Well here we now sit a quarter of the way through the season in the National Football League. There's only one unbeaten team still left standing and that is the Kansas City Chiefs. The AFC East has been turned on its head with the Bills leading the charge at 3-1, while the Patriots sit in the middle of the pack at 2-2. The Jets won a second straight game, while the Titans, who had to battle injuries in this game, got blown out by Houston. It was just one of those weeks around the league where you kind of go, what just happened? Every year we get one or two of those weeks during the season. Well with that being said, here's some of the best and worst from week four in the NFL.
Best:
New York Jets Running Game
Its been an interesting first quarter of the season for the Jets, to say the least. They got beat the first two games, then come back to win the next two, including an overtime thriller against a very inconsistent Jacksonville team. The Jets did a little of everything on Sunday, driving Blake Bortles crazy, the quarterback play of Josh McCown went pretty well. But the biggest step forward of the day was the play of the running game, between Elijah McGuire and Bilal Powell. McGuire broke off a 69 yard run for a score and finished the day with 10 carries for 95 yards. Not to be outdone, Powell scored on a 75 yard run, untouched mind you, to get the Jets on the board, and he finished with 21 carries for 163 yards and that touchdown. Powell's 163 was the best numbers by any back in the league this week. Here's hoping they do it again next week against Cleveland.
Worst:
Tennessee Titans
It happens in the NFL once in a while, every team has it. So you have a bad week. Sometimes a bad game can even get away from you on that rare occasion. But I don't think anybody expected it to be this bad of a week. Tennessee got blown out by Houston this week in a 57-14 drubbimg. It was a way of Houston showing that they are still the team to beat in the AFC South. now you have to give credit where its due, the Titans have done a little better to try and improve the football team. And it has shown flashes that they are on the rise. They got put back in there place in a rude way by Houston. And to try and make matters worse, Marcus Mariota suffer a hamstring injury that he’ll get an MRI on. If Mariota misses time, the Titans aren’t going to win much with Matt Cassel. It doesn't look good for the Titans.
Best:
Le'Veon Bell, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
There had been some question marks about the play of Le'Veon Bell, as his holdout from camp kept him from getting in game shape. It showed over his first couple of starts this season. This week, in the Steelers 26-9 win over the Ravens, Bell went off. He proved to the rest of the football world that he was back in game shape. He had 42 receiving yards on four catches and carried the ball 35 times for 144 yards and scored twice. Those 186 yards of total offense really carried the team, because Antonio Brow was held to 34 yards (and a sideline hissy fit) and Big Ben managed to throw for 216 yards. So it really had to be all on Bell and he showed that he had no problem picking up the slack and taking over the game, something he's done so well in the past.
Worst:
Danny Trevathan, Linebacker Chicago Bears
He's not a dirty player, and hasn't been over the course of his career. At least not to the same level as some of his other defensive peers. Trevathan had a nasty looking helmet-to-helmet hit on Davante Adams Thursday night, which is totally unacceptable and has no place in today’s NFL. It caused an injury to Adams and could cost him to miss some playing time possibly. Trevathan got a two game suspension at first from the NFL, but now it appears it has been knocked down to one. It was a bone headed play and its the type of play that the league is trying to corral and take out of the sport. Its been tough on defensive players to try to adjust to and Trevathan hadn't quite got the memo yet.
Best:
Cam Newton, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
Over the first few weeks of the season, Cam Newton didn't really look like himself. But he manged to find a way to pull it all together on Sunday, helping lead the Panthers to a surprise 33-30 win over the Patriots. He started out shaky, having one of his passes early on picked off by Malcolm Butler. newton finally found a handle on the ball and was able to help lead Carolina to victory. He finished the day going 22 of 29 for 316 yards, three touchdowns and a pick. Those yards totals were good enough for fourth best in the league this week by a quarterback. It was the first time this year that it really seemed that the former MVP had really gotten into a groove. I think he needed a game like this to get his game back, because it came at the expense of the weakest defense in the league. Now the question is, can he keep it going next week.
Worst:
Matt Ryan, Quarterback Atlanta Falcons
You almost kind of had a feeling the wheels were going to fall off for Atlanta at some point, but I think few were expecting it to happen against Buffalo. A lot of credit has to go to the Bills for playing as well as they did down in Hot Lanta. But some of the blame has to fall on Matt Ryan. He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble while going 24 of 42 for 242 yards. The three turnovers turned out to be quite costly. All of them occurred in the second half and they all turned into points for Buffalo. It was just a terrible performance by one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, who doesn’t usually have these types of games, especially at home. Hopefully he can rebound fast and get Atlanta back on track.
Best:
New Orleans Saints Defense
Its strange to really say that the Saints have had a defense that has looked good over the last couple of weeks. Well it has actually happened. First, look at what they did to Carolina last week. They just made the Panthers look uncomfortable and like he was never really set in what he wanted to do. Then this week, they do the same thing to Jay Cutler and pitch a shutout in a 20-0 win over the Dolphins in London. There's some talent on that Saints defense. Cameron Jordan is a fantastic end to watch play, with his speed and maneuverability. Cornerback Marshon Lattimore has been living up to the ability of being made a first round pick. Guys like linebacker A.J. Klein and cornerback Ken Crawley are playing hard and made plays Sunday. It’s hard to believe the Saints can keep this up all season, but they have to be thrilled to see some hope from a unit that has been a debacle for years.
Worst:
Los Angeles Chargers
I almost feel like the Chargers may be a tad cursed. Its bad enough that the Chargers are now 0-4, following their 26-24 loss to the Eagles at home on Sunday. That's not even the worse part. What's worse is how empty and outnumbered the Chargers are in their own stadium. See as things are set up right now, they are supposed to get a new stadium to share with the Rams, but that won't be ready until 2020. Right now, the Chargers are playing in a soccer stadium that holds 27,000, but the Chargers consider a crowd of 25,374 to be a sellout, because they appear to be using tarps to reduce the stadium’s seating. It sometimes happens when unsold seats need to get covered up. A team hasn't played in this small a stadium since the Packers moved into Lambeau Field in 1957. Oh and the Chargers say that the seats don't look empty. Don't know exactly what your watching but trust me they are. And yeah the crowd also sounded like mostly Eagles fans as well so don't give me that. The team sucks and the stadium isn't selling. The Chargers need help.
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