The NFL season is now well underway with the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos finishing up Week 4 action on Monday night. Now heading into the second quarter of the season, it is much easier gauge which NFL teams are for real, in both a good and bad way.
As always, there have already been some big surprises, like the Miami Dolphins starting off 3-0 or the sizzling-hot start for Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (until yesterday).
Just as there are some surprise overachievers thus far, there are just as many teams in shockingly precarious positions. Below are the five teams that need to make something happen now while they still can.
5. Arizona Cardinals
It is debatable that the Cardinals even want to go on a playoff run at this point, but if they do, it has to start when they face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5.
Arizona made the switch to rookie quarterback Josh Rosen moving forward, and while a change like that may sometimes signal a waving off the white-flag, in this situation it can only be seen as a huge in-season upgrade.
Bradford has been as putrid of a starting quarterback as any in recent memory, leading the Cardinals to an ugly 0-3 start. All-world talents David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald have paid the price of Bradford's ineptitude so far; maybe Rosen is the key to unlock them.
4. Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers were darlings of many pundits as a sleeper pick to represent the AFC in Super Bowl Llll, but their 1-2 standing after three games left much to be desired. Their narrow win over the Jimmy Garoppolo-less 49ers on Sunday didn't inspire much confidence.
The Chargers' other victory came at the hands off what seems to be the worst team in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills (just don't tell that to the Minnesota Vikings). Los Angeles deserves a little slack, as their two losses came at the hands of arguably the NFL's top two teams in the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams.
It is not yet panic time for the Chargers, but they need to put together a few wins.
3. New England Patriots
The Patriots have gotten off to slow starts before and ended up just fine, that is true. Still, one of these years New England will begin to show cracks and not magically recover. We might be seeing the beginning of that, but a dominant win over the Miami Dolphins Sunday as calmed some nerves.
The Patriots looked very mortal in back-to-back weeks as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions cruised past them with relative ease. They were downright out-played in both games. The Patriots obviously get the uber-benefit of the doubt, they've earned that. At 2-2, they're in a good spot, but regressing after Sunday's win would inspire some worry again.
2. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons lost an offensive-firework show against the New Orleans Saints in Week 3 before a last-second defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, dropping them to 1-3 in the process.
Both were very winnable games for the Falcons, but their defense just couldn't get the big stop when they needed it on either occasion. That could turn into a theme for the Falcons if things don't change soon.
Atlanta's defense is just 27th in the NFL in total yards per game, and injuries are going to haunt them the rest of the year. The defense's play has to change quickly if Atlanta wants to get to the playoffs for a third-straight year.
1. Houston Texans
The Texans had high expectations entering the season with Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt, among others, back healthy and ready to go. Thus far, that outlook hasn't materialized the way they hoped. The Texans lost an ugly game to the New York Giants in Week 3, falling to a league-worst 0-3. They beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in overtime, but they easily could've lost and fallen to 0-4.
Their offense has looked out of sync for the majority of the year and their defense has looked gassed by the second half. The Texans were expected to compete for a division title, but if they don't string together a few wins soon, they may be competing for lottery position in the upcoming draft.
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