N.F.L. Scores Week 4: Patriots Score Again on Blocked Punt

With seven unbeaten teams remaining in the N.F.L., Week 4 may start separating the wheat from the chaff. We will be following along live as the Buffalo Bills (3-0) host the New England Patriots (3-0) while checking in with the day’s other action.

Here’s what you need to know:

Elsewhere: Wayne Gallman Up to Two Touchdowns

The Giants are leading the Redskins, 13-0, thanks to some terrific early work from Wayne Gallman. Saquon Barkley’s backup has rushing and receiving touchdowns already today and Daniel Jones has started the game by completing 9 of 11 passes for 89 yards. The Giants continue to look like an entirely different team in the post-Eli Manning era.

The Lions got off to a quick 10-0 lead against Kansas City, with Matthew Stafford fighting through a hip injury to throw a touchdown pass, and the Browns took an early 7-0 lead against the Ravens when Baker Mayfield found Ricky Seals-Jones for a 9-yard touchdown pass.

Patriots Lead Grows to 13-0 on Blocked Punt

The Bills are in big trouble at home against New England. Their offense, trying to answer New England’s touchdown, sputtered and then disaster struck when Corey Bojorquez’s punt attempt from Buffalo’s 33-yard line was blocked, recovered by Matthew Slater, and taken into the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. Stephen Gostkowski hit the extra point this time and New England leads by 13-0 with just over six minutes left in the first quarter.

It was the first time in eight years that the Bills had a punt blocked for a touchdown.

Patriots Take 6-0 Lead

Josh Allen of the Bills took a chance downfield with an aggressive pass and Devin McCourty made him pay for it with an interception. It was McCourty’s fourth consecutive game with an interception, tying a franchise record set by Mike Haynes in 1976. More important, it gave Tom Brady and the Patriots a short field, which they took advantage of by scoring on 4-yard run by Brandon Bolden.

Buffalo’s defense had opened the game with a strong stop of the Patriots. The Bills gave up an immediate 15-yard run to Sony Michel but proceeded to absolutely smother the Patriots, forcing a pair of incomplete passes and then stopping Michel for no gain on a third down run.

But after Allen’s mistake, the Patriots made short work of Buffalo, going 50 yards on seven plays. In a continuing concern, however, Stephen Gostkowski missed his extra-point attempt. Gostkowski is just 10 for 14 on extra point attempts this season.

Could Melvin Gordon Play Today?

Melvin Gordon, a star running back for the Los Angeles Chargers, did not end his contract holdout until Thursday, but as a result of an injury to Justin Jackson, there is a chance Gordon will play on Sunday in his team’s road game against the bottom-feeding Miami Dolphins at 1 p.m., Eastern time.

“We understand that Melvin’s been back for a day and a half, so we have to be careful if he plays, how much he plays and even if he plays at all,” Chargers Coach Anthony Lynn said on Friday.

Gordon, who averaged an eye-popping 5.1 yards a carry in 12 games last season, has long been one of the most talented running backs in the N.F.L., but he engaged in a fruitless standoff with his team in hopes of securing a hefty raise. In contrast to Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys, whose holdout netted him a new contract with $50 million in guaranteed money, Gordon’s holdout cost him about $1 million and he is still playing on his original deal.

The Chargers have gotten terrific production from Austin Ekeler in place of Gordon, but with Jackson having been ruled out with a calf strain, Los Angeles is thin at running back, which resulted in Gordon’s being declared active on Saturday.

Gordon told reporters on Friday that he would be ready.

“It’s not like I’ve been sitting around and I’m coming in overweight or anything like that,” he said. “But it’s not like I get a preseason game to get warmed up. You kind of get in and get right in the fire.”

What to Look For in Week 4

The Patriots have been absolutely incredible on both sides of the ball, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 106-17. That has come with an asterisk, however, as those opponents have combined to go 0-9 this season. Is Buffalo up to giving New England a real challenge? The Bills’ defense has been formidable for two seasons, and should give Tom Brady the most resistance he has seen in a while, but the wild card in the matchup is how Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense can do against a Patriots defense that has been suffocating its competition.

Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns are facing a stiff test on the road against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Weighing in on the matchup was none other than Antonio Brown, the free-agent wide receiver, most recently with the Patriots, who continued his social media offensive by weighing in on Saturday to say that Mayfield, the first pick in the 2018 draft, should have never been picked ahead of Jackson, who went 32nd. While Mayfield has been under fire all season, and Jackson has been celebrated, there have been some disturbing trends in Jackson’s completion percentage that could eventually catch up to the Baltimore sophomore.

The Lions are unbeaten, but it’s hard to get too excited about them when one of their three games was a tie against Arizona in which Detroit collapsed in the fourth quarter. They will be hosting Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, which would be a bitter pill no matter the week but is complicated further by Matthew Stafford’s working his way through a hip injury. Stafford is expected to play, but it is unclear how limited he will be, which is a bad situation to be in when trying to keep up with Mahomes.

Daniel Jones is getting the full New York sensation treatment after one start, and he can build that enthusiasm to a fever pitch with another strong performance this week. With the Giants facing the lowly Washington Redskins, the opportunity certainly seems to be there for him, even with Saquon Barkley out for the foreseeable future. The Redskins, meanwhile, might be playing to save Coach Jay Gruden’s job, as reports have indicated that he is on the hot seat.

Traditionally the Saints are nearly unbeatable at home, and they have gone 15-5 in Sunday night football games (11-0 at home) since NBC made it the N.F.L.’s top game of the week in 2006. Do those advantages hold true even with Drew Brees on the sideline? New Orleans will try to find out against a red hot Dallas Cowboys team that is firing on all cylinders. By the numbers, Dallas has been considerably better at offense and defense, but the Saints, who have rallied around Teddy Bridgewater as Brees’s fill-in, represent the best team the Cowboys have played.

Benjamin Hoffman is a senior staff editor and regular contributor to the Keeping Score column in sports. He joined The Times in 2005. @BenHoffmanNYT • Facebook

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