Best & Worst NFL Week Four

We are through the first quarter of the season in the NFL and we got a lot to talk about. We have six unbeatens still standing in Tennessee, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Green Bay and Seattle. At the other end of the spectrum, Atlanta, Houston and both New York teams are still seeking their first win of the year. The NFC East appears to be one of the weakest in the league, while the AFC North appears to be one of the toughest. Dak goes off again, but Dallas still can't, for whatever reason, seem to be able to get a break for him. Thursday night's game was just horrible football to watch all the way around. Seems like that's starting to become a recurring theme with some teams. Lets not waste any more time and lets dive right into it. Here's some of the best and worst from week four in the NFL.

Best:

George Kittle, Tight End San Francisco 49ers

I know I've been doing this quite a bit this season, putting players in this category when their team loses, but I'd be a fool not to put Kittle here. Sure the 49ers fell 25-20 to the Eagles, but it wasn't for lack of effort on George's part. Mullens threw for 200 yards on the day (more on him in a moment), with 183 of those yards being caught by his tight end, who did it all on 15 catches. He also had one of those catches go for a touchdown. To say that Kittle was performing like a man possessed would be an understatement for the Niners. He was the go to target for Mullens and almost got San Francisco the win over the Eagles. He's only one guy and he can do only so much. it was an outstanding performance never the less

Worst:

Nick Mullens, Quarterback San Francisco 49ers

As touched on above, it was a rough day for the Niners QB, who through for 200 yards and two picks including the worst INT in the history of football, throwing to a wide open Alex Singleton (who plays for the Eagles) that was returned for a TD. He had a god awful day on the field. he was replaced at times by CJ Beathard, who had a slightly better day then Mullens did. Without Jimmy G under center, this is what the Niners have to go with at QB. He played pretty well during his first nine career starts, but at the end of start ten, it all started coming apart for Mullens. Now Kyle Shanahan has to figure out who's going to start next week.

Best:

Odell Beckham Jr, Wide Receiver Cleveland Browns

This was really his best game he's ever played in a Browns uniform. Cleveland beat Dallas 49-38 and Beckham was a key player for the Browns. He finished with 154 yards from scrimmage, with five catches for 81 yards and two runs for 73 yards, including a big 50 yard for a score. He showed great speed and moves that haven't been flashed in quiet some time. Beckham was at the top of his game on Sunday and helped the Browns seal the win over Dallas. Lets put it this way. Through the first three games of the year, Beckham had 155 yards and one score total. He almost matched that in week four alone. Maybe this is a sign that he's turned the corner for the Browns and the rest of the league is on notice.

Worst:

NFC East Teams

We touched on it at the top, this is by far the worst division in all of football through the first quarter of the season. Giants are winless, and the other three clubs have one win each. The only team to win this week was the Eagles, who beat San Francisco to move to 1-2-1 which is good enough for first place in the division. Dallas was down by 27 at one point to Cleveland before losing by 11. Washington is on a three game losing skid, after losing by two scores to the ravens. Meanwhile the Giants are fighting it out with the Jets for the worst record in the league, after losing a slogging game to the Rams. Things aren't looking all that pretty for the East right now.

Best:

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

I feel so bad for Dak man. As talked about a little before, Dallas lost 49-38 to Cleveland, but it sure as hell wasn't for lack of effort on Dak's part. He had another eye popping week in the stats department. Sunday he went 41 of 58 for 5012 yards, four touchdowns and a pick. And STILL the poor guy can't get a win under his belt. Dak has thrown for over four hundred yards each of the last three weeks and has thrown for three or more touchdowns in back to back weeks. the only win he has to show for it was a one point win over a chocking Atlanta in week two. I feel so bad for Dak, with these kid of performances, he deserves a better fate then what he's got through the first quarter of the season.

Worst:

Bill O'Brian, Head Coach Houston Texans

After starting this season 0-4, Bill O'Brian is now on the outside looking in for jobs in the league. Houston fell 31-23 to Minnesota on Sunday, leaving this team winless. They were a playoff team a year ago and looked like they could be on their way to finally turning that corner and being a serious threat for AFC title contention at the end of the year. Everything seems to have fallen apart for the Texans, and the team needed a fall guy. Happens to be O'Brian that become that fall guy, being outed as Head Coach and General Manager. He made some questionable moves in the front office too, trading away some valuable draft picks that could have been used to help plug holes on this team.

Best:

Joe Burrow, Quarterback Cincinnati Bengals

Welcome to the NFL winners circle Joe Burrow. The top pick from this year's draft finally earned his first win in the NFL, leading the Bengals to a 33-25 win over the Jaguars (we got a little more to get to on this game coming up). Burrow finished the day against the Jags going 25 of 36 for 300 yards, a touchdown and a pick. With the 300 yard day, Burrow became the first rookie to ever throw for 300 or more yards in three consecutive games. He's completed a shade over 65% of his passes this season. Sure he's made a few rookie mistakes this year, but that naturally comes with the territory of being a rookie QB in this league. Cincinnati is a little ways away from being a major player in the AFC, but it's starting to look like they're heading in the right direction. They may have finally found their man under center.

Worst:

Arizona Cardinals

Everything was supposed to be in place for Arizona this season. They got the QB in Murray, the traded for and landed, one of the top receivers in this league in DeAndre Hopkins. They had the pieces in place to look like a team that was going to turn the corner and join the likes of San Francisco and Seattle at the top of the NFC West and be a contender. They must have missed the memo this week, falling 31-21 to Carolina, and dropping to 2-2 on the year. The Panthers beat them up, and did so without Christian McCaffery in the lineup. All this coming after the Cards had started the year off at 2-0.

Best:
Joe Mixon, Running Back Cincinnati Bengals

For the top rushing performance in the league this week, we gotta go back to the Bengals 33-25 win over Jacksonville. Joe Mixon was a beast on the day, with 25 carries for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also added in 30 receiving yards to finish with 181 all purpose yards for the day, helping power the offense and allowing Joe Burrow to taste victory at this level for the very first time. Going to be a bit more of a challenge next week against a tough ravens defense, but this is one game where Mixon had to play big, and he did.

Worst:

Matt Patricia, Head Coach Detroit Lions

Been a bit of a tough go of it for the Lions this year. Sunday's 35-29 loss to the Saints stung, and now puts the Lions winless on home field. To make matters worse, all three games the Lions have lost this year have come at the expense of leads. They've had leads in all three games and blown them. This has to fall at the feet of the coaching staff. I mean Matt Patricia is supposed to be a pretty good defensive coach, with that you'd think the Lions would be able to hold leads. That hasn't really been happening much this year.