Giants awful offense, rudderless Ridder and the other disappointments of NFL Week 4

Even though the NFL season now consists of 17 games, Week 4 has historically served as a natural marker for teams who have completed roughly the first quarter of their schedule. Some franchises sprinted into Week 5 with a ton of momentum, and others will have to go back to the drawing board to find answers.

Love showed a lot of heart in Week 3, as he led the Green Bay Packers to an inspiring comeback victory against the New Orleans Saints. However, the young quarterback appeared flustered on Thursday night against the Detroit Lions. He finished with a respectable stat line, but had trouble sustaining drives against a division foe.

The Falcons’ signal caller is only in his second NFL season, but it might be time for Atlanta’s coaching staff to wonder whether they should stick with Ridder. He hasn’t been overly impressive through four weeks, and threw two costly interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Atlanta may not want to see much more of this considering they are in a winnable division.

The Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills game was supposed to be the marquee contest on the slate. For about a quarter and a half it was, as the teams traded touchdown drives on their initial possessions. However, the Dolphins weren’t able to protect Tua Tagovailoa after Terron Armstead went down, and Buffalo continued their surge up and down the field.

The Steelers are a tough team to figure out. NFL fans know that they’re very well coached, but they lost a chance to build on their momentum against a rebuilding Houston Texans organization. It looks like Pittsburgh will be without starting quarterback Kenny Pickett for a few weeks, although the offense struggled even while he was in the game.

Cincinnati was able to breathe a sigh of relief thanks to their win on Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams, but that sense of hope was short-lived. The Bengals were annihilated by the Tennessee Titans in Week 4, which will once again raise questions about the health of Joe Burrow’s calf. Additionally, they lost wide receiver Tee Higgins to a rib injury.

New England hoped that they could stay in the game against the Dallas Cowboys by protecting the football and causing turnovers, but that did not come to fruition. Patriots quarterback Mac Jones threw two interceptions, including one that was taken back for a touchdown by Dallas cornerback Daron Bland. That essentially put the game out of reach before halftime.

Berating officials is never a narrative that does any good, but there were a couple of shaky calls this weekend. A.J. Brown was called for a light taunting penalty in the fourth quarter of the Eagles-Commanders game that helped Washington navigate a short field to tie the game. The Jets were also called for a questionable pass interference penalty against the Chiefs on Sunday night.

For much of the week, it seemed like there was no chance Carr would be able to start for New Orleans in Week 4. The veteran gutted through a sprained AC joint to make it back to the lineup, but retrospective lenses may indicate that the team should have sat him out. He was limited to check-down throws that limited the scope of what the Saints’ offense could do.

New York had a mini bye to get ready for their game against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, but that extra time didn’t seem to help them. The Giants were still dealing with a deluge of injuries across their offensive line, and had no answers for how to attack Seattle’s defense. Their schedule doesn’t get any easier with a trip to Miami on Sunday.