Minnesota Vikings (2-2)
The Vikings have been without Adrian Peterson for all but the first game, but have managed to stay afloat. Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has helped. He made his first career start in Sunday’s 41-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons. He hurt his foot in the fourth quarter, but stayed in the game to hand off to Matt Asiata for the go-ahead touchdown and throw a two-point conversion to give the Vikings a 35-28 lead. Bridgewater has averaged 9.3 yards per attempt, tops among all quarterbacks with at least 50 passes. He said he’ll start Thursday night at Green Bay, according to NFL.com, as the Vikings begin their NFC North stretch of the schedule.
Grade: B-
San Francisco 49ers (2-2)
The 49ers won one for the zipper on Sunday, their first victory at Levi’s Stadium. The 26-21 win was the first loss this season for the Eagles. If it wasn’t for special teams gaffes, the 49ers would have won a lot more easily. All the Eagles points came on return yards. Brad Smith recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and Darren Sproles returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown. The 49ers blew leads of 17-0 and 20-7 in a 28-20 home loss to the Bears in Week 2. Their other loss came against unbeaten Arizona. San Francisco is second in the league defensively, allowing 287.2 yards per game, and second in rush defense at 69.8 yards per game.
Grade: B-
Atlanta Falcons (2-2)
The Falcons are a prototypical .500 team. They’re tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the league lead with 444 yards of offense per game. On defense, they’ve allowed 429.8 yards per game. Only the Jaguars are worse. The Falcons have a 56-14 thrashing of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to crow about, but strange things happen on Thursday nights in the NFL. They needed overtime for their other victory over a struggling Saints team in Week 1. Matt Ryan is second in the league with 1,263 passing yards, but he’s tied for worst in the league with five interceptions.
Grade: C+
Buffalo Bills (2-2)
The first quarterback picked in the 2013 NFL draft has lost his starting job. Bills coach Doug Marrone announced Monday that Kyle Orton will replace E.J. Manuel, according to NFL.com. Manuel has five touchdown passes, three interceptions and a modest 80.3 passer rating. The 31-year-old Orton’s career rating is 79.9. Manuel completed just 21 of 44 passes in Sunday’s 23-17 loss at Houston. He threw a pick-six to J.J. Watt and and Darryl Morris picked him off with 1:14 left to seal the win for the Texans. After stunning the Bears 23-20 at Chicago in the season opener and starting 2-0, the Bills have crashed to .500.
Grade: C+
Carolina Panthers (2-2)
After beating Tampa Bay and Detroit, the Panthers fell on their face against AFC competition. They lost to the Steelers at home (37-19) and at Baltimore (38-10). Steve Smith caught seven passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns for the Ravens Sunday even though the Panthers have known for months how motivated he’d be in his first game against them. Carolina has been hampered by the absence of Greg Hardy and injuries at running back. DeAngelo Williams is their only 100-yard rusher, and those 106 yards didn’t come in one game. That’s his total for the season. He missed two games and left Sunday’s game with an ankle injury.
Grade: C+
Miami Dolphins (2-2)
The Dolphins got back to .500 with Sunday’s 38-14 win over the Raiders in London. But a win over a team that just fired its coach doesn’t do much to improve Miami’s grade. And now it looks like the Dolphins’ 33-20, Week 1 win at home over the Patriots isn’t much of a resume builder, either. In between those “meh” victories, the Dolphins lost to the Bills on the road and the Chiefs at home, both by 19 points. Unlike Dennis Allen, it looks like Ryan Tannehill will be keeping his job. He had his best game of the season Sunday. Now let’s see how he and the Dolphins can do against a guys that resemble a football team and not a foosball team.
Grade: C
New England Patriots (2-2)
The Patriots needed 59 minutes to put away the hapless Raiders at home in Week 3. That should have been a warning sign. The Patriots plummeted to .500 with a 41-14 loss at Kansas City on Monday Night Football. It was the Patriots’ biggest margin of defeat in nine years. Tom Brady has looked like a 37-year-old quarterback at times this season, but he threw no interceptions until the Chiefs picked him off twice, returning one for a touchdown. Brady has thrown just four touchdown passes. Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis combined for 199 yards Monday, exposing the Patriots’ 23rd-ranked run defense. This team looks slow on both sides of the ball and it’s really hindering their play on the field.
Grade: C
New Orleans Saints (1-3)
The Saints lost their first two games, both on the road, by a combined five points. They broke into the win column by beating the Vikings, 20-9, at home in Week 3. But on Sunday night, they lost, 31-17 at Dallas, trailing 31-3 at one point. Drew Brees is third in the league with 1,203 passing yards. Jimmy Graham is second with 32 receptions. However, running back Mark Ingram has missed the last two games with a hand injury. He had been averaging six yards a carry. The Saints defense isn’t helping. Opponents have gained 396 yards per game, 29th in the league, and the Saints have forced a league-low one turnover.
Grade: C
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2)
All the Steelers have to hang their hat on is their 37-19 win at Carolina in Week 3. Their other victory was a hollow one. They blew a 24-point lead to the Browns at home in Week 1 before winning on a last-season field goal. They played with matches again against a seemingly inferior opponent at home Sunday, and this time they got burned. The Steelers hit the snooze button, falling behind the winless Buccaneers, 10-0, in the first five minutes. They had a 24-17 lead entering the fourth quarter, but made Mike Glennon look like Peyton Manning and lost, 27-24. The Steelers have allowed 42 fourth-quarter points. Only Jacksonville has allowed more.
Grade: C
St. Louis Rams (1-2)
The Rams were doomed from the start when Sam Bradford was lost for the season. But what’s really missing is their pass rush since Chris Long went down in the season opener. The Rams were third in the NFL last season with 53 sacks. This year, they have one. Long complemented Robert Quinn’s 19 sacks in 2013 with 8.5 of his own. But he’s on injured reserve/designated to return list with an ankle injury and Quinn has no sacks since signing a four-year, $66 million contract extension through 2019. St. Louis won a game with third-string quarterback Austin Davis, but couldn’t protect a 21-0 lead at home against the Cowboys.
Grade: C
New York Jets (1-3)
In the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately NFL, when your only win came in Week 1 against the woeful Raiders, your grade won’t be very high. The Jets had a 21-3 lead at Green Bay in Week 2, but it’s been all downhill from there. Geno Smith has thrown four touchdowns and is tied for a league-worst five interceptions. He’s also lost two fumbles and is largely responsible for the Jets’ minus-6 turnover ratio, which is tied with the Saints for worst in the league. The Jets defense ranks third overall and leads the league with 63.2 rushing yards allowed per game, but for now it’s all in vain.
Grade: C-
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-3)
The Buccaneers were well on their way to flunking out of first grade with this report card after the Falcons hung 56 points on them in Week 3. But they got off to a better start Sunday at Pittsburgh, jumping out to a 10-0 lead. They squandered that lead, but backup quarterback Mike Glennon engineered a fourth-quarter comeback, and the Bucs won in the final seconds, 27-24. Tampa Bay started the season with a 20-14 loss to Carolina and a 19-17 loss to St. Louis, both at home, before the debacle at Atlanta. The injury bug bit the Bucs hard, but Michael Johnson and Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy returned to the starting lineup at Pittsburgh.
Grade: C-
Tennessee Titans (1-3)
There aren’t many bright spots this season for the Titans, but they are a shining example of how little Week 1 can mean in the NFL. They seemed to be a franchise on the rise when they won, 26-10, at Kansas City in Week 1. Then they gave back all the stock they gained by losing by the same margin at home to Dallas in Week 2. Since then, they’ve been out-scored by a combined 74-24 margin at Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The Titans have converted 25.5 percent of their third downs this season, by far the worst in the league. The winless Raiders are No. 31 at 33.3 percent.
Grade: C-
Washington Redskins (1-3)
Big news out of our nation’s capital: Kirk Cousins is human. Robert Griffin III might get his starting job back after all. Cousins threw four interceptions in the second half of the Redskins’ 45-14 home loss to the Giants on Thursday night. The Redskins’ only win this season is a 41-10 decision at home against winless Jacksonville. That won’t boost their grade. Washington ranks eighth in the NFL with 324.2 yards allowed per game, but 26th with 27.2 points allowed per game. The latter is more telling. After allowing 148 yards against the Jaguars, the Redskins allowed 379 yards at Philadelphia and 449 yards against the Giants.
Grade: D
Jacksonville Jaguars (0-4)
The Blake Bortles Era essentially began in Week 3, and the rookie quarterback already has thrown four interceptions in six quarters. He completed 29 of 37 passes Sunday at San Diego, however. The Jaguars have the worst point differential in the league, and it’s not even close. They’re at minus-94, and the Raiders are next at minus-52. At least they rank higher than their winless brethren on offense. The Jags are 31st with 279.2 yards per game. They have no one to look down to defensively. They’re last with 451.2 yards allowed per game. Jacksonville jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half at Philadelphia, but hasn’t led in a second half since.
Grade: F
Oakland Raiders (0-4)
The Raiders front office handed out a report card of sorts Monday night, and head coach Dennis Allen flunked out. The Raiders fired Allen after two-plus seasons. The last straw was Sunday’s 38-14 loss to a mediocre Dolphins team in London. The Raiders gave the Patriots a game in Week 3 at New England, losing, 16-9. But that respectable effort was sandwiched between a game in which Charles Woodson admitted the Raiders “suck” (a 30-14 home loss to Houston) and Sunday’s game when fullback Marcel Reese described the team’s performance as “embarrassing.”
Grade: F