The leaves are falling. The chill is in the air. Football is turning the corner and going from early-season intrigue to serious business.
Entering Sunday, there are only three unbeaten teams left: 49ers, Vikings and Chiefs. While Kansas City has the week off, San Francisco will take on Seattle at Lumen Field in the week’s marquee matchup, while Minnesota tries to give New Orleans its third defeat in three weeks at the Caesars Superdome. The last time that happened? 2014.
Meanwhile, a quartet of winless teams will try to get into the win column, with one virtually guaranteed, with the Texans and Titans squaring off. The Chargers and Dolphins are both home dogs, facing the Broncos and Bengals, respectively.
Elsewhere, the Bills and Rams play in Englewood on Monday night while the Lamar Jackson–less Ravens will take on the resurgent Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday night.
GOOD: Jaguars win despite all the mistakes to leave Philly in the game
It’s not about style points in the NFL. It’s about winning. No AFC team has had a better point differential through four weeks than the Jaguars. But in London, everything went wrong for Liam Coen’s group.
On Sunday, the Jaguars took 13 penalties for 100 yards. They turned the ball over on downs twice inside Philadelphia’s 10-yard line. Without its usual long snapper, Jacksonville saw a bad snap mess up the timing of an extra point, sending Cam Little’s attempt wide left. Trevor Lawrence also threw an interception in plus territory.
Somehow, none of it mattered. The Eagles were outgained 408–232 and converted just 6-of-15 third downs, but took the lead with eight seconds left after the Jaguars went three-and-out while trying to salt the game away. After Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott hit a 48-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 17–16 advantage, coach Nick Sirianni decided to kick deep despite Jacksonville having no timeouts.
Jacksonville returner Ameer Abdullah grabbed the ball and raced 53 yards, setting up Little for a game-winning 57-yard field goal.
At 4–1, the Jaguars lead the AFC South and only trail the idle Chiefs by a half-game for the conference’s top spot. With one more game in London (against the Texans), Jacksonville went from suffering an ugly loss to showing its mettle, finding a way to win despite a poor showing.
Winning despite a bad performance isn’t an indictment; it’s an indication.
BAD: Cowboys every time there’s a whiff of expectation
After hanging 34 points on a Texans defense bursting with talent, the Cowboys were expected to roll the reeling Buccaneers on a short week with a backup quarterback at 0–4.
Instead, the Cowboys looked like a team that didn’t know it had to play until 20 minutes before game time. Dallas committed three turnovers and still lost to Tampa Bay despite the Bucs committing 14 penalties.
The failure falls on both sides of the ball. Dak Prescott threw two interceptions inside the Buccaneers’ 30-yard line, one his fault and the other through the hands of tight end Jake Ferguson. The defense allowed 419 yards while undrafted rookie free agent quarterback Jalon Daniels went 19-of-25 for 189 yards and a touchdown in his first NFL win. Additionally, Tampa Bay rushed for 241 yards on 6.2 yards per carry.
At 2–3 but in the weak NFC East, the Cowboys are in a reasonable position to win the division and host a playoff game. The season remains an open question. But Dallas has long been a trendy pick and a marquee team, only to fail time and again. The Cowboys haven’t been to an NFC championship game or won consecutive NFC East titles since 1996. They haven’t been a top seed since 2007. The Cowboys have been underwhelming for decades.
Over the next two weeks, Dallas will visit the Packers and Eagles in prime time. After those spotlight games, we might know more about where the Cowboys are, or aren’t.
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MATT VERDERAME
Matt Verderame is a national NFL staff writer for Sports Illustrated, writing features, columns and more. Before joining Sports Illustrated in March 2023, Verderame wrote for FanSided and SB Nation. He’s a proud husband to Stephanie and father of two girls, Maisy and Genevieve. In his spare time, Verderame is an avid collector of vintage baseball cards.
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