Week 4 in the NFL

It's Week 4, the first week of the season that Bye week's impact the schedule.  A week of rest for Dallas, KC, Minnesota and Tampa Bay.

• Firing their OC hasn't done much to improve the 49ers offense.  They started out well, scoring a 1st quarter TD.  Their defense added another by recovering a blocked punt attempt in the endzone (a remarkable play, not just the block, but the recovery).  They never scored again, blowing a 14-0 lead to Atlanta after a last second FG.
• Everyone's pre-season pick to win the NFC West is off to an abysmal 0-4 start, but don't count them out yet.  The other teams in the division are all 2-2, so making up those 2 games isn't impossible given how terrible the teams ahead of them are.
• How many wins will it take to win the NFC West - 6, 7?  None of these teams seem capable of winning on the road, so it's possible none of them even gets to 8-8.  A sub-.500 team in the playoffs?
• Another impressive win on a game winning FG for Atlanta.  They are looking to give the defending champs a run for their money for the NFC South division crown.
• Either New York was able to find a time machine to bring back the LT from 2006 or... Buffalo's defense is just really bad.  They gave up 273 rushing yards, with both LT and Shonne Greene breaking the 100 yard mark. 
• Greene actually had more carries than LT this week (22-19), but LT did more with his chances and also caught a few passes to even up the total touches.  Plus most of Greene's damage was done during garbage time of this blow out.  Pretty much the entire 2nd half of this game was garbage time.  Ok... maybe the whole game.
• Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team in both carries (7) and rushing yards (74).  So much for the 3 headed Bills rushing attack.
• The Browns actually won a game?  Wow.  I think we can now eliminate the Bengals from the list of playoff contenders.
• Another game that was a blast from the past, with big days for Carson Palmer and TO.  They also lost, so that's another reminder of the old days for the Bungles.
• If you had to guess which pro athlete would be portrayed on a cereal box that "accidentally" listed the number for a phone sex line instead of a children's charity, OchoCinco would have to be a top 5 guess, right? Is this really a surprise? I'm also not sure it was really an accident.
• So if Cleveland has two healthy RBs then they end up splitting the carries and neither does anything. But if one gets nearly 30 carries in a game, as was the case again this week for Hillis with Harrison injured, then they play well.  Similarly, Harrison ran wild the last few weeks of last season as the featured back.  So clearly the strategy for the Browns is to make sure one of their RBs is always injured so the other can be a workhorse.
• The Packers may be 3-1, but they've yet to really be dominant.  Almost blowing a big lead at home to the Lions is not the way to show you are a Super Bowl contender.
• The Lions may be 0-4, but they play hard and have had a couple of close games that make you wonder if they could be a potential spoiler team late in the season by pulling a big upset over a playoff hopeful team.
• The Packers seemed to play the 2nd half as if they already had the game won.  Rodgers only had 17 pass attempts in the game.  You can't run down the clock with your running game when you DON'T HAVE a running game!  After a hot start the offense accomplished nothing and made too many mistakes, which allowed the Lions to chip away at the lead and make this a close game at the end.  Never should have been allowed to happen.  The Packers should have gone for their throats and kept pouring on the lead with their passing game, at least until late in the 4th quarter.  No lead is too safe in the NFL.
• The Broncos offense putting up big passing numbers isn't a surprise given what they've been doing all year.  Their defense containing Chris Johnson for only 53 yards (2.8 yards/carry) is a big surprise.
• When you're RBs combine for 8 yards on 17 carries, but you still win the game, you know the passing game must be clicking.  Kyle Orton is playing like a Pro-Bowler, leading the NFL in passing yardage.
• The Rams are 2-2!  Sam Bradford is playing pretty well, for a rookie.  In a division that is up for grabs, could this team go from worst to first in the division?
• Seattle is a terrible road team.  They looked awful in every aspect of the game.  Justin Forsett didn't do as much damage as he should have against a week rush defense, but at least the team seems to have finally smartened up by giving him the majority of the carries.
• The Saints came back to win a close one with a FG near the end of the 4th quarter.  If they don't make the switch to bring in 46 year old John Carney to be their Kicker, do they still win this game?  Probably not.  They just better hope the oldest player in the league can make it through the rest of the season.  This offense doesn't seem nearly as explosive this year, so they'll need their Kicker to do more than kick a few extra points.
• DeAngelo Williams was looking like a non-factor in the first half, but salvaged his day with a nice 39 yard TD run.  He showed excellent quickness in getting through some narrow holes and making cuts around his blockers to break free.
• Lance Moore had a costly fumble near the goal line early in the game, but made up for it with a TD on the next drive.  Credit Drew Brees for not losing faith in his receiver in the Red Zone.
• The Carolina defense is underrated.  They played well enough to keep their team in this game.  Unfortunately, their offense isn't even good enough to be rated at all.  If the ankle injury to Steve Smith forces him to miss any games then the passing game is going to struggle even more.
• How did Jonathan Stewart get left that wide open on his 55 yard TD reception?  Couldn't tell if it was a bad defensive scheme or a mental error by a defender, but he was so wide open that he could have done cartwheels into the endzone.
• Joe Flacco increased his case to inch his way closer to the discussion of elite QBs in the league with this game winning drive.  The game seemed lost after their drive stalled with an incompletion on 4th and 2 with under 3 minutes to go.  Their defense came up big by stuffing the run three consecutive times to get them the ball back with just over a minute to play.  Flacco drove the offense 40 yards on 4 plays, ending it with an 18 yard strike to TJ Houshmandzadeh for the game winning TD.
• Tough loss for the Steelers, given how superior their defense has looked this season, only to have them fail when they needed them most in the end.  However, the team must be thrilled to have started the season 3-1 with Charlie Batch running the show.  They will get Rothlisburger back for their next game, and have a Bye next week to prepare and integrate him back into the offense.
• The Texans caused wide spread panic throughout the Fantasy Football community (yes, myself included) with an unannounced benching of Arian Foster for the first quarter and a half.  Supposedly it was punishment for skipping a team meeting this week.  Foster still managed an impressive 187 total yards and 2 TDs, so we can't really complain.  But seeing the likes of Derrick Ward and Steve Slaton shred the woeful Oakland defense in the first quarter, we are only left to wonder what could have been had Foster been active for the whole game.
• The Houston passing game could really use Andre Johnson back soon, but AJ80 picked a good game to skip.  He typically doesn't do well when gaurded by Asomugha.  Then again, who does?
• Darren McFadden left early with an injury, potentially derailing his bounce back season.  Hopefully it's not serious, but hamstring injuries have a tendency to linger.
• Shocking upset in Jacksonville, as they beat the Colts on a last second 59 yard FG.  Payton Manning masterfully ran the 2 minute drill once again, scoring the game tying TD with under a minute to go.  Apparently they left just a little too much time left on the clock, because it was enough for Jacksonville to get into FG range.  Who knew that 59 yards would be considered "in range"?
• Big game for Reggie Wayne, as he had a career high 15 catches for 196 yards.  He also had a costly fumble, so it wasn't all good.  He now leads the league in receiving yards with 456.
• Austin Collie now leads the league in TD receptions (5) and is 3rd in receiving yards (398).
• Teams continue to run on the Colts, as MJD becomes yet another RB to break the 100 yard mark against them.
• Donovan McNabb surprisingly received a warm reception during pre-game introductions.  He was booed by the crowd the rest of the afternoon, as the hostile Philly fans watched their former franchise QB defeat his old team.
• Philly QBs were booed more than McNabb.  Never heard a QB booed louder by his home fans in the middle of a potential game winning drive.
• The Philly QB controversy story added another twist.  This time it was Michael Vick leaving early with an injury, with Kevin Kolb filling in.  Kolb did nothing to make the Eagles think he deserves his old job back on a permanent basis.  He looked awful.
• The hits that sandwhiched Vick between two defenders were painful to watch.  What made it worse was that his impressive run, which was stopped just short of the goal line, was called back due to a penatly.  So Vick put his body on the line for nothing.  No way he could have seen the flag, but someone on the sidelines must have known the flag was against them and they should have yelled for Vick to go down safely rather than needlessly sacrifice himself to try to make a play.
• Kolb played it safe upon entering the game.  Too safe.  He rarely even attempted to stretch the field with long passes, instead settling for short passes to the Running Backs.  He seemed incapable of even throwing to his Wide Receivers, completing a total of only 3 passes to DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. 
• Credit the Redskins defensive scheme for using a safety to help take away the deep balls for Jackson, but Kolb was unable to make them pay for it to make them stop doing it.  He doesn't look like an NFL QB so far this season, and may not get many more chances to prove that he is capable.
• Eagles Coach Andy Reid continues to screw up game management.  The delay of game penalty at the end of the first half cost them a chance to try to punch in a short TD from the 1 yard line.  Instead they settled for a FG, which didn't exactly shift momentum in their direction.  That penalty is inexcusable after a time out.  Reid blamed the spot of the ball (which was placed at the 1 yard line before the penalty when it looked like it should have been more like 1 foot from the goal line), while the TV announcers (mostly Tory Aikman) couldn't shut up about how it was the ref's fault for not resetting the play clock properly.  There may be some truth to both of those concerns, but with the extra time during the time out to prepare, they should have been ready in plenty of time.
• It looks like Derek Anderson may have lost his job to an undrafted rookie QB.  Hall didn't do much better when he came into the game, but at least he only turned the ball over once instead of the two turnovers that Anderson had.  So there's progress.
• The Chargers were high on rookie RB Ryan Mathews before the season started, but his stock seems to have dropped.  Maybe it has something to do with the ankle injury that kept him out last week, but Tolbert had the majority of the carries in this game.  Mathews got most of his yardage in garbage time.  If the team was worried about overworking him due to the injury then you'd think it would have been the other way around, by limiting his work once the game was already in hand.  Very strange way for the team to handle the guy they thought was going to be their workhorse back of the future to replace LT.
• Philip Rivers didn't have to throw much (which cost him his league lead in passing yards), but when he did throw it was primarily to Antonio Gates.  He was unstoppable (144 yds, 2 TDs).
• The Giants defense played as tough as we've seen them in a couple of years, as they smothered the Bears with their unrelenting pass rush.  10 sacks!!  I'm not sure if Jay Cutler really left with a concussion or if he was just tired of getting hit and was looking for a way out.  Couldn't blame him. 
• His backup, Todd Collins, was also knocked out with an injury.  Which is probably for the best, because he was about as awful as you could be.  Who knew an 8.1 QB rating was even possible?  He threw one of the ugliest looking Interceptions that you'll ever see, and would have had another one picked off, except the play was called back due to a penalty.  How has this guy been in the league this long?
• Ahmad Bradshaw had a big game running the ball against a solid defense.  He got banged up a little near the end, allowing Brandon Jacobs to steal a few carries to seal the victory.  He needed that finish to try to get himself back in the good graces of his coach, because he was invisible for most of the game.
• It didn't end up costing them due to the Bears' offense being so ineffective, but fumbles were a big problem for the Giants.  Bradshaw can't really be blamed too much for his since he had no way of seeing the defender coming up behind him.  That was just a great play to punch the ball out from behind and prevent a TD after a long run.
• Eli fumbled twice, but one of them was really not his fault.  The QB always gets credited with the fumble on a hand-off to the RB because Jacobs never actually had control, but there was nothing wrong with the hand-off.  It was clearly a case of the wet football squirting out of Jacob's hands before he could get a handle on it.  There were a couple other carries where you could see the ball nearly pop out as well.  He needs to do a better job of holding on to the football.
• The Kansas City Chiefs were on a Bye this week, which has left them as the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL!  How much money could you have won in Vegas betting on that to happen? 
• Dallas is off to a miserable start this season, but they have to be happy to see the rest of their division are all at 2-2, so they are only 1 game back.  Hopefully they can put it together after their Bye week.
• I know it's still early, and they are tied with 2 other teams in their division, but I like seeing the Colts listed in last place in the AFC South.  Still don't see them missing the playoffs, but they might miss their chance at a first round Bye.  They are 0-2 in their division and 1-2 on the road.  Good thing the Pats get to play them in New England this year.
• Tom Brady is taking his talents to South Beach tonight... to play the Dolphins.  He typically struggles playing in Miami, and I don't see how the young Patriots secondary can contain Brandon Marshall.  Wes Welker has had a lot of success against his former team, and Brady has more of a variety of weapons than he has in the past, so this could be a shoot out.  Look for a new article tomorrow discussing this Monday Night game.