With basically a quarter of the season behind us, there is enough of a sample size to establish the good teams and the bad teams, the overachievers and underachievers… and the outright disasters. If I were to tell you that the only 0-4 team in the league is the Jacksonville Jaguars, you wouldn’t have believed it a month ago. The Tennessee Titans could join them after their game in Miami, but without a doubt, the Jags have been the biggest disappointments so far in this young season.
Although they are 2-2, the Eagles have been another disappointment. Every loss seems to tighten the noose around Nick Ciriani’s neck. They are inexplicably looking up at the Washington Commanders, who have been one of the league’s biggest bright spots. They are sitting at 3-1, and rookie QB Jayden Daniels is the early runaway favorite to win Rookie of the Year. He was 26-30 with 233 YDs and a TD. He did throw a pick, but he’s been downright scary these past two weeks. The Chicago Bears must be kicking themselves for passing up on him.
The Vikings are the only 4-0 team in the NFC, pending the Seahawks trip to Detroit. They just went into Green Bay and won a big divisional game against the Packers. They built a huge lead and withstood a ferocious comeback by Jordan Love in his first game back from his knee injury. It’s interesting that he’s 0-2 this season, and his backup, Malik Willis, is 2-0.
This past week, many articles were proclaiming the Bills the new no.1 team in the league, overtaking the Bills. But Sunday night, they coughed up an absolute stinker in Baltimore, losing 35-10. They had no answer for Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry. And unlike their recent history, the Ravens were able to maintain a big fourth-quarter lead. They are now back to 500, sitting at 2-2 after their curious 0-2 start. Jackson was an efficient 13-18 for 156 YDs and two TDs to go along with six rushes, 54 YDs, and a rushing TD. Henry was a monster, gaining one yard short of 200 with a long TD run on his first touch of the game.
Here’s a list of the other winners and losers this week:
WINNERS:
Losing both Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd may have hurt the Bengals offense more than anticipated. This week’s effort by Brown may have saved their season. Not that his 15 carries for 80 YDs was spectacular, but it was more than solid. His two TDs can give them confidence moving forward in the red zone and specifically inside the 10-yard line. Beginning the season 1-3 is no picnic, but starting 0-4 would have been a lost season.
This was a sneaky, tough game against the Jaguars. The Jags desperately needed a win to avoid an 0-4 start. And some doubt had to creep into Houston’s locker room, coming off a terrible loss. It wasn’t always pretty, but they prevailed 24-20, with Stroud leading the way. He was 27-40 for 345 YDs and two TDs.
With Tank Dell out, it freed up passes for the rest of the receiving core. Collins was the biggest recipient, catching 12 passes for 151 YDs and a TD.
All this guy does is win. What a story Darnold has become this year…and good for him. He finds his way on this winners list every week. He was incredibly efficient 20-28 and 275 YDs with three more TD passes.
Does Flacco have a voodoo doll for every starting quarterback of the new team he joins each year? It happened again on Sunday; Anthony Richardson left the game with a hip injury and what looked to be a possible concussion. No problem, Flacco came in and won the game in relief. He was 16-26 and 168 YDs with two TDs. I have more faith in the team with him as the team’s QB1 moving forward.
Finally, Swift played up to his potential and was an integral part of the Bears victory. He had 16 rushes for 93 YDs, and added 72 passing YDs on seven catches. He rushed for a TD while compiling 165 total YDs. The Bears short and long-term future is brighter with him having these types of games, which are within his talent.
Aside from having a beef with Tom Brady, Mayfield played a pretty perfect game. He completed 30 passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns. With regard to Brady, he threw a not-so-subtle do at the GOAT, saying the team has been far more relaxed these past two seasons with him at the helm. Maybe he has a point. Brady’s last year in Tampa only produced an 8-9 record.
Who needs Christian McCaffrey? Mason is doing a great impersonation so far. On 24 carries, he rushed for 123 YDs and TD. Although he doesn’t have the same pass-catching abilities out of the backfield as CMC does, the team is solid enough with enough other weapons to tread water for the time being.
A term in fantasy football that everyone hates is vulture. This is when a RB vultures a TD from the RB1. In looking quickly at the box score one may think McNichols vultured a couple of TDs from Brian Robinson, but that’s not the case. But he definitely maximized his output. On only eight carries, he rushed for 68 YDs with two TDs. One of the TDs was a rush of 27 YDs, and the other was seven YDs. The Commanders are proving to be legitimate…if they develop a solid RB2 to go with Robinson, they will be downright scary.
LOSERS:
The Jags are lousy in the air, and they are lousy on the ground. Etienne had another subpar game. On only 11 rushes, he could only muster 50 yards.
Lawrence is now 0-9 in his last nine starts. It is truly a mystery. It’s like he has the yips at this point. He’s too physically gifted to be this bad. It is completely in his head at this point. He barely completed 50% of his passes, going 18-33 passes for only 169 YDs. he did throw two TDs, and they did throw a scare at the Texans, but his performance just hasn’t been good enough.
The weather was brutal, but Rodgers should have been able to perform under those conditions. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen numerous times in Green Bay. He completed just over 50% of his passes (24-42) for 225 YDs. He didn’t throw a TD pass, and the team only scored nine pts. Coming off a convincing win against the hapless Patriots, and with 10 days off, Rodgers had to be better. With the Bills losing, this was a great opportunity for the Jets to climb into a first-place tie.
Hall is a 1500 YD talent. This performance was beyond awful. In fact, I’ve never seen such a bad box score. On 10 carries, Hall gained four yards. That’s a 0.4 YD average. There is no way to put a positive spin on that output.
If the Eagles didn’t beat the Packers in week one, they’d be sitting with a 1-3 record. Hurts just hasn’t been good this year…and it goes back to the second half of last year. He only completed 18-30 passes for 158 yards. He managed a TD, but this game was really never in much doubt.
Four games, four fumbles for the Patriots RB1…at least for now. Most teams would bench their slippery-fingered RB…but not the Pats. he sat for a series to collect himself and was put back into the game. Overall, he had 13 rushes for 43 YDs. His first two games of the season seemed an eternity ago.
Brissett is apparently still the Patriots QB1. But it is hard to see why or how. He actually threw the ball more than his earlier starts, heaving up 32 passes. He only completed 19 passes for 168 yards. He is normally accurate and doesn’t give up interceptions. Not only did he throw one, but it was returned for a TD. It’s time to put the kid in…no.3 pick Drake Maye.
HC Jim Harbaugh is finding out it’s tough to consistently win on the ground in this league. Dobbins started the year with back-to-back 130 YD weeks. Last week, he fell well below triple digits, and this week, he cratered. On 14 rushes, he only gained 32 YDs.
It’s tough to put Allen here. But when Chris Collinsworth said that sometimes a QB just has to put his team on his back, and all Allen could put up was 10 pts, getting smoked by 25 pts, it’s reasonable that he’s here. He only threw the ball 29 times with 16 completions for 180 yards. And next week won’t get any easier for him and the Bills as they head to Houston to face off against fellow first-place Texans. Each team stands to be in the playoffs, and it will be interesting to see how the Bills respond coming off the loss. It will also be interesting to see how the Texans handle a team out for blood after a big loss.
