The NFL continues to be an unpredictable league, especially in these early parts of the season. Only four weeks in and there is only one remaining undefeated team. A couple of teams in the league might be starting to plant the first seeds of doubt. The league will also have to find some new storylines since the Brady/Patriots/Belichick dynamic has finally run its course. In a league where we are proven each week that we really know nothing, here are my week four takes:
Brady’s Boston Return
It felt right to see Tom Brady back in Foxboro with inclement weather. Yeah, the game wasn’t great, but we did get to snort a little line of nostalgia while getting to view a Brady game winning drive that we’ve seen a hundred times in a Patriots uniform. Fans also got their Brady and Bill Belichick post game embrace. In a weird way, this seemed like the official door being closed on the Brady-Belichick (or Belichick-Brady if you prefer) era. I’d say we will never see Brady play at Gillette Stadium again, but are any of us really certain of that? If he does, TV networks will have plenty of time to pick another Adele song to play between commercial breaks.
An Unpredictable Leader in the NFC West
Everyone who enjoys the NFL expected the NFC West to be the best division in football this year. I don’t think anyone could’ve expected to see the Arizona Cardinals not only leading the division, but leading with an undefeated record. Sure, they survived a missed kick from Minnesota in week two, but the fact of the matter is the Cardinals look impressive. They look even better when you consider they are coming off a 37-20 pounding of the Los Angeles Rams, a team many people, including myself, thought looked liked the NFC Conference’s best. Watching Kyler Murray dominate games makes me think of the 1991 children’s movie, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, a movie in which a tiny mouse (as opposed to a huge one…) goes out West and wins an old fashioned shootout against a bunch of outlaw cats. Kyler is out dueling everyone in the NFC West at this point and improving off of a great 2020 season.
Carolina and Denver Give Reason to Question
There’s always going to be those teams who start out with a couple wins, but ultimately are pretenders. Carolina and Denver might just be those teams after their first losses of the season on Sunday.
Carolina received their first taste of the defeat by the hand of the Dallas Cowboys with a 36-28 loss. Sam Darnold was under duress for the entire game, being sacked 5 times while having his first multi-interception game of the season. The Panthers’ third ranked defense does feel like it’s for real although it will certainly get tested with some high potent offensive opponents down the stretch. With or without Christian McCaffrey, I’m not sure their offense will supply enough firepower to hang with some of the league’s best offenses.
On the other hand, Denver seems like an even less believable team. To be completely honest, a trifecta of wins against two bad New York teams and a winless Jacksonville are not much to go off of. They finally met a competent football team in Baltimore and gave up only three points less than they had the previously three games combined. Vic Fangio will always produce above average to great defensive teams and this team is no different, but similar to Carolina, I think the offense will have difficulty producing to keep them in games that aren’t against the Giants, Jets, and Jags (oh my!).
Chargers Make Another Statement in AFC West
Chargers fans (if they exist) have a lot of reasons to be excited. Justin Herbert continues to validate himself as the next franchise quarterback for a franchise that previously had Philip Rivers and Drew Brees. He seems to have great chemistry with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen while Austin Ekeler is one of the more versatile backs in the league. To top it off, the defense is playing at high level. The Chargers jumped out early on a previously undefeated Raiders team and even though they allowed Las Vegas to make it interesting for a short while, I finished watching that game thinking that Brandon Staley’s team can play with anyone. It’s hard to imagine the Chargers holding off Kansas City, but I don’t see many games remaining on their schedule that I would predict the opponent winning. If Los Angeles wins both or splits their next two games at home against Cleveland and on the road against Baltimore, their mid-December rematch against Kansas City could have some serious implications. That’s something I never would’ve expected entering the season.
Seattle Gets a Much Needed Win
Being 1-3 is never good. Being 1-3 in the NFC West would essentially be a couple of nails in a coffin. Seattle avoided panic by beating division rival San Francisco this week. This now puts them in third place of the division with a chance to bump up to second by beating another division opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, this weekend. I’m still not sure that Seattle can be taken seriously. That run defense is about as hideous as it gets. That being said, it was always expected that the NFC West would beat each other up. If Russell Wilson can be the best player on the field for several of the games, they may be able to do enough to continue hang around the the league’s best division. Back to back wins again the Niners and Rams might convince me they are more worthy of being taken seriously.
Saints Losing Believers
It seems the New Orleans Saints are truly living the Jameis Winston experience as they will look great for moments and then about as bad as bad can be in others. The “Jameis Winston Experience” sounds like a VR ride at a sports theme park that offers different random experiences. In all honesty, Winston hasn’t been awful. He has eight touchdowns and only two interceptions, but is only averaging 168 yards passing a game. New Orleans just has a lack of weapons. They can’t count on Alvin Kamara being their entire offense and the hope that Michael Thomas will return to his former elite receiver self seems like just that, hope. The 38-3 domination of Green Bay in the opening weekend might end up being researched sports historians for years to come. New Orleans was never going to hang with Tampa Bay, but with a loss to Carolina already and upcoming games against Seattle, Tampa Bay (twice), Tennessee, Buffalo, and Dallas, the Saints will likely need to win a couple of games they won’t be favored in.
Looking Ahead to Week Five
What do you know, more amazing NFC West games this week with a Thursday night game between Los Angeles and Seattle and then Sunday’s San Francisco vs Arizona game. That division continues to be the division that keeps on giving. I’d expect the unexpected. The Browns and Chargers should be a doozy. I really like that Chargers team and am interested to see if they make another statement against a Browns team that has been mostly good, but still hasn’t shown they belong with Buffalo and Kansas City. Speaking of which, those two teams will face off on Sunday Night Football. This is one of the must see games of the season. Even though both teams have losses on their record, I believe most people would predict a Chiefs-Bills AFC Championship if their life depended on it. At their best, I don’t believe there are two better offensive teams in football. I think there will be a shootout in Kansas City. Speaking of shootouts, if you aren’t looking for streaming options for Fievel Goes West yet, I don’t know what you are doing. Until next week…