Alright, let’s start this one off with an exercise. Think of any NFL team that has a bear as their mascot (hint: there’s only one). Now, pretend you are a fan of that NFL team. Now try not to cry. Ah, got you there. Anyway, NFL Week 4, 4 overreactions, let’s go.Â
The Dolphins defense will be their downfall
The Dolphins looked extremely good in Week 3, and a lot of people had them winning against their division rival Buffalo Bills. However, in embarrassing fashion, the Dolphins lost 48-20. Since the start of the season, the Dolphins have been relying on their high-powered and explosive offense to carry them to victories. However, they need to have a Plan B for days when their offense isn’t on point or is having an off-day. That plan B needs to be their defense. The Buffalo Bills offense shoved 48 points down the Dolphins throat, and the Buffalo Bills defense smothered an otherwise extremely efficient Tua Tagovailoa and allowed him only 282 yards and forced an interception. When the offense is having a bad day, it doesn’t help that their defense is allowing 48 points. The Dolphins offense can’t score 50 points a game, they just can’t. So Miami needs to figure something out on defense, or they are screwed.
The Texans and Rams may be playoff contenders
There’s something I didn’t think I’d say this season, but here we are. The Rams and the Texans, both 2-2, started kind of slow. But they showed flashes in their game that nobody gave them credit for. Now the Texans started 0-2, but a convincing victory over their division rival Jaguars and another conving victory over the Steelers, they are now sitting at 2-2 with a ton of momentum. CJ Stroud came into the NFL ready to play, and now the Texans have a good 4 games before they play a decent opponent. Overall, their schedule is not a very hard one, and the Texans have a decent chance at winning their division. Now the Rams. I can’t say that their road to the playoffs will be as much of a cake walk as the Texans, and quite honestly they have a pretty tough schedule that may be a bit of a setback for them. However, if they play to the best of their ability, they can maybe still have a respectable record such as 9-8, or 8-9.
The Ravens will win the AFC North
Okay. So of all the AFC North teams to play this week, only one of them won their game. That was the Ravens. The Ravens beat the Browns 28-3, and the Bengals lost to the Titans, while the Steelers lost to the Texans. Now, the Ravens had a slight setback after losing to the Colts, they got their redemption with a 25-point blowout win over the Browns. Now, what does Baltimore need to do? Take advantage of their schedule. If you looked at teh Ravens schedule before the season, it would be scary. However, a couple of the teams such as the Chargers, have gotten off to a bad start and don’t look like major contenders like they did before the season. Other than the 49ers and the Dolphins, the Ravens schedule has some easy wins that the Ravens can get in order to take this division. OF course, they have to stay healthy. Lamar Jackson has to stay healthy, Odell Beckham Jr has to stay healthy. If that doesn’t happen, the Ravens will most likely collapse. But if they keep that injury report clean, the Ravens should be good to go.
The Cowboys are back!
I feel like this entire season I will be talking about how the Cowboys didn’t or did play well. The Cowboys, at their absolute best, could beat any team in the league. But we can see what happens when they don’t play their absolute best. That is something we never want to see. The Cowboys need to stop playing down to their opponent, and they need to focus on the goal, winning. The goal is to win. It’s not about getting someone good stats. The bottom line is the Cowboys have to win. Whatever it takes. This Sunday, they have, probably their hardest challenge yet, The 49ers. A rematch of the past two postseason meetings where the 49ers won each of them. The Cowboys need to put in extra work, and fix their red-zone productivity to even have a chance of winning this game. The Cowboys only red zone score was by a full-back. Not a running back, not a quarterback, a fullback. Yikes.
Everyone can celebrate that football is back, except Bears fans (sorry Bears fans). So there you have it. Four takeaways from the fourth week of the NFL season. How will these hold up during the season? I have no clue. But I guess we’ll find out. And yes, this conclusion is copied and pasted from my NFL Week 1 Overreactions: Being Way Too Conclusive article.
Part of this article series
NFL Week 1 Overreactions: Being Way Too Conclusive
