Last season when the Philadelphia Eagles left Tampa Bay, they looked broken. In the calendar year that has passed since then, they're 20-1. The Eagles haven't always been great to start this season but they've been good enough to go 4-0. Facing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that was 3-0 coming in, the Eagles dominated the first half and ultimately won 31-25. Jalen Hurts started 10 of 11 for 98 passing yards as the Eagles built an 18-point lead over a team that is an overwhelming favorite to win its division. Last season the Buccaneers beat Philadelphia 33-16 and it seemed like a continuation of the previous season, when the Eagles faded hard down the stretch. Philadelphia has been the NFL's best team since. The Eagles' special teams, which sealed the win over the Rams last week with a blocked field goal as time expired, got the scoring going with a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown. The Eagles decided to be more pass-heavy than normal against a top-ranked run defense anchored by Vita Vea, and Hurts threw two touchdown passes to tight end Dallas Goedert. Then in the third quarter, theEagles faked a tush push and Saquon Barkley scoredon an easy outside run. Their defense kept the Buccaneers out of the end zone in the first half as Philly built a 24-6 halftime lead. [Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7] Then the Eagles let up. There were big Tampa Bay touchdown passes to Emeka Egbuka and Bucky Irving, and Philadelphia's offense completely stalled. But when the Eagles needed one stop to win the game, they got it. A big sack of Baker Mayfield on second down practically put the Buccaneers away. The Eagles being 4-0 is scary because they've yet to play their best game. Their offense has been up and down, though we saw in the first half that it is capable of being very good when the passing game is clicking. The defense let the Buccaneers back in the game Sunday, and last week was pushed around in the first half by the Rams. The Eagles have rallied to do just enough to win each game, though there has also been enough issues to keep Philly sports talk radio busy. And Philadelphia should get better. The Eagles already have good wins against the Chiefs, Rams and Buccaneers, who are all considered playoff-caliber teams. They're 4-0 despite not playing their best. And if they repeat what they did last season after visiting Tampa Bay, they'll start to peak in the weeks ahead. That's a scary thought for the rest of the NFL Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 4 of the NFL season: Patrick Mahomes:Finally, Mahomes had a vintage game. It had been a while. The start to the season wasn't easy for Mahomes and theChiefsoffense. They were shorthanded and it showed. But with Xavier Worthy back on Sunday, and facing a Baltimore Ravens defense that has been bad to start the season, the Chiefs looked great. They cruised to a 37-20 win over the Ravens, whoare a disappointing 1-3. Mahomes had 270 yards and four touchdowns. Worthy had 83 yards receiving and another 38 rushing. With Rashee Rice returning after serving two more games of a suspension, the arrow is pointing up for the Chiefs offense. Field goal blockers:It has already been a big season for clutch blocked field goals. The Chicago Bears got a big one on Sunday. After Caleb Williams drove the Bears down for a go-ahead score against the Las Vegas Raiders in the final two minutes, it seemed like Chicago would give the game away when the Raiders got in field goal range in the final seconds. But Daniel Carlson's kick was blocked by Bears cornerback Josh Blackwell and the Bears had a 25-24 win. BLOCKED BY BLACKWELL 🚫📺: CBSpic.twitter.com/hGuxIKIQZ3 — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears)September 28, 2025 It was a big win for the Bears, who overcame a huge game from Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, who ran for 138 yards. The Bears are back to .500 for the season after an 0-2 start, and can thank a big blocked field goal for it. Michael Penix Jr.:Being a young quarterback in the NFL means every week is a referendum on whether you can be a franchise player. Ask Penix. Penix was a big topic this past week after the Falcons were shut out by the Panthers in Week 3. Penix looked terrible. There were questions about whether Kirk Cousins would get a shot. Those questions won't be asked this week. Penix was very good in a34-27 win over the Washington Commanders. He threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons were comfortably ahead for plenty of the game. Penix looked like a completely different player than he did last week, but he's a bad game from the roller coaster going back down again. That's life for a second-year quarterback. James Cook:He asked for a raise this offseason, wanting to be paid like one of the top running backs in the NFL. He got a raise from the Bills, and has probably already outplayed his new salary. Cook had another big game as Buffalo got atougher-than-expected 31-19 win over the New Orleans Saints. Cook had 117 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Bills have had consecutive games against the Dolphins and Saints, so some sleepwalking through those isn't surprising. But the Bills are 4-0, and Cook is a huge reason for that. The Bills needed some players to rise up and take pressure of Josh Allen, who can carry a team when needed and is often asked to do so. If Cook continues to play like one of the best backs in the NFL — he was very productive last season but has gone to another level this season — it will be harder than ever to stop Buffalo's offense. Payton Wilson:Jordan Addison should not be tracked down by many defensive players. Definitely not many linebackers. Wilson made a phenomenal play and it might have saved a win for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The second-year Steelers linebacker didn't give up on a play in the fourth quarter after Addison, the Minnesota Vikings' 2023 first-round draft pick, got behind the defense and seemed to have an 82-yard touchdown. He got 81 yards due to Wilson sprinting downfield and tripping Addison up. The Vikings scored but it took valuable time off the clock. Addison was tackled with a little more than 3:10 left. The Vikings scored with 2:08 left. Perhaps, with another minute to work with on their final possession, the Vikings could have tied the game or won it. Instead, thedefense held and the Steelers got a 24-21 win in the first NFL game in Ireland.Pittsburgh improved to 3-1 with the win. Wilson's hustle play will get him plenty of respect from Steelers fans, and the Steelers themselves as well. New York Giants:Giants fans had a heck of a ride Sunday.Jaxson Dart started and immediately showedthe playmaking that made him a star of the preseason. To see a first-round quarterback play like that is exciting. TheGiants finally had somethingto get excited about. For a little while. But ... New York Giants:The Giants can't seem to have nice things. The21-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargerswas overshadowed by one of the big key injuries of the early NFL season, whenMalik Nabers' knee buckledas he jumped for a deep pass. Losing Nabers, the team's 2024 first-round draft pick who is already one of the league's most dynamic players, is devastating. It was a weird day for Giants fans. They got a big upset win with their quarterback of the future leading the way. But they couldn't fully celebrate. Adonai Mitchell:Mitchell had the type of game that he might never live down. Mitchell was cruising in for his first career touchdown for the Indianapolis Colts, and went to raise the ball to celebrate just before crossing the goal line. But in his excitement he bobbled it and it came loose. The fumble out of the back of the end zone was a touchback for the Los Angeles Rams. Then in the fourth quarter, Jonathan Taylor had a great run that seemed to give the Colts the lead. But it came back due to holding on the play. It was on Mitchell. After that, Matthew Stafford hit Tutu Atwell for a 88-yard touchdown, the longest touchdown pass of Stafford's long career, and the Rams went on to win 27-20. That handed the Colts their first loss. Inexplicably, the Colts defense had only 10 men on the field for the Atwell touchdown. It was a rough way to lose. It'll be especially tough for Mitchell to shake the memory of it. Ball is out before it crosses the goal line. It's a touchback!INDvsLAR on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxVpic.twitter.com/DtuT1kDX9s — NFL (@NFL)September 28, 2025 49ers and their injury luck:The 49ers might not have any players left by November. Playing their first game without Nick Bosa, who has a torn ACL, the 49ers lost 26-21 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's not the worst outcome, especially after a 3-0 start to the season. But by the end of the game the 49ers were without even more players. Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings left with injuries, which is one reason the 49ers couldn't move the ball when they had one last chance to drive and take the lead. Brock Purdy lost a fumble and the Jaguars ran out the clock after that. They have been ravaged by injuries all season, and it's going to make it tough for them going forward. The 49ers were the most injured team in the NFL last season. They're about to have the type of repeat that no team chases. Panthers defense:How bad was the Atlanta Falcons' offense last week? The Panthers somehow shut out the Falcons last week. In Carolina's other three games its defense has practically been as bad as last year, when it allowed the most points in a single season in NFL history. The Patriots, who had not played well through three weeks,destroyed the Panthers 42-13 on Sunday. The Panthers took a 6-0 lead and then nothing went right. Their special teams allowed an 87-yard punt return touchdown, their offense did almost nothing with Bryce Young not creating much and their defense got worked by Drake Maye. Maye had two passing touchdowns and another one rushing. He won't be the last offensive player to have a big game against Carolina this season. Joe Flacco:The Browns benching Flacco this season was a question of when, not if. And it might come soon. Flacco wasn't good as the Browns gotblown out by the Detroit Lions 34-10. Flacco didn't play well. He completed 16 of 34 passes for 184 yards and threw two interceptions. There will be questions about when rookie Dillon Gabriel will get a shot. It seems unlikely it will happen in Week 5, when the Browns play a tough Vikings defense in London. And maybe it won't happen the next week, when Cleveland plays at the Steelers. But it doesn't seem like it will be too long before the Browns see what Gabriel can do. Brian Callahan:Callahan gave up play-calling duties this past week. So, what would you sayyou do here? The Tennessee Titans might be asking that soon. They are somehow even worse than last season when they went 3-14. They're 0-4, which brings Callahan's record to 3-18 as their head coach. Cam Ward was brought in as an upgrade at quarterback, but he hasn't done much and the Titans wereshut out 26-0 by the Houston Texans on Sunday. It was ugly all around, especially for Tennessee's offense. It's hard to know if the significant offensive issues are due to Ward or the coaching around him. It's not like changing play-callers helped. There have been no signs of progress from the Titans since Callahan was hired. It might not be long before Tennessee considers a change.
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