Must watch games of Week 4 in the NFL: Saints-Falcons, Jags-Texans, Vikings-Packers, Bills-Ravens
The first month of the NFL season is almost in the books and we have some surprise undefeated teams, and a few other surprising winless teams.
Three weeks into the season and still nothing is clear. Some teams remain undefeated, some teams are still searching for their first win and those in the middle are fighting for early season playoff positioning. We still don’t know if the Seahawks and Vikings are as good as they look or if the Bengals and Jaguars are as bad as they have looked in the first month of the season. One thing we do know, is the farther we get into the season the easier it will be to distinguish the pretenders from the contenders. Here are our must see match ups for this weekend.
New Orleans vs. Atlanta Falcons Sunday, Sept. 29 @ 1:00 p.m. ET
Last year no one would have batted an eye at this NFC South match up, but suddenly there is a three-team race in a division that looks to be one of the toughest in the NFC. New Orleans looked like the best team in the league for the first two weeks of the season scoring 92 points in back to back blowout wins. They kept it close with the Eagles last week, narrowly missing out on a third straight win and an express pass to the “league’s best teams” conversation. Now they will have a chance to make amends in Atlanta against a Falcons team that is much better than their 1-2 record would suggest.
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons lost their season opener to the Steeles in an ugly game from Mercedes Benz Stadium, but that loss doesn’t look as bad considering the Steelers are 3-0. They would respond in Week 2 with a dramatic comeback win in the last 90 seconds of the game to take down the Eagles in Philly, before taking the Chiefs to the finish line last week on Sunday Night Football. Some would argue the Falcons were a pass interference flag away from winning that game, but despite the loss, this Falcons team has showed they are going to be a team to worry about in the NFC, especially when Kirk Cousins starts feeling 100%.
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston Texans, Sept. 29 @ 1:00 p.m. ET
The Houston Texans got embarrassed last week in Minnesota. We haven’t seen them look that bad in a game since C.J. Stroud and DeMeco Ryans came to town, so I’m interested to see how this young team responds to adversity. Houston was picked as one of the favorites to contend with the Chiefs in the AFC, but in their first real test of the season they get waxed by what looked to be a much better team in the Vikings. They return home this Sunday for a division rival who is wounded, desperate and in need of a win.
The Jags start to the season has been the most surprising, and frankly embarrassing, of any team in the NFL (along with the Bengals). They lost their first two games by a combined eight points, which isn’t totally pathetic, but they looked uninspired in those games. The offense stunk as Trevor Lawrence and his record breaking contract extension have failed to figure out how to score points in the red zone. Now they are backed into a corner with no other option but to win, or heads will role in Jacksonville.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers, Sept. 29 @ 1:00 p.m. ET
Will Jordan Love be back or won’t he? That’s the big question heading into Sunday afternoon’s matchup from Lambeau Field. The Packers lost their QB1 in the opening game of the season when he suffered a knee injury that looked like it might keep him out for an extended period of time. Luckily for the Packers, the injury wasn’t too bad and even more luckily for the Packers, Malik Willis and the Green Bay defense rattled off two straight wins to set up this mouth watering match up in the Tundra.
Are the Vikings the best team in the league after three weeks? You wouldn’t hear me arguing against that claim. I know it’s early, but the Vikings defense has been second only to the Steelers to start the season. The only difference between Minnesota and Pittsburgh, is the Vikes actually have an offense that can put up points. With back to back “upsets” over San Fran and the Houston, the Vikings have beaten two of the NFL’s elite teams, and now look to take control of the NFC North with an early season “must win” division game.
Denver Broncos vs. New York Jets, Sept. 29 @ 1:00 p.m. ET
Sure the Broncos are coming off a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that shocked a lot of people around the league. Bo Nix looked like the quarterback that Sean Payton has been preaching he is to people in Denver as the defense led the Broncos to their first win of the season. It was a good win, and nice to take the pressure off of Nix’s shoulders after a couple of rough weeks, but this match up is must see TV for the off the field story more than anything.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton came to the Mile High City and started running his mouth immediately. He took shots at anyone he could, but especially targeted now Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who was the coach in Denver before Payton took over. Payton said it was “one of the worst coaching jobs in NFL history” before the admitted he regretted saying that. These two teams played last year, but Aaron Rodgers wasn’t on the field. Hackett is Rodgers’ guy. They worked in Green Bay for a long time and now Rodgers has Hackett’s offense rolling in New York. There will be a little extra incentive for Rodgers and Hackett to demolish Denver, and what will really be interesting are the handshakes after the game.
Buffalo Bills vs. Baltimore Ravens, Sept. 29 @ 8:20 p.m. ET
This is without a question the marquee match up of Week 4, and it’s going to be spotlighted in primetime on Sunday night. The Bills have silenced the narrative of their Super Bowl window closing after offloading basically all of Josh Allen’s weapons in the offseason. He’s got a new case of characters and all they have done is go 3-0 through three weeks with back to back blow out wins as Josh Allen has leap frogged Patrick Mahomes and company as the early season favorite to win the NFL MVP.
Speaking of MVP, the quarterback on the other side of the field knows something about winning the MVP. Lamar Jackson has won it twice, and now hoping to lead his team to a second straight win after a disappointing start to the season. After a loss to the Chiefs in the season opener and an unbelievable collapse against the Raiders, Ravens faced a must win match up in Dallas last week and they stomped the Cowboys. There was never a sense of panic in Baltimore, and it showed last week at AT&T Stadium. We know the Chiefs are an elite team in the AFC, but after that it gets a little murky. The winner of this game won’t be in the same category as KC just yet, but they will be inching in the right direction.