Week 4 of the NFL is here, which means it's time for teams to start taking their bye weeks. We've got a smaller slate of games than usual, but this early on in the season only two teams are taking byes: the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots.
2015 NFL schedule, Week 4: Five unbeaten teams in action
There are still six undefeated teams, and five of them will be in action on Sunday.
Those teams will be well-rested heading into Week 5, where the Titans will play the Buffalo Bills at home, and the Patriots will hit the road to take on the Dallas Cowboys.
But before that, we have plenty of games for you to watch on Sunday and Monday. There are a handful of 3-0 teams trying to stay ahead, with the Arizona Cardinals playing a tough NFC West game against the St. Louis Rams, one week after completely annihilating the San Francisco 49ers. Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will play the Minnesota Vikings in their quest to remain unbeaten as well.
The primetime matchups to watch include a Sunday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and Cowboys, and on Monday Night Football the winless Detroit Lions will play the 1-2 Seattle Seahawks. Below, we've got a full list of games and how you can watch them.
Sunday, Oct. 4
(CBS — 9:30 a.m.)
The Jets and Dolphins will combine for an early morning matchup in London on Sunday. Miami loses a home game for this one, and they also come into the game with a losing record. New York is, surprisingly, 2-1 on the season despite starting Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback and a tough game against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2. They suffered their first loss in Week 3, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts
(CBS — 1 p.m.)
Indianapolis has been surprisingly poor this season, falling to the Buffalo Bills and the Jets in their first two games. They almost fell to the Tennessee Titans in Week 3 as well, but came back to win that one, 35-33. They’ll be expected to dominate against a 1-2 Jaguars team on Sunday. All four teams in the division are 1-2 at this point.
New York Giants vs. Buffalo Bills
(FOX — 1 p.m.)
Eli Manning and Tyrod Taylor aren't necessarily the most similar quarterbacks in the league, but both have played very well through three weeks, and both have taken care of the football. For the Bills, that's led to a 2-1 record, but the Giants are sitting at 1-2 after a couple unfortunate losses. The two teams will face off and it could be a duel given the weaknesses both teams have shown in the secondary this season.
(FOX — 1 p.m.)
The Panthers are a surprise 3-0 team after winning the NFC South with a losing record last season. Carolina's defense is playing well, Cam Newton is playing well and the Panthers will do themselves yet another favor if they can take down Jameis Winston and the Buccaneers on Sunday. Winston obviously can go either way at this point, but he's coming off a game against the Houston Texans in which he completed just 47.2 percent of his passes.
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington
(FOX — 1 p.m.)
The NFC East has not looked good by any stretch of the imagination, and both Washington and the Eagles are struggling big time. Both teams are 1-2 on the season, and neither looks like they have what it takes to really take control of the division going forward. That said, if they’re going to, dropping the other one to 1-3 would be a great start.
(CBS — 1 p.m.)
Oakland might just be a good football team at this point, with Derek Carr on offense and Khalil Mack leading the way on defense. The Bears, on the other hand, might be close to starting a fire sale after trading off both Jared Allen and Jon Bostic this past week. Chicago is 0-3 and though they have been favored in this matchup in years past, they might just be 0-4 after Sunday.
Houston Texans vs. Atlanta Falcons
(CBS — 1 p.m.)
Like the Panthers, the Falcons had a losing record and played in the poor NFC South last year. But through three weeks, they're also at 3-0 and should be able to leave Sunday's game with a 4-0 record given the struggles the Texans have had with Ryan Mallett at quarterback. They quickly learned Brian Hoyer wasn't the answer at the position, but it didn't take long to also figure out that Mallett is still very raw.
(CBS — 1 p.m.)
Another 3-0 team, the Cincinnati Bengals won a very close game against the rival Baltimore Ravens in Week 3. They're playing a Chiefs team that had nothing for the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 and who lost a shocker of a game to the rival Broncos in Week 2. The Chiefs may just be deflated at this point, but they're not an easy opponent for the Bengals.
(CBS — 4:05 p.m.)
Josh McCown hasn't translated into wins for the Browns, as they've only won the one game that Johnny Manziel started at quarterback. Still, it's early on in the season yet and the Browns gave McCown another start and a vote of confidence heading into Sunday. The Chargers may have a quarterback controversy on their hands soon if they can't keep Philip Rivers upright. He's been sacked four times in each of the past two games.
Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers
(FOX — 4:25 p.m.)
The 49ers have allowed 90 points over the last two weeks, the most in back-to-back games in that franchise's history since 1980. The defense is playing terribly and Colin Kaepernick is doing them zero favors. Unfortunately, they now have Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense to contend with. This one might be ugly.
St. Louis Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals
(FOX — 4:25 p.m.)
The Cardinals were one of the teams that contributed to San Francisco's 90 points allowed, putting up 47 of them in Week 3. Now they'll be playing a Rams team that hasn't quite figured out its identity. Todd Gurley finally made his NFL debut in Week 3, but he only put up 9 yards on six carries in that game. He should get an increased workload this week, but it will be up against a tough Arizona defense.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Denver Broncos
(FOX — 4:25 p.m.)
Adrian Peterson vs. Peyton Manning sounds like a good game in any situation. Manning hasn't looked entirely like himself thus far this season, but he's played well enough, assisted by Denver's strong defense, to lead his team to a 3-0 start. Peterson took awhile to get started against the 49ers in the opener, but he's put up 125-plus yards in each of his last two starts.
Dallas Cowboys vs. New Orleans Saints
(NBC — 8:30 p.m.)
The Saints are off to a rough start, with Drew Brees dealing with a rotator cuff injury and issues on both sides of the ball. They're at 0-3 on the season, and have a tough game against the Cowboys under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football coming up. Dallas is 2-1 and atop the NFC East coming into this game.
Monday, Oct. 5
Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks
(ESPN — 8:30 p.m.)
The Lions are 0-3 while the Seahawks are 1-2 on the season. Both are very surprising results, with the Lions being unable to protect Matthew Stafford and the Seahawks being unable to close out games in general. The Seahawks will probably be fine in the long run, but they're currently two games back of the Cardinals in the NFC West, and they could very well find themselves as runner-ups in the division come playoff time.
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