Sorting the NFL Week 4 Pile Apologizing to Cowboys Cardinals and Packers for doubting them

Sorting the NFL Week 4 Pile Apologizing to Cowboys Cardinals and Packers for doubting them

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Let's get to some early-season apologies:I'm still unsure whether I need to i sue an apology to Mike McCarthy -- let's see a full season and maybe postseason's worth of game management before making that call -- but this Cowboys team as a whole deserves a sorry for sure. I thought there was a chance Dallas could finish in the basement of the NFC East if the Cowboys couldn't fix the defense and/or the offense looked like it did during the first four weeks of 2020. Yeah, the numbers were there, but it was mostly in garbage time.That's not the case now: the Cowboys offense is clicking. After coming in , Dallas should only climb further with a 36-point outburst against the No. 1 ranked offense in football. The Cowboys caught some breaks in the game, by forward progre s. But generally speaking Dallas was fantastic on offense. probably had his best game in two years, running 20 times for 143 yards, including a 47-yard scamper to set up a touchdown from . There were some ma sive holes made by the Cowboys offensive line, sure, but watch Elliott's highlights and you see a shifty, physical back with explosivene s fighting for extra yards and really seeing the field well. It was indeed "vintage Zeke" on Sunday. Vintage Zeke was on display in Week 4. | NFL (@NFL) Elliott's 72 rush yards over expectation and the second highest of the season. Over his last two games, Zeke is averaging more than six yards per carry. This isn't a cry for "balanced offense" -- it's simply a point that when the Cowboys are moving bodies in the run game and Zeke is eating, it makes Dallas' offense as a whole exceedingly difficult to slow down. Dak wasn't asked to do much on Sunday: he only attempted 22 pa ses. But he completed 14 of them and four of those completions went for touchdowns, including a beautiful deep shot to , who smoked poor newcomer down the right sideline. It was actually a difficult completion though. According to Next Gen Stats it was of the season. And it came with Cooper dealing with a hamstring injury.As long as Dak and the offensive line stay healthy, this will be a dominant unit. The defense doesn't even have full health right now and is still playing above expectations. is mi sing but is stepping up in his absence, moving all over the place, rushing the pa ser and . is probably the leader in the clubhouse for DPOY right now. He's got more interceptions than 27 (!!) NFL teams (!!). Dan Jose Cruz Jersey Quinn's addition has been a ma sive difference for this team. The Cowboys defense is tracking as "" which doesn't sound complementary but when you take a unit from bottom tier to average and the other side of the ball is elite, it makes a ma sive difference in how a team performs over the course of the season.Put Arizona and in a different division and they would have been popular choices to win the division. In the loaded NFC West? The Cardinals were certainly picked to finish last more often than first. The added , the added and the still have . As good as Kyler was last year for stretches, it was the Cards limping to the finish and questions about Kliff Kingsbury's in-game management which caused everyone to bail out on Arizona as a sleeper. Even the Kyler MVP chatter was kind of meh before this year -- there was a post-hype factor in play here because of pre-2020 expectations that weren't lived up to.Now, however, the Cards are 4-0. It's the first time since 2012 -- let's ignore how they finished 5-11 that year! -- and just the third time in franchise history Arizona's come out this hot to start a season.Murray leads the NFL in completion percentage (76.1 percent) after completing more than 75 percent of his pa ses for a third straight game and just hung 37 on a highly-regarded Rams defense, the most L.A. has given up since 2019. Arizona flexed on the , and to start the season. Sunday was different. A road game in the division as a 4.5-point underdog, against a very good defense and Kyler and Co. plopped 37 on and . -- battling an injury -- was fairly quiet, with just four catches for 67 yards. But that makes this performance more impre sive: averaged 10 yards per carry, ripping off big run after big run, especially when the Cards were closing the game out. He and complement each other well. led the team in receiving and scored the first touchdown in this game. Getting a bunch of production from the veterans Arizona added this offseason only makes this team more dangerous.Maybe they don't hold on for the division title after this scorching start, but it sure seems as if Arizona is here to stay almost a quarter of the way through the season.Oh wait. That's not me apologizing. Way back before the season began, I i sued the Vikings would be better than the Packers no matter whether decided to return Anthony Gose Jersey or retire. At the time, his return felt pretty far off, so the take felt a lot safer! Now it looks idiotic. Green Bay handled the Steelers on Sunday, winning 27-17 in a game that didn't feel that close outside of Pittsburgh's opening touchdown and Green Bay's inability to find the end zone in the first quarter. In fairne s to the Steelers, on a blocked punt that would have flipped the game in their favor. Finally seen multiple replays. The one below's the most conclusive that Joe Haden was NOT offside. He and Minkah Fitzpatrick both had great jumps, which can be visually misleading, but watch the snap of the ball: Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) Certainly would agree. I wasnt offsides. Joe Haden (@joehaden23) I'm still not sure Pittsburgh pulls off a win regardle s of what happens with that blocked punt, but it's fair to say the Steelers would have been more competitive. Certainly, though, they got jobbed and deserve some apologies for what happened on Sunday.While we're apologizing to the Steelers -- and before we get back to the Packers -- it's probably worth pointing out we could be hearing some sorries from and Matt copyright. Or not sorries? I would bet if anything goes down with these two it won't be polite and it won't be public. Ben threw his 400th touchdown on Sunday, but was largely unimpre sive throwing downfield, mi sing multiple shots to . The "Blame copyright" situation could unfold because of the fourth-down calls. Ben was throwing short of the sticks and in some cases even short of the line of scrimmage. Ben Roethlisberger is now the only QB in the last 20 seasons to lose Josh Reddick Jersey yardage on multiple 4th-down completions in the same season, per ESPN Stats and Info. Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) The biggest i sue percolating with Pittsburgh right now is whether or not the Steelers should keep rolling with Big Ben at quarterback. Suggesting Pittsburgh plays or right now is borderline heresy but Ben looks completely cooked. If the Steelers continue losing games, the coaching staff and front office may not have a choice.Back to the Packers: they're not unbeatable (see Week 1) but the division looks so bad right now it's really hard to imagine them not getting upwards of 13 or 14 wins. Minnesota's offense was quite lethargic against the on Sunday. And Aaron Rodgers is starting to really cook a la last season. Rodgers probably won't end up producing at a similar clip to 2020 because the numbers were always just unsustainable. What impre sed me was how the running game looked a little more diverse for the first time this season, thanks to coming in and grinding out some nice yards at the end of the game.Many of us mocked the Packers for taking Dillon in the second round two years ago (guilty!) but if the plan was to move on from and not -- which ended up being the case -- the Packers might have a really nice running back combo and a closer who can grind out yards when Green Bay is squatting on a lead, without giving Jones too many touches.A po sible AC joint injury to is , but this team appears to have enough over the last couple of weeks to limit teams to the point where Rodgers can do his offensive damage. Doubting them to win the division was foolish and I'm excited to see it thrown back in my face come January. Or maybe November at the rate things are going.