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NFL Week 5 Overreactions<\/p>\n
USAT’s Lorenzo Reyes breaks down the best games from NFL Week 5.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
Philly’s loss to Denver left just one NFL team with a perfect record … for about seven hours.Conversely, there’s now only one team without a win in 2025.Sunday featured one fantastic game, in terms of points scored and the uniforms worn.<\/p>\n
The 32 things we learned from\u00a0Week 5<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a02025 NFL season<\/a>:<\/p>\n 0. The number of wins for New York Jets rookie coach Aaron Glenn, whose team was embarrassed at home 37-22<\/a> by the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> on Sunday. With Kellen Moore\u2019s New Orleans Saints<\/a> getting off the mat against the New York Giants<\/a>, Glenn is the only first-year coach among this year\u2019s seven to remain winless \u2013 and his team is now the only one league-wide without a victory.<\/p>\n 1. As in who\u2019s the No. 1 contender to win Super Bowl 60 after the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> lost their first game of the season Sunday a few hours before the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills<\/a> also went down? It seems like an unusually large field at the moment given the number of questions that abound around the league, so let\u2019s explore.<\/p>\n 2. As in the number of losses Philly has now suffered over the last 365 days. The Eagles obviously remain a bona fide championship threat, yet they also have issues to redress \u2013 particularly on offense. WR A.J. Brown had another quiet game (5 catches for 43 yards) Sunday, and even RB Saquon Barkley undermined Philadelphia<\/a>. On a day when he rushed for 30 yards (on a mere six carries), Barkley also committed an illegal shift infraction that nullified a fourth-down conversion in the fourth quarter and forced the team to punt on its penultimate possession.<\/p>\n 2a. The Bills also remain right there, even if their icy “Cold Front” uniforms<\/a> won’t get them closer to any championship ice at season’s end. The sky isn’t falling in Western New York, though the New England Patriots’ win there Sunday night<\/a> was a clear announcement that the AFC East probably won’t be a walkover. For a change.<\/p>\n 3. The number of wins for the Denver Broncos<\/a>, who beat the Eagles on Sunday for their first win in Philadelphia since 1986. That\u2019s two impressive victories in six days for Denver, which added six more sacks to what was already a league-leading total of 15 entering Week 5. And with QB Bo Nix belatedly settling into his second season, the Broncos look like a team that could make a deep run.<\/p>\n 4. The number of 2024 first-team All-Pros, including QB Lamar Jackson, inactive Sunday for the spiraling Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, who were crushed 44-10 at home by the Houston Texans<\/a>. Now 1-4, their Super Bowl aspirations in serious crisis<\/a>, the Ravens face the Rams in Week 6 before reaching a badly needed bye week.<\/p>\n 5. The 34-point loss matched the Ravens’ largest in Baltimore, the differential also equaling the Texans\u2019 most lopsided road win in their 24-season history.<\/p>\n 6. The number of red-zone touchdowns \u2013 in six attempts, no less \u2013 scored by the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> in their 40-6 beatdown of the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>. Still feels like a stretch to consider Indy a bona fide championship contender, but a 4-1 squad is increasingly taking on the look of a potential division titlist \u2013 and, yes, the AFC South counts.<\/p>\n 7. In an odd turnabout to that game, the Colts played most of the day without injured K Spencer Shrader, forcing them to attempt four consecutive two-point conversions in the blowout. Meanwhile, the Raiders lost P AJ Cole, forcing K Daniel Carlson into his role.<\/p>\n 8. The number of times the Texans scored at Baltimore, which also coincided with the number of drives played by QB C.J. Stroud, whose four TD passes were one shy of his career high. With two consecutive wins following an 0-3 start, Houston is re-emerging as a team that could win a third straight division title \u2013 and, yes, the AFC South counts.<\/p>\n 9. The game of the day also featured the best (throwback) uniforms of the day, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> beating the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> at the gun 38-35<\/a> in a fitting celebration of two organizations in the midst of their 50th NFL seasons. Could it have been an NFC championship game preview? Very well within the realm of possibility \u2026 despite Seattle\u2019s surprising defensive letdown Sunday.<\/p>\n 10. The Bucs aren\u2019t blowing anyone out, all four of their victories occurring on game-winning scores in the final minute of regulation \u2013 something no team has ever done on the way to its first four wins. The perennial NFC South champs remain a resilient bunch that can beat you in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n 11. How about the matchup of former Ohio State first-round wideouts in Seattle on Sunday? The Bucs’ (n\u00e9e Bucks’) Emeka Egbuka and Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba combined for 15 catches, 295 yards and a TD apiece.<\/p>\n 12. The Cowboys (mostly wearing white) and Jets (mostly wearing black) provided the worst-looking game of the day \u2013 visually and stylistically (21 combined penalties).<\/p>\n 13. How crazy has the scoring been so far? There have been 14 40-burgers posted this season, already the most through five weeks since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger \u2026 and Week 5 ain\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n 14. As in tied for 14th place all time with 173 regular-season wins \u2013 that\u2019s where Denver coach Sean Payton stands after Sunday\u2019s win, which broke a tie between him and his mentor, Hall of Famer Bill Parcells.<\/p>\n 15. Payton is now deadlocked with Jeff Fisher and Ravens coach John Harbaugh, whose team doesn\u2019t appear as if it\u2019s going to keep pace with Payton\u2019s Broncos, not in the near term anyway. Mike McCarthy is alone in 13th place \u2212 for now \u2212 with 174 wins.<\/p>\n 16. How about Carolina Panthers<\/a> RB Rico Dowdle, who rushed for a league-wide season-high 206 yards in relief of injured starter Chuba Hubbard in his team\u2019s 27-24<\/a> defeat of the Miami Dolphins<\/a> on Sunday?<\/p>\n 17. Still boggles the mind that the Cowboys didn\u2019t re-sign Dowdle, who rushed for nearly 1,100 yards last year, or that no other team saw fit to offer him even $3 million for 2025 (though he could eclipse that figure by reaching certain escalators). Heck, even Jerry Jones would be willing to pay that.<\/p>\n 18. The jersey number, one that might be retired one day, of Minnesota Vikings<\/a> WR Justin Jefferson. With 123 receiving yards in Sunday\u2019s defeat of the Cleveland Browns<\/a> in London, \u201cJettas\u201d now has 7,881 in his career \u2013 third most by a player in his first six seasons. And he still has 12 games to play in a bid to overtake Randy Moss\u2019 standard (8,375 yards) over a half-dozen years.<\/p>\n 19. The Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> might have lost some juice lately, but don\u2019t blame veteran WR Keenan Allen. Making his 159th career appearance, he hauled in his 1,000th career catch \u2013 eight games quicker than Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, who\u2019d previously set the standard for speed to that benchmark.<\/p>\n 20. Minus both of their starting offensive tackles, the Bolts seem to be reverting to title pretender \u2013 and quite likely the third-best team in the AFC West \u2013 after suffering a second straight loss.<\/p>\n 21. The Chargers’ defeat came courtesy of the Washington Commanders<\/a>, who had QB Jayden Daniels back in the lineup<\/a>. Yet the emergence of rookie RB Jacory \u201cBill\u201d Croskey-Merritt, who had a career day Sunday \u2013 five games into his career anyway \u2013 with 150 yards and two TDs from scrimmage, could be the key to returning the Commanders to the league\u2019s elite ranks \u2026 to the degree they ever really left.<\/p>\n 22. Would the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> just trade for Giants QB3 Jameis Winston already?<\/p>\n 23. But not really a surprise that the Jake Browning-led Stripes couldn\u2019t handle the Detroit Lions<\/a>, who also have an increasingly strong case to supplant Philly atop the league throne with a four-game heater erasing memories of their Week 1 flop at Green Bay.<\/p>\n 24. Detroit got TDs Sunday from RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery \u2013 the 14th time both scored in the same game, tying Emmitt Smith and Daryl Johnston for the most games among RB teammates each scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).<\/p>\n 25. The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> didn\u2019t win Thursday, but WR Puka Nacua caught 10 balls, giving him 52 receptions the season \u2013 most ever by a player after five games. Nacua bypassed his former teammate, Cooper Kupp, who had 49 grabs at the same point in 2022.<\/p>\n 26. These might be the early stages of what could be a historic year for Nacua, who\u2019s on pace to snag 177 balls \u2013 which would smash the NFL single-season record (149) established by Michael Thomas six years ago (in 16 games). Nacua could also become the first-ever 2,000-yard receiver. He\u2019s currently on pace for 1,999 yards.<\/p>\n 27. Dillon Gabriel became the Cleveland Browns<\/a>\u2019 41st QB1 since their 1999 rebirth \u2013 but the first in the NFL to make his starting debut in an International Series game. He was solid Sunday in London but didn\u2019t do quite enough<\/a> to guide Cleveland past the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n 28. Meanwhile, the Vikes improved to 5-0 all time in London \u2026 though they\u2019re 0-1 record in Dublin made their two-week European vacation something of a wash.<\/p>\n 29. But Minnesota did make a bit of history in the Old Country thanks to WR Jordan Addison\u2019s game-winning TD catch with 25 seconds on the clock. The victory was the first ever played internationally to feature a decisive TD in the final minute of regulation or overtime.<\/p>\n 30. When will NFL players \u2013 especially ones running free to pay dirt \u2013 learn to keep the ball secured until they cross the goal line? Arizona Cardinals<\/a> RB3 Emari Demercado, whose team really needed him to show up after losing James Conner and Trey Benson to injuries, was the latest to dump the rock prematurely<\/a>, his would-be 72-yard TD bolt instead a 71-yard run punctuated by a turnover \u2013 one that led to his team\u2019s downfall against the previously winless Tennessee Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n 31. Second to last, but not penultimately least, congratulations to Titans QB Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick of this year\u2019s draft, who notched his first career win Sunday at Demercado’s expense. We sass<\/a>.<\/p>\n 32. Last, but not least, congratulations to Saints QB Spencer Rattler. We\u2019ve noted, more than once, the bagel he\u2019s carried for more than a year in his personal NFL win column. But he got his first, in his 11th professional start, in Sunday\u2019s defeat of the Giants.<\/p>\n