With four weeks down, we’re nearly a quarter of the way through the 2026 season. Few teams are fully out of it, and a few teams on the brink of hopelessness found some hope in Week 4. As always, there’s a lot ot take in this week, so let’s get to it.

Few teams needed a win more than the New England Patriots in Week 4. A loss to the Buffalo Bills would have dropped the Patriots to 1-3 with the Bills at 4-0. Dropping that far behind a division rival through just four games would be a tough hole to dig out of, even with three quarters of the season still to play.

The most concerning piece of the Patriots through the first three weeks was the play of Drake Maye. Last year’s MVP runner-up hadn’t looked anything like his 2025 version early this season. He was sensitive to pressure and wasn’t nearly as aggressive as he’d been in hitting windows to the intermediate middle or down the field.

His play under pressure was something the Bills tried to exploit in their Week 4 game. Buffalo blitzed Maye on 38% of his dropbacks after blitzing 23.4% of the time through the first three weeks, which ranked 24th. Maye had handled the blitz well enough to start the season, averaging 0.02 EPA per play against extra rushers, but averaged 0.22 EPA per play against Buffalo’s blitz with a 10.1-yard average depth of target.

Maye’s aggressiveness looked much closer to the quarterback who led the league in aDOT and completion percentage last season. He also handled pressure better than he had during the start of the season and for much of 2025, with just a 5.0% pressure-to-sack rate. When Maye was pressured over the first three weeks of the season, he averaged 0.35 EPA per play. That mark was 0.13 against Buffalo.

This was the most comfortable Maye looked at quarterback all year, even if he did still fumble three times, with one lost. He also had an interception bounce up from a rolling Romeo Doubs — who otherwise had his best game as a Patriot — and into the arms of Dee Alford.

The small mistakes didn’t bother Maye, who was able to come back and play his best at the end of the game. The Bills scored a touchdown to go up by five with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter. New England responded with an eight-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Efton Chism, who made an unbelievable catch, to take the lead.

Allen threw an interception on the next drive, but the Patriots still needed to run out the clock. On a third-and-10, the Patriots let Maye throw and he found Hunter Henry for a 12-yard gain that iced the game.

Maye’s 0.31 EPA per play was the fourth-best of the week among quarterbacks and his 91 QBR was the best of the week.

The Patriots might not have fixed all of their problems, but getting this performance from Maye is a good sign that not all is lost for 2026. 

I love awards because they capture how we talk about the season. So since we’re about a quarter of the way through the year, let’s give out some quarter-mark awards.

MVP

For this quarterback award, there are three top options so far: Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, and Lamar Jackson.

Purdy still leads the league in EPA per play and success rate, but after a performance that was more good than great against the Broncos (0.15 EPA per play), it’s not by as big a margin as it was coming out of Week 3. Purdy has undoubtedly become the best version of a Shanahan quarterback, but he’s still getting a lot of help from the offensive structure. The game-clinching touchdown against Denver was a tight end screen that George Kittle took for 56 yards with 59 yards after the catch.

Allen was lucky to get away from last week’s game against the Chargers with a win, and that’s the only single game between these three quarterbacks with negative EPA. However, Allen’s success rate was even lower this week against the Patriots at just 35.9%. Yet, there are still reasons to point to Allen as an MVP candidate. He’s made multiple plays only he could make and, despite the relative downturns in the past two weeks, he’s third in EPA per play.

Then there’s Jackson, who ranks second in EPA per play and success rate behind Purdy but feels more central to what the Baltimore offense has done this season. Jackson leads the league in yards per attempt at 10.1, the only quarterback to average over 10 yards per attempt across the first four weeks since 2019. He’s averaged a 10.0-yard aDOT and has still completed 70.8% of his passes. Only Allen has a higher rate of throws of 20 or more air yards, and only C.J. Stroud has a lower rate of throws at or behind the line of scrimmage. As you might expect, he leads the league in explosive pass rate at 21.4%.

While he’s also had the easiest opening schedule of these three quarterbacks, it’s hard to knock how well he’s played so far. 

Pick: Lamar Jackson

Offensive Player of the Year

Jahmyr Gibbs could have been the leader for this award, but it’s hard to put him there after 46 rushing yards and a 3.1 yards per carry average Sunday night against the Panthers. With his usage, he’ll still be a contender at the end of the season.

It would be fun to mention Zay Flowers, who is sixth in receiving yards despite ranking 153rd in routes run. Flowers is averaging 6.29 yards per route run and is the only player to have two different halves with at least 100 receiving yards this season.

Both CeeDee Lamb and Jaxson Smith-Njigba have a case as the 1-2 in receiving yards. Lamb had an insane day in Week 4 (more on that later) and Smith-Njigba has gotten better compared to his OPOY season last year. He’s matched his efficiency with more yards and touchdowns than he had through four weeks last season.

Kenneth Walker is running away with the most impressive offensive season so far. Walker is 116 rushing yards ahead of second-place James Cook (537 to 421). So far, 6.9% of Walker’s runs have gone for 20 or more yards, which included three against the Raiders this week. His explosiveness from the backfield has changed how Kansas City can run its offense, which has been a big reason for the 4-0 start

Pick: Kenneth Walker

Defensive Player of the Year

Greg Rousseau and Dallas Turner lead the league in pressures. That’s typically a good indicator of the favorites for the award. Rousseau even leads the league in sacks with six (Turner is a half-sack behind), which would usually make that player the favorite. However, Rousseau is just sixth in odds if you look at DraftKings. Those odds don’t matter for our purposes here, but it’s interesting to point out. Rousseau would probably be third on this hypothetical ballot.

Turner has been incredibly impressive in his much-anticipated breakout season. But if we’re knocking a player like Brock Purdy for the system he’s in and how much the situation helps, being in a Brian Flores defense has a similar impact.

The edge (punt not intended, but if you say that and still keep the pun in, it becomes a bit intended) goes to Will Anderson Jr. Anderson is just behind Rousseau and Turner in overall pressures but has also been a monster against the run. His 11 havoc plays (TFL, forced fumble, sack, interception, or PBU) lead defenders. 

Pick: Will Anderson Jr. 

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Arizona’s Jeremiah Love is still the betting favorite, and that might be the safe bet for the full season, but this feels like a two-way race between wide receivers after four weeks. Fourth-overall pick Carnell Tate and second-round pick Denzel Boston are 1-2 in rookie receiving yards and have gotten there in different ways.

Tate has been a bigger piece of the overall Tennessee passing offense while Boston has been more explosive with a smaller target share.

Most of Tate’s production came this past week against the Ravens, when he had nine catches for 145 yards on 12 targets. That’s 54% of his receiving yards on the season. But after three weeks, Tate was still third in receiving yards among rookies and had the highest target share.

While Boston’s overall usage has been up and down — and fellow rookie KC Concepcion has more targets in the same offense — he has a catch of 20 or more yards in every game this season. He hasn’t consistently beaten man coverage yet (0.27 yards per route run), but that’s something to watch more long-term rather than for this current award.

Pick: Denzel Boston

Defensive Rookie of the Year

This might be the weirdest award of the group. It was a strange defensive draft class to begin with, having one pass rusher in the top 10, two off-ball linebackers in the top seven, and the potential best player in the class playing safety at pick 11.

Second overall pick David Bailey has impressed. His 11 pressures lead all rookies, but he’s only hit the quarterback three times with two sacks. While playing the slot, Caleb Downs hasn’t made the type of impact that would win a defensive back this award — that could change if the Cowboys get healthy with Joey Porter Jr. in the fold, move DaRon Bland inside, and push Downs back to a do-it-all safety rather than a slot corner. Sonny Styles has played well, but not yet to a DROY level.

The second defender taken was Arvell Reese, who just had the type of game that filled up the stat sheet. He had nine tackles, including one for a loss, and three passes defensed, including an interception. On one of those pass breakups, he came through the line and swatted the ball away like a basketball center making a block into the second row.

If he can keep that up and, with Brian Burns out, get more pass-rush opportunities, there might be a clear track for him to become the favorite.

But for now, that goes to a second-round linebacker — following in the footsteps of last year’s winner Carson Schweshinger. Miami selected Jacob Rodriguez with the 43rd overall pick and he’s been everywhere on the field for the Dolphins. Rodriguez has made a tackle on 19.7% of his defensive snaps, which is second only to fellow rookie Josiah Trotter. But what separates Rodriguez is that 69.8% of his tackles have produced positive EPA for the defense, which ranks fifth among linebackers with at least 200 snaps.

For raw numbers, his 46 tackles are only behind Alex Singleton’s 47. Those are the types of numbers that can win a linebacker this award. 

Pick: Jacob Rodriguez

Coach of the Year

Klint Kubiak is going to be the favorite, and his success so far tracks with previous winners for a new head coach who immediately turned one of the league’s worst teams into a competent one in his first year. Despite the Raiders’ first loss of the season, Kubiak still fits that bill and there’s a lot to like for the Raiders going forward.

Ben Johnson fit those qualifications last season, but finished fourth with just one first-place vote. He could get more consideration this season after this past two-game stretch without Caleb Williams in the lineup.

But there’s a case to be made for the type of coach who doesn’t typically get this award — the one who is just good at this. This year, and many other years, that can go to Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan’s 49ers are first in EPA per play, success rate, and yards per play through four weeks despite a rotating cast at wide receiver. San Francisco has the highest explosive play rate in the league and has managed early downs so well that just 25% of the 49ers’ third downs have needed seven or more yards to go. Only the Bears (29.8%) are also under 30%.

Pick: Kyle Shanahan

0: Brock Purdy has yet to take a sack this season. It’s the first four-game stretch without a sack for a quarterback since Matthew Stafford did it from Weeks 14-17 in 2024. He’s one game away from tying the five-game streaks from five different quarterbacks since 2000. He’s the first quarterback since 2005 Peyton Manning to have a four-game sackless streak to start the season.

60.6%: That was C.J. Stroud’s passing success rate against the Cowboys, the best rate of the week and ninth-best by a quarterback in a game this season.

16.7%: That was Houston’s rushing success rate as a team against the Cowboys, the lowest rate for a team this week.

5: The number of pressures Nick Emmamwori had against the Chargers, his most in a game for his career. He’s rushing the passer on 22.4% of his pass snaps this season, up from 12.7% last year.

65%: Both the blitz and pressure rate by the Minnesota Vikings against the Miami Dolphins. Minnesota had an 84.6% blitz rate on early downs and just 28.6% on third down. That’s only the sixth-highest early-down blitz rate for a team since 2020 (Flores owns four of them and Wink Martindale has the other two), but it’s just one of two wins in that group.

The Vikings got pressure on 50% of their blitzes. When blitzed, Malik Willis averaged -0.65 EPA per play with a 25% success rate. When pressured, Willis averaged -0.77 EPA per play with a 23.1% success rate.

6: That’s the number of drives with 10 or more plays the Bears put together against the Jets (the Jets have two on the season). That tied for the most such drives in a game since 2020.

83: Yards from the slot by Tetairoa McMillan against the Lions. Despite seeing more time in the slot over the first three weeks compared to last season, McMillan did not have a catch. That changed on Sunday night as McMillan had five catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns from the slot to become a mismatch against Detroit’s smaller slot corners and safeties.

For the first time in 636 pass attempts, the Jets got an interception. Earlier in the game, defensive tackle Te’Vondre Sweat intercepted a pass, but it was called back for a penalty. Then early in the second quarter, Minkah Fitzpatrick, who hadn’t played since Week 1, jumped a Tyson Bagent pass intended for Colston Loveland. The Jets now rank 23rd in turnovers forced per drive this season. 

CeeDee Lamb had 17 catches against the Texans. Last season, Houston gave up fewer than 17 completions in six games. It’s been a rough season so far for the Texans’ secondary. Derek Stingley has been good, but has lost a few contested catches. Kamar Lassiter has been picked on throughout the year and had about as poor a game as a defender could have against Dallas, with three penalties — two on the same touchdown drive after getting beat by George Pickens for a 53-yard pass. 

Lamb had a 60-40 split outside and in the slot. He had 10 catches for 128 yards out wide and went 7-61-1 from the slot, including the game-winning touchdown.

The Eagles have an offense problem

At -0.14, the Philadelphia Eagles rank 30th in EPA per play on offense through four weeks. Depending on how the Falcons play on Monday night, that could drop to 31st.

The Eagles were without DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert for their game against the Rams, a 24-20 loss, but few aspects of the offense inspired confidence that things would have been much different otherwise. Philadelphia still struggles to run the ball, even before Saquon Barkley left the game duo to injury. While Jalen Hurts has thrown more passes to the middle of the field, this is still a passing offense that reverts to playing outside the numbers when the quarterback gets in a jam.

Hurts now has back-to-back games with -0.35 EPA per play and has only topped a 40% success rate once this season.

I don’t know what to make of this Kirk Cousins touchdown pass

Cousins is 38 years old. He shouldn’t be able to do that. He was barely able to do that when he was 28.

Outside of this play, Cousins has been in a groove. He’s ninth in EPA per play among quarterbacks after struggling a bit in Week 1. What stands out, especially over the past three weeks, is that Cousins has been slinging it. He's had an aDOT of at least 8.0 in each of the past three games, the third time he’s done that in his career. He had two four-game streaks, one in 2015 and the other in 2020. 

Travis Hunter is a good cornerback

Because the Jaguars were down to just four cornerbacks on the roster for their 22-17 win over the Bengals, Travis Hunter played every defensive snap and did not have a snap on offense. That’s fine because Hunter is pretty good at this cornerback thing.

After Hunter had his first interception last week, he was all over the field against Cincinnati. Hunter allowed 0.4 yards per coverage snap and had two passes defensed.

Hunter also nearly had another interception but it was called back due to a roughing the passer penalty. Taking the interception off the board is tough, but losing what Hunter did to Tee Higgins after the interception is unforgivable.