To borrow loosely from the late former NFL coach Dennis Green regarding Week 3, some of the things we knew about the NFL were what we thought they were, but a lot of them weren’t what we thought they were.
Among those that weren’t included the Bears beating the Steelers, Redskins whipping the Raiders, Bills beating Denver, Titans over Seattle, and the Jets, who were supposed to be going winless this season, dominating the Dolphins.
Just when you think you know in the NFL, you don’t. With that, here’s a look at our High Five for Week 4:
Sleepless in Seattle watch
The Seahawks are struggling at 1-2, having scored just 48 points in three games and, in theory, get a break with a Sunday night home game against the lowly Colts (1-2).
But the Colts are coming off a win over the Browns last week with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, and the Seahawks are trying to find an offense.
What’s wrong with Seattle?
A number of things — including their inability to figure out how to use tight end Jimmy Graham, who has never fit into the Seahawks’ offense, an inconsistent and young offensive line and no continuity at running back.
Quarterback Russell Wilson, who was slowed last season after an ankle injury in the opener, has been healthy, yet his offense has not thrived — mostly because the pass protection has been spotty.
It hasn’t helped that top receiver Doug Baldwin is dealing with a groin injury and Jermaine Kearse is now catching passes for the Jets.
The Seahawks still depend on its defense, though they allowed 24 second-half points to the Titans last Sunday — the most a Seahawks team has allowed in 129 total games under coach Pete Carroll.
The good news this week is the Seahawks are home Sunday. Because they’re 3-7-1 on the road since the start of last season, including the playoffs — a far cry from 8-3 in their previous 11 road games before that.
Alejandro Villanueva watch
There was no more upsetting story to come out of last Sunday’s games than what occurred with the Steelers and their offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva in that botched pregame national anthem maneuver in Chicago.
The most disappointing element was not Steelers coach Mike Tomlin keeping his players in the locker room during the anthem, it was the embarrassing fallout from Villanueva, a former Army Ranger who toured several times in Afghanistan, standing alone outside the tunnel in Chicago with his hand over his heart — then having to explain himself afterward.
That Villanueva was left feeling guilty about letting his teammates down was preposterous. You can make a pretty sound argument that he’s done more for his country than every player not just on his team but every NFL team combined.
Days after the incident, Villanueva issued a long explanation for what happened and expressed remorse for standing alone for the anthem.
“I’ve made Coach Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault, and that is my fault only,” Villanueva said. “I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault, and my fault only. And I made the Steelers also look bad, and that is my fault, and my fault only. So unwillingly, I made a mistake.’’
The mistake here is the fact that, in the aftermath of this mess, no one from the Steelers has publicly stated his support of Villanueva, stated that he has nothing to apologize for.
“I talked to my teammates about the situation, hopefully they understand it,’’ he said. “If they don’t, I still have to live with it, because the nature of this debate is causing a lot of very heated reaction from fans from players, and it’s undeserving to all of the players and coaches from this organization.’’
Word out of Pittsburgh is Tomlin and the Steelers plan to be on the sidelines Sunday in Baltimore for the anthem. They should especially honor Villanueva while they’re out there.
Coach vs. QB to watch
Bills rookie head coach Sean McDermott will be quite familiar with the quarterback his team faces Sunday when Buffalo plays in Atlanta.
In McDermott’s six seasons as the Panthers defensive coordinator (2011-16), he coached against Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in 12 games, losing seven of them. In that span, Ryan completed 68.6 percent of his passes and averaged 294.3 yards per game, throwing 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 98.6 passer rating.
Last season, Ryan completed 78.6 percent of his passes for 780 yards, six TDs, one INT and a 135.7 passer rating against the Panthers.
“It’s been a good battle over the years,’’ McDermott told reporters this week. “He is a highly competitive guy, as are we as a football team. We would expect the same. They had an impressive performance last year in all that they did as a team, and what they did in their Super Bowl run. We’ve a big challenge in front of us.’’
Under McDermott, the Bills (2-1) are leading the league in fewest points allowed, at 12.3 per game. The Panthers’ defense last season allowed 25.1 points per game. So Ryan figures to have a tougher challenge Sunday than he did against Carolina last year. Meanwhile, just five teams have scored more points than the 87 the Falcons have scored though three games.
Mobile QB to watch
What’s wrong with Cam Newton? The Panthers are 2-1 entering Sunday’s game against at 3-0 New England, but Newton continues to struggle.
He threw three INTs last week against the Saints, who are not known as one of the more stout defensive teams in the league, and has just two TDs and four INTs this season while averaging fewer than 200 passing yards per game. Newton, one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the game, has been sacked 10 times already.
Newton, who’s had offseason shoulder surgery, has run less often than he has in the past, when he’s been most dangerous.
Newton has rushed for 46 yard on 14 carries this year, the fewest in the first three games since he entered the league in 2011. According
to ESPN stats, Newton averaged 24 carries for 103.1 yards in the first three games of his six first seasons.
The Texans and their rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson nearly upset favored New England last week in part because Watson hurt them with his legs, rushing eight times for 41 yards.
According to ESPN stat, Panthers are 29-9-1 and have averaged 27.5 points when Newton has at least eight rushes per game. That record drops to 32-33 with an average of 22.7 points per game when Newton has seven or fewer runs.
When the Panthers beat the Patriots 24-20 in 2013, Newton ran seven times for 62 yards. It’s a game Patriots coach Bill Belichick remembers well.
“I’m not saying that there aren’t a lot of other good players that do that, but I would say of all the guys we play, or have played recently in the last couple of years, he’s the hardest guy to deal with,” Belichick said this week about Newton. “He makes good decisions, he can run, he’s strong, he’s hard to tackle. We saw it in the game down there in ’13. He’d be Public Enemy No. 1.”
It will be interesting to see if the Panthers run Newton more against New England in an effort to get out of their offensive funk, during which they’ve scorede just one TD in the past nine quarters and are averaging 15 points a game (29th in the league).
Redskins backfield to watch
The Monday night matchup is intriguing, with the 2-1 Redskins playing at the 3-0 Chiefs.
We already have a good idea of who the Chiefs are based on their consistency under coach Andy Reid and the quarterback play of Alex Smith.
As for the Redskins, we’re not so sure. But they are coming off a thrashing of the Raiders last Sunday and seem to be forming an identity as a strong running team, despite the fact that they’re more known for their expensive quarterback, Kirk Cousins.
The Redskins enter Monday’s game having won their past two and doing it on the ground, having run the ball 73 times over two games, which is their second most under coach Jay Gruden, according to ESPN stats. To illustrate how different this year looks to last year, they attempted 606 passes from scrimmage compared to 379 runs in 2016.
If Washington sticks to the run, it could work in their favor since the Chiefs defense is are ranked 18th in yards allowed per carry and 20th in rushing yards allowed per game.
“It just takes pressure off the quarterback a little bit,’’ Gruden said.