While we are not quite a quarter of the way through the season, it’s close enough to say that we have a pretty good idea of where certain teams are.
Week 4 brought about plenty of surprises and nervous endings with nine of the 14 games prior to the MNF double header decided by a touchdown or less.
Quite a few teams had some big wins in the division as well heading into the next part of the schedule where byes and international games become a factor.
We’re recapping all of the big stories below with our five key takeaways from the NFL.
1 – Kickers Have Never Been More Valuable
Scoring is down in 2024 but it’s not just down to the lack of a preseason and these players not being ready to go come September (although it doesn’t help).
We are off to the best season in recent history for field goal kickers with a number of players stepping up in a big way, shouldering the scoring load for their team when the offence sputters.
Having a reliable option to call on when you do reach fourth down and provide a guaranteed three points more often than not is a nice safety net for coaches.
It also means the play calling once you reach the opponent’s 30 yard line does not always have to be as aggressive to try and punch in a touchdown when you don’t trust the kicker.
In Dallas Brandon Aubrey is the star of the show right now, responsible for 43 of the Cowboys’ 97 points including 12 field goals.
What makes that even more impressive is the fact Aubrey is nailing long range kicks, putting Dallas in range pretty much once they cross the halfway line.
On Friday morning, Aubrey drilled a 65 yard kick as part of a 4/5 effort with his right boot to help lift the Cowboys to a hard fought win over the Giants.
Although the punters that backed Dallas -5.5 would have been much happier if he made that late field goal to move the margin to eight points.
In Atlanta, Younghoe Koo has emerged as a legitimately reliable scoring threat from long range as well.
This week he was good from 58 yards to win the NFC South clash for Atlanta.
Or you could be the Jets.
While it’s not quite reaching the levels of England at the 2003 Rugby World Cup relying on Jonny Wilkinson to kick the team to victory, we’re certainly seeing the resurgence of field goal kickers.
Especially when offences seem to consistently falter once they reach the opponent’s half.
2 – You Have to Have a Backup Plan at Quarterback
Injuries happen in the NFL, it’s a violent sport and whether you want to try, they will never be completely eradicated from the game even if all of the contact is removed.
One position you really do not want to deal with a plethora of injuries though is the quarterback position and some teams are already scrambling to find cover.
We all know about Miami having to go through Skylar Thompson, Tim Boyle and now Tyler Huntley in place of Tua Tagovailoa and the results speak for themselves.
It was not a true starter-backup dynamic in Pittsburgh with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, but when the former was unable to go in Week 1, Fields stepped up and helped the Steelers to a 3-0 start by simply not screwing up.
As we saw in Cleveland last year, Joe Flacco is a decent fallback option to have when injuries strike and the veteran did exactly what you should want from a guy in his position to knock off the Steelers this week.
Whether the guy is out for a week or for the rest of the season, you need to have a backup quarterback that can come in and at least keep the team moving.
3 – Jaden Daniels Is Off To A Great Start
It’s 2012 all over again with the second overall pick lighting it up in Washington and injecting some life into that offence.
Jayden Daniels has hit the ground running and is completing passes at a historic rate through his first four starts.
It’s not just that Daniels is completing passes at such a high rate, it’s that he is completing passes all over the field, he’s not exclusively making check down throws to running backs and tight ends.
He even earned rave reviews from the guy whose rookie exploits he is trying to replicate.
That moved Washington to 3-1 and maintained their one game lead in the division at near enough to the quarter pole.
It does come with a little bit of a caveat, in that Daniels should have been hitting the ground running, given he spent six years in college and was far more along the development process than anyone in his rookie class save for Bo Nix.
Perhaps the concerns over how much more he can do will turn out to be justified but for now he is a guy you just sit back and enjoy.
4 – Is This the Chiefs Breaking Point?
It has been a brutal season for injuries across the league and absences are being felt on all 32 teams.
How those injuries impact the different teams varies depending on the importance of the player(s) out, the depth the roster has at their disposal and the quality of coaches that have to cover for the absences.
There is no question that the Chiefs have one of the best coaches in league history on the sideline and the best quarterback of the 2020’s leading their offence, but right now they haven’t got much else on offence.
At some point you have to wonder if they are going to reach a critical mass of injuries that ultimately derails their quest for a third straight Super Bowl.
That point might have come during their Week 4 game against the Chargers when Mahomes tried to make amends for this interception by making a blind hit with his back and shoulder.
It feels like the perfect definition of “good intentions, bad outcome” with second year receiver Rashee Rice suffering a knee injury that may or may not be a torn ACL thanks to his hustle to get back and force a fumble.
Initial reports on the severity are mixed although it sounds like they are still trying to get a clear diagnosis on what damage has been done.
However that blow to the knee will wipe him out for a little while and impact the already depleted Chiefs offence.
Mahomes has said himself they are not playing that well right now and losing all of his key players will not help.
Add in the fact Travis Kelce is looking a bit old right now and the warning signs are there.
Of course this is like when the Patriots of the 2000’s and 2010’s also had injury crisis and were still good enough to win the division and a playoff game or two.
The Chiefs will still make the playoffs, but when the bar for success is so high, the things that can derail a season are amplified.
Of course there is always a backup option if the Chiefs want to go there…
5 – Derrick Henry Is Still Awesome To Watch
Ok this is not exactly ground-breaking analysis but how many 30-something running backs have we seen change teams and fall in a heap?
Especially a guy who had over 2000 carries and employed a physical running style that takes a toll on his body.
Not this guy though.
But it looks like Henry is the perfect fit for the Ravens and he wasted no time making an impact against the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills.
To do that on the back of a big day in Dallas last week as well makes it even more impressive.
Perhaps he will still have some quiet games in the weeks to come, but he still has a lot to offer and if he can have an impact in January it might help get the Ravens over the line.