Which of remaining undefeated NFL teams are contenders?
By Dylan Hughes
With Week 4 of the NFL season underway, three teams remain undefeated: the Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, and Arizona Cardinals. The Bengals and Cardinals will remain undefeated coming out of the weekend as they both have bye weeks, but the Eagles will see action against the 49ers–who fell to Arizona last Sunday–in San Francisco. While it is early in the season, all three of these teams have had their challenges, and all deserve to own perfect records. With plenty of games still to be played, who should be feared the most? Who will have the deepest postseason run?
The Eagles are the only team of the three playing on Sunday, and will face a rather unpredictable ‘Niners team in Levi’s Stadium. Losing to the Cardinals in Arizona is acceptable, but giving up 21 points in the 4th quarter against the Bears (Week 2) is certainly not. Aside from stopping the run, San Francisco has been pretty average in every category. Even though the run defense has been good, they gave up 118 yards and a touchdown to DeMarco Murray in a Week 1 win over Dallas. Murray has been nothing short of spectacular thus far in 2014 (385 yards and three TDs), though. If the 49ers can’t stop Philly’s explosive backfield of LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles (552 combined total yards with three TDs), they won’t win Sunday, meaning the Eagles would move to 4-0.
While Philadelphia hasn’t faced the best of the best yet, they have already overcome some adversity. In Week 1, the Jaguars came into Philly and took the Eagles to the half up 17-0. In their first game without DeSean Jackson, Nick Foles and that running game scored 34 unanswered points in the second half to win. In Week 2, the Eagles played in a tough environment–in Indianapolis on Monday Night Football–and edged the Colts 30-27. Facing DeSean Jackson in Week 3, Philly held off the Kirk Cousins-led Redskins 37-34.
It’s hard to determine if the Eagles are truly contenders yet, and I think it’s up in the air right now. While the offense gets stronger and stronger as the season moves along, the defense is still questionable and has much more room to improve. Shutting down Colin Kaepernick and friends would be a good place to start.
Cincinnati’s bye week couldn’t have come at a better time, and they will surely be using the extra preparation time, but also will be using it for extra rest. A.J. Green missed most of the Bengals-Falcons Week 2 matchup after suffering a toe injury early on in the game, and came back to receive for 102 yards on six catches against the Titans last week. Nonetheless, having the extra time to rest couldn’t hurt.
Marvin Jones and Vontaze Burfict have also battled injuries.
After a close 23-16 victory over the Ravens in Week 1, Cincinnati has come out the past two weeks and played really well. Beating the Falcons by 14 and the Titans by 26, the Bengals head into the bye week undefeated before facing a stretch of playing in New England, vs. Carolina, and in Indianapolis. If there was ever a good test for this team, it’s coming up after the bye.
Right now, the Bengals look like contenders to me. While the defense has looked fairly average thus far, their numbers from last season–ranked 3rd in total defense (yards given up per game)–makes them trustworthy. The offense has looked ever so true, with a balanced attack of run and pass. You’re either going to get burned by Green, or out-run by Giovani Bernard.
Arizona, arguably the most impressive of the three teams, will also be spending their bye week resting. While Drew Stanton has done his part in replacing the injured Carson Palmer (shoulder), the Cards need their starting quarterback healthy if they hope to make a deep postseason run.
Like the Bengals, Arizona is a fairly balanced team all around. With a solid defense, the offense is a balanced attack of passing and a great ground game led by Andre Ellington.
Most teams that have the Super Bowl hosted in their city/state don’t seem to have the best of luck making it that year, and often struggle to even make the playoffs (see Giants/Jets, Saints, Colts, etc.), the Cardinals may have a chance to get some major homefield advantage if they continue to play like they have early on.
After their Week 4 bye, the Cardinals will travel to play the Broncos in Denver. This matchup will undoubtedly be a statement win if the Cards come out victorious. No matter what were to happen in that game, I still consider Arizona to be a major contender.
The 2014 regular season still has a long way to go. There are still a lot of games to watch these three teams along with other contenders to truly determine if they have a shot at making it to the Super Bowl in Arizona.
As of now, the Eagles are the only team of these three that haven’t quite proven to be a contender yet. As for the Bengals and Cardinals, well, watch out, football world.
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