NFL: Five Week 4 Thoughts

 What a week! The NFL season goes by so quick. I love when week 4 is done because you now get a good sense of who's good and who's bad, records aside. As always, this is my reaction to the week of football. I was thinking yesterday, it's pretty biased towards the games that I watched and players that I care about, but that's why it's my blog right? Who's even complaining about this? Enough rambling, lets get into it: 

Mason Rudolph

I'll always have a soft spot for Mason after he came in at the end of last season and wasn't actively terrible like the rest of the QBs the Steelers trotted out there. Mason isn't going to light the world on fire, he won't throw for 400 yards and 4 TDs to win you a shoot out and he's not going to tear it up with his legs. What he is though is a nice reliable backup QB. When Levis went out with an injury early in the Monday nighter against the Dolphins, I was remarking that it was a blessing in disguise for the Titans. Mason Rudolph's stats don't jump off the page, he didn't even have 100 yards. But the thing he did do, which Will Levis can't seem to, is take care of the football. Sometimes winning in the NFL is just not making mistakes that your opponent can capitalize on. There's not much to analyze here I get it, beating the Dolphins with their injuries isn't exactly an inspiring victory, but I am happy Mason got another chance. 

I think Mason Rudolph is going to be in the league for a long time as a backup QB. He's your classic top 40 QB in the league, won't win you a game outright but if your starter goes down you can rely on him in a pinch. This is the hallmark of a nice backup QB, something I like to celebrate on this blog. 

Fine, The Ravens are Good

I had so much fun last week talking shit about the Ravens and the Bengals. It brings me so much joy to see my Steelers' rivals struggle early. Deep down though I knew at least for the Ravens that things would be turning around shortly. At least I had my fun while it lasted. 

Oh man the Ravens are back. I thought the Sunday night game would be the best of the week. I spent so much time last week talking about Josh Allen and the Bills  just for them to lay a complete egg against the Ravens. The Ravens defense is starting to put it together, holding the high powered Bills offense to just 236 yards. Derrick Henry looks absolutely terrifying again, he now has 151 and 199 yards in back to back weeks, which opens up everything else for the Ravens offense. As the Ravens continue to get more comfortable, they are starting to settle in to what people expected, one of the biggest threats to the Chiefs this season. This desperate Steelers fan can only hope their defense reverts to what it was to start the year. 

Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders

Ok that's it, it's settled, write down Jayden Daniels' name because it's one football fans will need to remember for a long time. The NFL media and fans alike are rightfully weary to crown a Commanders QB as a franchise guy too early. I even said last week that I don't think they've had anyone even close to that in my lifetime. Jayden Daniels is about to change all of that. The arm talent and athleticism is matched with IQ and will to win, a combination only seen in the top QBs in the league. Jayden Daniels now through 4 starts has a stellar 82% completion percentage, 224 yards per game through the air, a 107.4 passer rating and tacks on an additional 54 yards per game on the ground. These numbers are elite for anyone, let alone a rookie starting for a traditionally unstable franchise. More importantly though, the Commanders are 3-1 and it still feels like nobody is talking about them. The massive blow out victory over the Cardinals this week only indicates to me that the team is gaining confidence. If Jayden Daniels keeps playing like this, and there's no reason why he shouldn't, the Commanders are contenders not only this year but for the foreseeable future. Something I never thought I'd say. 

 

The Browns are Cooked

Yay back to joyfully shitting on my Steelers' division rivals! Credit where credit is due, the Raiders are actually sneaky tough this season. They've pulled off a couple of upset victories now and sit at 2-2. They won't be winning the division or making much noise in the playoffs, but they will be a pain in the ass to beat. Regardless, the Browns lose their third game of the year to drop to 1-3 and Deshaun Watson has looked absolutely terrible in all 4 games. Just for fun because I'm in the mood to pile on to the ineptitude of the Browns front office, Baker Mayfield through 4 games has 8 TDs, 246 YPG and a 106.9 passer rating to go 3-1. Deshaun Watson through 4 games: 4 TDs, 181 YPG and a 74.4 passer rating to go 1-3. There's something so sweet about seeing Mayfield be the guy immediately after the Browns tossed him aside for a terrible replacement and even worse human. My early prediction is that the Browns bench Watson by midway through the season, a massive embarrassment for their front office but the right move if they want to start winning football games again.

And Then There Were Two

Only 2 undefeated teams remain in the NFL through 4 weeks, a pretty amazing display of parity if you ask me. The Chiefs have gotten pretty lucky in all of their games, you can blame officiating for that or just chalk it up to their ability to get it done when the chips are down. The Vikings are the biggest surprise of the season, but as the weeks have gone on it's become clear that they are actually just a good team. The Vikings seem to breed great receivers of course with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison headlining the great group. Brian Flores is an awesome defensive coordinator who is scheming up a storm confusing opposing offenses. Sam Darnold is in early MVP talks, a resurgence absolutely nobody was thinking about to start the year. Which of these 2 teams will be the first to lose? KC is facing a massively unfortunate injury to Rashee Rice who was off to a very promising start to his season, thinning out their WR room even more than it was. The Vikings nearly collapsed to blow the game against the Packers after going up 28-0 in the first half. Neither of these teams are perfect as they stand right now, but the records still suggest otherwise. 

Side note, there is also only 1 team with 0 wins on the season so far and that is the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags came into the season with higher hopes than this and are now off to a disastrous start. The parity in the league is better than ever, any team can win any given Sunday and as football fans, we might need to get our hearts checked. 

That's it! Happy week 4 everyone, can't believe how fast it goes by!