National Football League

Quarterly report: The best, worst of the NFL's first four weeks

Published Sep. 30, 2014 9:36 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Alex Marvez

Nothing that unfolded on the field in the first quarter of the 2014 season can match the impact of all that transpired away from it.

Never before has the NFL brand come under attack like in the aftermath of the Ray Rice video that exposed commissioner Roger Goodell’s woefully weak stance on player discipline for domestic violence incidents. The iconic league shield was further dented when the game’s most celebrated running back – Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson – was placed on indefinite leave after pictures surfaced of his alleged abuse of a 4-year-old son.

The fallout from the Rice situation and how the investigation into the beating of his now-wife aboard a casino elevator was botched continues to overshadow what has proven a wildly unpredictable season – even by NFL standards.

For the first time since 2010, no division leader has more than a one-game lead in the standings after the first month. Such parity is reflected by the Week 4 escapades of Tampa Bay and Atlanta. The same Buccaneers that fell behind 56-0 to Atlanta in Week 3 rebounded with an improbable rally in last Sunday’s 27-24 road win over Pittsburgh. As for the Falcons, they surrendered almost 600 yards to a Vikings offense led by a rookie quarterback (Teddy Bridgewater) making his first NFL start in last Sunday’s 41-28 road loss.

Here is a look at some of the biggest winners and losers through Week 4 and the early frontrunners for the NFL’s year-end awards:

Most Valuable Player: San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers. The 2013 NFL Comeback Player of the Year isn’t done improving. At age 32, Rivers has never looked better. Rivers was at the top of his game against the NFL’s nastiest defense in Week 2, completing 75.7 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and no turnovers in a 30-21 victory over Seattle. Overall, Rivers has nine touchdown passes and just one interception as the Chargers (3-1) have emerged as a viable threat to Denver (2-1) for AFC West supremacy.

Offensive Player of the Year: Dallas running back DeMarco Murray. The last NFL running back to open the season with four consecutive 100-yard games also sported a star on the side of his helmet. Murray is doing Emmitt Smith proud by leading the league in rushing by a wide margin with 534 yards and five touchdowns. Just as significant, Murray also has avoided the injuries that plagued him throughout his first three NFL seasons.

Defensive Player of the Year: Houston defensive end J.J. Watt. With the way he’s playing, the eight-year, $108.9 million contract extension Watt signed in the preseason looks like a bargain. Equally disruptive against the run and pass, Watt is a legitimate contender to become the first defensive player to win the MVP award since Lawrence Taylor in 1986. Heck, he’s even scored as many touchdowns (two) as Detroit’s superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson.

Biggest surprise (team): Arizona. An NFC West team remaining undefeated through Week 4 isn’t a stunner. But the Seahawks and 49ers entered the season as far more likely candidates than Arizona (3-0). Especially impressive is how the Cardinals have kept rolling despite the injury toll on the defensive front seven and the absence of quarterback Carson Palmer the past two games because of a shoulder nerve problem.

Biggest surprise (player): New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell. Talk about perseverance. Undrafted out of Grambling in 2011, Donnell didn’t even get signed to a practice squad until the Giants called in the 2012 offseason. Donnell has since developed into the receiving threat that quarterback Eli Manning has sorely lacked at tight end since the 2011 campaign.

Biggest disappointment (team): New Orleans. No NFL defense has tumbled further from last season, but even the Saints’ high-powered offense sputtered too frequently during a 1-3 start. There is reason for optimism if the Saints can get their act together. New Orleans has seven home games remaining, and nobody in the NFC South is over .500.

Biggest disappointment (player): St. Louis defensive end Robert Quinn. I’ll give Philadelphia running back Shady McCoy a pass because of the Eagles’ offensive line injuries. Quinn has no such excuse. The Rams have made far too big an investment in their front four for such poor early season results. Quinn is the group’s biggest underachiever. He doesn’t have a sack through three games after notching 19 in 2013. This is especially disconcerting since the Rams signed Quinn to a lucrative four-year contract extension last month.

Coach of the Year: Arizona’s Bruce Arians. If this comes to pass, Arians will be the first coach to win the award twice in a three-year span since Washington’s Joe Gibbs captured the honors in 1982 and 1983. Strong consideration also should be given to Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, whose team has weathered the Rice controversy by winning three straight games.

Assistant Coach of the Year: Dallas defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli. Based upon the talent he’s working with, there’s no way this unit should be holding its own the way it has. Marinelli and his staff also have salvaged the NFL career of middle linebacker Rolando McClain following his return from “retirement.” Some credit should go to a Cowboys offense that is controlling the clock for almost 34 minutes a game, which limits how much exposure the defense has faced.

Hottest seat: Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie. I weigh in more on McKenzie in this FOX Sports column, but in a nutshell, the Raiders fired head coach Dennis Allen on Monday after an 0-4 start. McKenzie hired Allen and gave him a brutal roster to work with. If an interim head coach can’t make the Raiders respectable over the final 12 games, why should team owner Mark Davis trust that McKenzie will get things right in the future? The answer: He shouldn’t.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Carolina wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin. There is no clear frontrunner, but Benjamin is definitely in the conversation. The 28th pick in the draft leads all rookies with 329 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 21 catches. Benjamin also is the first rookie in 10 years with a touchdown catch of 25-plus yards in three of his first four games.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Chicago cornerback Kyle Fuller. The second cornerback drafted in May, with the 14th overall pick, is living up to the hype. Fuller is tied with Philadelphia safety Malcolm Jenkins for the NFL lead in interceptions with three. He also leads all rookies in forced fumbles (two) and passes defensed (22).

Comeback Player of the Year: Baltimore wide receiver Steve Smith. The self-proclaimed “old man” had every reason to crow after tormenting his former team with a monster performance (seven catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns) in Sunday’s 38-10 rout of Carolina. Smith’s 429 receiving yards are the most in NFL history through the first four games by a player age 35-plus. His success makes Carolina’s decision to release Smith in the offseason after 13 seasons with the franchise even more dubious.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

-- Geno Smith/Michael Vick: Smith played poorly enough again with two fourth-quarter turnovers in a 24-17 home loss to Detroit that the MetLife Stadium crowd began chanting for Vick. Smith’s frustration then boiled over when he dropped an f-bomb on a heckling Jets fan en route to the locker room afterward. The drama continued Monday when New York’s offense held a players-only meeting. Jets head coach Rex Ryan says he is sticking with Smith over the backup Vick. Though it’s commendable that Ryan wants to give a second-year quarterback the chance to develop, the Jets (1-3) also are in danger of letting their season slip away if Smith doesn’t improve ASAP.

-- Kyle Orton: Unlike Ryan, Bills head coach Doug Marrone has run out of patience with his second-year QB. Marrone announced Monday that EJ Manuel was being benched in favor of Kyle Orton. Marrone made the move after Sunday’s 23-17 loss at Houston in which Manuel had an interception returned for a touchdown and continued to struggle stretching the field in the passing game. In defense of Manuel, even seasoned quarterbacks could get skittish after being hit 16 times as he was by the Texans (Watt had seven of those licks). No NFL quarterback exemplifies mediocrity more than Orton, who has a 35-35 career record while starting for four previous teams. The fact that Orton is a more palatable option means a combination of three things: A) The Bills over-drafted Manuel with the No. 16 overall pick in 2013; B) Marrone failed to adequately develop Manuel’s skills and should have hired a quarterbacks coach during his rookie season instead of entrusting his early development solely to first-year offensive coordinator Nate Hackett, who already had enough on his plate; C) Marrone and general manager Doug Whaley realize they’re in must-win mode with new ownership set to take over the team and make its own imprint on how the franchise is run. Should the Bills (2-2) fail to make the playoffs for an NFL-high 15th consecutive season, Marrone and Whaley probably won’t be part of the picture moving ahead.

-- What’s wrong with New England? Yes, we’ve pressed the panic button prematurely before only to have head coach Bill Belichick rally his squad. The 2011 Patriots started 5-4 before getting hot and reaching Super Bowl 46. And the 2012 Patriots were 3-3 before rolling to the AFC Championship Game. But this year’s squad has a different vibe because of uncharacteristic offensive problems. The line is a disaster as new position coach Dave DeGuglielmo rotates his five starters, a move that slows the cohesiveness successful units build by playing together consistently. Even when Tom Brady does have time to throw, the future Hall of Fame quarterback has no game-changing wide receivers or deep threats who command defensive attention. Some of the blame falls on Brady himself, who has struggled with the long ball while posting a mediocre completion rate (59.1 percent) and average yards per completion (5.8). It won’t be getting any easier for the Patriots to get back on track. Coming off a short week, New England hosts well-rested Cincinnati (3-0) on Sunday night.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Say what you will about Gary Kubiak as a head coach from his tenure in Houston, but the Mike Shanahan disciple knows how to field an outstanding running game. In his first year as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator, the Ravens are averaging 51.5 yards more a game than in 2013, even without Rice and with Bernard Pierce hindered by a lingering thigh injury. It’s not like two newcomers (journeyman Justin Forsett and rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro) are the second coming of Arian Foster at running back, either. Kubiak’s system, which is also used by Mike’s son Kyle in Cleveland, benefits one-cut runners who can read zone-blocking. An improved offensive line also deserves credit for Baltimore’s 134.5-yard average.

HOT SEAT: Outscored by a 100-34 margin in three consecutive losses, the season is slipping away from the Tennessee Titans. The same can be said of Jake Locker’s grip on his starting job if the quarterback can’t rally the Titans (1-3) upon his expected return this week from a wrist injury. Locker is in the final year of his contract and has done nothing so far to show he’s worthy of an extension. If the playoffs are out of reach, first-year Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt may want to take a long look at rookie Zach Mettenberger to better gauge how the franchise should address the quarterback position in 2015.

NUMBERS TO NOTE: Three running backs – DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert – account for a combined $13.94 million in salary-cap space for Carolina. None of them will play Sunday against Chicago because of injuries. The Panthers also have another $13.1 million in cap space allocated to defensive end Greg Hardy, who is out indefinitely while appealing a guilty verdict for domestic violence. Combined with an offensive line struggling to protect banged-up quarterback Cam Newton, Carolina (2-2) is in real danger of becoming the 12thconsecutive NFC South champion that fails to defend its crown the following season.

THURSDAY NIGHT PICK: Green Bay 34, Minnesota 10. The Vikings must be prudent in deciding whether Bridgewater (ankle) is healthy enough to start. If he isn’t, Christian Ponder will get the nod. Either way, the Vikings won’t have an answer for red-hot Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers – especially at Lambeau Field on a short week.

share

Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

National Football League