Dramatic finishes, London calling and Taylor Swift sighting: everything from Week 4’s Sunday games
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — If the NFL couldn’t get any bigger, the recent influx of ‘Swifties’ has added a whole new dynamic.
And those new avid football fans were rewarded on Sunday Night Football, with Taylor Swift being spotted at the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the New York Jets.
But Week 4 of the NFL season also had a slew of exciting finishes, statement victories and the sport traveling to a completely different country.
Here’s everything you need to know from Sunday’s games.
Bills lay down a marker
The Miami Dolphins traveling to the Buffalo Bills was the headline game of Week 4.
It was the No. 1 offense in the league visiting the No. 2 offense and it was the breakout team of the young season facing the established class of the AFC conference.
But in the end, Buffalo showed why it’s reached the latter stage of the playoffs in recent years, convincingly beating the Dolphins 48-20.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the primary driver of Buffalo’s offensive explosion, finishing with as many passing touchdowns as incompletions (four) on 21-of-25 passing for 320 yards and running for another.
He became only the second player in the Super Bowl era to record four passing touchdowns, one rushing score and a perfect passer rating (158.3) in a game after Aaron Rodgers did so in 2019.
While Allen was brilliant, the Bills defense was arguable the star of the show, holding the previously-unstoppable Miami offense – which had scored 70 points via 10 touchdowns last week – to just 20 points.
Miami was able to rack up the yards – the team finished with 393 total yards, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa coming up with 282 passing yards and running back De’Von Achane running for just over 100 – but the Bills constantly disrupted any head of steam their opponents were generating.
In particular, Bills defensive lineman Ed Oliver and Greg Rousseau were a menace throughout, finishing with three cumulative sacks. Micah Hyde also intercepted Tagovailoa midway through the third quarter.
But Allen will get the headlines with his five-touchdown performance, as the Bills continue their electric offensive stretch – they’ve won each of their last three games by at least 28 points, tied for the longest streak in the Super Bowl era. According to the NFL, the only team in NFL history to win four consecutive games by at least 28 points was the 1942 Chicago Bears.
The team’s leading receiver, Stefon Diggs – who finished Sunday’s game with six receptions for 120 yards and three touchdowns – said afterwards that it’s a joy to play with Allen.
“Each week as you see Josh Allen, he adapts and he grows. As a receiver watching him up close and personal, I see his emotions,” Diggs said postgame. “He’s a quarterback you want to play for.”
The Bills improve to 3-1 while Miami lost its first game of the season to slip to the same record.
Big comebacks and overtime finishes
Week 4 saw a host of gripping finishes to games as the prospect of continuing winless starts or suffering that first defeat ramped up the pressure.
Chief amongst those came at Soldier Field in Chicago where the Denver Broncos erased a 21-point deficit to beat the Bears and claim their first win of the season.
The Bears – who had previously looked like a mess on and off the field before Sunday – had raced into a big lead through an excellent performance from quarterback Justin Fields, who threw three first-half touchdowns.
However, despite facing a 28-7 hole with 4:18 left in the third quarter, Russell Wilson and the Broncos were able to somehow spark a huge comeback, with Wil Lutz’s 51-yard field goal the eventual decider.
It continues the season of disappoint for Chicago, which fell to 0-4 for the first time in 23 years. After a poor season last year, the pressure is falling onto the shoulders of second-year head coach Matt Eberflus, who admitted how tough this campaign has been so far.
“When you’re 0-4, no one’s done the job well enough,” Eberflus answered when asked if he’d done his job well enough after such high expectations.
“That’s just the facts. It’s a results business, and we have to do a better job collectively as a group. Again, we’re working hard to do that. And I thought the guys put a better step forward – coaches included and players – of putting our players in position and then executing. I thought that was better today.”
Elsewhere, there were two overtime finishes, with the Los Angeles Rams edging past the feisty Indianapolis Colts, 29-23, and the Philadelphia Eagles staying undefeated with a 34-31 victory over the Washington Commanders.
The Rams had to fend off a stiff second-half comeback themselves from rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson for their second win of the season.
And, like he has been so far this season, the Rams’ savior was once again rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua.
The fifth-round pick was second in the NFL in catches coming into Week 4, but pulled off his most extraordinary game yet with nine catches, 163 receiving yards and his first NFL touchdown, which just so happened to be the game-winner in overtime.
Nacua has been one of the breakout sensations of the year so far, and now has 39 receptions in the nascent season, the most in NFL history through four career games. His 501 receiving yards are also the most through four career games.
In Philadelphia, a 54-yard Jake Elliott field goal saw the Eagles remain undefeated to begin the season after a last-second touchdown in regulation from Washington quarterback Sam Howell sent the game to overtime.
It wasn’t the prettiest victory ever, but the Eagles squad said that grinding out these important victories is key to their aspirations this season.
“I think tension and pressure build character,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurt said after the game. “We needed a game like this for us.
“I think a win like this does so much for the spirit of a team because winning is not easy. Winning is hard.”
A different kind of UK football and hello again, Taylor Swift
Week 4 also saw the return of the NFL’s International Series and its new star fan, Taylor Swift, making another appearance at a Chiefs game.
The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Atlanta Falcons 23-7 at Wembley Stadium, London, as the NFL began its yearly sojourn across the Atlantic.
Jags wide receiver Calvin Ridley and an interception from Jacksonville cornerback Darious Williams were the highlights for UK fans, in what was the first of five international games in the NFL this season.
Two games will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this month – the Jaguars ‘hosting’ the Bills and the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Tennessee Titans – before two games in Germany at the Frankfurt Stadium, where the Dolphins will play the Chiefs on Sunday, November 5, and the Colts will clash against the New England Patriots a week later.
In the final game of Sunday’s action, music superstar Swift was once again seen in the stands of a Chiefs game – this time at the New York Jets’ MetLife Stadium.
Swift, who has recently been getting to know Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and sparking the creativity of brand marketers everywhere, was shown on the NBC broadcast about 30 minutes prior to the game, alongside Blake Lively, Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds (of “Deadpool” and Wrexham AFC fame) and Sophie Turner.
It is the second game this season Swift has been seen at, as she was observed last week at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, sitting next to Kelce’s mother, Donna, as they watched the Chiefs run roughshod over the Chicago Bears, 41-10. After the game, the singer was spotted leaving the stadium with Kelce.
And, like last week, Swift proved to be ‘The Lucky One’ for the Chiefs, with Kansas City edging out the Jets, 23-20.
In the victory, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw his landmark 200th touchdown pass, becoming the fastest player in NFL history to hit that milestone.
Full Week 4 Sunday scores
Away vs. home
Atlanta Falcons 7-23 Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins 20-48 Buffalo Bills
Minnesota Vikings 21-13 Carolina Panthers
Denver Broncos 31-28 Chicago Bears
Baltimore Ravens 28-3 Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers 6-30 Houston Texans
Los Angeles Rams 29-23 Indianapolis Colts
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-9 New Orleans Saints
Washington Commanders 31-34 Philadelphia Eagles
Cincinnati Bengals 3-27 Tennessee Titans
Las Vegas Raiders 17-24 Los Angeles Chargers
New England Patriots 3-38 Dallas Cowboys
Arizona Cardinals 16-35 San Francisco 49ers
Kansas City Chiefs 23-20 New York Jets
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