Rising trend
Younghoe Koo
In a golden season for kickers, one shoe rules them all. Younghoe Koo’s instep power cleat sets a record for the Falcons. After four games, Koo is perfect, making all nine field goal attempts and six extra points. What about Washington’s Austin Siebert? A suitor. As perfect a kicker as he is, he’s played one less game and has yet to make a field goal of 50 or more, while Koo has made three, including the 58-yard strike that felled the Saints on Sunday . The fact that this rise came after he left the NFL following his struggles with the Chargers makes it all the sweeter. Long live the King.
Washington Commanders
After watching their team suffer a hard-fought but heavy loss to the Buccaneers in the season opener, Washington fans may have thought this year would go like many others before. What a difference three weeks, three victories and three more great games of rookie quarterback/Cheshire Cat Jayden Daniels does. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is building a devastating offense built around his rookie’s running talent, something that’s slowly opening up the passing game. After too many wilderness seasons, the Commanders are emerging as the dominant force in the NFC East.
Related: Jayden Daniels turned the comic Commanders into a serious franchise
Kingsbury’s approach to ball management must be praised. He eschewed a bell cow in favor of sharing the load among four impressive runners: in doing so, he has the league’s highest-scoring unit, with 10 touchdowns. It says a lot about the talent of Daniels and Brian Robinson Jr when your third player, Austin Ekeler, was the league’s touchdown leader just two seasons ago. It says even more about the quality of coaching and blocking when his replacement, Jeremy McNichols, comes on against the Cardinals and steals the show with two scores and a brutal 8.5 yards per carry average on just eight attempts. Sharing the punishing load seems like real progress for a team that mangled its playoff run in 2012 by forcing its quarterback, Robert Griffin III, to play through significant injuries.
And fortunately, Daniels is a lock, barring injury, to follow in Griffin’s footsteps as Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Commanders’ schedule also looks good, with just one away game at Baltimore in Week 6, bolstering a five-game series featuring the Browns, Panthers, Bears and Giants. If this streak plays out favorably, then a chance for a first playoff victory since the 2005 season should be theirs.
Downward trend
San Francisco 49ers
Fred Warner was on mission Sunday. The linebacker led a fiery pregame meeting, urging his 49ers teammates to reset with a win against the New England Patriots. But talk is cheap, while 45-yard pick-sixes are a little more valuable. Warner’s attempted gravity escape for a spacewalk and a score was an important reminder that the 49ers are still a dominant force.
Until Warner injured his ankle and failed to return to the game in the second half. The injury bug has bitten the Bay Area again, but luckily Warner should be back this week. The Defensive Player of the Year favorite wasn’t the only mainstay to go down, however, as defensive tackle Jordan Elliott was out with a knee injury.
But what’s most troublesome is that the Niners’ offense remains hamstrung by the long-term absence of Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk is seemingly determined to create tension. San Francisco handed the receiver a $120 million contract, but he continues to sulk, the latest iteration of which saw him feuding with Kyle Shanahan when he wore the wrong shorts at Friday’s practice. Unlike Warner, the receiver continued his tirade with little impact: he had only two catches in the victory against New England. This team is in win-now mode with Brock Purdy likely to get a huge new contract, so they need stars like Aiyuk to play a pivotal role. Warner should dominate the Arizona Cardinals offense this Sunday, but he needs his counterparts to match his production. The linebacker won’t be able to do it alone: the 49ers have a busy schedule starting in Week 6, playing Seattle, Kansas City, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Green Bay and Buffalo.
Vic Fangio
The veteran defensive coordinator has enjoyed great success throughout his career. That pedigree is likely why Philadelphia drafted him to replace Matt Patricia, who was partly responsible for the Eagles’ late collapse last season. But the Eagles are still toothless on defense with Fangio. They missed more than 12 tackles in Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay, as Baker Mayfield torched their soft cover with 347 yards and two touchdowns.
In the past, Fangio has relied on displaying identical shell coverages while switching to zone coverage to confuse opposing quarterbacks. But that predictable play allowed Mayfield to slice through Philadelphia in a familiar swashbuckling style. Fangio has a tough task ahead of him to revive the failing Eagles.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence has lost nine straight starts and his nightmare shows no signs of ending. The former No. 1 overall pick is struggling mightily as he continues to miss easy throws — failing to score a vital touchdown at the one-yard line in the Jags’ loss to the Texans on Sunday will be a bitter disappointment for a QB in a deep rut. But the playcall was also of poor quality. There needs to be a big shake-up in Jacksonville to avoid getting the worst record in the NFL this season. London fans will be delighted to have to endure this dross when the team cross the Atlantic later this month.
