The Athletic has live coverage of Detroit Lions vs. Carolina Panthers on "Sunday Night Football." Each Sunday, three of The Athletic's NFL writers react to the biggest news, plays and performances from the day's games. What's real and what's fake in the NFL? It's still relatively early, but through four games, some surprise teams are starting to emerge while others that were supposed to be rolling are struggling. The NFC East standings are a great illustration of the turbulent and unexpected start to this season. The New York Giants (3-1) are alone in first place, and the Philadelphia Eagles (2-2) and Dallas Cowboys (2-2) have had up-and-down starts. The Minnesota Vikings don't have to apologize for being 4-0, but they'll probably need a more productive offense at some point this season. In the AFC, the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-1) are off to a strong start and look like the team that surged to a division title last season. On the other side, the Los Angeles Chargers (0-4) look like they're headed to a lost season and quarterback Justin Herbert is regressing. NFL writers Jeff Howe, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on Sunday's games and identify the contenders and pretenders so far. The Eagles blew a winnable game at home against the Los Angeles Rams by going scoreless in the second half. Are the Eagles pretenders? Howe: The Eagles look how they often look early in the season - and on other occasions, for the entirety of the season - as they figure out the best recipe to win games. It's rarely pretty. They're capable of playing both up and down to their competition, and it seems like each game ages the average Philly fan about a decade. Right now, the Eagles are a tier below being a contender, but it's too early to assume they won't get hot. It's been a recipe before. Nguyen: I didn't put the Eagles in the contender category before the season because there were too many question marks around their offense, and it's been worse than I thought it would be. I thought they could be a playoff team if their defense was dominant. They've been fine, but they aren't the top-three unit I thought they would be, and they could be dealing with some important injuries after Sunday. They can't run the ball with efficiency. With Saquon Barkley, they could at least hit explosives here or there, but he left the game early with a hamstring injury. Quarterback Jalen Hurts was without wide receiver DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert on Sunday, but he doesn't look comfortable in this offense. Maybe that can improve later in the season as they get healthier, but he's not going to become a quarterback he just never was. And that's not to say Hurts has never been good. He's a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, but as his rushing ability becomes less of a threat, he has to evolve, and we haven't seen enough growth yet. There are a lot of issues with this Eagles team, and injuries could derail things. Pompei: To call them pretenders would be an overreach, but to call them the team they were supposed to be also would be an overreach. That isn't to say they still can't become the team they were supposed to be. There is no denying they haven't been in the kind of groove they wanted to be in, however. Nobody wants to hear about injuries, but the Eagles were without four of their best offensive players for most of the game, as Lane Johnson, Goedert and Smith were inactive, and Barkley had two carries before leaving the game. A healthier Eagles team would be a considerably better team. It's a long season, and nobody should write off Philadelphia with a 2-2 record. The Cowboys pulled out a late win over the Houston Texans with heroics from CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. Are the Cowboys contenders even with that shaky defense? Howe: Given the last 30 years, I'd be reluctant to call the Cowboys contenders after splitting their first four games. Plus, as much as I still want to believe the Texans are way better than their record indicates, it's easy to poke holes in the Cowboys' two victories - beating the Washington Commanders when Jayden Daniels went down at halftime and the winless Texans. The Cowboys are capable of hanging with anyone because of their explosive offense, but their defense needs to prove a whole lot more to believe they're capable of a playoff run. Nguyen: The Texans offense hasn't lived up to the preseason hype, but they are still a talented unit with game-wreckers. Prescott carved them up. This is the best offense in football. The defense is terrible, but they have potential to improve, especially with the Joey Porter Jr. trade. Defensive coordinator Christian Parker is from the Vic Fangio tree, and typically defenses in that system get better as the season progresses. The Cowboys are also leaning on several young players to play key roles. Caleb Downs and those young players will keep getting better. I want to see some defensive improvement before saying they are a contender, though. Pompei: Their defense should improve. On paper, it's a pretty solid unit, but on the field, the Cowboys defense hasn't always played that way. Getting back DeMarvion Overshown will help, Downs could ascend, and it will be a surprise if the addition of Porter doesn't have an impact. The other factor with their defense is they have a 34-year-old defensive coordinator who is in his role for the first time. Parker has the potential to game-plan better and call better plays as the season goes on. And the very impressive Dallas offense can cover up for some defensive shortcomings. They are better than their record says they are, and every bit a contender. The Vikings are still unbeaten even if it hasn't always looked pretty. Can they be a contender with a lights-out defense and a subpar offense? Howe: They can win the NFC North this way, but the Chicago Bears are still simmering as they await Caleb Williams' return. I expect the Vikings to be a playoff factor because their defense doesn't seem to slump, but they need more out of the offense to be a real NFC contender. At some point, quarterback Kyler Murray is going to have to match points with some better teams, and they're going to encounter a gantlet of superior offenses in November. Murray and the offense aren't good enough right now, but he still doesn't have three full games under his belt. I'm not sure how high the ceiling is, but I'm confident the Vikings offense will look better with time. Nguyen: The Vikings have the best defense in the league right now. They're leading the league in points allowed per drive (1.05). The offense has been bad, but Murray just finished his second full game in coach Kevin O'Connell's offense, and he's had wide receiver Justin Jefferson for less than a quarter. With a defense playing like the Vikings', the offense just needs to be average, and they have all of the tools to reach it. It's frustrating to see them struggle to score points against the Miami Dolphins, but there are some good signs. They've been able to connect on some big plays, but their drives sputter out. They need to get better in the red zone, and Murray really needs to improve against the blitz. In Murray's last two starts (Weeks 3-4), they are last in touchdown percentage in the red zone (0 for 3, 0 percent). Murray averaged -0.28 EPA per dropback against the blitz and had a passer rating of 59.3 against the blitz in those two starts. The hope is with more time his precision in the red zone and against the blitz will improve. Pompei: It depends on how we define subpar. There is no question the Vikings need to pick it up on offense. They can't expect to win many (any?) more games when failing to score a touchdown, as they have twice this year, but the offense has the potential to be better. Murray has played just two full games in O'Connell's offense and should be a better quarterback a month from now than he was Sunday, when he was without Jefferson. And if he can be slightly above average, and the Vikings can continue to run the ball effectively and play defense as well as any team in the league, Minnesota will be a formidable opponent in December and January and maybe beyond. The Jaguars picked up another impressive win with a 22-17 road victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. Should they be taken seriously as a Super Bowl contender? Howe: Absolutely. The Jaguars are one of a select handful of teams that should feel good about their opening month, both in performance and DNA. Coach Liam Coen enforced a strong point to the team in training camp about managing inevitable bouts of adversity, whether it's in a game or a longer stretch of the season, and the Jags have already shown their resilience. They've played one bad half of football this season - succumbing to a Broncos second-half surge in Denver - but responded by thoroughly dismantling the Patriots and snagging an impressive victory in Cincinnati against a Bengals team that's had their number. The Jags' Week 1 blowout of the Cleveland Browns even looks a whole lot more impressive. Nguyen: The Jaguars are the most complete team in the league. They have one of the most explosive passing attacks in the NFL, they can run the ball when they need to, and their defense is elite (third-best points allowed per drive). Their offense wasn't at its best Sunday, but their defense stepped up and took advantage of a Bengals offense without Ja'Marr Chase. Also, they have Cam Little, who is the record holder for longest field goal. They can win with so many game scripts. Sunday, they shot themselves in the foot over and over again with 13 penalties for 125 yards, but they got the job done. Travis Hunter looked fantastic at corner Sunday - maybe his best game yet. If Hunter develops into the corner most draftniks thought he couldn't be, this team is as complete as any in the league. Why shouldn't they be considered contenders? Pompei: Super Bowl contenders don't emerge in October. They emerge in December. But from all the evidence after one month of play, the Jaguars belong in the upper tier of NFL teams. Their only loss was to the Broncos, another team that is in the same tier. Their formula of winning - efficient quarterback play supported by a steady run game, and a defense that gets the ball back - is the kind of formula that gets teams to the Super Bowl. But for the Jaguars to remain in the tier, they will need to tighten up their passing defense, which surrendered 428 yards to Joe Burrow on Sunday and is giving up an average of 284 yards per game. And they aren't going to get to the Super Bowl if they keep committing 13 penalties a game as they did against the Bengals. No one doubts Justin Herbert's physical tools, and the winless Chargers have plenty of issues outside of the quarterback. But Herbert has increasingly looked lost as the season progresses. Is he a pretender as a top-tier quarterback? Howe: No one can be an elite quarterback without help, and Herbert hasn't gotten any from the Chargers this season. They're incredibly sloppy and make far too many mistakes. They can't overcome penalties, which is a problem because they've been making too many of those, too. Herbert has almost certainly felt compelled to play perfectly because of the circumstances, and anything short of that - which we've seen, of course - is going to erode confidence. Herbert has improved throughout his career and was my No. 4 QB to close the 2025 season. So far, Mike McDaniel's offense hasn't been the right fit. Nguyen: Herbert is a Tier 2 quarterback right now. He's played a lot of good ball, and he's been too productive to say he's bad, but he hasn't done nearly enough to put him in Tier 1. Admittedly, he's been awful, and this is the worst he's ever played in his career. It doesn't help to have to play the Seahawks in Seattle. We've seen many examples of how an improved environment can help out quarterbacks, yet we continue to give quarterbacks too much blame when they can't overcome bad environments. The issue is we (myself included) continue to hype up the Chargers' talent too much and ignore the enormous holes in their roster. The bottom line is Herbert is a very good quarterback who is pressing with everything falling apart around him. Pompei: He's a better quarterback than he has shown through four games. Herbert came into 2026 with a six-year body of work that testifies to his competency. But this has been one of the worst streaks of his career. Herbert has the ability and the support to play as he did in 2024 and 2025, but his team has no chance if he keeps turning over the ball as he has. And the bigger issue is the team - is there any hope for a winless Chargers team that was expected to be a Super Bowl contender after an 11-6 record last year? If the Chargers are going to be a factor in the playoff race, Herbert needs to lead them out of their hole. But he's going to need a little more help from his friends. The Giants lead the NFC East despite losing their starting quarterback for the season. Are they a serious contender to win their division? Howe: The Giants are the only team in the division that should be thrilled with their record, which speaks to the inconsistency in the NFC East, but they'll level off when the schedule gets harder later into the season. Right now, they're playing good enough complementary football against bad teams. It's a good start that appears to be heading in a better direction with coach John Harbaugh, but I'd be surprised if the Giants were a serious factor after Thanksgiving. Nguyen: No. I didn't think they were serious contenders with Jaxson Dart. They also lost arguably their best defensive player in Brian Burns as well. Jameis Winston has always been boom or bust. This week, he went boom, but it was against the Arizona Cardinals. When J.J. McCarthy learns the playbook, he'll get a shot to play, and they'll see whether they can develop him to be Dart's backup. For Harbaugh, it's important to show a downtrodden franchise some proof of concept, and we've already seen that. Their defense looks solid, and the offense has an identity. They just don't have enough, particularly at quarterback, to be considered contenders. The NFC East is down, and they beat the Cowboys in Week 1, but that was with Dart, and the Cowboys will continue to get better as their young defenders get more experience. Pompei: The general suspicion is the Giants will crash because of their injuries and the modest expectations most had for them coming into the season, but we can't deny they have been a resourceful team that has found ways to overcome adversity and win games - and who is to say that can't continue? Credit should go to Harbaugh for instilling more confidence in the Giants than they probably had a right to have before they started winning games people thought they would lose. Some will ding them for the quality of opponents they've defeated, but their victory over the Cowboys can't be dismissed. Their true tests will come in a stretch to end the season when they play the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Browns, Detroit Lions, Cowboys and Eagles.