Week 4 of the 2025 season saw the NFL’s first regular season game in Ireland. This is the best time of the year for fans on this side of the Atlantic, as we look ahead to the three London games, the league’s entry into Spain and a match-up in Berlin.

It’s also when narratives become believable. The 2025 season has seen a number of surprising teams make fast starts, newly-minted superstars establish themselves as the best at their position group, and presumptive Super Bowl favourites atrophy before our very eyes. Here’s the stories you need to know about as the new league season ticks over into October.

WEEK 4 SCORES

(excl. Monday 29th September)

Thursday

Seattle Seahawks 23 @ Arizona Cardinals 20

Sunday:

Minnesota Vikings 21 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 24

Washington Commanders 27 @ Atlanta Falcons 34

Los Angeles Chargers 18 @ New York Giants 21

Tennessee Titans 0 @ Houston Texans 26

Philadelphia Eagles 31 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25

Carolina Panthers 13 @ New England Patriots 42

New Orleans Saints 19 @ Buffalo Bills 31

Cleveland Browns 10 @ Detroit Lions 34

Jacksonville Jaguars 26 @ San Francisco 49ers 21

Indianapolis Colts 20 @ Los Angeles Rams 27

Chicago Bears 26 @ Las Vegas Raiders 25

Baltimore Ravens 20 @ Kansas City Chiefs 37

Green Bay Packers 40 @ Dallas Cowboys 40 OT

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GAME OF THE WEEK

Green Bay Packers 40 @ Dallas Cowboys 40 OT

Jerry Jones is not a good general manager. On that, we can all agree. He seemingly makes roster and contract decisions based on the publicity it can garner a self-generating publicity machine.

But… But… If the construction of this Cowboys roster, a revolving door defense mixed with an explosive offense that can seemingly weather the loss of its best skill player was designed to get maximum eyeballs on this Dallas season? Then maybe, Jerrah knows exactly what he was doing.

This is the second time in the season that we’ve included the Cowboys in this section of our roundup, and once again, we’re struggling to really encapsulate all that happened in this 40-40 tie.

Perhaps the best place to start is to recognise the brilliant display from both Dak Prescott and Jordan Love. Prescott’s box score makes for mighty fine reading — 31/40 for 319 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions — but his underlying metrics are even more beautiful. The Cowboys signal caller completed 29 of his 35 passes against the Packers’ zone and quickly released the ball, contributing to a remarkably low pressure rate of 26.1 percent — and found truly jaw-dropping throws in the crucial moments. His 34-yard completion to Jalen Tolbert had a completion probability of just 7.2 percent, the lowest of any successful pass and catch since Next Gen Stats started tracking the NFL. Prescott also demonstrated a rapport with George Pickens in the absence of CeeDee Lamb, feeding the former Steeler for 134 yards on eight catches. It was a nigh-on perfect performance in the face of his former team-mate Micah Parsons, whose name the NFL hype machine had difficulty keeping out of their mouth, both in the build-up to the game and for the five periods that followed .The fourth-year star sacked his Prescott just once, for a loss of zero yards as the quarterback escaped the pocket.

Love was just as good. It certainly helped that Parsons was now on his side in this matchup, as Love was given almost three seconds to throw. With so much time, Love was deathly accurate in the short passing game, completing all of his throws that travelled less than ten yards in the air.

Despite his terrific performance, it was almost Love that cost the Packers the game in the last moments of overtime. With seven seconds on the clock and Green Bay on the Cowboys’ 16-yard line, the Cheeseheads had one last chance to win the game outright by throwing to the end zone. Love held the ball for the majority of that time, just about releasing the ball in time for the game to continue after the pass fell incomplete. Brandon McManus converted the kick, giving us the second highest-scoring tied game in the history of the NFL.

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MVP OF THE WEEK

Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams)

Through the first month of the NFL season, the Offensive Player of the Year could well be the third-year wideout. Nacua has snaffled a mind-boggling 42 catches through four games — the most through the first four games of any season in NFL history — and is on pace for a 2,000-yard receiving season.

The former fifth-round pick was simply unstoppable during the Rams 27-20 victory over the Colts, logging 13 catches for a career best 170 yards and a crucial fourth quarter score to tie the game with a little over three minutes remaining. Nacua is a complete package. On the tying touchdown, he was able to use his strength to separate, jabbing Xavien Howard with two hands before cleanly releasing to the middle of the field on a slant and barrelling over the goal line. His route-running chops were also on full display when he beat Howard on a double move on a crucial third-and-five in the second quarter. Matthew Stafford’s pass was a touch underthrown, but Nacua high-pointed the ball for a 31-yard catch with Howard draped on his back. A 23-yard grab on a crucial touchdown-scoring drive at the end of the half came against zone coverage, with Nacua elevating for a sideline catch and weathering a bone-shattering hit from Colts safety Nick Cross.

Giving Sean McVay such a weapon feels unfair for opposing defences. The wunderkind coach, aided and abetted by Stafford as a quarterback who enjoys feeding his primary weapons, famously helped Cooper Kupp to his Triple Crown by scheming up a bevvy of pre-snap motions that put the wideout in space in the short and intermediate areas of the field. Nacua is demonstrating more skills down the field, and in the run after the catch, than Kupp ever did. If he can stay healthy (which, given the way Nacua plays the game is no guarantee) we may be about to witness a truly unbelievable season from a special, special player.

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Winner (and Loser): The New York Giants fanbase’s hopes and dreams

Brian Daboll’s embrace of Jaxson Dart after the New York Giants gutsy 21-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers was brimming with emotion. Daboll desperately needs this young stud to show out for the remainder of the 2025 season; after all, it had been planned that the first-year signal caller would sit behind a combination of Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. An 0-3 start precipitated Dart’s ascension to the starting job, and he did not disappoint in his first outing for Big Blue.

Criticism over the choice of opponent was deftly handled by Daboll’s gameplan. New York’s head coach took the sting out of the Chargers’ defense by integrating the athletic quarterback into the run attack, and limiting his decisions in the passing game. Dart logged just 111 passing yards, adding a score on a shovel pass. He also ran the ball ten times for 56 yards and another touchdown; just three of those attempts came on scrambles as Daboll sprinkled in a steady dose of zone-read plays that kept the Chargers guessing.

Dart provided immense value in the run game, but is that a sustainable path forward for the organisation? He took a number of hits on a day where the G-men lost their other prized asset Malik Nabers to a season-ending ACL injury. Daboll has to weigh up Dart’s athleticism with his own job security and the future needs of the franchise. Will that lead to more conservative gameplans going forward?

Loser: Brock Purdy

Since taking over as the Niners starting quarterback in the 2023 season, Brock Purdy has proven to be a lightning rod for sports debate shows and long chin-stroking think pieces by the ‘football cognoscenti’. In essence, he’s a Rorschach Test. To some, he’s a conduit to actualising Kyle Shanahan’s offense, marrying quick decision-making with serviceable physical skills to get the ball where it needs to go. To others, he’s an under-tooled player that has hit the roster, coaching and scheme jackpot to the tune of $265m.

The Niners’ 26-21 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday will only feed the ‘Purdy Debate Industrial Complex’ further. The third-year star has thrown four interceptions in two games this season. He is holding onto the ball longer than in both his 2023 breakout season and when compared Mac Jones’ deputising performances in Week 2 and 3. He is scrambling more than ever.

Some of those traits were developing last term, when a depleted San Fran attack put more pressure on the quarterback to produce out of structure plays. Now the question is, do you want Purdy to continue to shoulder more of the burden, as you would expect from one of the league’s top earning quarterbacks? Or should he return to the metronomic decision-maker of his breakout season?

Winner: Irish Steelers fans

The NFL’s international expansion continued with a first regular season game in Ireland. It made sense for the Pittsburgh Steelers to break ground on the Emerald Isle, as they boast a truly massive following in the country, and the black-and-gold duly sent their adoring public home happy with a 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Steelers achieved that result by largely taking the game away from Vikes’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Aaron Rodgers finished with a nice-enough looking boxscore, completing 18 passes for 22 completions and a touchdown. Dig under the hood, and you’ll see the bulk of those yards came after the catch. The 41-year-old averaged just 2.6 air yards per carry, and took a smidge over two seconds per pass to release the football. He only attempted five passes of more than five air yards according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats. That included the touchdown score, but that still required a classic D.K. Metcalf breakaway, turning a routine slant into an 80-yard dagger.

The rushing attack was stellar too, even in the absence of workhorse Jaylen Warren. Kenneth Gainwell was an able understudy, generating a positive EPA on close to 70 percent of his carries to the tune of 99 yards and two touchdowns. The dirty work was provided by the offensive line. The much-maligned Arthur Smith exhibited his gameplan chops, calling 13 rushing plays with an additional offensive lineman on the field. Those plays generated a whopping 5.5 yards per carry.

While Carson Wentz and the Vikings offense was able to move the ball, the Steelers sacked the back-up quarterback in crucial moments and twice picked him off to cap off a complete team performance in Dublin. Now sitting at 3-1 and with a two-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North, Mike Tomlin and his team can return home feeling pretty good about themselves.

Loser: The Baltimore Ravens’ offense

In a match-up between two of the AFC’s most vaunted franchises, and two of the league’s premier signal callers, a statement needed to be made. Both the Ravens and the Kansas City chiefs entered this game at 1-2; a loss either way could have had a catastrophic impact on their offseason credentials.

The Chiefs played as if they had completely internalised that message of urgency. Xavier Worthy’s return from his Week 1 shoulder injury instantly breathed new life into Patrick Mahomes’ attack. The second-year star set the tone with a 37-yard reception down the sideline on the opening drive, and quickly followed that up with a 35-yard end around. Off the back of four passing touchdowns by Mahomes, the Chiefs were able to surpass 30 points for the first time this season.

Baltimore’s offense simply could not keep up. Derrick Henry logged just eight carries and. Lamar Jackson, who has looked indecisive of late, continued in that vein thanks in part to his receivers struggling to create meaningful separation. Jackson could not escape either, as Steve Spagnuolo’s use of a spy kept the elusive signal caller rooted inside the pocket. The three-time MVP was sacked three times on Sunday, made just two successful scrambles and turned the ball over twice before succumbing to a hamstring injury that saw Cooper Rush enter the game.

Suddenly, the Ravens look vulnerable. Notable stars on defense such as Nnamdi Madubuike, Travis Jones and Jaire Alexander are all carrying injuries, while Roquan Smith, Ronnie Stanley and Marlon Humphrey all left the game with knocks. If Jackson is healthy enough to suit up in Week 5, he will face a ferocious Houston Texans pass rush. If he faces that assignment without his cornerstone left tackle Stanley, we could well be seeing the end of the Ravens’ 2025 title hopes.

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STATS OF THE WEEK

• Ashton Jeanty finally announced his arrival in the NFL with a three-touchdown performance in the Raiders 26-25 loss to the Chicago Bears. He is only the third rookie to score a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game for the Silver-and-Black, joining a prestigious club alongside Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson.
• Patrick Mahomes is the youngest player in NFL history to reach 250 passing touchdowns. Having just turned 30, he has narrowly bested Dolphins legend Dan Marino’s record. Mahomes is the quickest to the landmark by games played. His 116 games surpasses Aaron Rodgers, who achieved the same feat in 121 appearances.

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