The NFL season is a quarter of the way finished, and we’re starting to get an idea of who’s good and who isn’t. There have been surprises and disappointments, some contenders that we didn’t expect — and some losing teams that were supposed to contend.
Here, we take a look at all 32 NFL teams through the first four weeks of the season and grade their campaigns so far.
If this is the last hurrah for Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald, it’s not proving to be a memorable one. The Cardinals are 2-2, but they’ve lost to both of the good teams they’ve faced — the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. Furthermore, their wins have been unimpressive — a three-point victory over the lowly Indianapolis Colts and an overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers. They’re still firmly in the NFC race, so they haven’t failed entirely, but they’ll need to step things up.
Atlanta’s best performance of the season so far has been a home thrashing of Green Bay, but they’ve had some issues in their other three performances. They did not look convincing against the Chicago Bears, needed a bit of luck to get past the Detroit Lions, and suffered their first loss in a surprising home defeat to the Buffalo Bills. Their 3-1 record does not lie, and the win over the Lions looks good, but the Falcons have not yet played their best. That might be fine by them, as teams want to be at their best during the playoffs rather than September.
Based on their 2-2 record, the Ravens are right in the AFC North conversation. Looking at their recent performances, they are a ways away. After a 2-0 start — with the caveat that the wins were over the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns — the Ravens have been blown out by the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers. They forced five turnovers in each of their first two wins. Absent that, they’ve found difficulties. Joe Flacco has not been good, and the team is dead last in the NFL in passing yards per game. Baltimore needs a quick turnaround.
Very little was expected of Buffalo this season, especially after they lost Stephon Gilmore and Mike Gillislee to the Patriots, and traded Sammy Watkins. Their offense has still been middling all season. The defense, though, has allowed the fewest points in the NFL. That has lifted them to a surprise 3-1 start under new head coach Sean McDermott. It is still too soon to deduce whether the Bills are legitimate contenders in 2017, but the fact is they sit alone in first place in the AFC East at the start of October. They deserve a lot of credit for their strong start.
A higher grade for the Panthers is being withheld as quarterback Cam Newton, who set the bar so incredibly high in 2015, still hasn’t quite hit his stride this season. Nevertheless, the Panthers are still 3-1 and look well-positioned for another run at the NFC South. Their defense has been very sturdy, and veteran Julius Peppers had high praise for the unit earlier in the year. If Newton can get it going —
he is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery — Carolina could really take off in the weeks to come.
The only thing saving the Bears from a failing grade is a surprising overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Other than that, this team has not been good. They ran the Atlanta Falcons close, but quarterback Mike Glennon has been a disaster who was deservedly benched after falling victim to the Green Bay Packers. The Bears were never expected to be good this season, so they’re right in line with expectations, but the play has been bad.
There is still time to turn this around, and a thrashing of the Cleveland Browns — a week after taking the Green Bay Packers to overtime at Lambeau Field — is a step in the right direction. Still, the first team to fire an offensive coordinator this season doesn’t get a passing grade, not after they failed to score a touchdown in their first two games. This team hoped to get back to the playoffs, but instead, we could be watching coach Marvin Lewis’s final season in charge. Questions must also be asked about quarterback Andy Dalton’s long-term future with the team as well.
The Browns were supposed to be bad and they are bad. In that aspect, at least, their failing grade is more or less expected. The defense is bad, the offense is bad, although quarterback DeShone Kizer has shown glimpses of promise going forward. It’s unlikely they’ll improve much — the talent on this team just is not there — but they look like they stand a halfway decent chance of at least winning a game or two somewhere down the line, especially with No. 1 pick Myles Garrett expected to return and have an impact.
Their loss to the Los Angeles Rams really hurts, and it raises new questions about how viable this team is. The Cowboys were so good a year ago, winning 13 games en route to an NFC East title, that anything less would be a letdown. Through four games, it’s clear they’re not quite as good as they were last season. The offense has been middle of the road, and Dak Prescott still looks like a capable quarterback, but the defense has been giving up a lot of points as they weather injuries and suspensions. The returns of defensive players like David Irving and Anthony Hitchens may help turn things around, but this is not how 2017 was supposed to start for the Cowboys.
It’s hard for the Broncos to have too many complaints right now. They’re getting solid enough quarterback from Trevor Siemian, their rushing game looks good, and their fearsome defense pretty much destroyed Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott in a signature performance. They already have two wins over 2016 playoff teams as well. After a year away from the NFL’s postseason, the Broncos look to be on course to return in 2017 behind the league’s No. 1-ranked defense (in terms of yards allowed per game).
