The NFL Blog: Week 4 Review

The plot thickens

Some people say that the “parity” of today’s NFL has led to a dearth of greatness and to widespread mediocrity. Perhaps, but things sure are interesting from week to week throughout the long season. 4 weeks into the 17 week marathon, much of the NFL landscape looks very different from the way it appeared on the first day of September. The lines of separation dividing the great and the awful from the ordinary got even more blurry in week 4. That bulging mass of teams in between the top and the bottom grew ever larger as previously elite looking teams came back to the pack and previously pitiful looking teams came up to the pack.

A couple of 3-0 teams were in action during the early portion of Sunday’s schedule but only 1 team stayed unbeaten. The probably underrated Titans remained perfect by outlasting the disappointing Vikings, 30-17. At the same time, the probably overrated Broncos were getting exposed by the previously winless Kansas City Chiefs, who up until Sunday had looked completely inept. KC turned the Broncos over 4 times on their way to their first victory in 4 tries and dealt Denver its first defeat of the year. Far from covering the 9.5 point spread, the Broncos lost by 14 points, 33-19, at Arrowhead.

While Denver has some serious problems defensively and could easily be 2-2 or even 1-3 instead of 3-1, the Titans appear to be for real. They’ve won each of their 4 games by at least 7 points and by an average of 14 points. They are 5th in total defense and 1st in points allowed.



The game between the Titans and Vikings was a matchup of teams built on strong defenses and good running games, searching for adequate quarterback play. Minnesota benched Tavaris Jackson after an 0-2 start and they’re 1-1 with 15 year vet Gus Frerotte under center. Frerotte hasn’t been great but he’s at least been an upgrade over Jackson. Will it be enough to turn Minnesota’s season around? It’s hard to say but I still think they made the right choice benching Jackson and they should move in another direction from this point forward.




The Titans have been going with 14 year veteran Kerry Collins at QB over injured/mentally shaken Vince Young ever since late in their opening game against the Jags. Look, Collins has been far from great but he hasn’t been a negative force and he’s led the Titans to 4 victories. With Young now back and practicing and getting back into the picture, it’s going to be interesting to see how Collins plays in the weeks to come. If he struggles the Titans might give Young another shot sooner rather than later but in my opinion Collins gives them the best chance to win.





Among the late games on Sunday there were two unbeaten teams in play. One of the 3-0 teams was playing an 0-3 team, while the other was playing a 2-1 team, yet the team playing the 2-1 team was favored to win by more than the team playing the winless team. For some reason, Vegas had the Cowboys as an 11 point favorite at home over rival Washington, while favoring the Bills by just 9 points over the pathetic Rams.





The surprising Bills continued to roll, winning 31-14 over St. Louis to move to 4-0. The Bills, like the Titans, appear to be for real. They’ve won each of their 4 games by an average of 11.5 points, scoring at least 24 points in 3 of 4 games, while allowing 16 points or less in 3 of 4 games.





The Rams are at the other end of the spectrum. At this point they appear to be the undisputed worst team in professional football. Perhaps things will get better now that Scott Linehan has been removed and Marc Bulger has been given back the starting QB job, but so far they’ve shown no signs of life on the field. The Rams have lost their 4 games by a total of 104 points, losing by an average of 26 points a game. They have yet to score more than 14 points in any game and have allowed at least 31 points in each game. Just think about that for a moment. I mean, that’s historically bad. How they’ve gotten this bad is not something I know the answer to. They’ve got more talent than a number of teams in the League and just as much as a number of others but right now they appear to have no heart and no direction.

While the Bills walked over the Lams in St. Louis, the Cowboys didn’t have quite as easy a time with the Redskins. The Skins dominated the Boys in time of possession, outgained them, and hung on for a 26-24 upset at Texas Stadium. They led 26-17 until the Cowboys scored a TD with 1:42 left to get within 2 points. Dallas tried an onsides kick but it went out of bounds and the Skins kneeled 3 times to run out the clock. In the wake of the Cowboys’ first loss, Terrell Owens fell into spouting off at the mouth about not getting the ball enough, and reportedly had a lengthy sit down meeting with QB Tony Romo about his concerns. Uh-oh. If you’re a Cowboys fan you should be worried.

On the other hand, if you’re a Redskins fan, how much brighter have things gotten over the last 3 weeks? Washington played in the NFL season opener against the Giants on Thursday night, September 4th. They looked like a bunch of amateurs while losing 16-7 in Jim Zorn’s first game as head coach. Since then they have won 3 straight, beating the Saints and Cardinals at home and then winning in Dallas last Sunday to get to 3-1. At this point, you’ve got to say that Washington is for real just like Buffalo and Tennessee. And just like the Rams are for real in the opposite direction, for that matter.




The Lams and Lions appear to be the two worst teams in the NFL right now but as bad as they have been--and even with Scott Linehan being fired after only 4 games in St. Louis and Matt Millen finally getting the axe in Detroit--there is one team stealing the spotlight from both of them. And it’s weird because that team is actually a whole lot better than both of them. The once proud Oakland Raiders, one of the most successful franchises in all of pro football, continue to be the laughing stock of the sports world. Lane Kiffin was finally fired this week after speculation that his termination was imminent for seemingly his entire time as head coach. Al Davis’ rambling, repetitive address to the media concerning Kiffin’s firing was ridiculous. The whole scene was a hilarious joke, only the Crypt Keeper wasn’t in on it. Some assistant coach has been given the title of acting head coach. I can’t think of his name and does it really matter enough for me to look it up?



“And when the lights came up at two…I caught a glimpse of you…and your face looked like something death brought with him in his suitcase.”





The weird thing is, despite Al’s best efforts, the Raiders are actually getting close to respectability on the field. After a disastrous blowout loss at home to the Broncos on Monday Night Football in their season opener, the Raiders have actually been competitive in each of their 3 games since. They’ve won only 1 of those games but they could easily have won all 3, and 2 of those games were on the road, and 2 of them were against good teams. In week 2 they got their only win of the season so far, smacking the Chiefs, 23-8, at Arrowhead in a victory that actually looks a little better following KC’s big win over Denver last week.

In week 3, the Raiders went to Buffalo to play the Bills, 1 of 2 teams in the NFL currently 4-0. They probably shouldn’t have gotten to 3-0 because the Raiders had them on the ropes. Oakland shutout the Bills in the first quarter, 6-0, and the Bills didn’t get on the board until a fumble by JaMarcus Russell deep in Oakland territory gift wrapped a TD in the 2nd. But the Raiders led 9-7 at the half and shutout the Bills, 7-0, in the 3rd quarter to take a 16-7 lead to the 4th. The Bills had a long, drawn out, 96 yard TD drive to get back into the game but it took almost half the quarter, and when Oakland answered with an 84 yard TD pass on their next possession, the Raiders appeared to have pulled off the upset. The Raiders led 23-14 with 6:23 to go, but the Bills scored quickly on their next possession to cut it back to a 2 point game with 4:03 to go. The Raiders went 3 and out and could take only a minute and a half off the clock before giving the ball back to Buffalo. The Bills moved down the field and kicked a FG as the time expired to win 24-23, scoring 10 points in the final 4 and a half minutes.

That loss was tough but their loss at home to the Chargers this past week was no less tough. The Raiders had lost 9 straight to San Diego going into this game but they had the Chargers on the ropes just like they had had the Bills there the week before. The Chargers have as much talent as or perhaps even more talent than any other team in the NFL but they continue to play down to competition and under perform. They fooled around in their first two games and wound up losing heartbreakers. Last week they finally played a complete game and blew out the Jets for their first win of the year. But this week it was more fooling around like the first two games.

The Raiders dominated much of the game defensively, holding Philip Rivers to just 180 yards passing and intercepting him twice. The Raiders outgained SD in this game and shutout the Chargers in the first half, 15-0. They led 15-3 going to the 4th quarter but a pair of turnovers led to 2 quick touchdowns by the Chargers and a 2-point conversion gave them an 18-15 lead with just under 13 minutes to play. The Raiders tied it up with 2:47 left on a FG but they couldn’t keep SD from taking the ball right down the field and kicking a FG of their own to retake the lead, 21-18 with 1:51 to go. Oakland’s attempt to tie the game again ended at their own 44 on 4th down and 5 with 1:17 left. The Chargers scored a meaningless TD to make it 28-18 but it was much closer than that. The Raiders got outscored 25-3 in the 4th quarter on the way to their 10th straight loss to San Diego. The Chargers got back to .500 at 2-2 on the year with the win, while the loss sent the Raiders to 1-3.


Earlier in the day, a pair of long time rivals faced off against each other in a battle of 0-3 teams that had begun the season with playoff aspirations. The Cleveland Browns playing the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Ohio. In contrast to some of the more surprising developments of the day, this one played out just as you would expect, as both teams looked the part of 0-3 teams. Cincinnati played the game without its star QB Carson Palmer, while the Browns entered the game with a brewing quarterback controversy hanging over their heads. On this day at least, Derrick Anderson outplayed his counterpart, but Ryan Fitzpatrick was probably one of the few QB’s in the League that Anderson would have been better than on Sunday. Anderson went just 15 of 24 for 138 yards, 1 TD and 1 pick. He did not complete a pass longer than 20 yards. But Fitzpatrick was worse…much worse. He was 21 of 35 for 156 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT, and a fumble and was sacked 3 times. He did not complete a pass longer than 22 yards. The two teams combined for just 472 yards, 7 turnovers, and 107 yards in penalties. The score was just 6-3 in favor of Cincinnati at the start of the 4th quarter. Anderson managed to lead the Browns to a pair of 4th quarter TD’s and in so doing got his team its first win, 20-12, and saved his job for the time being. The Bengals, meanwhile, fell to 0-4 with Palmer still ailing and a trip to Dallas coming up in week 5.

There have been many compelling stories over the first 4 weeks of the NFL season but probably no story has captured our attention as much as the biggest story of the off-season. Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers will be linked together for as long as they both are remembered but since the dust finally settled in August with Favre in New York and Rodgers the unquestioned starter in Green Bay, each QB’s story has gone in its own direction. Still, you can’t help but compare and contrast at every step, while wondering what each guy is thinking. For most of the season’s first 3 weeks, you had to say that this chapter of Rodgers’ life was turning out better than Favre’s latest chapter was. The Packers had started 2-1 behind solid play by Rodgers, while the Jets looked listless while going 1-2, with Favre looking at times out of place, joyless, and hopeless.





But on this past Sunday the sun shined brighter on Favre and the Jets than it did on Rodgers and the Packers. After losing at home to the Cowboys in week 3, the Packers went to Tampa on Sunday and got bullied and beaten in a 30-21 loss. The Bucs defense abused Rodgers, sacking him 3 times, and dealing him numerous wicked blows, including 1 which knocked him out of the game momentarily in the 4th quarter due to a shoulder injury. Rodgers was just 14 of 27 for 165 yards, throwing 2 touchdowns while being intercepted 3 times. Green Bay had just 181 total yards of offense, 8 first downs, and converted only 4 of 13 third downs and 1 of 3 fourth downs. They fell to 2-2 on the season with their second straight defeat following a 2-0 start.

While Rodgers was getting terrorized by the Buccaneers in Tampa, Favre was treating the Arizona defense to an equally painful beating. Favre came into the game with a bum ankle but it didn’t appear to affect his arm on Sunday, particularly in the 2nd quarter, during which he tossed 3 touchdowns as the Jets broke open a scoreless game with 34 unanswered points. The Cardinals scored 21 unanswered in the 3rd quarter to get back within 13 but Favre tossed 3 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter for a career high total of 6 TD passes on the day, as the Jets finished off a 56-35 rout of Arizona. With the win New York got to 2-2 on the season and suddenly things don’t seem so hopeless for Favre and the Jets.

At the start of the week there were 6 teams still without a win. There was guaranteed to be one less winless team at the end of the week because 2 of the winless teams were playing each other, but KC pulled off the stunner over Denver to lower the number of winless teams to 4. It turned out the number would get no lower than that, although the Houston Texans came very close to getting off the schnide in Jacksonville. Houston’s schedule so far has consisted of 3 road games against playoff teams and a cancellation of a game due to a hurricane leveling their home city. The Jags have not been as good as expected so far this season and they got all they could handle from the Texans on Sunday. Houston led 24-20 with 7 minutes left and then after the Jaguars scored to go up by 3 with only 1:48 to go, the Texans went down the field and kicked a last second field goal to send it into OT. Unfortunately for Houston, the NFL overtime is greatly flawed, and they wouldn’t even get a chance in the extra period, as the Jags won the toss, moved into Houston territory and kicked a FG to win it, 30-27. The Texans fell to 0-3. They finally get to play a home game next week but if they want to get their first win they’ll have to do it by beating the Colts. Houston is one of 4 teams still without a win, along with Detroit (0-3), St. Louis (0-4), and Cincinnati (0-4).

Two of the best games of week 4 were the last two games played. On Sunday night, the Eagles and Bears staged a back and forth battle in Chicago that contained 6 turnovers, 7 sacks, and no touchdowns in the second half. The Bears came through with a goal line stand late in the game to hang on for a 24-20 win to get to 2-2 on the year. The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-2.



On Monday night, the Steelers and Ravens game in Pittsburgh was as hard hitting and hard fought as usual. The Steelers were already without star running back Willie Parker and then the Ravens knocked his replacement Rashard Mendenhall out for the season. Baltimore led 13-3 at the half but the Steelers fought back with 17 straight points to take a 20-13 lead. The Ravens scored to tie it with 4 minutes to go and the game went to OT, tied up at 23-23. Unfortunately for Baltimore, the NFL overtime is greatly flawed, and though they got the ball first in overtime, two penalties and a sack caused them to punt out of their own end zone, and the Steelers quickly got close enough for a FG try which they converted to win it, 26-23.



It was Baltimore’s first loss of the season, dropping them to 2-1. The Ravens joined the Cowboys and Broncos to make it 3 teams to lose for the first time this weekend, as the number of unbeaten teams was cut in half from 6 to 3. Only the Titans (4-0), Bills (4-0), and Giants (3-0) remain without a loss on the season. Interestingly, none of the 3 teams play each other this season, so it’s still mathematically possible for all 3 teams to go 16-0 this year.