NFL Week 4 takeaway: Kyler takes the cards to the next level, Browns D is spectacular, Rookie QB Redemption

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Welcome to the Week 4 edition of Sunday FreakOut, where we overreact and overreact to everything that happened on Sunday afternoon Games. For the full Sunday podcast style, be sure to subscribe to The MMQB podcast, in your feed every Monday morning …

The things that made me dizzy

Kyler Murray works on another level: You can watch what, say, Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City or Josh Allen in Buffalo are doing, and see how, talent aside, the program is raising them as well. In Murray’s case, he’s constantly tasked with lifting the ploy to make the offense work. Arizona had a two-possession lead largely over Murray on Sunday creating the magic to convert two third and longest in the first half. He’s leading his offense in a way that no other quarterback has to, and with less than a quarter of the season, he’s clearly the league’s most valuable player.

The Browns’ four-way pass rush makes it all irrelevant: They’re talented in the last seven, and there’s a chance they’ll need some time to build some chemistry there, but right now that doesn’t matter. This Cleveland front four absolutely destroys opponents for four weeks, and everything they do defensively has a strong ‘2019 49ers’ vibe.

The Vikings and Browns defenses knew what was coming: These units practice the exact same offense every day. This is how you end up with a 14-7 game.

Zach Wilson, Directing This Traffic: He’s had some absolutely maddening misfires on routine throws against the Titans, but he’s also had a number of impressive – and just plain fun – plays out of the structure. These are the actions of an almost delusional quarterback, and considering how the first three starts of his career have unfolded, that’s a very good sign:

Packers are showing they can get by: Granted, that Pittsburgh offense is still very much stuck in the mud. But the Steelers’ defense made this one ugly, and the Packers were breathing easily after a few touchdowns in the second quarter.

Clearly, Abracadaniel has arrived: In New Orleans, the Giants finally played attacking football as a team with nothing more to lose (mainly because that was what they came on Sunday). You saw more cutting edge uses of Saquon Barkley, Kadarius Toney was a big part of the game plan and was still impressive after the capture, and Kenny Golladay looked healthy and dominating to the limit. You could see the signs even in a rambling attack in the first three weeks of the season, but after throwing 402 yards on 40 attempts in the Superdome (his only turnover was a Hail Mary at the end of the first half), it’s clear: As long as the technical staff allow it, Daniel Jones is ready to become a franchise QB.

Saquon Barkley, in full: The Giants used him as a piece of passing game mismatch a few times on Sunday – not as often as they should, but still… This included a 54-yard touchdown that he caused the cover to bust. lining up wide (in defense of the Saints high school, based on tendencies they were right to expect him not to run a course more than five yards past the line of scrimmage) . While his winning touchdown run was more traditional, it was a fitting end to the game in which the Giants could have finally found out how Barkley can and should be used.

Crows, however, are 3–1: With all the injuries and narrow escapements over the past two weeks, it looks like Baltimore is walking a tightrope a bit. But coming into Denver (even though the Broncos were a little underwhelming 3-0 and had to go to Drew Lock in the second half) and controlling the game like they did is the kind of thing an impressive team does. The Ravens’ defense, even with the absence of some key players, looked like itself on Sunday.

Seahawks Grab The Breaks They Need: The offense will be fine, but their defense is still desperate for answers, and an injury during the game to an opposing starting quarterback (and the four runs San Francisco left on the field because the kicker was injured before the match), was enough to buy them a free win and one more week to look for solutions.

Bear offensive, better: Always not Well, Where Creative, but certainly better. It helps to play against a team with a draw rush on defense and an insatiable thirst for empty trips to the red zone.

How many Cordarrelle Patterson touchdowns are too many Cordarrelle Patterson touchdowns? : Let me know, because he had three on Sunday.

Big Ben in pursuit of… Jaire Alexander? : Go back in time for the # 400 career touchdown pass.

Regrets

Matthew Stafford and the terrible, horrible, not good, very bad day: The pressure clearly affected a few of his throws, but more than that there were just a few plays where he and his receivers (most often Cooper Kupp) were half a time out of sync. And with Kyler Murray doing what he did, the Rams had no room for error. Some days are like that. Even in Australia.

The Texans’ offensive performance in Buffalo: It was so bad you would have thought they were coached by Matt Nagy with a high first round pick under center. (Just kidding, Matt Nagy fans!) But Houston really looked like a hopeless attack, largely because of a quarterback who was a stag in the headlights against Sean McDermott’s defense.

This fourth call for defensive maintenance: We see worse on a fairly regular basis, but it’s awfully tricky and the taste is even worse on a fourth down, with a receiver pulling away from his quarterback, on what was pretty much a hopeless game. The Browns scored three games later and added two points.

Vikings special teams give up an extra extra point: The Browns had played six straight games inside the Minnesota 3-yard line, so it’s unclear why the Vikings weren’t ready to line up for a PAT. The show put pressure on Sheldon Richardson for requesting a time out before the extra point shot – because Minnesota didn’t have one, it was a game delay penalty – but if he didn’t. not done, it would have been a flag for 12 men in the field. The Browns took the penalty half the distance on a two-run try and converted.

Trent Williams elbow injury: With Trey Lance potentially set to make his first career start against Vance Joseph’s defense and the undefeated Cardinals next week, there couldn’t be a worse time for a left tackle injury around the world.

The Steelers ran out of sticks in the fourth down: Protection issues or not, at some point it has to stop, right? (Law?)

Lions Finishing Workouts: They had scoring situations to go on each of their first three drives and lost a fumble on a missed snap, a turnover on the lows, a fumble lost.

Trey Lance, not quite ready: There were some fine play late in the down, but Lance was scattered and looked broadly overwhelmed after being forced into full-time action for the second half against a Seattle defense that didn’t pose much of a problem for them. opposing offensives.

Kenny Young has seen enough of Kyler Murray: The Rams linebacker had a long Sunday, almost literally zigzagging whenever he needed to zag.

Sean McVay, still frustratingly conservative in fourth place: Not that it would have made a difference on Sunday, but it’s disheartening to see McVay send the punt team a fourth and four into Cardinals territory in the first half. Especially now that he has Matthew Stafford under the center.

The dolphin offensive coordinating committee must adapt: I realize their caller (s) are working around a problematic offensive line, but in Jacoby Brissett, they have a quarterback who has the size and athleticism to survive in a muddy pocket or escape the pressure, and the talent of the arm to push the ball on the field. For two weeks it looks like they’re just asking him to mine a Tua Tagovailoa playbook. The Dolphins offense didn’t move the ball on Sunday until they started attacking on the pitch, after it was already too late.

Mitch Wishnowsky’s Pinch Kick: With Kyle Juszczyk holding the pinch. It was fun when they hit the first PAT of the game, but a lot less fun after a 41-yard missed field goal and a missed PAT afterward.

Randy Bullock really became a Titans kicker today:

Moments we will tell our grandchildren

As busty as the covers get: May be a case of Jamal Adams looking into the backfield and then giving the ‘you take it’ point once he realizes his mistake, but who can tell for sure?

Patrick Mahomes looks at the receiver and then throws at that same receiver:

Chris Jones Physical Comedy: Fumble Recovery Edition: Nate Herbig falling on that ball at the end of the first half made the difference between half time and an attempt to place the Chiefs.

What we will talk about this week

How durable are Cardinals? : A year ago, their early start fell apart after Kyler Murray got punched and his Superman moments dried up. This year seems similar at first, with Murray single-handedly lifting the offense in a way that no other NFL quarterback is instructed to do. Although this year, Vance Joseph’s defense seems capable of holding its end of the bargain and more (to be clear, Joseph did a great job with a shorthanded unit last year). With a win in Los Angeles already in hand, it will likely be a question of keeping their quarterback in prime condition.

The rookie quarters, in better shape: Trevor Lawrence played more than good enough to win Thursday night, Zach Wilson was both uneven and spectacular in his first win, and Justin Fields was solid to hold onto his serve against Detroit at home.

The “H is O” for Jack Del Rio: There are defensive coordinators who just don’t have the answers on their list (e.g. Seattle), but Washington has a global defensive line and has invested in the bottom seven. At the moment, they are not under enough pressure and they regularly break the covers. They’re a team that needs to dominate on the defensive side of the ball, and four weeks into this season they’re not even a good defense, let alone an elite.

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