NFL Week 4: Overreactions and under reactions

Overreaction: The Chiefs do not have the same poise as they did last year.

After losing to the Lions on opening night and squeaking out wins against the Jaguars and Jets, many were quick to denote the Chiefs as a team that might not be as dominant as they have been in seasons prior.

However, the Chiefs have been in this position before.

Whether it is a streak of close calls and losses or questions about the roster such as last season, Kansas City has always been in the title fight in the Patrick Mahomes era. That will certainly continue again in 2023.

No matter what happens early on, the Chiefs have always shown up in the latter half of the season and into the playoffs, and a few weeks where they seem mortal will not change that.

Underreaction: The Patriots are a bottom-level team in the AFC

It feels very strange to write off a Bill Belichick-led squad. Even in the years after Tom Brady’s departure, the Patriots have always found ways to stay in the playoff conversation.

That does not seem to be the case this year.

The offense has looked stagnant under Mac Jones, and their defense has suffered numerous injuries to key contributors such as Matthew Judon, Marcus Jones and rookie Christian Gonzalez.

With a stacked AFC East and the conference as a whole being very strong, it is very difficult to see New England anywhere near the playoff race this time around.

This is a team that looks lost after four weeks, and the future looks very bleak for them.

Jack Rachinsky is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjr6682@psu.edu

Overreaction: Joe Burrow is the cause of the Bengals’ early struggles.

This feels wrong to say after Joe Burrow was crowned the savior of the franchise but, he has been holding back the absolutely stacked offense in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Bengals had very high expectations in the AFC coming into the season but they absolutely hit a bump in the road when Burrow sustained a calf strain in the offseason.

Through four weeks, Joe Burrow is failing to do his best impression of Matthew Stafford as he has played through the calf strain injury which has led him to a slow start to the season with 728 total passing yards along with only two touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Bengals sit at the bottom of a stacked AFC North with a 1-3 record through four weeks of the season but this team cannot be counted out just yet.

Joe Burrow has proven time and time again that winning is in his veins. He is a proven winner and if anyone can turn around a slow start, it will be him. I expect Burrow to get back in a groove and show the league that he can lead this team back to another Super Bowl in a shaky AFC this season.

Underreaction: C.J. Stroud is legit.

To all of the Carolina Panthers fans, look away, because C.J. Stroud is the real deal. The Houston Texans have managed to find themselves yet another franchise quarterback.

Through four weeks of the NFL season, Stroud has 1,212 passing yards and six touchdowns with a whopping 0 interceptions. He has torn apart every defense that Houston has played so far and he is doing a phenomenal job of processing the field, especially as a first-year quarterback.

Houston’s offense is one to keep an eye on as Stroud continues to get into a groove with his favorite targets-Tank Dell and Nico Collins.

Stroud has led this Houston team to a 2-2 record in the wide-open AFC South and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Texans take the throne of this division with Stroud at the helm.

Jacob Zacharia is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjz5612@psu.edu.

Overreaction: The Pittsburgh Steelers are hopeless this season.

Kenny Pickett is not the guy. The Houston Texans completely shut down the Steelers’ passing offense because they knew Pickett couldn’t overthrow them, so they just camped the deep ball.

The defense has looked sloppy, with everyone outside of TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith and Minkah Fitzpatrick underperforming.

The offensive line has not improved year-over-year.

The brightest spot on the roster has been Pressley Harvin, the punter who has been on the field far too often.

If Mike Tomlin continues to refuse to move on from offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the offense will not magically improve after multiple years of stagnation.

With so many problems, the best outcome this season for the Steelers is to fall into position to take a top quarterback in a deep class of passers.

Having a passer who cannot outthrow defenders and an offensive coordinator who says his offense isn’t built to come back in games on national television means their highest potential outcome is another year in 9-8 purgatory.

Underreaction: The Lions are legit

It seems there have been many times where the Detroit Lions receive high expectations, and fall flat.

This year, the team has finally taken a leap and is the frontrunner in the NFC North.

After dominating the Green Bay Packers, the team still has the ability to improve a stellar offense, with two past first-round picks in Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams waiting for larger opportunities.

Add in a defense led by a wild animal in Aidan Hutchinson and the Lions will be ripping off plenty of metaphorical kneecaps this season.

Evan Smith is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ers5828@psu.edu.

Under Reaction: The Falcons would be a better team with Justin Fields as QB

I think it is safe to say that the Justin Fields experiment in Chicago is a failure. The third-year quarterback in the Windy City looked poised to build off of what most would call just a decent 2022 campaign, with an upgraded offense in 2023.

But Bears fans should give up hope, as all Fields has proven is that he can be a back-end fantasy football starter.

The Atlanta Falcons on the other hand show a little more promise. They are in a better position as a franchise, as they have the young talent in both their offensive and defensive core.

Not to mention Arthur Smith and the Falcons, somehow, have a better coaching staff than Matt Eberflus and the Chicago Bears.

Fields has shown flashes, though brief, of promise, and a change of scenery could be needed for him to jump-start his career, get the man out of Chicago.

Desmond Ridder has shown to be the placeholder that many expected him to be in Atlanta, and in the very winnable NFC South, the Falcons should be looking for any way to upgrade at the quarterback position.

The running ability of Fields will complement the ability of rookie phenom Bijan Robinson and could help create a more explosive Atlanta offense.

Overreaction: The Eagles should worry about their early season struggles

The Eagles are 4-0, and given the strength of their opponents, that is expected.

However, the Eagles have not looked like the same team that went on to win the NFC just last season.

Every team struggles to start the year, as many times those early games still serve as time for teams to figure themselves out.

After their week three win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it had seemed as if the Eagles had tightened up ship, and were moving in the right direction, but coming off a close divisional matchup against the Washington Commanders in week four, many people brought the narrative of the struggling Eagles back.

That is simply an overreaction. As a team, the Eagles have looked better and better as the season progresses. The defense had a slight step back from the standards that had been set for them, especially after the poor performance the Commanders turned in week three, but overall the team is improving.

Eagles fans should not worry about the start of their season, because in all reality, nobody cares how pretty a win is at the end of the season, all that matters is a team's record, and the Eagles are 4-0.

William James is a fourth-year print/digital journalism major. To contact him, email wmj5101@psu.edu.