The Departed: Nick Foles, Rams Top Cards

As the St. Louis Rams handed the Arizona Cardinals their first loss of the season, former Eagles quarterback Nick Foles led the charge with three touchdown passes.

“In an ideal world of Rams football, this is what it’s supposed to look like,” Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Dispatch wrote after St. Louis’s win. “A defense and special teams unit that create turnovers and give up points grudgingly.

“And don’t forget Foles, who squeezed those three touchdown passes out of just 24 throws en route to a 126.9 passer rating.”

Through four games, Foles and the Rams are 2-2 and one game back in the NFC West. Foles has completed 63 percent of his passes for 815 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, and a 96.5 quarterback rating.

Here’s a recap of how the rest of the Eagles’ offseason departures are faring after Week 4.

LeSean McCoy could be out for three to four weeks, writes SB Nation’s Alex Reimer.

The dynamic running back has been unable to overcome his ailing hamstring so far this season, which he first injured in the middle of August. McCoy has yet to gain more than 100 yards on the ground in Buffalo’s first three contests, and rushed for a paltry 16 yards on 11 attempts during last week’s 41-14 win over the Miami Dolphins.

McCoy says his running style, which relies on his speed and cutting ability, has been significantly hampered through the first three weeks of the 2015 campaign.

Jeremy Maclin had a big game for the Chiefs on Sunday in a loss to Cincinnati, says Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star.

[Alex] Smith improved in the latter category against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, completing 31 of 45 passes for a career-best 386 yards, including 11 for 148 to big-money free-agent receiver Jeremy Maclin.

[…]

“The only things that we’re worried about is getting the ‘W,'” Maclin said. “I don’t care if we win 2-0. It’s all about getting the ‘W,’ and obviously today we didn’t put up enough points to get the win, so obviously we didn’t do our job.”

A week after being benched, Todd Herremans was a healthy scratch for the Colts in Week 4, reports Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper.

Herremans wasn’t on the injury report this week, which means he is a healthy scratch for the game a week after getting benched during the Colts’ victory over the Titans.

It also means another blow to Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson in a season that’s seen quite a few of them. The Colts jumped on Herremans shortly after he was released by the Eagles and otherwise avoided bringing in help for an offensive line that wasn’t very good last season. They haven’t been very good this season either and Herremans clearly wasn’t the answer to what’s ailed the Colts up front.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette, the trade deadline can’t come soon enough for Brandon Boykin and the Steelers.

They swapped a 2016 fifth-round draft choice for cornerback Brandon Boykin and do not play him. Boykin played in all 48 games with Philadelphia his first three seasons, mostly as a nickel back, and intercepted six passes in 2013.

Presumably, the Steelers were able to find video of him in those games before they acquired Boykin from the Eagles in an Aug. 1 trade. Yet he has played just 13 snaps on defense in four games, none Thursday night against Baltimore and just two in their previous game in St. Louis.

He was surpassed quickly in the nickel defense by Ross Cockrell, signed Sept. 5 after Buffalo waived him. Cockrell played in 54 snaps on defense against the Ravens, 117 total this season, according to counts kept by Pro Football Focus. He has the only interception by a cornerback, one of two by their defense.

WTHR.com’s Bob Kravitz saw improvement from Trent Cole in Indianapolis’s win over Jacksonville.

Thought Trent Cole had his best game as a Colts, continually pressuring and hurrying [Blake] Bortles.

The Broncos ran for 144 yards and a touchdown in their fourth straight win, featuring the best performance of the season by Evan Mathis and Denver’s offensive line.