Best & Worst NFL Week Four

We are now a month into the NFL season, and it was a wild ride in week four! We have teams that have been overachieving to this point. Looking at you New York Giants. We also had big weeks from a Bear, a Panther and a Cowboy. At the same time, there were disappointments from Denver, Houston and Washington. All in all, week four provided a wide buffet to choose from. That being said, here's some of the best, and worst, of week four in the NFL.

Best: CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver Dallas Cowboys
There was having a day, then there was this performance. Dallas came away with a 34-30 win over Houston, and it was because of the fantastic day from CeeDee Lamb. He had a career high 17 catches for an awesome 189 yards and a touchdown. This turned out to be a big game for Lamb, who had two games in his entire career that were better than this one. One was 191 yards in Philadelphia (11.5.23) and 227 yards against Detroit (12.30.23). The 189 against Houston was a big emotional boost for Dallas as well. it helped power their record to 2-2. If they had fallen to 1-3 it would have been a rougher go for Dallas going forward. Oh and the only guy who had a better day than Lamb did was Tetairoa McMillan of Carolina who had 192 yards.

Worst: Klint Kubiak, Head Coach Las Vegas Raiders
Vegas came into this game with the same unbeaten record as Kansas City and a first-place spot atop the AFC West on the line. When it ended, they had a loss and fell to second place. Kansas City came away with a 30-27 win, and a lot of that was thanks to the 177 rush yards and two touchdowns from Kenneth Walker. It was coaching decisions that cost Vegas here. Thanks to Matt Gay hitting a field goal on a 4th and 7 to take a 16-10 lead to start the second half, Vegas took a gamble. Kansas City got called for illegal formation and led to a 4th and 2 for Vegas later in the game. Vegas decided to go for it instead of taking the chip shot kick and the points. Kansas City blew the paly up, forcing Cousins to a check down which went nowhere and gave Kansas City back. He also mishandled a 4th and 1 late in the game. Two fourth down mismanaged calls lead to KC coming away with the win. One play he took points off the board when he shouldn't have. Then he had a chance top a field goal when he had a shot to convert on 4th and 1. It was poor play calling.

Best: Kyle Monangai, Running Back Chicago Bears
Have yourself a day young man. Chicago was going in against a Jets defense that hadn't given up a ton of big plays this year. Sunday in a 23-12 loss to the Bears, they did. And a lot of it was thanks to the running of Kyle Monangai. He as the 2nd man on the Bears depth chart at running back, he went to have himself a day. D'Andre Swift fumbled at one point and was limited to just 5 carries because of it. Kyle got more touches and made the most of it. Monangai ended up getting 30 carries for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Those 146 yards were the second-best running performance in the league this week, behind only the 177 yards from Kenneth Walker III of Kansas City. Those 146 yards for Kyle were his new career high mark. For a second round pick, it was the 2nd time this year he's ran for 100 or more yards. He's really making a name for himself and making it a pretty even balance with him and Swift getting touches.

Worst: Beno Smith, Quarterback New York Jets
We just touched on this above with the Jets loss to the Bears. Sure, Monangai had himself a day, but the Jets defense managed to be able keep the Jets in the game. it was the offense that failed the Jets here. Mostly Geno Smith. What the Jets had seen out of Geno the first three weeks kind of reminded the fans why the Jets took him in the 2nd round and showed flashes that he could be a solid QB. What we saw against the Bears was a different story. To be fair, not having Breece Hall and a solid running game didn't make this day any easier. But Geno didn't show those same flashes we saw the first couple of games. He went just 8 of 15 for 119 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown, which was a 58 yard strike to Isaih Willaims when the game was already out of hand, accounted for a big chunk of his passing yards on the day. Look the Jets weren't expected to be good this season, but if they don't want to look like total garbage, Geno needs to return to the first three weeks form.

Best: Will Reichard, Kicker Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota managed to stay undefeated this week, beating the hapless Dolphins 15-10. In a game that featured a solid performance from TJ Hockenson having 119 yards on 13 catches, he wasn't able to find the endzone. The big story of this day was Will Reichard, the Vikings kicker. He provided all the scoring for Minnesota on this day, going five for five kicking field goals. The longest one of the day was from 50 yards out. Oh yeah, Reichard has accounted for 35 of the Vikings 47 points since week two. And to make this better, he hasn't missed a kick since October of last year. That was having a day and helping keep the Vikings at an unbeaten record.

Worst: Cincinnati Bengals Running Game
It seemed like only one part of the Bengals offensive gameplan decided to show up on Sunday. Cincinnati fell to Jacksonville 22-17, dropping their record to 2-2 on the year. Joe Burrow did all that he could to keep the Bengals in the game. he threw for 428 yards. At the same time he had to throw 54 passes, completing 39 of them. Why is that? Because the Bengals running game did NOTHING. As a team, the had 15 carries for 23 yards. Burrow completed more passes than the Bengals had rush yards. There was barely using the run game, and then there was this. It was total abandoning the run game. There's a lot of potential in Cincinnati to do something this season, but if that is to be realized, they have to use the running game more.