Week four of the football season is mostly over, and some favorites were upset during this past weekend’s action. The most surprising game was probably the Dallas Cowboys beating the New Orleans Saints in a convincing manner. Dallas is now 3-1, in comparison to the surprising 1-3 that the Saints are at. Drew Brees is having a decent season, four games in, but it seems like the defense is really struggling to find a groove. Even with a great performance Sunday, Brees just didn’t have the rest of his team on board and they lost handily to Tony Romo’s squad. Brees is ranked 3rd in the NFL by QB Rating, and Romo is #12, but Romo obviously has the receivers and defenders that Brees does not have. It will be interesting to see how the experienced Saints progress over the season, but it is clear that they are not feeling it just yet.
The Minnesota Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, too, clearing up the confusion they exuded during the first few weeks of the season. They took the lead in the first quarter, and never looked back, outscoring the Falcons each quarter but the third. Matt Ryan is having a great season, but he was outperformed by Teddy Bridgewater, who is quietly putting together what could be a really good season, too, if things keep going his way. He’s played in only a portion of the season so far, but his injury scare looks like it won’t affect him, and that is promising news for the rookie QB.
Monday night will be the end of the fourth week of the NFL season, and it looks like an interesting matchup. The New England Patriots will be at Kansas City to play the Chiefs, and while on paper the Patriots look like the better team, it’s actually a much closer game than first look might reveal. Alex Smith, the QB from Kansas City, has similar stats to the legendary Tom Brady so far this year. He has a QB Rating of 81.5 (compared to Brady’s 82.9), but he has a higher pass completion rate than Brady, and a higher yards per attempt rate, both of which indicate that he currently has a better support system than Brady. It is still early in the season, but it looks like Brady and company are struggling more than they were expected to, and this spells opportunity for the Chiefs.
The Patriots currently have a 2-1 record compared to the Chiefs 1-2. The only Pats loss occurred in week one against the Dolphins, and they easily beat the lackluster Vikings, but failed to impress against the Raiders last week. Meanwhile, the Chiefs had their only win while playing the Dolphins last week, indicating that they have the skill set to beat the Patriots. It should be a good game either way, but right now the Patriots have been slated as 3 point favorites by the sports books. The money line puts the Pats at -150, while the Chiefs are +130. It’s still too early to tell for certain who the better team is, but at that price, the Chiefs seem like they have good value based upon the last three games and the price being offered. Remember, Brady and the Patriots are perennial favorites, so some money going on them is definitely fan money and not sharp money.