10 winners from Week 4 of the 2019 NFL season

Week 4 did not put elegant football on display for the world to see. The final Sunday of September played host to a wide swath of ugly football across the league.

An AFC East showdown between the Patriots and Bills saw five interceptions thrown and the deciding touchdown scored via blocked punt. The Bears lost their starting quarterback minutes into their rivalry game against the Vikings. The first touchdown of Seahawks-Cardinals was a pick-six from a player who’d never had an interception in his six-year NFL career.

But manure helps flowers grow, without brutal ugliness we’d never appreciate true beauty, ugly ducklings become swans, etc. Week 4’s abject grossness made its bright spots shine a little harder. So who provided the silver lining to this week’s storm clouds?

It wasn’t ...

Matt Ryan has thrown for at least 304 yards in each of his four starts in 2019. His 331 passing yards per game are 22 more than his MVP campaign of 2016, when he led Atlanta to an 11-5 regular season record and a league-best 33.8 points per game.

Despite this, this year’s Falcons are 1-3. They are averaging only 17.5 points per game. They have to throw the ball so much because they’ve only led twice in a game so far — and both times it came in a Week 2 win over the Eagles.

Atlanta has gone from dark horse contender to looking like a team that had been called up from relegation without being ready in any meaningful way. The crazy thing is, the Falcons still look good on paper. The defense is allowing fewer than four yards per carry and fewer than 5.5 yards per play. Austin Hooper has emerged as a powerful cantilever to a receiving corps led by Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, and Calvin Ridley. Ryan sure seems like the kind of QB you’d want throwing the ball 44 times per game.

Then, you watch them play football and they look like they’re cosplaying a poorly organized Senior Bowl scrimmage.

Now, on to ...

Mariota was the beneficiary of Atlanta’s ability to make uneven quarterbacks look like All-Pros this fall. The fifth-year passer followed Jacoby Brissett’s lead by carving up the Falcons in a win that was never in question after halftime. Mariota threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday. More importantly, he refused to give Atlanta any extra opportunities, keeping an impressive season-starting streak alive:

2019 has been an extremely Mariota year, as he’s alternated strong performances with confusing ones en route to what’s shaping up to be a nine-win season. Those inconsistent outings — he’d needed 49 dropbacks to throw for 304 yards in a 20-7 loss to the Jaguars a week prior — have made the Titans reticent to offer him the kind of deal most former top-five picks earn with their second contract. If Tennessee isn’t convinced, some needy team could look at Mariota’s showcase against the Falcons as a reason to give the Heisman winner who’s been to the playoffs only once in four seasons $50 million guaranteed next spring.

The greatest player an 80-yard football field has ever seen needed only one game to leave his mark in Oakland. The former Packer — acquired 11 days earlier in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick — hasn’t seen a target with his new club, but the wideout/kick returner was the Raiders’ most electric runner Sunday.

Davis only touched the ball twice against the Colts. He finished his day with 74 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders’ 31-24 win.

Clowney had never notched an interception in his five-year career leading up until Week 4. This made sense, as the pocket-destroying edge rusher was rarely asked to do much in coverage with the Texans or Seahawks. He wasn’t in pass coverage Sunday when he rewrote that section of his NFL resume.

Clowney was being blocked at the line of scrimmage when he used his 6’11 wingspan to pluck a Kyler Murray pass out of the sky. All he had to do after that was beat an offensive lineman to complete the first pick-six of his career.

That didn’t mean much for a Seahawks team that was rarely challenged in a 27-10 win over the Cardinals, but there was some delicious symbolism involved for Clowney. He’d been traded to Seattle after the Texans refused to offer him a market-resetting contract extension in 2019. His presence was missed in Week 4 as Houston fell to Kyle Allen and the Panthers.

Even though Houston got to Allen enough to force three fumbles, the Texans could have used another game-changing force alongside J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus to finish off a resilient young passer who managed to escape danger and reel off some big plays.

The final score? 16-10 — a deficit that was, for one week, exactly what Clowney produced for his new team.

The Bears ran more than 10 different kickers through the wringer in an effort to find Cody Parkey’s successor this offseason. That spinning wheel eventually landed on Pineiro, who so far has rewarded his head coach’s faith.

Pineiro may not have had a kick as important as his game-winning 53-yarder in Week 2, but he was still a consistent presence for Chicago Sunday. He made all four of his kicks in Week 4 — three field goals and an extra point — and has converted 14 of his 15 kicks (eight field goals, six XPs) to start the season. He was especially valuable in Week 4 because his Bears played all but one series of the game without starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

Backup Chase Daniel was fine in relief (195 yards, 6.5 yards per pass, no interceptions), but the furthest he could drive the Bears after that first drive was field goal range. That’s when Pineiro took over, building Chicago’s confidence in its special teams back one kick at a time. He poured in 10 points in a 16-6 victory over a Vikings team that never found its footing against the Bears’ brutal defense.

Pineiro won’t erase the pain of Parkey’s audible failure until he does it in the postseason, but Sunday’s performance continued a good start. If Trubisky misses extended time, Chicago could wind up leaning on its kicker to provide the bulk of its scoring until he comes back.

No team had rushed for more than 160 yards against the Ravens defense in their last 29 games. Chubb hit that mark on his own in a Baltimore beatdown (hey, that sounds familiar) in Week 4.

The second-year back helped shatter the mythos of the Ravens’ stingy defense, carving his AFC North rival up from the inside out. Chubb ran for 165 yards on 20 carries, none bigger than the 88-yard score that stomped out Baltimore’s comeback hopes. Lamar Jackson had hit Mark Andrews for a touchdown one play earlier to cut the Browns’ lead to 24-18 — but Chubb made sure that was as close as Jackson would get in the fourth quarter.

How did his quarterback Baker Mayfield — who had a day of his own with 342 passing yards — feel about his performance?

Pretty good!

McCourty had four interceptions in his previous four seasons with the Patriots. It only took him four games in 2019 to match that total.

The Pro Bowl safety has yet to play a game this season where he hasn’t come down with an interception. He got on the board early against the Bills, sniffing out a bad Josh Allen decision downfield:

That first-quarter pick put him alongside lofty company. McCourty tied an NFL record with interceptions in four straight games — a mark previously held by Hall of Famer (and former Patriot) Mike Haynes. McCourty doesn’t have the same impeccable resume Haynes has, but a late-career renaissance would certainly bolster any Hall of Fame debate the three-time NFL champion and three-time All-Pro has working in his favor.

McCaffrey has been one of the league’s most dangerous receivers out of the backfield since entering the league in 2017. On Sunday he pulled off his most eye-popping catch yet:

McCaffrey finished his day with 93 rushing yards, but he was much more valuable for backup-turned-starting quarterback Kyle Allen with his hands. McCaffrey caught all 10 of Allen’s targets, paving the way for the second-year quarterback to earn his third straight victory as a starter.

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type:

Jim Kelly was able to give Josh Allen a pep talk because he was walking the bride down the aisle at a Bills-themed wedding at halftime.

CBS reported that the Bills’ legend spent some time on the sideline to talk up Buffalo’s current quarterback and address other members of the team. It worked, too! Kelly was one of several honored guests as two superfans exchanged mid-game nuptials in front of one of the sport’s most raucous crowds.

Kyle Williams WAS THE OFFICIANT. The dais was Zubaz-striped.

The Bills were outscored by 10 points before the wedding took place, then held New England to just three second-half points after Park and Binggeli said “I do.” Buffalo didn’t win, however, which means the team needs to have a halftime wedding every week from now until its eventual 2023 Super Bowl win.

I don’t know where or what the reception was, but if it didn’t include someone in a Tyrod Taylor jersey getting power-bombed through a flaming folding table then I’m not sure we can call this a real Bills wedding, regardless of Kelly’s presence.

Gore did not look 36 years old while being the only bright spot of a foundering Bills offense. The future Hall of Famer gashed the Patriots’ vaunted defense with regularity Sunday,

No run was bigger than his 41-yard sprint in the second quarter. It not only set up Buffalo’s first points of the afternoon, it also made him only the fourth player in league history to ever rush for 15,000 yards.

Gore finished with 17 carries for 109 yards — his first 100-yard game as a 36-year-old but 13th of his 30s — and averaged more yards per play than the Buffalo passing game. While the former 49er, Colt, and Dolphin is comparatively elderly compared to his peers at tailback, he put together a throwback performance to stand out as the Bills’ offensive MVP in a near-upset of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Gore now ranks fourth among all NFL players in rushing yards, behind only Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown Walter Payton (my egregious mistake, apologies), and Barry Sanders. He’s first among active backs. Here’s where that top five stands after Sunday:

Gore: 15,021 yards
Adrian Peterson: 13,408
LeSean McCoy: 10,820
Mark Ingram: 6,335
Lamar Miller: 5,854

So yeah, there’s a good chance Gore is the last member to join the 15K club for a long, long time.

I know, I thought he might be washed after last year’s 3.3-yard per carry campaign, too.

Fournette’s big day gave Jacksonville the leverage to come back from a 17-3 second quarter deficit and then later a 24-23 one with 92 seconds left to play, giving Gardner Minshew a safety valve in his second straight win behind center. And though Minshew was impressive in the comeback effort, Fournette’s third-year breakthrough may have finally stolen the spotlight — or at least tilted it slightly away from — the league’s most interesting rookie.

He also celebrated the blockbuster performance by cussing out a starting offensive lineman for nearly drawing a 15-yard penalty at the end of the game. That’s either a stunning example of leadership or, if you’re not sold on Fournette as a legit NFL running back, something weirder.

After nearly forcing his way out of Jacksonville with a disappointing 2018, the former No. 4 overall pick is finally starting to live up to his collegiate pedigree. He’s on pace for a 1,600-yard season, and while he’s unlikely to keep that pace, he’s got a great opportunity to put last year’s injury-shortened, 439-yard campaign in his rear view.