Here are the ten things we learned from Week 3 of the 2016 MLS season.

1. Red Cards Everywhere

PRO’s point of emphasis this offseason was on properly recognizing and punishing red card-worthy tackles. So far this season? Mission accomplished – in a big way.

This weekend’s slate of games was littered with sending offs – two in Portland, one in Kansas City, one in Los Angeles, and one in Philadelphia.

More interestingly, all five of those dismissals were straight red cards – and with the way matches are being officiated this year, it was hard to argue with any of the decisions.

MLS’ referees have made a strong start to the year by almost every standard. The league has a huge interest in keeping its best players healthy, and eventually, players will adapt to this zero-tolerance approach to studs-up tackles.

Until then, we’ll continue to see a bevy of red cards week in and week out – and one way or another, red cards almost always lead to goals.

2. Where is Frank Lampard?

This was supposed to be Frank Lampard’s redemptive – and probably final – year in MLS, but so far, Lampard’s 2016 has gotten off to a non-existent start.

What was that her first to be a minor muscle injury – Lampard was considered a gametime decision for NYCFC’s season opener three weeks ago – has kept the midfielder out for the first three games of the season.

For a player whose reputation needed healing after the farce that was last season, this has been a most inauspicious start.

So far, Lampard has been one of the worst major signings in MLS history. It’s easy to believe that the Chelsea legend wants to do well in New York, but he must know that he’s running out of time to get his NYCFC career off the ground.

3. Real Salt Lake Indiscipline

No team has crossed paths more with PRO over the last several months than Real Salt Lake, who had two of their foremost players – Kyle Beckerman and Jamison Olave – sent off on Saturday night at Portland.

Beckerman walked for a studs-up tackle on Fanendo Adi, while Olave was given his marching orders for a blow to the face of Adi, off the ball.

Olave’s moment of madness gifted the Timbers the game-tying penalty, and even after they went down to nine, Burrito Martinez was lucky not to see red after a gruesome tackle on Darlington Nagbe.

Salt Lake is quickly and efficiently gaining a reputation as the league’s dirtiest team – petulant, ill tempered, and unnecessarily reckless. RSL should be a playoff team, but their indiscipline has and will cost them big.

This team has blown two-goal leads in two of their three games this year, continuing a pattern of lost leads that stretches back to last year. There’s a clear correlation to their inability to finish games with eleven players.

Gone are the days when Jason Kreis’ RSL was the league’s premier team stylistically. Jeff Cassar needs to get his team straightened out, or continue to let games needlessly slip away.

4. Winless in Seattle

Seattle lost their third straight game to open the 2016 season on Saturday night, falling at home to Vancouver – albeit in dubious circumstances – 2-1.

After the game, Sigi Schmid said that if things don’t change, “a lot of us could be looking for new jobs.”

Sigi is right. Seattle isn’t a club that’s going to tolerate missing the playoffs – the one thing they’ve never done under Schmid – especially with the likes of Jason Kreis on the market.

Whether or not it’s Schmid’s fault that the Sounders came into the season so thin at so many positions isn’t going to matter.

One of the best things about watching Seattle with Dempsey and Martins was the ease with which they played and won. Now, with Martins gone, nothing is coming easy.

Seattle isn’t a bad team, but if they aren’t trending in the right direction by June, Schmid is going to be in serious trouble.

After all, no one in Seattle is going to tolerate looking up at the Timbers for more than one season.

5. Geiger Show

There’s a good reason that fans – and, increasingly, players – can’t stand Mark Geiger. The Seattle-Vancouver game on Saturday night was another in a long line of games that Geiger has unnecessarily co-opted.

By awarding two penalties to the Whitecaps – one when Christian Bolaños tripped himself in the first half, another on a ball-winning challenge from Chad Marshall on Blas Perez in the second half – Geiger decided the game.

What’s frustrating is that it’s always the same thing with Geiger – overzealous officiating. It’s as predictable as anything in the league.

PRO has better referees. They should be given the organization’s marquee assignments.

6. A Soccer Sunday Stinker

MLS’ television contract mandates that each one of its clubs appear on national television in America once each season, but even with the news about Tim Howard to boost it, ESPN’s broadcast of Colorado-DC United on Sunday was unwatchable.

The soccer was abysmal, and the atmosphere had the game’s broadcaster on Sky Sports apologizing on behalf of the league.

Every time a game like this one is shown on national television, MLS’ brand suffers.

One interesting thing to note – this game was moved to ESPN2 less than a month ago. It’s possible that the Tim Howard signing was a factor, and had been in the works since then.

7. What’s Wrong With New England?

Getting pasted 3-0 at Philadelphia is never auspicious, especially when the pasting comes against your full starting lineup.

And even considering that JeVaughn Watson was sent off in the first half on Sunday afternoon, there’s still plenty of reason to worry about the New England Revolution in both the short and long run.

With just two points from the first three games of the season against three clubs that didn’t make the playoffs last year, the Revs look rudderless. Their record without Jermaine Jones over the last two and a half years is pedestrian at best for a reason – without the US international, this team is fairly rudderless.

New England needs a game-changer. They need some spark. Right now, they’re missing both ingredients.

8. And Columbus?

But even the Revs are better off right now than the Columbus Crew, followed up a home loss to the Union last week with a dismal road draw against bottom-feeding Chicago in week three.

Gregg Berhalter has been rolling with the same eleven that won the Eastern Conference last season, but it’s a team that is having trouble creating offense from the wings.

The fear here is that Ethan Finley’s form last season was a flash in the pan. Finley was called into Jurgen Klinsmann’s US national team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, and it will be interesting to see if he features at any point in the next two weeks.

9. Zach Scott

The Sounders jettisoned almost every role player of consequence at the club this offseason, but Zach Scott remained.

The center-back has been with the club since the Stone Age. And after filling in as captain for Brad Evans against Vancouver, this was his quote after Seattle lost to the Whitecaps on Saturday night when asked about the notorious Blas Perez.

“I don’t know if you want to hear what I feel about Perez. I’ll probably get fined… If there’s two things I do before my career is over, it’s make sure he never scores another goal and beat Portland one more time.”

Pretty damn cool.

10. Tim Howard Returns

There’s no real reason to love Tim Howard’s move back to MLS with the Colorado Rapids from a soccer perspective. He’s a player in the twilight of his career at a relatively low-impact position for a Designated Player.

Whether Howard is a marked upgrade over Clint Irwin – or whether he can even come close to justifying his huge salary – remains to be seen.

But this is still a big move. With Landon Donovan’s retirement, Howard is the biggest American soccer star on the planet. For a club like Colorado, landing him is no small thing.

Here’s wishing him the best. If ever someone deserved to end his career on a high, it’s the Secretary of Defense.