Week 5! The good teams are good and the bad teams are bad! Also the Cowboys are predictable, the Packers have no defense, the Bills won another game! I don't have much to say this week, because things are sorting themselves out finally. Good job by Drew Brees setting the all time passing record. Be sure to not retire until after Tom Brady does, because Tom will refuse to retire until he's the All-Time leader unless Brees can outlast him. This week there were some good finishes, but not really too many good games. I'll give this week a 6.5/10. Maybe I should rank weeks too? Nah, that would be too many rankings...
32. Raiders. Once again they were beaten senselessly in the second half as their defense looked exhausted and couldn’t get to Rivers to save their lives. This has happened to them every single week this year which means that this is now a characteristic of Gruden's team, not just an early season trend. They never seem to come out in the second half and make significant adjustments. They just rely on their first half players playing better in the second half, even if the game plan itself is the problem. That is a recipe for failure.
31. Giants. Shout out to Eli Manning for throwing bad passes that make Odell Beckham Jr. look good. If he threw accurate, tight passes, then we would never know who OBJ is.
Also this game, we learned that OBJ is a better QB than Eli as he threw a 57 yard trick play touchdown on the money. Luckily for Giants fans though there is no need to worry, there are at least 4 good Quarterbacks in next years draft. Also it doesn’t appear that Saquon Barkley's injury is too serious which is good. If he was out for the year then you could really kiss this season goodbye.
30. Cardinals. Josh Rosen is good. He showed us this last week and proved it again this week. That is all I have to say about this game. Also congrats on finally winning a game. It's nice to have everyone get a win so early on in the year.
29. Bills. I actually can't believe the Bills are 2-3 at this point in the year. I was really anticipating them not winning until Week 14 or 15 when they play the Jets and Lions back to back at home. I kind of liked what I saw from Josh Allen this week if that's a compliment at all. He threw for an incredibly abysmal 82 yards, but in his defense he is getting hit constantly when he drops back. If you're the Bills then you'll take a win anyway you can get it.
28. 49ers. They're losing. We all saw this coming once Jimmy G went down. What I did not see, was the 49ers throwing 54 times!! 54! Holy Cow!
27. Colts. Eric Ebron had a good game, Luck was decent, and you weren't going to win much this season anyway. What did you expect when you played the Pats? I felt like the Colts could at least hang around going into this game, but I, like everyone, should have known that was never going to happen. They made it respectable at the end, but this was never a game that the Patriots were going to lose.
26. Seahawks. They almost had the perfect formula to beat the Rams. Knock out two receivers, have Russell Wilson run for his life and have your offensive line (along with Carson) give you the best rushing game of the season. This was your one chance to get the Rams and beat them. I felt like this was their best chance to keep this Division race competitive. Since they couldn’t do it though this Division now belongs to the Rams and it's theirs to lose.
25. Falcons. What happened guys? I expected the defense to be a mess but not the offense too!! Usually they can score with anyone and lose at the last second, but they couldn’t even do that this week. Also for those counting, Julio Jones has still to caught a touchdown this year.
24. Jets. J-E-T-S! Jets, Jets, Jets!! It's good to see the savior Sam Darnold has returned after his three week hiatus. I actually think his passing this week was better than in Week 1 which is a testament to how much I believe he's grown already this season.
23. Cowboys. Tell me if you've heard this one before: Jason Garret made a poor, conservative play call; the offensive line struggled, and Zeke didn’t get nearly as many touches as he should have. Elliot should have no less than 30 carries every single game no matter who you are playing! He is good enough to make something out of nothing even if he has a below average line to rush behind. He is far and away better than Demarco Murray and your best Runningback since Emmitt Smith, utilize him more and you will win more games.
22. Texans. Both of the coaches on Sunday Night Football should be fired for making us endure this travesty of a football game. If Deandre Hopkins didn’t put the entire Cowboys secondary through the spin cycle on the way to setting up the game winner in OT, I was willing to riot if this game ended in a tie after we had to watch these two teams play 4 quarters and then OVERTIME! Also I hope Deshaun Watson is okay, but he was killed on approximately 500 plays tonight.
21. Redskins. This was sort of an unfair game. You're playing the Saints on a record setting night and as a result played their worst game of the year. They didn’t run the ball well, Alex Smith and his protection were bad and their poor coverages allowed Brees to throw 200 yards in the first half. Somehow though, they are still in first place in the NFC East thanks to every other team losing this weekend. They still can get better and correct these jarring issues, but it was certainly alarming to see them play this poorly in every facet of the game.
20. Packers. This is a day Mason Crosby and all of Green Bay will want to forget. Not only could Crosby not find the back of the uprights until the last play in regulation, but the Packers' defense was horrid as well. On top of that, their offensive line played poorly as they allowed Rodgers to get sacked 4 times. One play stood out to me specifically in regards to the line yesterday. There were about 53 seconds remaining in the first half and the Packers needed a good drive to keep this game competitive. Instead of having a drive to create momentum, the center and right guard both allowed a Lions' defensive linemen to beat their (poor) double team and get to Rodgers to in essence end their half. The Packers are very overrated because of how good Aaron Rodgers is. I said it before and I'll say it again: Rodgers will allow the Packers to be competitive in many games, but unless his other teammates can perform at a high level then they aren't going anywhere.
19. Browns. The Browns could legitimately be 5-0 or 0-0-5. I have never had to say that about any team before, but it seems like the Browns are in a close game every single week which is great as an NFL fan! The Browns kicked the worst game winner I have ever seen and Hue Jackson (2 fingers) had the worst celebration I've ever seen, but they won. That's all that matters.
18. Lions. I was unaware that Kenny Golladay was Megatron 2.0 as he leapt over a Packers' corner on Sunday and was completely unstoppable. The Lions so far this season are two completely different teams on the road and at home. In the dome, they look like one of the greatest teams of all time, but on the road they look like the same old Lions as Stafford puts up massive stats on a bad time. So far this season we know a few things about the Lions: their offense is fun to watch because they have some of the best weapons and one of the best Quarterbacks in the NFC.
17. Buccaneers. Did not play this week.
16. Steelers. Wow, what a game for them.
Where did all this come from? The Steelers offense showed up this week, and if you ask me, they are about one QB and one RB from being a force to reckon with week in and week out
15. Titans. Mariota hurdled a man which was cool, but this is one of those games that had a dramatic ending, but was tough to watch until the final minute or so. I don’t have much else to say about this game, but the Titans are still in first in the AFC South which may end up having an 8-8 winner the way the division has gone so far.
14. Dolphins. As the Bengals emerged in the second half on Sunday, the Dolphins retreated and I came to the realization that the team we saw last Sunday against New England and the team we saw this week against Cincinnati is the team we will be seeing going forward this year. It was nice to have them start the season strong, but they are starting to fall off. A trend that I see continuing through the rest of this season.
13. Broncos. They once again showed they do not have the offense necessary to win enough games in the NFL. Lindsay and Freeman are a nice pair of backs, but as of now, they just cant find ways to generate enough offense unless their defense is playing at an elite level. That being said, you're still better than the Ravens in the division and only one game away from catching the Chargers. You won't catch the Chiefs though, so sorry for making you think you had a chance in this division for a second.
12. Vikings. Takeaways from this one. This Adam Thielen character is quite a receiver! Kirk Cousins is also good at football! Also their defense created a 64 yard touchdown opportunity to win this game for them. This rematch was much better than the original (NFC Title Game) and we were all happier because of it. The Vikings were the happiest though for obvious reasons.
11. Panthers. Graham Gano did what one of four other players have done in NFL history. That's pretty good company to be in as a kicker considering we saw problems with so many other kickers on Sunday. Cam Newton, besides a few turnovers was also very good. I still think he's the best rushing QB (besides Russell Wilson and Michael Vick) I've ever seen and he is slowly stacking up the numbers each week to prove that. He is the number one rushing QB of all time in terms touchdowns and he will be among all position players period at the end of his career.
10. Chargers. It's about time they had a game (basically) mistake free. Their defense was solid (as it has been all year), but this week it was especially dominating as they limited the Raiders to 3 points until they scored a garbage time TD at the end of the 4th. Phillip Rivers had another awesome game offensively and it seems like the Chargers may be starting to figure it out (these will be my famous last words).
9. Eagles. Is it time to go back to Nick Foles? No. The issue isn't entirely Carson Wentz. It falls partially on him because he still doesn’t seem like he's back up to football speed which is expected for a QB coming back from a major knee injury. The blame also sits on the offensive line who have allowed Wentz to be sacked 12 times (in only 3 games). This puts him in the top 12 for sacks this season and he has only played 60% of the season. As if the loss wasn’t bad enough, they lost Jay Ajayi to a torn ACL. They got him last year after he voiced his frustration in Miami. Maybe there's another disgruntled RB that they can trade for out there? Perhaps in Pittsburgh?
8. Bears. Did not play this week.
7. Jaguars. 20, 31, 6, 31, 14. These are the amount of points scored by the Jaguars each week. They are literally team that shows up offensively every other week. That's not to say they didn’t put up big numbers (Bortles threw for 430 passing yards), they just weren't consistent enough and couldn’t put together drives when they needed to. Contrast that with Mahomes & Co. on the other side of the field, and that's about as jarring of a comparison as you can have in terms of offenses.
6. Ravens. The Ravens defense, like usual, was aggressive and very good. They tipped 4 Baker Mayfield passes in the 4th quarter, but they just weren't a match for the QB and team of destiny known as the Baker Mayfield Browns.
5. Bengals. Watching them play the Dolphins, I couldn’t tell (in the first half) if both of these teams are good, or they're both bad. The Bengals, upon further viewing were definitely the better team here and (dare I say?) good! Their defense scored twice and AJ Green had another incredible game. They are now 4-1 and have a strong case to make as contenders in the AFC North.
4. Patriots. If this wasn’t already clear, the Patriots own the Colts. Brady is now 15-4 against them in his career and the only win the Colts have gotten against the Patriots in my lifetime is Deflategate. I guess that was a win at the time, but the Pats eventually won the Superbowl too so the Colts lost that game as well. To get back to the present, it seems like the Patriots have figured out their September woes and now that October has started, are in mid-season form.
3. Saints. Congratulations to Drew Brees on setting the all time passing record. He was so good and it's only fitting that he did it at home in a dominant fashion. This is a team that has truly gotten better each week. It seemed like a year ago that people were worried about the Saints offense and were unsure if last year was a fluke year or not. As they have proven so far this year, it wasn’t and they have solidified themselves as one of the 5 best teams in the NFL.
2. Chiefs. Ok, if you were still somehow doubting Mahomes after last week in Denver, then you have nothing else to say this week. Critics of him kept moving the goal post and raising expectations for him to prove that he was as good as everyone said he was through 4 weeks. First it was: "He hasn’t proven to do it on the road against a good defense". Did it. Next, "What if he isn't playing well or the offense is struggling, can he win then?". Turns out he 100% can win. Against a defense considered, one of THE BEST IN THE NFL, Mahomes still put up 313 yards and helped guide the team to win. His defense finally showed up which helped too, but he proved today that he is the complete package (if you didn’t think he was already for some reason).
1. Rams. This wasn’t the Rams' best game offensively, but it was their best game of the season because they were pushed time after time and bounced back. I'm also glad they went for it on 4th down rather than punting. They were able to clinch the game rather than giving the Seahawks a chance to win the game. Goff had all of his skills on display and was throwing to receivers I had never heard of after Cooks and Kupp went down. Those injuries are certainly a concern, but their ability to still win despite them is impressive nonetheless. Did not play this week: Bears, Buccaneers.
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