Each week within the NFL season brings a bunch of recent questions … and solutions some outdated ones, too. Let’s run down what we realized in Week 4 … and what we’ll be questioning about in Week 5 and past.
ASKED: So, uh … what’s up with Patrick Mahomes?
Let’s start with this: The Chiefs are 4-0. Any time you’re undefeated on the quarter-pole of the season, you’re doing simply high-quality. That stated … Patrick Mahomes just isn’t precisely Patrick Mahomes this season. He’s seventeenth in passer score, twelfth in completion share, ninth in yards per recreation and 14th in yards per try. Solely Anthony Richardson has thrown extra interceptions than Mahomes’ 5. These are the sorts of numbers that can put you within the playoff dialog … however that’s about it. This season resides proof of the concept 70 p.c of Mahomes is value one hundred pc of some other quarterback.
Nevertheless it’s one other cliche about Mahomes — that he might flip three receivers off the road right into a world-beating corps — the place Kansas Metropolis might run into bother. Rashee Rice, the staff’s main receiver, is out indefinitely with what . Add that to the losses of Hollywood Brown and Isiah Pacheco, and it’s a grim run. The one different Chiefs receivers with greater than 100 yards receiving on the season are rookie Xavier Worthy and perpetual is-he-washed query mark Travis Kelce. An elite Mahomes can increase up an unremarkable receiving corps. However what’s going to an unremarkable Mahomes do with an nameless receiving corps?
ANSWERED: Whether or not the Commanders are legit
After we’re judging high quality, sure groups get the good thing about the doubt because of their current pedigree. The Bengals, as an example, are an ordinary-as-hell staff, however because of their previous couple of years, there’s this persistent presumption that they’ll determine all of it out simply high-quality. (Will they? TBD.) The reverse additionally applies — when a staff is simply roadkill-nasty for 3 many years, it takes an terrible lot to reverse our expectation that they’ll as soon as once more stink up the division.
However maybe it’s time for us to forged apart our outdated assumptions about Washington’s soccer staff, to wave off the final lingering stench of Daniel Snyder, the leaky-sewage pipes of FedEx Area, the turf that value Robert Griffin III his knees, and all of the ignominious current historical past of this franchise. With the Dan Quinn regime, Kliff Kingsbury’s playcalling, Jayden Daniels’ debut, and the sudden and dramatic decline of NFC East high quality, it is a 3-1 staff that has a reputable shot on the division title. And we will lastly be ok with rooting for his or her success, too. Oh, and talking of Daniels …
ASKED: Do the Bears remorse selecting Caleb Williams over Jayden Daniels?
Right here it’s, the 2024 season’s first nice post-draft what-if. Via 4 video games, Daniels has been merely spectacular, delivering past what anybody presumably might have anticipated. (When you knew that Daniels was going to submit the very best completion price in NFL historical past by way of 4 video games, go get your self a job as an NFL GM, proper now.) In the meantime, Williams has been unspectacular — throwing extra interceptions (4) than he has touchdowns (3). Sure, sure, small pattern dimension, however you realize the query is chickening out within the Windy Metropolis … did Chicago make one other mistake in deciding on a quarterback? Everyone knows in regards to the resolution to take Mitchell Trubisky when Mahomes was nonetheless on the board — and apparently , too — so has Chicago missed out on a 3rd straight all-everything quarterback? It’s means too early to jot down off Williams — or write on Daniels, for that matter — however early on, there’s absolutely a creeping dread winding its means by way of Da Fanbase.
ANSWERED: Whether or not the Ravens are again
Each time an honest staff begins the season 0-2, the identical statistics about how few 0-2 groups make the playoffs bubble up. And each single season, an 0-2 staff stomps by way of its subsequent few video games and wipes everybody’s reminiscence of their ugly begin. Nobody can stomp fairly like Derrick Henry, and that’s precisely what occurred Sunday night time towards the Payments. Henry dropped 199 yards — together with an 87-yard landing — proper on the skulls of the no-really-this-is-the-year Payments. Combining Lamar Jackson’s skillset with a reputable menace at operating again is a potent one-two punch, and also you’ve acquired a staff that’s again within the higher echelon of the AFC, proper the place it should be.
ASKED: Is Aaron Rodgers now simply … abnormal?
When you’re a wagering fan — and the NFL now expects you to be — you wouldn’t make an entire lot of cash on Jets props like “Aaron Rodgers squabbling together with his coach” and “Aaron Rodgers trying like a pale inexperienced shadow of his MVP period.” Apparent or not, that’s the place we at the moment are with Rodgers and the Jets. After final week’s #HugGate, the place Rodgers from head coach Robert Saleh, we now have #CadenceGate, the place Rodgers and Saleh are shading one another over. The Jets constructed their staff round Rodgers, and his numbers have been aggressively abnormal by way of the primary 4 weeks of the season. A playoff berth isn’t out of the query, however the Jets are a good distance from the elite tier of the AFC, and Rodgers might want to step up massive to steer them there.
ANSWERED: Whether or not Baker Mayfield is the reply in Tampa Bay
When Cleveland declined to supply Baker Mayfield a long-term contract extension in 2021, the decision appeared clear — ex-Heisman Trophy winner who’d hit his expertise ceiling within the execs. Because it turned out — and as we must always have most likely identified on the time — this was extra an indictment of the Browns’ analytical capabilities than Mayfield’s expertise. Following a pair cups of espresso in Los Angeles and Carolina, Mayfield ended up in Tampa Bay as, successfully, a rebound relationship after the lack of Brady. Lo and behold, Mayfield has was a legit menace, hurling extra touchdowns thus far than anybody this facet of Sam Darnold. He ranks within the high 10 in all main statistical passing classes, and Tampa Bay is as soon as once more a good playoff contender. It’s one of many extra outstanding profession resurrections — once more, this facet of Sam Darnold — and Tampa Bay is feeling an entire lot extra assured about its quarterback than numerous NFC groups.
ASKED: Are the Eagles going to overlook the playoffs?
It appears bizarre to say that the Eagles are in bother, provided that they’re one Saquon Barkley dropped cross from being 3-1, however there’s little on this staff that conjures up confidence. Accidents have annihilated the receiving corps, Jalen Hurts is underperforming, and Nick Sirianni is bringing all of the inspirational hearth of an unplugged tv. Mix that with a checked-out efficiency towards Tampa Bay and a divisional rivalry with the intensely centered Commanders, and also you’ve acquired the potential for a spiraling season. Thankfully for Philly, there are 4 straight winnable video games forward — Cleveland, the Giants, Cincinnati and Jacksonville — that can give the Eagles the possibility to get proper. Something lower than 3-1 in that run and Eagles followers will likely be climbing the lightpoles.
ANSWERED: Whether or not that is the brand new regular for the Patriots
1 / 4-century of astounding success tends to obliterate all reminiscence of historic futility, however right here’s the reality: Earlier than Brady and Belichick, the Patriots have been horrible, and it seems that after Brady and Belichick, they’re fairly horrible too. The Week 1 victory over Cincinnati now appears extra like a harbinger of doom for the Bengals than an indication of progress for the Patriots. New England is averaging 13 factors a recreation and has no discernible quarterback play, a few stats that don’t precisely jibe with the nice ol’ days in Foxborough. However with all these New England Tremendous Bowl rings nonetheless very a lot within the residing reminiscence of each NFL fan over the age of three, the Patriots gained’t get any sympathy from the remainder of the league till, oh, 2035.
