The 32 things we learned from Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season:
1. Are the Minnesota Vikings the No. 1 team in the NFC? Their record suggests as much after they became the conference’s first 4-0 team – the Seattle Seahawks could match it by beating the Detroit Lions on Monday night – after beating the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field 31-29 on Sunday afternoon. The Vikes last started 4-0 eight years ago, though that squad finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs.
1a. You (me?) could be forgiven for viewing the 2024 Vikings – a month ago, anyway – as a likely last-place team in a competitive division given their quarterback transition, which was further disrupted by first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy’s season-ending knee injury in preseason, and extensive personnel turnover in other key spots. But journeyman QB Sam Darnold’s ongoing resurrection (275 yards, 3 TDs passing Sunday), and former Pack RB Aaron Jones’ revenge tour (139 total yards) were major reasons for Minnesota’s latest triumph.
1b. But let’s not forget the Vikes defense. It only managed one sack Sunday after entering the game with a league-best 16, including at least five in each of the first three games. But it generated four turnovers (including three INTs) and limited Green Bay’s top-ranked run game, which had averaged 204 yards per week entering Week 4.
1c. Like the Georgia-Alabama SEC showdown the night before, the Vikings-Packers game kicked off with widely touted “Game of the Week” billing that totally failed to deliver – at first – with the contest quickly devolving into a 28-0 lead by the eventual winner. Kudos to the Pack and Dawgs for valiantly fighting back and nearly overcoming tremendous odds before ultimately succumbing.
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2. What a Sunday night performance by Baltimore Ravens RB Derrick Henry, who rushed for 199 yards and a TD in a 35-10 walkover against the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills.
2a. Henry, who suffered a few negative-yardage runs and fumble late in the game, finished 1 yard short of 200 – which would’ve been his record seventh time hitting that plateau. He has 350 yards on the ground the past two weeks.
2b. His 87-yard TD run to open the game was the longest in the Ravens’ 29-season history. Yet it was only the third-longest in the career of Henry, who had a 99- and 94-yarder as a member of the Tennessee Titans.
2c. His next touchdown will be the 100th of his nine-year career.
0-3. Three teams entered Week 4 winless, an ominous harbinger as only six 0-3 teams since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger have recovered to reach postseason. The Cincinnati Bengals got off the mat Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, and Tennessee will try to do the same Monday night at Miami.
0-4. As for the still-winless Jacksonville Jaguars? During the Super Bowl era (since 1966), only one of 164 0-4 clubs – the 1992 San Diego Chargers – has rebounded to make the playoffs.
5. All five 3-0 squads entering Week 4 played on the road. They were 2-2 entering Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Vikings improving to 4-0, while the Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers faltered.
6. The total number of touchdown scored in the Indianapolis Colts’ 27-24 defeat of Pittsburgh. The Steelers scored three TDs – matching their season total entering the game – and surrendered three, after their top-ranked defense had allowed two total in the first three weeks.
7. Number of consecutive games that Los Angeles Rams RB Kyren Williams has scored a TD – the longest active streak in the league.
8. Are the Washington Commanders the No. 1 team in the NFC East? Their record suggests as much after they became the division’s first 3-1 team after throttling the Arizona Cardinals 42-14 in the desert. In a six-day span, the Commanders piled up two road wins and 80 points – Sunday’s outburst their most in eight years, back when Kirk Cousins was their quarterback in 2016.
9. But you probably have to go back to 2012 to get a similar vibe from the nation’s capital. Then, it was No. 2 overall draft pick Robert Griffin III – the eventual Offensive Rookie of the Year despite being selected after the more celebrated Andrew Luck – sparking an apparent franchise resurgence. Now, it’s No. 2 overall draft pick Jayden Daniels – perhaps the eventual Offensive Rookie of the Year despite being selected after the more celebrated Caleb Williams – igniting a tortured fan base with his scintillating play, accounting for 280 yards of offense and two TDs against Arizona on Sunday.
9a. Daniels hit on 26 of 30 passes against the Cardinals, boosting his league-best completion rate to a gaudy 82.1% – the best four-game start by any passer during the Super Bowl era.
9b. After setting a rookie record by completing 91.3% of his passes in Week 3, Daniels became the first man in league history to exceed 85% (actually 88.7%) over consecutive games with a minimum of 15 throws in each.
9c. Daniels’ heroics paved the way to a satisfying homecoming for both himself – he was Arizona State’s starting quarterback before transferring to LSU in 2022 – and OC Kliff Kingsbury, the Cardinals HC for four seasons.
10. The jersey number of Washington’s Tress Way, who punted Sunday for the first time since Week 1 – a span of 20 possessions amid the recent brilliance of Daniels and the offense.
11. Interesting decision by Green Bay to start QB Jordan Love, who was coming off a Week 1 MCL injury, in the face of Minnesota’s swarming defense. It worked out OK for Love, who seemed to be piling up garbage time stats that eventually became relevant (389 yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs passing), but the Pack was quickly rendered one-dimensional on its way to rushing for a season-low 86 yards. Most important, Love apparently emerged unscathed despite being less than 100%.
12. Dallas Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey missed his first field-goal try beyond 50 yards in Thursday night’s win over the New York Giants after hitting the first 16 of his career. Amazingly, Aubrey’s conversion rate from 50+ (94.1%) is better than his accuracy from 30 to 39 yards (87.5%).
13. The number of consecutive starts Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has beaten the Giants. Only Hall of Famer Bob Griese (17 straight defeats of the Bills) has a better run against one team in league history.
14. Prescott has not dropped a game to the Giants since they swept the Cowboys during his rookie year in 2016.
15. The new jersey number for Colts QB2 Joe Flacco, 39, the league’s reigning Comeback Player of the Year – though he didn’t have to come from behind Sunday despite filling in for injured starter Anthony Richardson, who hurt a hip against Pittsburgh. Flacco finished an efficient 16-of-26 for 168 yards with two TDs and did a better job distributing the ball than the still-green Richardson has to date.
16. After entering Sunday with eight catches for 69 yards on the season, perennial Chiefs Pro Bowl TE Travis Kelce heated up for seven grabs and 89 yards – both team highs – in Kansas City’s 17-10 defeat of the Los Angeles Chargers.
17. Number of (career-high) tackles made by third-year Atlanta Falcons LB Troy Andersen, whose career day – it included his first NFL pick-six off a deflected pass – was instrumental to a 26-24 defeat of the archrival New Orleans Saints.
18. Of course, Atlanta doesn’t win without Younghoe Koo’s 58-yard field goal in the waning seconds – both the longest of the veteran kicker’s seven-year career and longest in the eight-season history of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
19. Chicago Bears RB D’Andre Swift entered Sunday with 114 total yards from scrimmage, averaging just 2.7 yards per touch. But in a 24-18 defeat of the Rams, he racked up 165 yards and a TD while averaging 7.2 yards per touch.
20. Chicago’s balanced offense and opportunistic defense greatly reduced the load on Caleb Williams, who played – by far – his most efficient game to date (17-for-23, 157 yards, TD, 106.6 passer rating) in what should serve as a blueprint game for the Bears.
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21. Another rookie passer, the Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix, notched his first career TD throw – an 8-yarder to WR Courtland Sutton that proved pivotal in a 10-9 upset of the New York Jets. It basically qualified as the bare minimum to win in what was otherwise a struggle bus kind of day in poor weather – Nix threw for -7 yards despite seven completions before halftime and finished with 60 yards (albeit with 25 pass attempts).
22. Coincidentally, Sutton finished with three catches for 60 yards. The rest of Denver’s receivers – combined – caught nine balls … for 0 yards.
23. Per OptaSTATS, the Broncos are the first team in the Super Bowl era with four players to catch at least one pass but not finish with positive yardage.
24. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes continues doing things we’ve never seen, including the longest completion – by air yards traveled, per Next Gen Stats – of his eight-year career in Sunday’s victory.
25. Mahomes is now 13-12 in games in which K.C. trailed by double digits, the only quarterback in the Super Bowl era above .500 given such circumstances, per @FrontOfficeNFL.
26. Now with 100 regular-season starts under his belt, Mahomes is an unprecedented 78-22 with 29,328 yards and 225 TDs passing – all league records to this point of a player’s career.
26a. However, he’s unlikely to remember Sunday’s victory fondly given his involvement in the tackle (during an interception return) that took out WR Rashee Rice.
27. Already missing injured RB Isiah Pacheco and WR Hollywood Brown, Mahomes and Co. seem likely to face an even steeper three-peat climb, coach Andy Reid saying of Rice’s knee injury: ‘I’m sure it’s not as good of news as we want.’
28. Uniform note of the week: Among the better things you can say about the Falcons in recent years is their effective disavowal of their gradient jerseys, which haven’t been seen in two years. And the Dirty Birds looked wonderful Sunday in those throwback black jerseys with the original team logo and red helmet with subtle gold stripe – which allows the team to honor both the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. But the team could take another step forward by mixing in the red jerseys and silver pants combination used extensively in the late 1970s and ‘80s – and, frankly, we wouldn’t mind seeing the classic logo reinstituted permanently.
29. Another uniform note of the week: The Houston Texans debuted their new “Deep Steel Blue” jerseys, a fairly understated approximation of the ones they wore during their first 22 seasons. But wait until you see what they wear next week …
30. Yet another uniform note of the week: Rather than going nearly monochrome white with a less-than-satisfying throwback attempt, couldn’t the Browns do something creative – particularly given their recently adopted alternate logo? Please?
31. Obviously too much white for Cleveland to overcome the Silver and Black – even though the Las Vegas Raiders were without their two best players, WR Davante Adams and DE Maxx Crosby on Sunday, both inactive with injuries.
32. Kudos to the NFC South brethren Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers pledging a combined $6 million (at least) to relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene – which ravaged Florida’s Gulf Coast and the Carolinas along its destructive track while causing dozens of fatalities. Sunday, the league also promoted the Red Cross on the homepage of its website, giving fans the ability to donate. Please consider it.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
