28 attempts, but he did have two touchdown passes and no interceptions against the Patriots’ injury-riddled secondary, which lost safety Rodney Harrison to a first-quarter leg injury. Counting the playoffs, the Steelers are now 1-2 in games Roethlisberger starts against the Patriots and 16-0 against all other teams.

The Steelers took an early lead and seemed poised to win a slugfest, but the Patriots dominated the second half. In the fourth quarter, Tom Brady completed all 12 of his passes for 168 yards, and he drove them down the field for Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal.

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Although the Patriots had Sunday’s most impressive victory, three teams get credit for improving to 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. (The 2-0 Giants played late.)

When the Indianapolis Colts beat Jacksonville 10-3 last week behind a shockingly meager 122 yards from Peyton Manning and a stout defensive performance, the sense was that once Manning returned to form, Indianapolis would be unstoppable. A week later, the Colts are 3-0 after defeating Cleveland 13-6,and,once again, they have their stiff defense and a power running game to thank. Manning did boost his passing yards yesterday to 228 against the league’s 30th ranked pass defense, but he again failed to throw a touchdown pass.

A year after Manning set the NFL record for touchdown passes in a single season, he has now gone nine quarters without throwing a single one. Meanwhile, the Colts’ defense, which struggled last season in allowing 21.9 points per game, has allowed only one touchdown (in garbage time) and three field goals in three games. On offense, it’s been the running game rather than the air attack that has gotten the Colts into the end zone. In fact, none of their big three wide receivers – Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Brandon Stokley – was on the field for the team’s only touchdown yesterday, Instead, Indianapolis used three tight ends and a fullback to block for Edgerrin James, who ran it in from two yards out.

Manning’s dearth of touchdown passes – he has two in three games after finishing last season with 49 – in part explains why he has yet to be sacked this year. Manning has always excelled at picking apart blitzes, a skill that has allowed him to find multiple receivers downfield. But this year, opposing defenses have stopped focusing on hitting him and started emphasizing disrupting his passing lanes. It’s working so far, but if any quarterback can figure out a way to respond, it’s Manning.

Indianapolis made a point of improving its defense during the off-season, using five of its first six draft picks on defensive players and signing lineman Corey Simon as a free agent. But the new arrivals have had less to do with the Colts’ defensive resurgence than has the improved play of holdovers like linebacker Gary Brackett, who had eight tackles yesterday, and tackle Larry Tripplett, who has lost weight and is noticeably quicker.

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The Cincinnati Bengals heading into October undefeated? Unthinkable in recent years. But they accomplished it yesterday by beating Chicago 24-7. Rookie Chris Henry caught a 36-yard touchdown pass, demonstrating that the Bengals have another weapon for quarterback Carson Palmer, who already had deep threats in Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The Bengals’ deep passing game worked well yesterday because the offensive line protected Palmer on the Bears’ frequent blitzes, giving the receivers time to get separation from the defensive backs downfield.

While Palmer and his receivers have received most of the attention, coach Marvin Lewis has quietly built one of the league’s best defenses. Just ask Bears rookie quarterback Kyle Orton, who looked totally perplexed on his five interceptions, one of which landed in the arms of middle linebacker Odell Thurman. The rookie out of Georgia looks like he could be the missing piece for Lewis, who knew coming into this season that he needed someone assume the role Ray Lewis played on the Baltimore defense he built.

The question about the Bengals is whether their 3-0 mark is a mirage. Beating the Browns, Vikings, and Bears doesn’t prove much. But having won their three games by a combined score of 88-28,Cincinnati looks like a real threat to see the playoffs for the first time since 1990.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first NFC team to move to 3-0 with a 17-16 win at Green Bay. Brett Favre looked like he had Tampa Bay’s number early, hitting on his first seven passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. But for the rest of the game, the Bucs took Favre apart, holding him to seven completions in 17 attempts for 84 yards and three interceptions.

Tampa Bay’s first drive on offense demonstrated the way Jon Gruden’s offense uses motion, shifting formations, and changing personnel to create mismatches, often getting the primary receiver matched up against the weak link of the opposing defense. Facing a third-and-10, Brian Griese spotted one-on-one coverage with Packers rookie Mike Hawkins on Tampa Bay’s best receiver, Michael Clayton. That is a huge mismatch, and Clayton slanted inside, grabbed the Griese pass, and gained 22 yards.

Tampa Bay rookie running back Cadillac Williams also has looked great, especially late in games when he continues to run hard after taking a pounding. He has 434 yards in his three career games, the most by any running back in his first three games in NFL history.

Yesterday’s loss dropped the Packers to 0-3 and could have marked the beginning of the end of the Favre era. The future hall-of-famer clearly misses Javon Walker, his primary target last year, who is out for the season with a knee injury, as well as last year’s starting guards, Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, who left as free agents. Favre, who turns 36 in three weeks, hasn’t said whether he’ll retire at the end of this season, but his Packers seem to be in full-fledged rebuilding mode.

Mr. Smith writes for FootballOutsiders.com.