From New England Patriots’ struggles against the Buffalo Bills to an outstanding performance by Chicago Bears’ Jordan Howard, there was no shortage of talking points as the new NFL season completed its fourth week.
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PATRIOTS NOT PERFECT
It’s easy to point at New England’s woes in losing 16-0 to Buffalo and pin them on Jacoby Brissett, but the third-string quarterback was far from the only reason the Pats suffered a first loss. There just wasn’t any execution on either side of the ball and though the defence allowed just 16 points, they couldn’t get off the field when they needed to.
RAMS’ D-LINE IS SWARMING
Even though it’s fair to do a double-take when looking at Los Angeles’ 3-1 record, the defence has been as good as advertised. The strength of the team is the defensive line and that unit is single-handedly winning games for them and causing havoc for opposing quarterbacks. It’ll be difficult to sustain, but it’s been enough so far.
HOWARD A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
It’s early, but Chicago may have found their Matt Forte replacement in a fifth-round rookie. In his first start, running back Jordan Howard had 132 total yards against Detroit and was deemed “outstanding” by head coach John Fox, who has a history of not trusting young players. Howard certainly looked dynamic and is an instant upgrade over Jeremy Langford.
TITANS ONE-DIMENSIONAL
This can’t be what Tennessee were hoping to see from Marcus Mariota in his sophomore campaign. The young quarterback has been wildly ineffective despite having a strong running game to lean on. He doesn’t exactly have the greatest weapons at his disposal, but for being the ‘quarterback of the future’, he’s been a disappointment, whichever way you cut it.
DENVER DON’T MISS A BEAT
Just when Trevor Siemian was picking up steam, he cruelly was sent to the sidelines with an injury. Fortunately for the Broncos, Paxton Lynch looked more than capable in his relief appearance. The rookie showed his mobility, a strong arm and maybe most importantly, a lack of hesitation to attack. With that defence, he won’t be needed to do much.