NFL Week 4 Recap: Giants’ D-Line Saves Their Season; 49ers, Colts Drop Their Chances at W’s

 A quarter of the way through the season and the only unbeaten team left in the NFL is… the Kansas City Chiefs. Add to that the fact that 21 of 32 teams are either 2-2 or worse, and you have quite an uncertain start to the year.

Let’s recap Week 4 and see whose stars shined the brightest!

- The Giants D-line absolutely crushed the Bears on Sunday night, and might have ruined Chicago’s season in knocking out Jay Cutler and Todd Collins. Cutler has not looked good when pressured, and without any semblance of a running game, teams are going to be sending the heat.

The Giants, meanwhile, nearly blew a chance at a quality win by shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers, including a fumble by Ahmad Bradshaw at the goal-line. Unless they get their turnover problems under control, they will continue to be an unpredictable team.

- Both the Colts and the 49ers had their chances at victories snuffed out by missed opportunities at the end of the game. Nate Clements, in a play that defines the Niners’ season so far, fumbled after what seemed to be a game-clinching interception, giving the Falcons second life and leading to their game-winning field goal. A ton of credit goes to Falcons WR Roddy White, who never gave up on the play and caused the fumble – but Clements should have went to the ground much sooner and not worried about the pick-6.

Meanwhile, the Colts had just tied the game on a typical Peyton Manning drive with under two minutes to play when Colts CB Kelvin Hayden had a potential INT fall to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Josh Scobee of the Jaguars knocked through the 3^rd-longest game-winning field goal in NFL history from 59 yards out to knock off the Colts.

While the losses continue to pile up for San Fran, they still are only 2 games out of the mediocre NFC West lead – even if they don’t look like they’ll be contending anytime soon. And the Colts had better figure out how to win on the road if they don’t want to waste a year with Manning at the helm.

- With so many teams .500 or worse, the teams that have the more impressive records didn’t impress this weekend. The Bears got run over at the New Meadowlands, the Packers hung on for a slim win at home (!) against the Lions, the Falcons needed a last-minute gaffe and a last-second field goal to keep the Niners at bay, the Texans got into a shootout with the Raiders, the Saints continued to look surprisingly ineffective on offense, and the Steelers and Ravens stifled each other until the fourth quarter.

- The only two teams to look impressive were the Jets and the Patriots. Ladainian Tomlinson looks like his old self from 3 years ago, running strong and injury-free behind one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in football. Mark Sanchez has continued to look impressive now that he can throw down the field, but will he need to do it this often if the Jets can continue to run the ball this way?

The Patriots, meanwhile, shook off a sluggish start to blow out the Dolphins in Miami. The Pats’ special teams got them two scores, one on the opening kickoff of the second half, and the other on a blocked field goal. The defense forced four interceptions from Chad Henne, who took a huge step back this week after throwing a game-sealing pick last week against the Jets.

- LT wasn’t the only 30+ player to have a throwback game. Terrell Owens had 10 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals’ 23-20 loss to the Browns,  and Carson Palmer had a huge day as well, throwing for 371 yards and two scores.

On the other side of the spectrum, Sam Bradford looks like the real deal after leading the Rams to a win over the Seahawks, and Peyton Hillis might be the solution at RB for the Browns after another 100-yard day.

- Big winners this week have to be the Jets and Patriots, who look like they’ll be the class of the AFC and don’t face each other again until December, when the AFC East might be on the line. With most of the rest of the teams in the NFL looking mediocre, the Pats-Jets battle might be the marquee battle.

- Big losers have to include the rest of the NFC West and the Bears. The Colts also had a shot to stay in the lead in the AFC South and put up a weak performance on defense against the Jaguars.

Big Matchups for Week 5 This Weekend

- Minnesota at the Jets: Don’t expect a friendly crowd for Favre’s return to the Meadowlands. If the Vikings can’t run the ball, this should be another convincing win for Gang Green.

- Kansas City at Indianapolis: The first litmus test for the Chiefs, who put together a great record against teams with losing records. I’m looking for the Colts to bounce back at home against a young team, even coming off the bye.

- Denver at Baltimore: Baltimore is the only team to beat the Jets, but they haven’t looked terribly impressive in the rest of their games (including this week in beating the Steelers). The one area they’ve looked good in is pass defense, and if the Broncos can’t run the ball, this might be the game for the Ravens to get some style points.

I’ll be back next week with all the week’s action across the NFL. See you all then!