NFL Week 4 Analysis: Winners, Losers, Team Grades, and Falcons-Saints Picks

Hello football friends, and welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

First, I'd like to apologize. The NFL had its first Cat Bowl on Sunday, and I didn't mention it a single time in either of last week's newsletters. The internet was basically invented for three things and one of them is talking about cats, so I fumbled the ball here. Anyway, Week 4 marked the first time in NFL history that the four cat teams faced off on the same day:

- The Panthers beat the Lions - The Jaguars beat the Bengals

I'm now rooting for an all-cat Super Bowl, and if that happens, I promise I will give you all the cat information you can handle in the lead-up to the game. Unfortunately, we are NOT going to be talking anymore about cats in today's newsletter, but we do have a lot to cover, so let's get to the rundown.

As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, just  click here .

1. NFL Week 4 grades: Patriots earn high mark for win at Highmark, Chiefs and Raiders get same grade

There were 16 games on the schedule in Week 4. I graded them all. I'm only pointing that out because this will be the last time for several weeks that we'll get a full 16-game slate. We're getting into "bye" season and that will be starting in Week 5 with the Chiefs and Panthers getting the week off.

The Chiefs' final game before their bye was a wild one over the Raiders, and that's where we're going to start our grades today.

Chiefs 30-27 over Raiders

- Chiefs takeaway: At the rate things are going, the offseason signing of Kenneth Walker might go down as one of the best free agency acquisitions in NFL history. In a game where Patrick Mahomes struggled with his accuracy, the Chiefs' offense was able to chug along thanks to Walker, who rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns. When you're outshining Mahomes, you're doing something right in Kansas City. Tyquan Thornton had a breakout game for the Chiefs, but he might not see the field again this year after suffering a gruesome injury. Andy Reid probably won't be thrilled with the overall performance of his defense -- they had zero sacks for the third straight game and struggled to stop the Raiders' big tight ends -- but Xavier Nwankpa did save the day with a game-clinching interception. It's hard to complain about anything when you're undefeated and that's what the Chiefs are. Grade: B - Raiders takeaway: It's been a long time since the Raiders have been in a game like this and that seemed to show in crunch. The Raiders made mistake after mistake in the fourth quarter, which overshadowed an otherwise impressive game. DarekeYoung had a back-breaking fumble on a kickoff return that allowed the Chiefs to take a two-score lead. The Raiders defense did a good job of holding the Chiefs' offense in check until the fourth quarter, when the wheels fell off the wagon. And let's not forget about Kirk Cousins, who threw for 365 yards: He's doing his best to make sure Fernando Mendoza never sees the field this year. The Raiders didn't get the result they wanted, but they certainly proved that they can play with anyone. It won't be surprising at all if this team is competing for a playoff spot come January. Grade: B

Patriots 29-26 over Bills

- Patriots takeaway: After struggling through the first three weeks, Drake Maye proved that he can still play at a high level. The Patriots QB needed a big game, and he got it: Not only did he throw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, but he also rushed for a team-high 54 yards. Maye also deserves a lot of credit for engineering a game-winning 73-yard TD drive that saw him complete four passes of at least 12 yards, including a 23-yard score on a WILD catch by Efton Chism that ended up providing the game-winning points. Maye wasn't perfect - there were still too many turnovers - but if he continues playing this well, the Patriots will be in the playoff conversation later in the season. Grade: A- - Bills takeaway: It's hard for the Bills' offense to win when it's not on the field, and that was one of the problems for Buffalo in this game. The Bills had only four possessions lasting at least five plays, and on top of that, they couldn't get their run game going. The Bills entered this game with the third-best rushing offense in the NFL, and they faced a Patriots defense that has struggled to stop the run this year. Despite that, Joe Brady decided to run the ball just 12 times with James Cook. That was bad, but the defense was the bigger problem. The Bills suddenly don't look so invincible. Grade: B-

As for the other 26 grades that we handed out so far in Week 4, you can check those out by clicking here .

2. NFL Week 4 winners and losers: Eagles third-down offense hits rock bottom

You can't have a week of NFL action without having winners and losers, so we have some winners and losers. Carter Bahns came up with this week's list, and we're going to check out his losers below. At the top of our losers' list is an Eagles offense that looks like it's falling apart.

LOSERS

- Eagles third-down offense. The Philadelphia Eagles made the wrong kind of franchise history in Week 4 with the worst third-down execution in their 94 years of existence. Never before had the offense gone 0-12 in third-down situations until Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Making matters worse, the Eagles found it difficult to move the chains on fourth down, too, with just one conversion on four tries. Those three turnovers on downs were costly. First-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion was always going to be heavily scrutinized this season because of the high-pressure situation he walked into. Sunday's performance was no resounding endorsement of his scheme nor his play-calling abilities. - Commanders QB situation. Fans in London did not have much reason to cheer for the Commanders in Sunday's international game. The Colts pulled away from them in a 30-13 rout at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and did so comfortably as it was clear the Commanders would not be able to maintain pace once Marcus Mariota went down with a game-ending knee injury . Rookie Athan Kaliakmanis, out of Rutgers, stepped into action and completed just 15 of 33 passes with a touchdown and an interception in his professional regular-season debut. Moving forward, the Commanders will either have a backup quarterback on the field or a less-than-healthy Jayden Daniels. There is no telling how effective he will be when he comes back from his elbow injury , which will require offseason surgery and which forces him to play with a brace on his non-throwing arm. - Texans. Defense was supposed to be Houston's calling card this year. It certainly was not on Sunday when it surrendered three touchdowns to Javonte Williams in the second half alone and had no answers for CeeDee Lamb. Houston should finally grab its first win of the campaign next week when it meets the Tennessee Titans in a matchup of two winless AFC South teams. It might, however, already be too late to save a disastrous start to the year.

If you want to see Carter's list of winners (and a couple of other losers), be sure to click here .

3. Overreactions from Week 4: Will the Cowboys take the NFC East?

Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things, and that's especially true when we're talking about the NFL. Personally, I overreact to everything. With that in mind, Zach Pereles decided to take a look at several things that happened during Week 4 to decide if we're all overreacting.

Statement:  The Rams shouldn't be Super Bowl favorites. Overreaction or reality:  Overreaction. There are two ways to view the Rams' 24-20 win over the injury-ravaged Eagles: "Wow, that was super unimpressive" or "Wow, that was an impressive comeback." It can be both. Los Angeles struggling to beat a Philadelphia team without DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell, Zack Baun, Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and others was a bad look ... for 52-plus minutes. The score will lie about who dominated this game. The Rams had 415 yards of offense and averaged 5.4 yards per play, compared to 172 yards and 3.0 yards per play for Philadelphia. The Rams committed some horrible turnovers and penalties, but on a play-by-play basis, they were far superior. This was a crucial, crucial win, and one that should only prove Los Angeles can win when so much goes wrong.

Statement: The Cowboys will win the NFC East. Overreaction or reality:  Reality. Speaking of important wins, the Cowboys just got their most important since the 2023 season: Dallas 34, Houston 30. This is a game the Cowboys needed to win, and they found a way to do so. Looking around the division, the Eagles' offense remains a mess, the Giants are 3-1 but not likely to threaten with Jameis Winston under center, and the Commanders are in a world of trouble. Simply put, Dallas, with a defense that should only improve and an offense that can go toe-to-toe with any, should win this division.

Statement:  Ben Johnson will win Coach of the Year.  Overreaction or reality:  Overreaction. Ben Johnson should be the frontrunner for Coach of the Year. He's now won games with Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum ... and it's only Week 4! According to CBS Sports research, only one other team has had three different quarterbacks throw for 200+ yards in a win through four weeks: the 1997 Jaguars. Unfortunately for Johnson's Coach of the Year candidacy, the award tends to go to a coach whose team way overachieves. Basically, the external preseason expectations were likely too high for Johnson and the Bears for him to win the award this year, even if you could argue he's been the best coach in the sport so far.

There are plenty more overreactions and you can check them out here .

4. Eleven crazy stats from Week 4: Vikings set football back 100 years

Every Sunday night, I get an email from our research department here at CBS Sports, and every Sunday, that email always includes some crazy stats about the games that were just played.

With that in mind, here are 11 crazy stats from Week 4:

- Vikings are doing the impossible. The Vikings didn't score a touchdown in their 15-10 win over the Dolphins, which means they've now won two games this season without scoring a touchdown. That makes Minnesota the first team in more than 100 years to start 4-0 by winning two or more games without a TD. The only other two teams to pull that off were the 1922 and 1923 Chicago Cardinals. - High drama over the past two weeks. There have been 23 games decided by one score over the past two weeks, which is tied for the most in any two-week span in NFL history (Weeks 1-2, 2013). If we get a one-score game tonight between the Saints and Falcons, then the NFL will set a record for the number of one-score games over a two-week span. The - Jets finally get an interception. Last year, the Jets became the first team in NFL history to go an entire season without recording an interception. Well, that drought is finally over. Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off Bears' QB Tyson Bagent on Sunday to give the Jets their first interception in 637 days . - Brock Purdy is unsackable. The 49ers QB still hasn't taken a sack through four games, marking just the third time in NFL history that the QB of a 4-0 team made it through the first four weeks without being sacked. Purdy joins Dan Marino from the 1984 Dolphins and Peyton Manning from the 2005 Colts. Both of those teams finished 14-2, which would seem to be a good sign for San Francisco. - Texans just made history, but not in a good way. The Texans just became the first team in NFL history to hit 0-4 without throwing an interception during the first four weeks. The Texans are also the first team since the 2012 Saints to fall to 0-4 just one season after winning at least 12 games. - Rams pull off the impossible. In Jalen Hurts' career, he had never lost a game (41-0) when leading by 10 points

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pick-six-nfl-week-4-winners-losers-plus-grades-falcons-saints/)._