It was a crazy week five in the NFL season. There were many close games, a few blowouts, some big comebacks and a record-breaking performance by Drew Brees.
First off, a huge congratulations to legendary quarterback Brees on becoming the NFL’s all-time leading passer in the Saints’ blowout win over Washington on Monday Night Football. This helped give the Saints a 43-19 win over the Redskins. The Saints look like a Super Bowl contender again. New Orleans has a bye this week and Washington is home against the Panthers in what could be a coin flip game.
The Buffalo Bills hosted the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Oct. 7. Tennessee was coming off big wins against elite teams the two weeks prior, so this game against the Bills shouldn’t have been an issue, right? Wrong. Buffalo pulled off a home upset by kicking a game-winning field goal as time expired to take down the Titans 13-12. Next week Buffalo travels to Houston to take on the Texans, and Tennessee is home vs. Baltimore.
Week five featured two overtime games, with Cleveland hosting Baltimore in the first one. It was a low scoring game but the Browns pulled it off and won 12-9 behind Greg Joseph’s game-winning 37-yard field goal as the time ran out in overtime. Baker Mayfield tossed for over 300 yards against a stout Ravens’ defense, capping his day off by driving down the field on the drive in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal. The Browns picked up their second win of the season and look to continue their success against the Chargers. Baltimore, on the other hand, looks to get back on track against the Titans this week.
The other overtime matchup was in the battle of Texas. Houston hosted Dallas in a game featuring two teams who have struggled at the start of the season. Sixty minutes weren’t enough for this one either so they continued play into overtime. Dallas failed to end it on the first drive, giving Houston a chance to win it with just a field goal once they put their hands on the ball. On 2nd & 9, DeAndre Hopkins caught a pass and made defenders miss, one after another. This put the Texans into field goal range and Ka’imi Fairbairn knocked through the game-winning 36-yarder to win it for Houston. Houston looks to extend their win streak to three against Buffalo, while Dallas has a tough battle with the Jaguars
The Giants thought they secured a win over Carolina but the Panthers’ offense and Graham Gano had other plans. After the Giants took a one-point lead with just over a minute to go in the fourth quarter, Carolina’s offense marched down the field and Gano kicked an incredible game-winning 63-yard field goal. This gave the Panthers a 33-31 win over the G-men. The Giants played on Thursday night, Oct. 11, and fell to Philadelphia, and Carolina takes on Washington on Sunday, Oct. 14.
Minnesota traveled to Philadelphia for an NFC Championship rematch. This time, the Vikings got their revenge. Adam Thielen has been lighting up the leave so far, and he continued that against the Eagles’ secondary. He had over 100 yards (again) and had a touchdown (again). This guy has been phenomenal so far. He is the first player in the super bowl era to have 100-plua receiving yards in the first five games. Pairing him with Stefon Diggs creates a very scary wide receiver duo in Minnesota. Kirk Cousins threw the ball 37 times and only had seven incompletions. Minnesota looks like they are back to being super bowl contenders. The defending champs, on the other hand, are experiencing a slow start but a dominant game against the Giants on Thursday night puts them back where they want to be. Minnesota has a home matchup with Arizona up next. Both teams are currently leading their divisions, but it is a long season, and anyone can win this crowded NFC.
There have been a lot of big games this week but none seem bigger than Sunday night’s, when New England hosted Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes has been lighting up the league so far and the Chiefs are 5-0. The Patriots started off a little shaky but seem to have regained control now. This game is huge for both teams. Foxborough will be loud and fired up Sunday night when the Chiefs come to town. I like the Patriots in what should be their “statement game.” There are a lot of doubters of the Patriots this year, but this win against the Chiefs will prove that the Patriots are still an elite team and still have the GOAT at quarterback. Brady and the offense will come out firing in what will be a very high-scoring game, and the Patriots will win a thriller on Sunday night.
Has it been a “normal” start to the NFL season? No, but that’s what we love about it. We will see if week six has any other crazy storylines to talk about next week.
