Drake Maye rebounds as Texans’ season teeters after Week 4

Week 4 of the NFL season drew a sharp line between teams regaining their footing and those already sliding toward trouble. The New England Patriots steadied themselves with a statement win over the Buffalo Bills, while the Houston Texans slipped to 0-4 in a loss that could haunt their playoff hopes. Elsewhere, record-setting performances — good and bad — and a wave of star injuries shaped a pivotal Sunday across the league.

Maye looks like himself again in Patriots’ upset of Bills

After three games in which his play plunged from MVP runner-up level to near the bottom of the league in passer rating, Drake Maye finally looked like the quarterback New England expected. In a 29-26 upset of Buffalo, Maye threw for 269 yards with three touchdown passes and also led the Patriots in rushing with 54 yards. It was a strong answer to a rocky start that had made him one of the biggest early disappointments of the season.

The loss of A.J. Brown to a high ankle sprain in Week 1 appeared to knock Maye out of rhythm, but he found better chemistry with his remaining weapons on Sunday. He completed passes to seven different receivers, hit Romeo Doubs for two scores and benefited from a highlight one-handed grab by Efton Chism III on what became the game-winning touchdown. For a Patriots team that could scarcely afford to fall to 1-3, bouncing back from a blowout and doing it against a Super Bowl-calibre Bills squad was a major step.

Texans’ defense unravels in 0-4 start, Commanders thin at QB

The picture is far bleaker in Houston. The Texans staged a memorable rally last season after an 0-3 start to reach the playoffs, but a 34-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys has dropped them to 0-4 and drained much of that belief. A defense expected to be this team’s strength faltered badly after halftime.

Javonte Williams scored three second-half touchdowns as Dallas repeatedly found room on the ground, and star wideout CeeDee Lamb torched a secondary built to be one of the league’s stingiest. Lamb finished with 17 catches, just one shy of Jason Witten’s single-game franchise record, a glaring indictment of a Houston defense that has struggled throughout this 0-4 start. The Texans face the also-winless Tennessee Titans next week, but their margin for error in the AFC race already looks slim.

Across the Atlantic, the Washington Commanders never recovered from losing Marcus Mariota to a knee injury in their 30-13 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Washington led 6-0 with Mariota under centre, then was outscored 30-7 the rest of the way. Rookie Athan Kaliakmanis out of Rutgers was thrown into his regular-season debut and completed 15 of 33 passes with a touchdown, an interception and a sack while taking several heavy hits. The depth chart is so thin that tight end Colson Yankoff would have been the emergency quarterback if needed.

Looking ahead, Washington is likely to be led either by a backup passer or by Jayden Daniels playing through an elbow injury on his non-throwing arm that will require offseason surgery and forces him to wear a brace.

Jets snap interception drought, Eagles hit all-time low on third down

In New York, head coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets defense finally removed a glaring stain from their recent history. Although they fell 23-12 to the Chicago Bears, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted Tyson Bagent in the second quarter to end a 637-day, 20-game stretch without a single interception — an NFL record for futility. The takeaway did not do enough to slow Chicago and its backup quarterback, underscoring how much work remains for this unit.

The Philadelphia Eagles made the wrong kind of franchise history in a 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Their offense failed to convert a single third down, going 0-for-12 in those situations for the first time in the team’s 94-year history, and managed just one fourth-down conversion on four attempts. Those three turnovers on downs loomed large in a scoreless second half in which the Eagles squandered a 10-point lead with four minutes to play.

First-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion was already under scrutiny and Sunday’s outing will only raise more questions, even if the blame is shared between scheme, Jalen Hurts’ execution and the early exit of Saquon Barkley with a hamstring injury. Barkley was one of several stars to leave games in Week 4. Lamar Jackson missed the second half of the Baltimore Ravens’ win with an ankle issue, and Ja’Marr Chase exited the Cincinnati Bengals’ loss after suffering a concussion.

It is not yet known how much time Barkley will miss. Chase must clear the NFL’s concussion protocol before returning, while Jackson is considered day-to-day in the immediate aftermath of his injury — an encouraging sign that he could be back as early as Week 5. Even so, the pileup of injuries added another layer of uncertainty to a week that already reshaped the early-season landscape.