Best & Worst Of NFL Week Four

One thing that is known about the NFL is that anything can happen on any given week. One team had gone into the week unbeaten and they got their rear ends handed to them. A quarterback who had been on his game the first three weeks of the season came back down to earth, while another quaterback had a bit of a coming out party. We had wild finishes all over the place this week, with a little bit of bold play calling mixed in. So sit back and check out some of the best and worst from the week that was around the NFL.

Best:
Mitch Trubisky, Quarterback Chicago Bears
When the Bears took Trubisky with the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, they had high expectations for the kid. It took a little while, but Trubisky finally had that first big breakout performance on Sunday in the Bears 48-10 win over the Bucs. He finished the day going 19 of 26 for 354 yards and a very impressive six touchdowns. Oh yeah, its worth noting that five of those six TD passes came in the first half of this game. When you finish with a passer rating of 154.7, it really gets no better then that. He had himself a day and the numbers reflected it. Should he be able to keep up performances anywhere near close to this the rest of the season, the Bears are going to be a tough team to deal with this year.

Worst:
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Quarterback Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Some knew eventually that Fitzmagic would run out. It did on Sunday in the Bucs 48-10 loss to the Bears. Fitzpatrick failed to come anywhere close to the 400 yards passing he had in the first three games of the year. He was even pulled at halftime for the returning Jamies Winston. Winston wasn't much better, throwing a pick during his first drive back under center. Still Fitzpatrick started running out of steam late in week three and he seemed to hit the wall at the start of week four. i know it's in a game against a good defense in the Bears but still. Fitzpatrick may have finally run out of time and luck and given the starting job back to Winston. He had done good in holding the fort down in Tampa, but now he's starting to remind everybody why he hasn't really been able to hold down a solid staring job.

Best:
Ezekiel Elliott, Running Back Dallas Cowboys
Dallas had it's best offensive game of the season on Sunday in a 26-24 win over Detroit. Zek had himself one hell of a day, running wild over the Lions defense. He posted a career-high 240 yards from scrimmage, including a team-high 88 receiving yards, the bulk of that load coming on 25 carries, for 152 rush yards. That rush total was the highest in the NFL this week. Oh yeah, he also had a huge 34 yard run down the right sideline with less then a minute and a half left, a run which would start the drive that set up the game winning field goal. but this game spoke volume for the Cowboys. It shows how much Zek means to this football team. He carried them against Detroit and if the Cowboys want to have any chance at all to be a contending team this season, then they are going to have to find ways to keep feeding Zek the ball.

Worst:
Saquon Barkley, Running Back New York Giants
A week ago, the Giants managed to pick up their first win of the season. A lot of that had to do with the running of Saquon Barkley. Sure the Giants were able to keep it close with the Saints until late, but it wasn't because of a balanced attack. Barkley ended up with 10 carries on the date. New York rushed a total of 12 times. New York ended up throwing the ball 41 times. That's not the fault of Barkley, he could only do so much. Look, much like the Cowboys, the Giants are going to need the run game to be effective. So use Barkley and the wins might start to come along. This isn't a fault of Barkley, this is the play calling. Barkley needs his touches.

Best:
Oakland Raiders
It took a little while this year, but something good finally happened for the Raiders. They weren't outscored in the second half of a game. And it lead to a win to boot, the first one for Jon Gruden back on an NFL sideline in a little over a decade. Derek Carr did alright under center, throwing for 457 yards and four touchdowns. At the same time he was also picked twice and had to throw the ball 58 times during the course of the game. But hey he still had a solid day. As did Marshawn Lynch, who seemed to turn back the clock just a little bit. He finished with 130 rush yards and 157 yards of total offense. Lynch looked like beast mode of old and it was a sight for Raiders fans. Sure, there were things that Raiders fans would like to see the team clean up going forward and it was a bit of an ugly football game but a win is a win no matter how you slice it.

Worst:
Miami Dolphins
Miami came into this week with a 3-0 record, leading some observers to kind of get the feeling that this might be a year for them to overtake the Patriots as the top team in the AFC East. Well, guess again. They squared off against the Patriots and it didn't end well for the fish. The only positive takeaway from the game was that the defense was able to pick off Tom Brady twice. That was really about it. New England came away with a 38-7 win over the Dolphins, who had a very rough day on offense. Miami's attack managed to gain a total of 172 yards and 11 first downs. They weren't able to break the goal line and score until late in the game, which was already out of reach by that point.. The defense missed tackles and assignments, allowing Tom Brady and Co. to score 38 points. , who are either going to bounce back from it or continue to play this brand of football, which clearly didn't work this week.

Best:
Alvin Kamara, Running Back New Orleans Saints
We talked earlier how the Giants didn't feed Barkley. While the Giants couldn't run the ball, the Saints had no problem running the ball. Alvin Kamara had himself a pretty good day on Sunday. He carried the ball 19 times during Sunday’s win, going for 134 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. And, as we’ve grown to expect, Kamara was also a factor as a receiver, hauling in five passes for 47 yards. It's a perfect example of a balanced attack and what the Saints did was use that balanced attack to perfection. Now that Mark Ingram is coming back off suspension, it may make things hard for him to try and get touches. Kamara got the ball and made plays happen and he's going to keep making plays the more he gets touches.

Worst:
Earl Thomas, Safety Seattle Seahawks
Things looked pretty bad for the Seahawks defense on Sunday. Sure, they squeaked out a 20-17 win over the Cardinals, but it came at a bit of a price. Earl Thomas, one of the anchors of the Seahawks defense, is done for the year with a fractured leg. The injury occurred when he dove to try to break up a touchdown pass. As he was getting carted off the field, his leg in an air cast, Thomas flashed a middle finger at the Seattle sideline. It was bad enough that Thomas had held out at the start pf the year looking for a new contract or a trade from Seattle but reported to the team for Week 1 even when the organization didn't blink. Now Thomas will have to work his way back from injury with free agency on the horizon. Seattle could possibly decide to stick him with a franchise tag at the end of this season, but that image of Thomas flicking off the sideline may be the final one of him in a Seahawks uniform. Talk about a two for one punch if your both Thomas and the Seahawks.

Best:
Matt Nagy, Head Coach Chicago Bears
Most of what was said already about the Bears came in the description of Trubisky earlier in this post. But Nagy deserves as much of the credit as his quarterback does here. It was his play calling that opened things up for Trubisky to go off. Nagy dialed up pre-snap motions, misdirection and creative play designs to create mismatches and scheme receivers open. His play calling allowed for Trubisky to do what he did. He also has the Bears sitting at 3-1 and on top of the NFC North, which is one of the tougher divisions to be in right now in the NFL. But Nagy has the Bears sitting in a good spot a month into the seaosn.

Worst:
Todd Bowles, Head Coach New York Jets
After getting off to the hot start that the Jets did in week one, its been a bumpy ride since then. Most people had the Jags beating the Jets on Sunday, which they did 31-12. Some of the decisions that Jets coach Todd Bowles made against the Jags really has to make one wonder what he's thinking. First, down 22 points in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-eight with 12:53 to play from Jacksonville’s 20-yard line, Bowles elected to kick a field goal. Down that much, you gotta show some guts and show you got trust in your rookie QB. Then, down 13 with 4:33 left to play from their own 20-yard line, Bowles opted to punt, giving the Jaguars the ball and the chance to melt the clock. For a guy who's supposed to be a defensive minded coach, the Jags put up 503 yards on the board against the defense. The seat is getting hot for Bowles and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't finish the year if things don't get better.