NFL Week 4: Five Teams That Came Up With Much Needed Victories

Most of the time a victory or defeat this early in the season can be brushed off for a number of reasons that teams can give. Often times you hear about an offense still "gelling" or a team getting used to a new scheme.

However, in just a 16-game season every game truly matters an even a victory this early could have a major impact on teams going forward. It's possible that you could be looking back in February and pick out one of these games as the major turning point towards a championship run.

Some of these teams faced crucial games because of a slow start, a tough divisional matchup, or maybe simply for an emotional boost. At the end of the day one of these victories will lead to a good feeling around practice for the next week, a good feeling that can hopefully carry on for weeks and weeks.

These five teams achieved this kind of victory today and while not all of them did it with style points, getting a point in the win column is never easy to come by in the NFL.

San Diego Chargers

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SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 03: Head coach Norv Turner of the San Diego Chargers walks off the field after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Qualcomm Stadium on October 3, 2010 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

San Diego took care of business today with a 41-10 stomping of the Arizona Cardinals. Because this is a game they clearly should win, it may not seem worth of making this list.

However, the Chargers have not made much look easy this year with disappointing losses to the Kansas City Chiefs in their opener and last week to the Seattle Seahawks. To go out and take care of business today means that the Chargers and coach Norv Turner can avoid more questions and concerns about his perennially slow starting team.

Phil Rivers had an efficient day at the office putting up two touchdowns and a passer rating of 148.1. The Chargers were finally able to establish a running game as well as bruising back Mike Tolbert ran for 100 yards on just 16 carries. Antonio Gates also had a big day catching both Rivers' touchdown passes and piling up 144 yards receiving.

New Orleans Saints

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NEW ORLEANS - OCTOBER 03: Quarterback Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints passes against the Carolina Panthers at the Louisiana Superdome on October 3, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The defending Super Bowl Champs were not on their game today and have really yet to play a good complete game all season. However the true sign of a championship football team is one that can find ways to win when they're not firing on all cylinders. So far this year the Saints have excelled in that category and showed it again on Sunday.

The Saints faced a very game team in the Carolina Panthers and were able to eek out a 16-14 victory thanks in large part to 46-year-old Kicker John Carney. The Saints made their mistakes putting the ball on the ground and losing two fumbles in this one.

Drew Brees was efficient as ever as he threw for 275 yards and a touchdown. In the end rookie Jimmy Clausen could not lead his team to victory and the Saints were able to keep pace with the Atlanta Falcons in what is sure to be a heated race to the end.

Jacksonville Jaguars

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JACKSONVILLE, FL - OCTOBER 03: Lineman Jeremy Mincey #94 of the Jacksonville Jaguars celebrates with Kirk Morreson after sacking Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Field on October 3, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Pho

The Jaguars were able to earn a possibly season-saving victory today as they defeated the Colts 31-28 on a 59-yard field goal as time expired by Josh Scobee. This victory brings the Jags to 2-2 and actually ties them with the Colts who now have the same record.

Both teams sit a game behind the Houston Texans, but for the Jags they will surely be happy to be there. Many have already written this team off as they seemed to have problems all over the field, starting with inconsistent play from quarterback David Garrard.

Garrard was much improved this week completing 17 of 22 passes and throwing for two touchdowns. Maurice Jones-Drew ran for over 100 yards this week and had one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown. This victory keeps the Jags' hopes alive and maybe will inspire them to play with confidence and compete throughout the rest of the season.

Washington Redskins

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PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 03: Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins celebrates after throwing a first quater touchdown pass against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 3, 2010 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jim Mc

Not enough could be said about the hype coming into the Redskins matchup against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. This game marked Donovan McNabb's return to his former team and even if he didn't show it, it certainly meant a lot to him.

After receiving a nice ovation prior to the game, McNabb was able to lead his team to an ugly but well deserved victory by the score of 17-12. By no means did McNabb have a great game as he completed just 8 of 19 passes but did throw for a touchdown. The Redskins were able to run for 169 yards as a team and this aided them greatly as they were able to show some kind of a balanced attack.

The Redskins took advantage of a Michael Vick injury and were able to confuse and attack Kevin Kolb as he struggled to establish anything past his checkdowns throughout the game.

Certainly a win over a division rival is sweet, but beating your new quarterback's old team will certainly leave a nice bubbly feeling in the nation's capital for the next week.

Baltimore Ravens

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PITTSBURGH - OCTOBER 03: Joe Flacco #5 of the Baltimore Ravens throws a pass between Brett Keisel #99 and Lawrence Timmons #94 of the Pittsburgh Steelers on October 3, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Baltimore won the game 17-14. (Photo

In a huge matchup with the previously undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens were able to steal a victory and gain an inside edge to a division crown. This win was also crucially important as the Steelers were still without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger meaning that the Ravens needed to take advantage and get a victory with Charlie Batch at the helm.

The always menacing Ravens defense was able to stifle Batch for most of the day and took away almost any semblance of a passing game for the Steelers. Batch ended the game with a Quarterback rating of just 57.8.

The Ravens' offense needed to rely more heavily on the pass than they would like to as running back Ray Rice came into the game banged up. Joe Flacco was forced to fling the ball quite a bit as he ended the game racking up 256 passing yards.

Although the Steelers took the lead late in the fourth quarter, Flacco was able to lead his team back throwing an 18-yard touchdown to T.J. Houshmandzadeh with under a minute left. The Steelers had little chance at that point and will have to hope that the return of Big Ben will help change the outcome next time these two meet.