Winners and Losers: NFL Week 4
WINNER: Jayden Daniels and the Red-Hot Commanders
Jayden Daniels had a successful return to Arizona on Sunday. (Photograph: Mark J Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
If last weekend was a welcoming party for Jayden Daniels, this weekend was a multi-millionaire Los Angeles sweet 16 bash.
Daniels and the Commanders thrashed the Arizona Cardinals in the desert, winning 42-14 behind Daniels’ 233 passing yards and score, plus a nine-yard rushing touchdown.
The rookie joins Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Anthony Richardson as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era with four rushing touchdowns in their first four games, and it’s led to a 3-1 Washington record.
The Commanders’ offense season-low in scoring is 18, and they’ve tallied back-to-back road wins scoring at least 38. Washington hasn’t even had back-to-back games with 30+ points since 2017.
Daniels’ completion percentage is 82%, the best in the league, and the 23-year-old QB has led the Commanders to a scoring drive every drive in the last two weeks, a feat no one since 2000 achieved.
Washington finally returns home this week against the banged-up Cleveland Browns.
LOSER: Nick Sirianni and the Philly Tailspin
Atlanta Falcons v Philadelphia Eagles / Tim Nwachukwu/GettyImages
Heads have been thoroughly scratched in Philadelphia over the last few weeks, now culminating in a 33-16 blowout loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - those same Bucs only managing seven points against the then-1-2 Denver Broncos.
The Eagles still didn’t have their leading receivers AJ Brown and Devonta Smith, clearly hampering the Philly offense with just 158 passing yards from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Eagles wide receivers only caught eight combined passes on Sunday; their leading wideout Grant Calcaterra managed just one catch for 26 yards.
Philly’s offense had just a measly 67 yards at halftime, and a failed comeback dropped Hurts’ record against the Bucs to 1-4.
Head coach Nick Sirianni handles plenty of this blame with the defense unprepared for Tampa Bay’s passing attack and the offense stagnant and slow out of the gates.
However, time is on the Eagles’ side as they rest this Sunday on an early bye week.
WINNER: The Ravens’ Juggernaut Rushing O
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/derrick-henry-gallops-199-rushing-yards-ravens-dominate-bills
Adding Derrick Henry to already one of the NFL’s best rushing offenses was bound to have great success, and so far in 2024, it’s remarkable.
The Baltimore Ravens decimated the Buffalo Bills 35-10 and started with a bang: Henry's 87-yard house call.
The Ravens had 271 team rushing yards (199 from Henry, who averaged 8.3 per carry) compared to just 156 passing. The team averages a whopping 220.3 rushing yards per game, the best in the league by 46.
They also have the longest rush of the season, the highest average per rush, and are tied for the most attempts.
Buffalo now ranked third-to-last in rushing defense after the beating, and Baltimore is first in the league against the run too, allowing a league-low 231 yards and 57.8 yards per carry.
The Ravens now enter their first divisional battle of the year against the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that’s allowed over 145 rushing yards per game, 26th in the league.
LOSER: The Pittsburgh Defense
https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2024/09/29/steelers-show-colors-comeback-attempt-colts-week-4/
Speaking of AFC North defenses, the Pittsburgh Steelers had the best in the entire league entering this week, shutting down team after team to ride to a 3-0 record.
The Indianapolis Colts and old man Joe Flacco changed those tides right up, pulling off a 27-24 home win in place of an injured Anthony Richardson.
The Steelers were down 17-0 late in the first half, their largest deficit of the season, and came back to within a score on a late Justin Fields passing touchdown, his third score of the second half.
The Pittsburgh D forced zero turnovers, allowed 27 points / 133 rushing yards and a 100-yard receiver all for the first time this season.
What’s the most concerning of all for the Steelers is just how easily the Colts managed their win: 5.6 yards per play and 3-5 in the red zone, along with allowing just two sacks for only 14 total yards lost.
Pittsburgh returns home to the Steel City on a tough Sunday Night Football matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, who will likely be without their two best defensive starters in Dexter Lawrence and Micah Parsons.
WINNER: Jared Goff’s Perfection
Jared Goff didn't throw a single incompletion in the Detroit Lions' victory over the Seattle Seahawks. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The Detroit Lions were the final team to finish their Week 4 game, and boy, did they not disappoint in their alternate black jersey debut.
Jared Goff was a remarkable 18-18 passing, shattering a 19-year record set by Kurt Warner.
That’s not all, Goff also caught his first touchdown pass, the toss from star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who caught a Goff TD, too. That makes the duo the eighth in NFL history with touchdowns passed to each other in the same game.
The ninth-year quarterback also had a season-high 16.2 yards per completion, plus a wickedly-high 155.8 rating and 95.1 QBR.
Goff added two touchdown passes and 292 yards, eclipsing the one-thousand mark to rank fifth among all QBs in passing yards.
The Lions had plenty of help through the ground game too, with second-year back Jahmyr Gibbs rushing for 78 yards and two scores, plus another 40 yards and a touchdown from David Montgomery in Detroit’s best offensive day of the season.
LOSER: Breece Hall and the Lost Jets
Breece Hall collected just 18 yards on 12 touches during the Jets’ loss on Sept. 29. (Robert Sabo for the NY Post)
If you’re a fan of explosive offenses, you would hate the Denver Broncos-New York Jets game.
A 10-9 finish in muggy and soaked MetLife Stadium produced only the defenses coming away happy, and the Broncos watching Greg Zuerlein’s 50-yard field goal sail wide right.
The first eight total drives of the game all went for just three plays, finally breaking with a six-play Jets field goal drive.
The biggest loser (besides the fans) was Jets running back Breece Hall, who managed a shockingly low four yards on 10 carries, by far a season low.
Hall had seven carries for negative three yards at the end of the first quarter, including two stuffs at the goal line.
The running back did get two three-yard rushes and a five-yard pass before halftime but did very little in the second half.
The hardest pill to swallow for Hall is the fact he ran wild on the Broncos just a year ago - running for an amazing 177 yards on just 22 carries, highlighted by a 72-yard touchdown.
The road ahead for New York only continues to get bumpier, as they host a top-two rush D in Minnesota, then Buffalo, at Pittsburgh and at New England - all in the top half of running defenses.