Week 4 belonged to the teams that were supposed to be finished. Three clubs that arrived at 1–2 knocked off teams with winning records, the Atlanta Falcons closed the week with its most lopsided game, and the list of unbeaten teams shrank to three.
Three 1–2 teams took down contenders
The biggest result came in Orchard Park, where the New England Patriots handed the Buffalo Bills their first loss, 29–26, in a meeting of a 1–2 team and a 3–0 team. The Los Angeles Rams went into Philadelphia at 1–2 and left with a 24–20 win over a 2–1 Eagles side, and the Carolina Panthers did the same to the Detroit Lions on Sunday night, winning 32–26 at home against another 2–1 opponent. All three winners pulled level at 2–2.
Atlanta’s statement on Monday night
The week’s last game was also its most one-sided. Atlanta beat the New Orleans Saints 45–24, a 21-point margin that was the widest of Week 4, and the 69 combined points made it the highest-scoring game of the weekend.
Four finishes inside a field goal
Four games were settled by three points or fewer. The Cleveland Browns opened the week by edging the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–24 on Thursday night. The Patriots’ win in Buffalo came by the same margin, the Green Bay Packers held off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17–14, and the Kansas City Chiefs escaped Las Vegas with a 30–27 win over the Raiders.
Who is still perfect, and who is still waiting
Kansas City, the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers are the only teams left at 4–0. Minnesota got there the hard way, grinding out a 15–10 win over the Miami Dolphins, while San Francisco handled the Denver Broncos 24–14.
At the other end, five teams are 0–4: Miami, the Houston Texans, the Tennessee Titans, the Los Angeles Chargers and Tampa Bay. Houston came closest to breaking through, losing a 34–30 shootout to the Dallas Cowboys, the highest-scoring of the one-score games. Tennessee stayed within a touchdown in Baltimore before falling 24–18, and the Chargers lost 30–23 in Seattle.
The week in numbers
The 16 games produced 764 points, an average of 47.8 per game. The New York Giants put up the most points by a winning home team, 36 in a 36–24 win over the Arizona Cardinals, and only Atlanta won by more on the road than the Indianapolis Colts, who beat the Commanders 30–13 in London.
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