What's hot and what's knott in football - Week 4

By Rhys Knott

Normality has been restored, just like a kid who has is unwrapping all of his presents at Christmas, the National Football League season began with a manic burst of energy. But Week 4 signalled the metaphorical sugar crash and the sensible old people calmed everyone down. 

Well, clunky offense calmed most of us down. Error strewn football was very much en vogue this week. Maybe because the weather made it hard to grip the football, or maybe because defenses are hitting their straps?

What’s Hot in Football – Week 4

13 different quarterbacks threw picks in Week 4 and seven different signal callers fumbled the ball too so ball security definitely fell into the Knott category.

And Bo Nix proved that throwing the football for –7 passing yards in the first half is the hot thing to do. It might not sound good, but his Broncos team eventually rolled the Jets in New Jersey.  

Riley Dixon’s foot must still be hot too. The 31-year-old Bronco punted the football eight times in New Jersey! And racked up 339 yards in the process! 

The Vikings are just hot in general. After his 2023 playoff run Aaron Jones looked to be one of the best signings of the year, but when JJ McCarthy suffered a shoulder injury the future in Minnesota looked a little murky.

But Sam Darnold has proved that when he’s playing behind a competent offensive line, and when Justin Jefferson is leading his receiving corps he can play the sort of football you’d expect from a third overall pick. 

Darnold went 20/28 in Lambeau and threw for 275 yards with three touchdowns, he even found the time to chuck in a pick for good measure. Nobody’s perfect, eh?

Darnold’s 60.3% completion rate is 10th in the National Football League so far this season and not many people were expecting him to be a top 10 QB this year. 

On the other side of the ball, Brian Flores’ defense is still smoking hot. Even though the Packers launched a Georgia-esque comeback once the Vikes went 28-0 up. Flores’ charges ended the game with three interceptions, 12 pass defended, 10 QB hits and a fumble recovery! 

Despite his team being on the receiving end of the score, Xavier McKinney maintained his scorching start to the season with another pick. The Packers’ cornerback is currently on pace for a 17 interception season! 

But Darnold isn’t the hottest quarterback in football right now. The hottest name in football is a rookie, but it’s not Caleb Williams (partly because the Bears are just dreadful), it’s second overall pick Jayden Daniels.

Everyone was expecting Daniels to be exciting. But when the Commanders decided to pair him with Kliff Kingsbury there were a few puzzled expressions. 

Kingsbury, who looks like a cross between Ryan Gosling and Orange Cassidy (he’s an AEW wrestler, bit you knew that, right?), had some success in the National Football League with Kyler Murray in Arizona, but it ultimately ended in tears. The resulting fallout led to Kingsbury buying a one-way ticket to Thailand after he was fired (totally normal behavior, I mean, we’ve all done it).

But Kingsbury and Daniels seem to be far more sympatico than Kliff and Kyler were.

Kingsbury has identified Daniels’ main skills and what he’s comfortable doing. Daniels hasn’t even done his Wile E. Coyote impression yet. 

What he has done is complete 82.1% of his passes and throw three touchdowns. The Commanders’ offensive line has been hugely impressive too (unlike da Bears’). Daniels has faced 31 blitzes in four games but he’s only taken nine sacks and he hasn’t fumbled the football since Week 1.

On the subject of sacks, Kyle Van Noy has recorded two sacks (and fumbles) in each of his last three games, which means he’s now on pace to make 32 this season. That’s 9.5 more than the current single-season record held by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt! 

Derick Henry, Justice Hill, Mark Andrews’ and Isiah Likely’s run blocking, and even Patrick Ricard. So basically the Ravens run when they run the football. But especially Derrick Henry who is on an epic heater. 

Not satisfied with his 174 total yards in Week 3, King Henry extended that to 209 total yards this week! And he’s already scored six touchdowns in 2024, he only had 12 in total last season.

Henry isn’t the only offensive player tearing it up in a new location. With his 12 receptions for 115 yards, Malik Nabers retains his “Malik of the Week” trophy, but he had some serious competition from Maliek Collins.

The 49ers defensive tackle added a tackle for a loss, two QB hits, and three total tackles to his 1.5 sacks. But he did all that against the Patriots, and you know the rules. 

Nabers wasn’t the hottest receiver of the week though, that honour went to Nico Collins. It’s barely believable that 12 months ago Collins was in the conversation for the most disappointing receiver in the league.

His emergence as a reliable deep threat has helped C.J. Stroud become one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Collins caught the football 12 times for a whopping 151 yards against a dismal Jaguars team. And Collins has clocked the fastest ball carry of the season so far according to NextGen stats, he hit 21.89 mph in Week 1! 

What’s Knott in Football – Week 4

That’s enough football related positivity for one week though. What performances fell somewhere between depressing and infuriating in Week 4, in other words, what’s Knott?  

Football in the AFC East is so much Knott, it’s just awful. The Bills are the best team in the division. But they’ve had a relatively simple schedule so far. Sean McDermott’s men came to a shuddering halt in their first game against an AFC contender, the Ravens. 

Robert Saleh continued to prove he is Knott, certainly when it comes to being a head coach anyway. He might be one of the brightest defensive minds in the National Football League, but if your team can only score 19 points per game you’re in serious trouble. 

Devin Singletary is just Knott too. He averaged 1.7 yards per rushing attempt against the Cowboys! A Cowboys defense that ranked 32nd in the National Football League when it comes to stopping opponents running the football! 

If your team signed a 5-foot-7 running back who had never scored more than eight touchdowns in a single season you’d hope they were a kick returner. Well, Singletary has returned just four kicks in his six years in the National Football League. 

As a general rule running backs are either very big, or they’re very fast. 5-foot-7 Singletary is neither of those things. The former Florida Atlantic Owl ran a 4.66 40-yard dash at the 2019 Combine, but the Bills still took him in the second round.

In Singletary’s defense, he is averaging 4.7 yards per attempt when he runs the football in 2024 and is an important part of the passing game (even if he only caught one pass on Thursday). But he hasn’t averaged more than 4.7 since 2019. 

The Giants’ inability to run the football is causing significant issues in the red zone and led them to kick five field goals against the Cowboys. With no run game their chances of converting 4th downs were slim to say the least.

Brian Daboll may have to admit that, in Saquon’s absence, Daniel Jones is Big Blue’s best running threat. 
If they can’t improve on their current averages of 85.3 rushing yards per game and 3.4 yards per carry they won’t improve on their lowly 15 points per game average either. 

Peculiarly the Giants need a running back like Zack Moss who wears down defenses. Moss landed in Cincinnati though, but the Bengals have struggled to get the best out of him. Zack Taylor runs one of the more quarterback-centric offenses in the league, so a back who needs to run the football 15 times or more per game just doesn’t fit. 

The Broncos passing attack was the most Knott thing that happened in football this week though. In some very inclement conditions at the Meadowlands Bo Nix managed just 60 yards through the air! And Courtland Sutton was the only receiver who recorded more than 3 yards.

The former SMU Mustang racked up 60 receiving yards. Michael Burton and Javonte Williams recorded 3 yards each. But Troy Franklin and Tyler Badie combined to catch the football four times for –6 yards! Yet Sean Payton’s new-look Broncos still outfought the Jets for a road win. 

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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