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Younghoe Koo
In a golden season for kickers, one boot rules them all. The cleat of power welded to the instep of Younghoe Koo is delivering an all-timer for the Falcons. After four games Koo is perfect, hitting all nine of his field-goal attempts and all six of his extra-points. What about Washington’s Austin Siebert? A pretender. Perfect as the kicker may be, he has played a game fewer and is yet to make a field goal from 50 or beyond, while Koo has nailed three, including the walk-off strike from 58 yards that downed the Saints on Sunday. That this ascension has come after he bombed out of the NFL following his struggles with the Chargers makes it all the sweeter. Long live the King.
Washington Commanders
After seeing their team endure a hard-fought but heavy defeat at the hands of the Buccaneers in the season opener, Washington fans may have felt this year would play out like many that had come before. What a difference three weeks, three wins and three more excellent games from rookie quarterback/Cheshire cat Jayden Daniels makes. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is building a devastating attack built around his rookie’s running talent, something that is slowly opening up the passing game. After too many seasons in the wilderness, the Commanders are emerging as the dominant force in the NFC East.
Related: Jayden Daniels has changed the comical Commanders into a serious franchise
Praise must be heaped on Kingsbury’s approach to running the ball. He has eschewed a bell-cow back in favour of sharing the load between four impressive rushers: 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-string rusher, Austin Ekeler, was the league’s touchdown leader only two seasons ago. It says even more about the quality of coaching and blocking when his replacement, Jeremy McNichols, drops in against the Cardinals and steals the show with two scores and a brutal average of 8.5 yards per carry from only eight attempts. Sharing the punishing load feels like real progress for a team that mangled their postseason in 2012 by forcing their quarterback, Robert Griffin III, to play through significant injuries.
And conveniently Daniels is a lock, barring injury, to follow in Griffin’s footsteps as an offensive rookie of the year. The Commanders’ schedule looks good too, with only a road game in Baltimore in Week 6 stiffening a run of five games featuring the Browns, Panthers, Bears and Giants. If that stretch plays out favourably, then a chance at a first playoff win since the 2005 season should be theirs.
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San Francisco 49ers
Fred Warner was on a mission on Sunday. The linebacker led a fiery pregame meeting, urging his 49ers teammates to reset with a win over the stilted New England Patriots. But talk is cheap, while 45-yard pick-sixes are a little more valuable. Warner’s gravity-escaping grab for a spacewalk and score was an important reminder that the 49ers are still a dominant force.
That is until Warner injured an ankle and failed to return to the game for the second half. The injury bug has bitten again in the Bay Area though fortunately Warner should be back this week. The frontrunner for defensive player of the year was not the only pillar that fell though, as defensive tackle Jordan Elliott exited with a knee injury.
But what is most troublesome is how the Niners’ offense remains hamstrung by Christian McCaffrey’s long-term absence, and Brandon Aiyuk apparently dead set on creating tension. San Francisco handed the receiver a $120m deal yet he continues to sulk, the latest iteration of which saw him argue with Kyle Shanahan when he wore the wrong shorts to Friday’s practice. Unlike Warner, the receiver followed up his tirade with little impact: he only had two catches in the victory over 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 opposite numbers to match his production. The linebacker is not going to be able to do it alone: the 49ers have a daunting schedule from Week 6, reading Seattle, Kansas City, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Green Bay and Buffalo.
Vic Fangio
The veteran defensive coordinator has had great success throughout his career. This pedigree is the likely reason Philadelphia brought him in to replace Matt Patricia, who was partially to blame 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 defeat to Tampa Bay, as Baker Mayfield torched their soft coverage with 347 yards and two touchdowns.
In the past, Fangio has relied on showing identical shell coverages while shifting to zone coverage to confuse opposing quarterbacks. But this predictable playcalling allowed Mayfield to slice and dice Philadelphia in familiar swashbuckling style. Fangio has a tough task on his hands to revive the misfiring Eagles.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence has lost nine starts in succession and his nightmare shows no sign of ending. The former No 1 overall pick is struggling mightily as he continues to miss easy throws – failing to punch in a vital touchdown on 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 playcalling has been shoddy too. There needs to be a big shake-up in Jacksonville to avoid earning the worst record in the NFL this season. London fans will be thrilled they have to endure this dross when the team makes their trip across the Atlantic later this month.
