Wednesday 3 October 2018 00:17, UK
Neil Reynolds picks six storylines from Week Four, including Mitch Trubisky's career day, more heartbreak for the Cleveland Browns and Earl Thomas' devastating injury...
I'm beginning to feel like a broken record, but it is genuinely the case that each weekend in the NFL is turning into a white-knuckle roller coaster ride that is fascinating yet impossible to call.
You never know what is going to transpire, and Sunday night was no different as we saw three games decided in overtime, a last-second touchdown-pass winner in Atlanta and controversy during Seattle's win over Arizona.
Let's dig into Week Four in the NFL with my six leading storylines...
I felt like I spent much of last week and a good portion of Sunday's pre-game painting the picture of a New England Patriots team on the ropes and in desperate need of a good performance against the 3-0 Miami Dolphins.
All along, in the back of my mind, I felt a Patriots backlash game was just around the corner. And that proved to be the case as they hammered the Dolphins 38-7. Miami's seven points only came because New England eased off at the end.
Bill Belichick out-coached Adam Gase. The Patriots came into Week Four with concerns over their offense and found a timely running game through Sony Michel and James White. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, meanwhile, came in red hot but left with his tail between his legs after throwing for just 100 yards and an interception.
Mike Vrabel is doing an excellent job in his first year as an NFL head coach, leading his Tennessee Titans to three straight wins and a 3-1 record on the season. Vrabel has been digging deep each week to overcome key injuries and had to go to his bag of tricks again on Sunday.
His Titans trailed the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles 17-3 but clawed back to 20-20 at the end of regulation. Into overtime and the Eagles took a 23-20 lead via a field goal. But the Titans, led by heroic quarterback Marcus Mariota, got in range for a 50-yard kick of their own - but that would only have allowed them to record a tie, given the limited time left on the clock.
So Vrabel rolled the dice, but in a very clever way. He sent his field goal team onto the field, knowing all along his offense was coming back on to run a play. The coach wanted time to plan but didn't want to tip his hand to the Eagles. After calling a timeout, Mariota completed the fourth-down pass to Dion Lewis and the game-winning touchdown to Corey Davis, keeping the Titans on course for the playoffs. Clever stuff from Vrabel.
Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich also tried to go for it on fourth down in order to avoid a tie in his team's encounter with the Houston Texans. What is it with American sports that they cannot recognise the benefits of a well-earned draw?
The big difference in the two calls was field position. Vrabel took a gamble from the Philadelphia 32-yard line and they still would have had to make a long field goal to level things up. As for Reich's Colts, they were tied 34-34 with the Texans and were camped at their own 43-yard line with 27 seconds left.
If the Colts punt the ball away, they cannot win but they are pretty much set for a tie. If they had gone for it - which they did - there were no guarantees of a win but they could certainly lose. Andrew Luck's fourth-and-four pass to Chester Rogers fell incomplete, the Texans took full advantage of the excellent field position and won with a field goal.
Reich was bullish after the game, suggesting he would do the same thing again "10 times out of 10" and that tells me he knows the Colts are not contenders this season. This was simply a move to a) try to win the game and b) win over his locker room by showing he had faith in his players. On reflection, that is hard to criticise.
What an afternoon second-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky enjoyed during his Chicago Bears' 48-10 hammering of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Trubisky was on fire from the very start and threw six touchdown passes - one short of the NFL record.
Importantly for the Bears, Trubisky threw scoring strikes to tight end Trey Burton, and wide receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel. All were free agent signings during this past offseason.
The Bears are now 3-1 on the season, top of the NFC North and roaring on defense with another new arrival - pass-rushing demon Khalil Mack - having a monster year. At this stage of the season, general manager Ryan Pace must be feeling pretty good about the roster-building work he oversaw in the spring and summer.
The Cleveland Browns are 1-2-1 after the season's first month, yet it is not ridiculous to suggest that the team who couldn't win a single game in 2017 should be 4-0 on the year. They definitely should be on two wins by now because they got robbed in Sunday's 45-42 overtime loss to the Oakland Raiders.
First, they had a defensive touchdown taken off the board after a strange ruling that suggested Oakland quarterback Derek Carr was stopped and down when he clearly wasn't. But more damaging was a late call overturned by the instant replay officiating department in New York.
With one minute and 41 seconds left in the game, Cleveland faced a vital third-and-two play at their own 17-yard line. Carlos Hyde appeared to dive forward for just about the required yardage and the referee on the field signaled a first down. But the call got overturned, the Raiders tied the game late and then won it in overtime.
It was another heartbreaker for the Browns, who have the talent on board but now must learn the art of winning games. I still believe it will take a new head coach to get this club over the hump and that Hue Jackson is not the man to take this team to greater heights.
I went on an NFL UK Live stage show tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland with Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas in the spring and I can tell you that while he appears intense and serious, he is a great guy and a true family man with a big heart.
I felt awful on Sunday night watching Earl being carted off the field during Seattle's win over the Arizona Cardinals with a broken leg. The injury alone is upsetting enough, but what is more disconcerting is the precarious state of Thomas' career and his relationship with a Seahawks team that has been unwilling to give him a new long-term contract.
Earl was adamant he wanted out if they didn't want him and demanded to be signed to a new deal or traded. The Seahawks have been holding firm and using Thomas - as is their right - for the full length of his current deal. There is genuine bad blood between the two sides and that is why we witnessed the terrible sight of Earl giving his own sideline the middle finger as he was carted off.
He is clearly done in Seattle now. And this injury is exactly the reason he skipped practice last week. In hindsight, if he really wanted a new deal, Earl should also have skipped the games because that's where the serious injuries occur. Now he will be 30 and coming off back-to-back broken legs (on the same leg) as he enters free agency in March. No wonder he was fuming as he left the field.
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