As the old saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. The first month of the season is over and unless you’re a fan of the Tennessee Titans, it feels like the time has flown by. Or, if you’re a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, you probably feel like time hasn’t flown by fast enough, particularly in the waning seconds of overtime.

By the way, ties are lame, and while I understand the discussion feels like a bit of a red herring because of its rarity, the new overtime rules are setting up to bump up the chances quite a bit. The good news is, there are ways to handle this before it becomes a real problem.

With a quarter of the season in the books, we’ve learned quite a bit about the NFL. More specifically, we’ve learned how much we didn’t know when the season began. That’s where we begin this week’s What’s Trending in the NFL.

Bonus five: Things I was wrong about

5. AFC South is the Houston Texans’ to lose: Who was the idiot who started the season by talking about the AFC South like it was the Texans’ division to lose and the other three teams were just jostling for top-10 picks in the draft? Oh, right. To give myself a little credit, the Titans not only are the worst team in the division, but also are leading the race for worst in the league. But no, the 1-3 Texans are far from the class of the division and Daniel Jones has been an unexpected surprise for 3-1 Indianapolis. With all of that being said, the Jacksonville Jaguars, also 3-1, may just be the best team in the division right now, though we want to be careful in complimenting them so that we don’t offend anyone.

4. Baltimore Ravens are going to be fine: The Ravens are fine in the same way Ross was fine after he saw Rachel kissing Joey in the final season of “Friends.” There was a moment of respite when they pounced on the Cleveland Browns in Week 2, but aside from that, it’s been a lot of bad news for Baltimore this season. The fourth-quarter collapse against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 stung, the defense has looked atrocious in games in which it isn’t playing a quarterback headed toward a benching, and the injury bug is feasting on the roster like it’s a buffet. Now a quarterback aside from Lamar Jackson will likely start games from them, which I thought wasn’t possible for the next 10 years.

3. Bryce Young arrived late last season: Even when Young got benched early last season, I wasn’t ready to give up on the 2023 No. 1 pick. It was a tough look with C.J. Stroud’s quick success in the NFL but Carolina hasn’t exactly fostered the best environments for quarterbacks in recent years Just ask Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, both of whom found success after leaving the Panthers. Maybe the same happens for Young, but it’s getting tougher in Year 3 to build a case for him. However, his next two weeks are against a bad Miami Dolphins defense and literally the worst defense in the NFL in the Cowboys. If Young doesn’t get right in these games, that might be it, at least in Carolina.

2. Aaron Rodgers is washed: The Browns get a lot of ridicule for their quarterback situation the past three decades but it’s been a rough go for the New York Jets since the golden days of Chad Pennington. Brett Favre’s year in New York faltered down the stretch before he found one more gear in Minnesota. Mark Sanchez was fine riding the coattails of an elite run game and a stellar defense. They struck out big through the draft with Zach Wilson, and Geno Smith and Darnold both found success after leaving the Jets.

If you were wondering if Rodgers’ disappointing stint in New York was more the player or the team, the answer might be the latter. Rodgers isn’t elite anymore but through four games, his completion percentage is around where it was in 2021, when he last won league MVP honors, and his touchdown percentage is higher than it was that year. His quarterback rating is also above 100 for the first time in four years.

1. Cowboys defense can be competent: When you trade away an elite pass rusher a week before the season, you’re obviously bracing for a bit of a setback, especially when you add in being without star linebacker DeMarvion Overshown and then losing top cornerback DaRon Bland for a couple of games. But this Cowboys defense has been beyond awful and ranks dead last in passing yards allowed per game and total yards allowed per game. The run defense gets talked about more favorably, but Dallas is 20th in rush yards allowed per game. If Matt Eberflus gets some Tabasco sauce in his eyes, we’ll have a full return to the defensive lowliness of 2020.

Not ranked: Daniel Jones’ career revival — I promise I’m not a hater, but I’m just not fully there yet on the Jones bandwagon. It’s remarkable that he leads the NFL in QBR after four weeks and has the Indianapolis Colts at 3-1, albeit two of those wins were against the Dolphins and Titans. Maybe I’ve watched too much New York Giants football in recent years but some of those moments from Jones in the Big Apple are hard to shake. That said, if this goes on for much longer, I will start eating crow for lunch.

How will Daniel Jones and the Colts respond to their first loss? (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

Road to Santa Clara

The five teams with the best chance at winning the Super Bowl

5. Los Angeles Rams: The Rams are a blocked field goal away from being 4-0, and they’ve looked more complete for longer stretches this season than the Philadelphia Eagles, who handed them their one loss. A veteran quarterback, the best receiver in the game right now and a top-10 defense set things up quite nicely for Los Angeles.

4. Los Angeles Chargers: We’re not hitting the panic button after one bad loss. Linebacker Daiyan Henley said that the performance was uncharacteristic of the Chargers, and I’m buying that, for now. Two of their next three games come against the Washington Commanders and Indianapolis Colts, so we’ll get a reality check soon.

3. Detroit Lions: Ever since the loss to open the season, the Lions have looked like a wagon. They’ve won in different way, from a blowout over the Bears to a shootout style over the Ravens to a good ole beatdown over the Browns. Reports of their demise after one week appear to be overblown.

2. Philadelphia Eagles: I’m kind of going against my own standard for this space because this is not a power ranking so the Eagles being 4-0 is just one factor. Overall, it feels like a few teams from the NFC look more equipped to win the Super Bowl right now but the defending champs have earned the right for some more patience. However, having the 31st-ranked passing offense and 30th-ranked offense overall is not a recipe for sustained success.

1. Buffalo Bills: Buffalo handled its bye week against the New Orleans Saints well. On to New England.

Not ranked: Green Bay Packers — We gave the Packers a pass for a fluky loss to the Browns but there’s no way to excuse the performance against the Cowboys on Sunday night. The defense was supposed to be top-tier but let the Cowboys, who scored 14 points against the Chicago Bears one week prior, pour on 40 points. The special teams miscues need to get cleaned up, too, because those are the things that provide the edge in close matchups. The offense bungled the end of the first half and gifted Dallas seven points. The Cowboys are a good offense, and Dak Prescott is playing as well as any other quarterback in the league right now, but Dallas was without its top receiver and two starting offensive linemen. That kind of performance was unacceptable.

Bottom five

The five teams with the best chance to land the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

5. Cleveland Browns: Lost in the side drama that comes with having Shedeur Sanders on the roster is that many draft experts didn’t exactly give raving reviews to the Browns for drafting Dillon Gabriel, even before they drafted Sanders two rounds later. Now, Gabriel has his shot, so it’ll be interesting to see how he performs.

The Browns have moved to the Dillon Gabriel era. Will the Shedeur Sanders era be next? (Nick Cammett / Getty Images)

4. Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins picked up their first win of the season, while also losing their best player to injury in Tyreek Hill. The Mike McDaniel leash gets a bit longer.

3. New York Jets: When you lose to the Dolphins to remain winless, the first victory of the season becomes harder to spot on the schedule. However, there is a three-game stretch on the horizon against Carolina, Cincinnati and Cleveland. The Jets have to find a win somewhere in there, right?

2. New Orleans Saints: The Saints might be the most unsurprising of the bad teams. They’re not better than what you thought they’d be and, unlike the No. 1 team on this list, they’re not that much worse, either. In the words of the late Dennis Green, they are who we thought they were.

1. Tennessee Titans: Last week, the Titans made a change to their play-calling duties when head coach Brian Callahan gave it up to Bo Hardegree. The Titans went on to score zero points against the Texans. That might be the only win Callahan gets this season.

Not ranked: Cincinnati Bengals — There is no team above 1-3 that looks more out of sorts than the Bengals. It feels like it’s only a matter of time for some of the lesser teams to catch up and have the Bengals join the mix for a top-five draft pick in 2026. Maybe there’s a wide receiver they can add to the mix …

(Top photo of Josh Jacobs celebrating a touchdown against the Cowboys: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)