September 26, 2006
NFL Week 4 Predictions
September 26, 2006, 8:49 PM | 12 Comments
Note: Predictions for week 4 of the 2008 NFL season can be found here: NFL Week 4 Predictions.
Last week I had a pretty good week, going 11-3 with my picks. It was another great week of action that was exciting to watch and offered a lot of extremely impressive plays.
The Atlanta Falcons completely bombed against the Saints and Michael Vick just looked bad. Impressive is that the New Orleans Saints, not the Atlanta Falcons or Carolina Panthers are leading the NFC South division with a perfect 3-0 record. The Falcons and Panthers have not lived up to expectations at all so far, but I think eventually one of those teams will turn it around. It could make for a pretty good competition for the division title come December. Judging by week 3’s action, the Panthers may be that team that turns around their season.
Obviously I’m pretty happy that the Packers got their first win against the Lions and that Brett Favre got his 400th touchdown pass. It’s a step in the right direction for Green Bay, but they’ve got a tough Monday night match up coming against Philadelphia.
Week 4 is the first week where we’ll see teams coming back from their bye week and it will be interesting to see whether their week off will result in renewed enthusiasm for their season, or if their early season bye week will just hinder whatever momentum they had been building.
Here are this week’s ESPN Expert Picks and my predictions for week 4!
| Away | Home | Comments | Pick | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cardinals(1-3) |  Falcons(3-1) | So, apparently Kurt Warner | | |
 Cowboys(2-1) |  Titans(0-4) | Vince Young | | |
 Colts(4-0) |  Jets(2-2) | Firstly, condolences go out to Colts WR Reggie Wayne who lost his brother in a traffic accident on Sunday. The Jets have impressed me so far this year, but really haven’t played any elite teams and are going to have their hands full with the Colts. | | |
 Dolphins(1-3) |  Texans(1-3) | This game really could go either way. The Dolphins have not lived up to expectations so far, and the Texans need some offense… and defense. | | |
 Vikings(2-2) |  Bills(2-2) | The Vikings are another team that has impressed me with their play so far and last week their defense kept them in the game right until the end. If the Vikings can continue to play as well as they have and limit costly mistakes, they could challenge for the NFC North title. | | |
 Saints(3-1) |  Panthers(2-2) | Finally the Panthers got a win and their offense got going last week against the Bucs. The Saints did look very good against the Falcons… but the Falcons looked really, really bad. | | |
 Chargers(2-1) |  Ravens(4-0) | For so many years the Ravens defense has been their strength… and it still is. They had better show up in a big way, because I don’t believe that the Ravens have the offense to keep up with the Chargers. | | |
 49ers(1-3) |  Chiefs(1-2) | Even with Trent Green still out because of that massive concussion, the Chiefs should still have enough offense to get their first win of the season over the Niners after their week 3 bye. | | |
 Lions(0-4) |  Rams(3-1) | Neither of these offenses has looked very good this year, but the Lions actually had a decent outing against the Packers last week. It could go either way, but I still think the Rams have the edge at home. | | |
 Browns(1-3) |  Raiders(0-3) | The Browns need a win in a bad way and the Raiders are just the team to give them a win. | | |
 Jaguars(2-2) |  Redskins(2-2) | The Redskins got a win against the lowly Texans last week, but the Jaguars are not the Texans and are probably going to bounce back from last week’s tough loss agianst the Colts. | | |
 Patriots(3-1) |  Bengals(3-1) | The Patriots are not the team they once were and Tom Brady looked pretty darn ordinary against the Broncos last week. The Bengals got a huge win against the Steelers, and should be able to continue their momentum and fight off the Patriots this week. | | |
 Seahawks(3-1) |  Bears(4-0) | Losing Shaun Alexander for any length of time is a huge blow to the Seahawks and it will be interesting to see how they react. If they can have the success in their aerial attack that they had last week though, they should be able to hand the Bears their first loss. | | |
 Packers(1-3) |  Eagles(3-1) | As with any time I pick against the Packers, I really hope I’m wrong. The Eagles have looked pretty strong so far and the Packers have struggled against them in recent history, especially in Philadelphia. Congratulations to Brett Favre for getting his 400th (and 401st… and 402nd) TD pass in an exciting win last week against Detroit. | | |
| Note: the Broncos, Giants, Steelers and Buccaneers have a bye week this week. | ||||
I’m hoping to continue in the same success I’ve had over the past 2 week’s of predictions. Check back after the games for updates and some additional thoughts on week 4.
Update: That sound you just heard was any shred of ego I may have gained over the past 2 weeks getting decimated by a 7-7 week. That brings my total for this year up to 38-22. Better luck next week I hope! It was interesting to see both prime time games (Sunday night and Monday night) go into “garbage time.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, garbage time is when teams throw in their backups to finish off the game because one team is getting blown away. Now you know.
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