NFL Week 5

With week 5 of the NFL season now in the books, teams are starting to show their true colors. The scores this week were: 

Patriots over Colts 38-24, Bengals over Dolphins 27-17, Bills over Titans 13-12, Steelers over Falcons 41-17, Lions over Packers 31-23, Jets over Broncos 34-16, Panthers over Giants 33-31, Browns over Ravens 12-9 (OT), Chargers over Raiders 26-10, Rams over Seahawks 33-31, Cardinals over 49ers 28-18, Vikings over Eagles 23-21, Texans over Cowboys 19-16 (OT).

The player of the week has to be Drew Brees, who broke Peyton Manning’s record for most career passing yards. He had a great game in general, in an expected blowout, finishing 26-29 with 363 yards. The record was broken in spectacular fashion on a 63-yard touchdown catch by rookie Tre’Quan Smith. 

There were fireworks for different reasons in New York, where both teams had quite the interesting week. While the Jets seemed to exorcise some of their demons Sunday, the Giants had to face their biggest one. Although Sam Darnold was not spectacular, the Jets put together a great team win. Isaiah Crowell was stellar, setting a franchise record with 219 rushing yards on 15 carries. Bilal Powell was in the mix as well, adding 99 yards. Robby Anderson had two big touchdown receptions. They consistently pressured Case Keenum defensively, and theylooked good on special teams as well. As for the Giants, their closely contested loss was a side story to the Odell Beckham Jr circus. He organized a TV interview where he proceeded to trash his team, and deflect all blame away from himself. This drew the ire of Coach Pat Shurmur, who was clearly heated after the game. This had to be one of the dumbest ideas ever, especially considering how relentless the New York media is.

Mason Crosby had about as bad of a Sunday as one could have. In a game where both offenses looked as advertised, it was decided by three missed field goals by the Packers veteran kicker. Green Bay was already put behind the eight ball after Detroit recovered a muffed punt on their own 1-yard line and scored an easy touchdown. Ty Montgomery also had a huge kick return called back because of a penalty. It takes those kind of quirky things for a team to lose despite having a 521 to 264 advantage in total yards.

Someone actually did have a day as bad as Crosby’s; the Dolphins. Miami had full control for the vast majority of theirgame against the Bengals, and still somehow found a way to lose. They lead Cincinnati 17-3 going into the fourth quarter, but went on to totally implode. That cannot happen for a team that wants to seriously compete. Considering that it followed a poor showing against the Patriots last week, the Dolphins may be one more bad loss away from being done.

The Chiefs keep rolling, as the now sit 5-0. They faced a stiff challenge in the Jaguars’ defense, but creative scheming made things look easy. Travis Kelce had 100 yards on 5 catches, even with stellar coverage LB Myles Jack on him. The pre-snap motion and big play threats like Tyreek Hill had Jacksonville confused all game. The Jags had chances on offense, but a series of bad luck prevented them from getting back in the game. Pat Mahomes did throw his first pick of the year, but it turned out not to matter. The Chiefs’ passing defense was nonexistent again, having allowed 430 passing yards to Blake Bortles. As good as this team is, pass defense may be their downfall eventually.

The Rams continued to impress on offense against Seattle, and they had to use some unfamiliar faces in the process. After losing Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp to concussions, Jared Goff kept producing with Robert Woods, Josh Reynolds, and KhaDarel Hodge. Although Goff did not have his best game, he still finished with 321 yards and completed 72 percent of his passes. That type of efficiency is hard to match. Although they lost, the day was not all bad for Seattle. The smashmouthSeahawks are back, as they are re-establishing themselves as a power running team. Chris Carson finished with 116 rushing yards, and Mike Davis finished with 68. They had 6.1 and 5.7 yards per carry, respectively. The play action game was opened up, and Russell Wilson connected on two big touchdowns as a result. Tyler Lockett continued to impress. All of a sudden, Seattle’s offense looks legit again. The Rams run defense was 23rd in the league entering the game. That may be their only flaw, but Seattle took advantage. If this is a sign of things to come for Seattle, then they just might find themselves in the playoff mix at the end of the season.

Both the Steelers and Falcons have been major disappointments thus far, and Atlanta wilted under the pressure on Sunday. Matt Ryan got hit all game, and never got in a rhythm as a result. He was sacked six times. Julio Jones did not have a catch until the fourth quarter. This offense has had some rough stretches ever since Steve Sarkesian took over as OC, but it looks particularly bad now. Whether it’s better playcalling, or adjusting some pass blocking schemes, he needs to figure things out fast. As for Pittsburgh, they took control early with their James Connor-led running attack. He got seemingly every touch on their opening drive, which ended in a touchdown. He finished with 185 total yards, and had three plays of at least 25 yards. The Steelers took control early, and Atlanta struggled playing from behind.

The Vikings are starting to resemble their team from last year, and the Eagles are looking less and less like theirs. After getting killed by the Rams last week, the Vikings’ defense looked much improved Sunday. They constantly got pressure on Carson Wentz. He was able to attack the middle of the field with short passes, but he never got comfortable on five step drops. Jay Ajayi only had 29 rushing yards (he was placed on IR after the game), so the run game was never established. The inability to make big plays makes Philly appear less threatening than last year. Kirk Cousins looked great again for Minnesota, continuing to justify his contract. He had 301 yards and completed 81 percent of his passes. He has now completed 30 passes in four straight games, becoming the only player ever to do so. On top of that, Adam Thielen has emerged into a star. He became the first player ever to have five straight games with 100 receiving yards to start a season. The Vikings showed just how good they are when everything comes together.

The biggest story to come out of the Texans-Cowboys game was Jerry Jones being critical of Jason Garrett punting in overtime in 4th and 1, allowing Houston’s game winning drive. The game was there for the taking, but the lack of aggressiveness ultimately cost them. The reality is that Dallas’ offense has looked terrible for a while now, and maybe Garrett really did nothave confidence they could pick the yard up. If Ezekiel Elliot does not have a huge game, no one seems to step up for Dallas. His 84 total yards were not enough on Sunday. Dak Prescott looks like a below average quarterback right now. The lack of fire from Garrett and Prescott is problematic since they’re supposed to be the leaders of the team. Despite their continued offensive struggles, Dallas’ defense is becoming pretty scary. Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith were both great, combining for 21 tackles. DeMarcus Lawrence had a relatively quiet game, but he constantly attracts blockers, which opens things up for others.

Houston’s offense almost looks like the Michael Vick era Falcons, with DeShaun Watson running around trying to make plays. When things are clicking, the offense looks great. But Watson’s recklessness and proneness to getting hit could ultimately cost them. Especially considering how recently he has had a serious injury. The red zone play calling, and the o-line play, have been awful. This team has a lot of talent, but it is not humming how it should be.

In what was an ugly game, the Browns pulled out a gritty win against the Ravens. Cornerback Denzel Ward had a great game. He shut down Raven receivers all game, and finished with a pick and a blocked field goal. Baker Mayfield struggled, largely due to the Ravens’ ability to keep him from running. He did very little until the end, when he made just enough plays down the stretch. Michael Crabtree had 66 yards, but that was overshadowed by costly drops in crunch time. Alex Collins played well in the first half but struggled mightily in the second. The lack of running game played into the hands of Cleveland’s defense.

As a side note, this is Cleveland’s fourth overtime time out of five total. Extra time feels like a foregone conclusion to them at this point.