The biggest stories coming out of Week 5 in the NFL are Dak Prescott’s season ending injury, Alex Smith’s return, the Falcons finally holding someone responsible for their 0-5 season, and the Jets surprising decision to part ways with Le’Veon Bell. It wasn’t a great week for my picks overall, especially with the over/unders, but I still managed to walk away at 9-5 (7-7 vs Spread) bringing my totals to 52-24-1(43-33-1 vs Spread). Christen came in at 8-6 this week bringing her to 47-29-1 overall. As I mentioned, it was a rough day at the office with the over/unders as I went an abysmal 2-12. Including last week, that makes m O/U record to 7-18-2 so I’m inclined to pick against my instincts there. Anyway, let’s break down the week.
In a weird twist of fate, on the same day Alex Smith returned from his nearly career-ending injury, the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott was carted off the field in tears after suffering a similarly gruesome leg injury. As much as I don’t care for Dallas, I never want to see anyone go down like that. Dak seems like a good guy and I wish him a speedy recovery. The whole situation is made even more unfavorable because of the long and contentious contract negotiations that have been going on between him and the organization. I could write a whole separate piece on that whole debacle but the Boys got Andy Dalton for a reason and he did lead them to the eventual 37-34 win over the Giants in a hotly contested division game that put Dallas back on top in the NFC East. Things could get a lot more complicated if Dalton starts to string together wins.
More than two years and something like 17 surgeries later, it was great to see Alex Smith get back on the field for Washington. It wasn’t the smoothest of transitions and you could almost see the nervousness but Smith finished the game 9/17 for 37-yards. With the way things are going in Washington, he very well could be the starter moving forward with Dwayne Haskins benched and Kyle Allen not proving to be a marked improvement. Nonetheless, the Rams took the easy win and improved to 4-1 to keep pace near the top of the NFC.
Carolina (3-2) made it three in row with a 23-16 win over Atlanta in what was a fairly competitive game, but the 0-5 start for the Falcons was finally enough for the ownership to justify firing head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff. The first three losses were all blown leads in the 4th quarter so there was hope, but those were gutting losses. If you’ve kept up with me weekly, you’ll know I’ve been pointing to the proverbial writing on the wall in the Atlanta locker room for weeks. They are 24-29 since losing the Super Bowl in devastating fashion and haven’t finished better than 2nd in the division in that time. This is now rock bottom.
Firing the coach and GM firmly places blame but, realistically, it’s time for the franchise to change course. Matt Ryan has a good argument as the best QB in franchise history and he’s certainly got the longest tenure but, like I said last week and the week before, his era is over and Atlanta has a decision to make for their future. There are some teams that could use a QB and while his contract is sizeable, his deal is a bargain based on the current market. Trading their franchise QB makes more sense now than ever. The defense has a long way to go but it’s not like things can get worse at this point. On the bright side, it’s nice to see Todd Gurley starting to look healthy again and playing well. Plus, with Julio Jones constantly injured, the young members of the receiver corps are finding their footing. If there’s a positive to take away from all this, there’s nowhere to go but up.
Arizona cashed in an easy win over the winless Jets to get back on track at 3-2, but that’s the part of the story that’s expected. New York subsequently released Le’Veon Bell after exploring trade options and coming away empty. To think that the Jets couldn’t work a trade for a guy who was the best running back in the game not too long ago says a lot about Bell, the Jets organization, and the current market value for RBs. Most teams have a good lead back and a solid backup plan, so taking on a player who has left his last two teams on less than ideal terms isn’t a good sales pitch. The Buccaneers have been acquiring veteran backs from all over and Bell might be willing to take a smaller deal in order to get to a better situation.
Typically when you score 32-points in a game you come out on top, but it’s tough to stay on top in the NFL and the Chiefs learned that the hard way against the Raiders. As the defending champs, they are going to get every team’s best shot and Las Vegas showed up in Kansas City ready to play. They learned a lot from New England’s game plan the week before and gave Patrick Mahomes headaches all afternoon with their effective four-man rush and blanket coverage. And oh yeah, the Raiders offense also hung 40 on a Chiefs defense that looked completely porous. The loss drops KC to 4-1 but keeps them tied at the top of the AFC while LV improved to 3-2 and won a crucial division game in the process.
I called it a trap game going in and I was right that the Vikings were going to be problems for the Seahawks. Minnesota pressured Russell Wilson all night long, including four sacks for 27-yards, and forced his worst performance of the year. Unfortunately for Minny, Wilson’s worst game included 3-TDs and the game-winning 4th quarter drive. Sometimes you can do everything right and greatness still overcomes and that’s what happened on Sunday night. A handful of Kirk Cousins turnovers helped too, including what I thought was an incorrectly ruled fumble on the final play. Elsewhere in the NFC West, the (2-3)49ers got thrashed by the (2-3)Dolphins. Miami is better than their record and I picked them to cover as the Niners were still getting it back together, but I didn’t expect that kind of smackdown.
The (4-0)Steelers got off to a slow start after the impromptu bye week but ended up putting up 38 points on the wounded (1-3-1)Eagles, thanks to a ridiculous 4-touchdown game by Chase Claypool. Giving up 29-points to a Philly team that is severely hampered on offense may be cause for concern, especially with Travis Fulgham putting up 10-grabs for 152-yards and a score. The (4-1)Cleveland Browns showed they aren’t messing around this season with an all around victory over the (3-2)Colts who boasted one fo the league’s best defenses going into the game. Two of the Browns’ TDs did come on gadget plays but credit to them for scouting Indy’s defense. Neither QB played particularly well but at least Baker Mayfield had a couple TDs to show for his pair of interceptions. The Ravens blasted the Bengals 27-3, to stay on pace at 4-1 and the Texans managed their first win of the season in the post Bill O’Brien era with a win over a Jaguars team headed nowhere fast.
Even with Michael Thomas held out of the lineup for punching a teammate, New Orleans got to 3-2 with a close, hard fought win over an ever-improving Chargers squad. When Justin Herbert started for an injured Tyrod Taylor back in week 2, I said he was going to be the guy for the Bolts despite head coach Anthony Lynn’s assurance that T2 wouldn’t lose his job. A couple weeks and an uncomfortable conversation with Lynn later, Taylor is the backup while Herbert was ballin’ on Monday Night Football. He didn’t get the win but he looked good in the process and Los Angeles looks to be trending in the right direction.
Sadly for me, the Titans used their two weeks off wisely and put a one-sided beatdown on my Bills to close out the week on Tuesday night. Buffalo was missing some key players and it showed, but you could tell the Titans had been itching to play for the last two weeks. I’ll cover that game more in-depth in my weekly Bills rant, but the win moves Tennessee to 4-0 and drops Buffalo to 4-1. The power structure at the top of the AFC is extra complicated now with three 4-1 teams and two 4-0 squads.
There’s a bunch of movement at the top as the Packers take over the top spot:
| 1. Packers 4-0 (2⬆) |
| 2. Seahawks 5-0 (3⬆) |
| 3. Chiefs 4-1 (1⬇) |
| 4. Titans 4-0 (6⬆) |
| 5. Steelers 4-0 (5⬇) |
| 6. Bills 4-1 (4⬇) |
| 7. Ravens 4-1 (8⬆) |
| 8. Rams 4-1 (9⬆) |
| 8. Bears 4-1 (7⬇) |
| 10. Browns 4-1 (16⬆) |
| 11. Patriots 2-2 (11=) |
| 12. Raiders 3-2 (14⬆) |
| 13. Buccaneers 3-2 (12⬇) |
| 14. Panthers 3-2 (19⬆) |
| 15. Cardinals 3-2 (10⬇) |
| 16. Saints 3-2 (18⬆) |
| 17. Colts 3-2 (15⬇) |
| 18. Dolphins 2-3 (22⬆) |
| 19. 49ers 2-3 (13⬇) |
| 20. Cowboys 2-3 (17⬇) |
| 21. Lions 1-3 (21⬇) |
| 22. Chargers 1-4 (20⬇) |
| 23. Eagles 1-3-1 (26⬆) |
| 24. Bengals 1-3-1 (25⬆) |
| 25. Vikings 1-4 (30⬆) |
| 26. Texans 1-4 (27⬆) |
| 29. Broncos 1-3 (29⬆) |
| 28. Jaguars 1-4 (24⬇) |
| 29. Washington 1-4 (23⬇) |
| 30. Falcons 0-5 (28⬇) |
| 31. Giants 0-5 (32⬆) |
| 32. Jets 0-5 (31⬇) |