It’s no surprise that New England and Philadelphia are unbeaten after a quarter of the NFL season, with the Patriots holding a nice new NFL record with 19 straight wins, counting playoffs.

It’s probably a bit surprising that the New York Jets are 4-0, although they were pegged to contend for a playoff spot by some.

But consider the Giants, Steelers, Lions and Chargers, a combined 19-45 a year ago and now 14-5. Add Atlanta, which lost its first game (to Detroit) on Sunday and it’s 24-56 to 18-6.

That’s life in the modern NFL.

One offshoot is San Diego, holding the Giants’ first pick in next year’s draft via the Eli Manning deal, is unlikely to have two top-five choices. The Chargers are at 3-2 and the Giants are 4-1 and neither looks like it’s about to collapse.

“When we play the way we’re capable of playing, we can compete,” Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said after Sunday’s 34-21 win over Jacksonville.

That could be a litany for the modern NFL, where injuries and luck make everyone but a handful of teams at the top (New England, Philadelphia, Indianapolis) and bottom (Miami, Buffalo, Arizona and San Francisco) just about even. It’s been the same for the last half-dozen seasons or more and it doesn’t change.

Some first-quarter snapshots:

Rookie quarterbacks

While Manning sits behind Kurt Warner in New York and Philip Rivers behind Drew Brees in San Diego, Ben Roethlisberger has been a big hit in Pittsburgh.

He’s 3-0 as a starter since replacing the injured Tommy Maddox as the Steelers, 6-10 a year ago, lead the AFC North. He’s being asked to play risk-free on a team whose philosophical approach has always been running and defense, and he’s been good at it. He was 16-of-21 for 231 yards and a touchdown in a win over Cleveland on Sunday. His passer rating is a very good 91.3, 14th in the league and only a half-point lower than Warner’s.

The next rookie to start could be the Bills’ J.P. Losman, taken 22nd overall behind Manning (1), Rivers (4) and Roethlisberger (11). He is currently working his way back into shape after breaking his leg, but given Buffalo’s 0-4 start, he could replace Drew Bledsoe some time in the second half of the season.

New York, New York

The Giants are a surprise to those who saw them in preseason and figured them for five wins at best. And many thought they would revolt against ultra-disciplinarian Tom Coughlin and his picky rules.

But remember that entering the 2003 season, the Giants were considered a Super Bowl contender and they still have the same skill players – except Warner at quarterback is an upgrade over Kerry Collins. Last year, they collapsed under an offensive line that was the NFL’s worst. This year, it’s improved to acceptable with help from a couple of journeymen and rookie guard Chris Snee, Coughlin’s son-in-law.

The most obvious standout is Tiki Barber, who leads the league in rushing with 577 yards and total yards with 817. He hasn’t fumbled after dropping the ball 35 times between 2000-03. But also credit Jeremy Shockey, who groused early about having to block too much in Coughlin’s new offense, but is now second on the team with 22 receptions and has TD catches in each of the last two games.

Plus defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, whose aggressiveness has the Giants leading the league with a plus-11 turnover margin after finishing last at minus-16 last season. Unfortunately, Lewis doesn’t get a chance to talk about his defense (and enhance his chances for a head coaching job) because Coughlin doesn’t allow his assistants to talk to the media.

The Jets have the distinction of being the worst unbeaten team in the league, but emphasize “unbeaten” rather than “worst.”

Yes, they’ve struggled in all four wins, two over the winless Dolphins and Bills. And they allowed Buffalo, the league’s best winless team, to score two late touchdowns Sunday before winning 16-14 on Doug Brien’s field goal with 58 seconds left.

But a win is a win and the Jets can bank them for later in the season. If they’re unlikely to win the AFC East over the Patriots, they’re a solid wild-card contender.

Again, the main contributors were already there: quarterback Chad Pennington, who missed the first six games last season with a broken left hand, and Curtis Martin, who is off to the best start of his career with 502 yards rushing in four games. He moved up to ninth on the career rushing list Sunday, passing Franco Harris.

Plus John Abraham, who had three sacks against Buffalo, and a revamped defense emphasizing speed.

Lovable Lions

Credit the turnaround to coach Steve Mariucci, who in a season-and-a-quarter in Detroit has eight wins, or three more than Marty Mornhinweg got in his two years with the Lions. Also credit the last three drafts, which brought in Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, Roy Williams, Boss Bailey, Teddy Lehman and a host of lesser-known players. Rogers and Bailey are hurt and Williams sprained his ankle in the upset win in Detroit on Sunday, but the team plugs on.

One major improvement is on defense. The Lions sacked Michael Vick six times in their upset in Atlanta on Sunday and made a huge special teams play when safety Terrence Holt (Torry’s younger brother) spotted a fake field goal before it unfolded and was able to break it up.

That was Detroit’s second straight road win after a record 24 straight road losses covering the entire 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons. In the next two weeks, they face the Packers at home and Giants on the road, contests which for the first time in a long time – other than on Thanksgiving – will make a Lions game of interest outside of Detroit.