NFL Week Six Reviews.

Oct 5

NFL Week Five—Wow!

Saints Vs Giants

A Couple Of Young quarterback Get Their First Wins, ending miserable Starts To Their Career. Spencer Rattler Gets The First Win Of His Career and The Saints Get The Win They’ve Sought After For Weeks, As The

Giants Cough Up Five Turnovers. The Saints End The Feel Good Jaxson Dart “Vybes” Coming Off The Giants' First Win 26-14 Loss. Dart Threw The First Two Touchdowns Of His Career, giving the Giants A Score Lead, but Dart Also Accounted For Three Of The Giants' Turnovers, Including Two Picks.

Titans Vs Cardinals

On A Day When The Dolphins lost to the Panthers, Leaving Me Flummoxed, the Cardinals Threw Away A “Gimme” Win With A Historically and Hysterical Game Collapse. According to Next Gen Stats, the Titans Had A win Probability Of 1.8% At A Point In This Game, but Arizona didn’t Care About The Odds. The Cardinals lost a Touchdown On a careless Line Fumble By Running Back Emari Demercardo on A 72 Yard Run. The Cardinals Suffered Another Baffling fumble before Demercardo Fourth Let Go. In The Third Quarter, In The Titans' Red Zone, Kyler Murray Get Struck In The Face By An Errant Snap, Resulting In A Turnover, and Instead Of A 28 24-6 Lead for The Cardinals, Who Stall Out On 21 Points InTo The Fourth. The Improbable Streak Of Bad Luck Didn’t End with Those Two Fumbles. In the fourth Quarter, the Cardinals' Secondary picked off Cam Ward, but it was Dadrion.

Taylor-Demeraon Fumbles The Ball and In The Cardinals' Scrum To Recover, Arizona Players Knock The Ball Into The End Zone Where The Titans' Tyler Lockett Recovers The Loose Ball For A Score, Cutting The Lead Down to 21-19. Despite Playing Like One Of The Worse Quarterbacks In Football This Season, Save Jake Browning, Cam Ward Manufactured One Drive Late In The Fourth Quarter To Send The Cardinals Home With The Worse Loss Of Any Team This Season, 22-21. Kyler Murray gets outplayed by Ward As The Rookie Finishes 21/39 for 265, No Touchdowns, and A Pick. Calvin Ridley Finally Remembered How To Catch A Football, and The Titans Needed all Five Of His CATCHES for 131 Receiving Yards. Murray 23/31 for 220, No Touchdowns, no picks, Taking Three Sacks and one Fumble, Good but good Enough. Speaking of Number One Receiver, Remembering Their Name, same Marvin Harrison Jr, Four Catches for 98 Receiving Yards.

Bucs Vs Seahawks

Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold Have Ties That Run Deeper Than This Matchup In Week Five. Both Mayfield and Darnold Heard Their names called as top ten picks in the 2018 Draft Class, Baker first, and Darnold Third.

Baker’s Career Got off to a Pleasant Start. Sam Darnold couldn’t Stay Healthy To make A Lasting Mark With The Jets. Both players were on the 2022 Carolina Panthers' roster. Their careers were headed toward a turn before their recent renaissance.

When Darnold Produced His breakout season with the Vikings in 2024, Mayfield’s Contract Became The Model For What A Quarterback Career Revival contract Would Look Like.

What Football Media “Promoted” Or Championed As A Battle Between Two Former Panthers Quarterbacks, Two 2018 Top Three Picks, and Later Than The Uniform Bowl Between The Bucs and Seahawks, Morphed Into A Battle of Two Ohio State Buckeyes Pass Catchers Between Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Emeka Egbuka.

Jaxson caught a 53 Yard Bomb In The Quarter That Set Up Seattle’s Third Touchdown Of The Game, Which Tied The Game For Seattle, as Darnold Hit Tight End AJ Barner two plays later. On Following Drive For The Bucs Emeka, Former Teammate Of JSN At Ohio State Who Caught Tampa's Third touchdown Himself On A 20 Yard Bomb From Mayfield, Registered His Own 50 Yard Catch, This One 57 Yards. Two Plays Later, Rachaad White Scores A Rushing Touchdown. Both Defenses Got Off To A Strong Start. Seattle Punted Twice and lost A Fumble, while Tampa Settled For Two Field Goals. Seattle forced the

fumble and Put The First Touchdown On The Board from Rachaad White. The Seahawks Responded With A Quick Touchdown Before The Half. This was One Of The Hands Of Darnold To JSN To Cut The Difference To One Score. The Bucs and Seahawks Would Score Touchdowns On The Next Five Possessions Of The

Game of The Second Half, Seven Straight After The First Tampa Score(Not Including The Kneel Down Before The Half). Egbuka Had Five Catches For 129 Yards With Eight minutes Left In The Fourth Quarter. The Scoring Cooked Off With Game Tied 28-28. The Seahawks Crack The Stalemate late In The Fourth Quarter. Darnold Completed 15/16 Passes (14 In A Row At One Point) Over a Stretch in The Second Half, and The 15th was a 21 Yard Pass By Darnold To Rookie Tory Horton, Who Put Seattle Up 35-28 With A Little Over Three Minute Left in the Fourth. Unfortunately for Darnold, His Final Incompletion Of The Game ricocheted in The Arms Of Bucs linebacker Lavonte David for An Interception, And The Bucs escaped with a win. The Turnover Took Place In Seattle Territory, Giving The Bucs Excellent Field Goal Position. On The Drive Before Darnold, Ill-fated Baker Mayfield And Offense Put Together a Tying Drive, Which Ended With Mayfield striking Veteran Receiver Sterling Shepard With A Laser beam for 11 Yards, Capping Off a 5 Play 70 Yard Touchdown. Two Big Pass Plays, 25 Yards To Egbuka and 25 Yards To Otten Set Up The Bucs Game Tying Score. The Bucs Pull Off A Thrilling Victory In An Absolute Shootout 38-35. Turnovers Made The Difference in The End as The Bucs Stole Two Possessions From The Seahawks And Scored Ten Points As A Result. Emeka Egbuka 7 Catches For 163. The Bucs haven’t needed Mike Evans or Chris Godwin So Far This year, with Egbuka Completely Taking Over The Bucs Offense By Putting Up Puka Nacua. Jaxson Smith-Njigba 8 Catches For 132 receiving yards And One Touchdown. Tight End AJ Barner Caught Two Touchdowns In The Game. Sam Darnold 28/34 For 341 Passing Yards, Four Touchdowns, and a 135.4 Passer Rating. The Seahawks averaged 8.6 Yards Per Play, including 6.1 Per Rush, 18 Passing Touchdowns, and 4/4 in The Red zone, but fell short. Baker Mayfield 29/33 for 379 Passing Yards, 134.7 Passer Rating, two Touchdowns For His Best Game of the season. The Bucs couldn’t Get Anything Going On The Ground, but Rachaad White got two Touchdowns, And His 12 Yard Run helped the Bucs Run Out The Clock Late and seal The Win. Rookie Wide Receiver Tez Johnson caught Four Passes For 59 Yards, and Tight End Cade Otten Added Four Catches For 81 Yards. I still think the Bucs Should Add A Stronger Weapon At Tight End To Open Up The Offense More, maybe David Njoku In Contract Year On A Browns Team Going nowhere. Despite Getting Lit Up And Not Sacking Sam Darnold Once, The Bucs Defense Deflected Six Darnold Passes.

Panthers Vs Dolphins

Plenty Of Inexplicable Outcomes Happen In Football, But The Panthers, For The Second Time This Season, Shake Off An Inauspicious Start and come back in A Game. This Time, the Dolphins Cough Up an Early Lead, and Despite A Late attempt To Push The Panthers Back, Miami Succumbs To one of the worst outcomes In Football, Bad Rushing Defense. So Much of the NFL Centers On Stopping The Pass, and Miami Performs That Aspect Just Fine. Bryce Young Carelessly Fumbled On The Panthers’ First Drive as the Dolphins Edge Bradley Chubb, who Stuffed Young Trying To Escape The Pocket. The Young Threw A Pick On The Panthers' Next possession and The Panthers Fell Three Scores, 17-0 In The Second quarter. Young suffered A Similar Series Of Bad Plays Against The Cardinals in Week Two before Rallying And Falling Short Late. This Time, The 27-24 Against The Dolphins. Miami lost Tyreek Hill For The Season In Week Four, But Early in His Absence, it didn’t Look Like A Problem As Tua Found Success Connecting With Tight End Darren Waller. Primed for more Action with Tyreek Absent, He Registered His Second Touchdown Of The Season In The early Part Of The Game, which put the Dolphins up 17-0. The Panthers' Run Started After Waller’s Touchdown, Despite Some Early Defensive Effectiveness and some Explosive Offense. Carolina scored 20 Unanswered Points Following The 10 Minute Mark Of The Second Quarter, Straight Into the 4:42-minute mark Of The Fourth Quarter, When The Dolphins Broke A Scoring Drought By Both Teams and reclaimed a 24-20 Lead. The Punt Flew Back and Forth Wildly In This Game, But The Panthers' Rushing Attack Generated 239 Yards On The Ground Without Leading Back Chubba Hubbard. Rico Dowdle, The Former Cowboy, Rushed for 206 Yards On The Ground On 23 Carries, Including Rushes Of 53 and Another Of 45, A Yard Score. Dowdle averaged 3.0 yards on his 28 carries for 83 Yards Total On The Season.

Dowdle Surprise explosion Covered For A Mediocre Performance From Bryce Young 19/30 198 Yards Passing and Two Touchdowns and Two Turnovers. Usually when Tua Plays Efficiently, 27/36 256 Passing Yards, three touchdowns, 122.0 No Turnovers. The Dolphins Get Explosive Pass Plays. The Dolphins Should Have Run Away With A Game Against The Panthers. However, Miami couldn’t run The Ball Just 19 Yards, 10 Carries For 16 Yards For Achane Against A Generous Panthers Defense Allowing 129 On The Ground Heading Into The Game. Tua’s 46 Yard Touchdown Pass To Jaylen Waddle Gave The Dolphins The Lead Back In The Fourth. Jaylen Waddle Had Six Catches For 110 Yard Receiving Yards, and Yet All The Momentum The Dolphins Built After Their Week Four Victory Crumbles. The Dolphins Also Had Some Pass Rush Going, But No Run Fits.

Broncos Vs Eagles

Two Often Criticized Quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts And Bo Nix, Met In Philly. The Eagles, With Elite Pass Protection and Pass Catchers, Rank near The Bottom In Passing Efficiency And Couldn’t Pass The Ball At all Against The Bucs In The Second Half Before Escaping With A win. Hurts Has Somehow Regressed As A Passer, and The Media Jumped On A Cryptic Tweet By AJ Brown. Nix Has Played Frustrating Inconsistently, Missing Too Many “Simple” Reads and Throws. You Get The Flashes Of Brilliance Followed by Moments Of Unsteadiness. Nix Seems Impervious To Feeling Pressure. He's not stepping Up In The Pocket Or Getting The Ball Out. Nix Plays Like The Anti-Tua, Like He Wants To Get Hit, And This Showed Up against The Broncos Against The Eagles. Nix Looks Like He’s Never Seen a Blitz. He always Takes A Bad Sack. One Of These Passing Offenses Would Have To Rally Up Enough Plays To Get The Win. Jalen Hurts Connected On Two Big Pass Plays: A 52 Yarder To Devonta Smith, Then A 24-yard pass that Set Up A Yard Touchdown To Dallas Goedert To End a 3-3 Scoring Dry Spell(and punt-a-thon) In The Second Quarter. To Start The third quarter, the Eagles broke another Scoring Drought For Both with a 47 Yard Passing Touchdown To Saquon Barkley on A Running Back Fade Route. The Eagles Took a 17-3 Lead. The Eagles struggled outside of their three scoring drives, and if they can't get a big play, they won't move the ball. The Broncos Force Seven Straight Punts After The Eagles Scored Their Last Touchdown.

Fourth, The Broncos' Response to Bo Nix And Sean Payton Architecting Two Scoring Drives. Despite Bo's Inconsistencies, The V

The Broncos Score 15 Points In Five Minutes To Take The Lead. JK Dobbins Cashes In A 10-play 64 Yard Drive With a Two-Yard Touchdown. The Broncos Followed That Drive With a Harrowing 6 Plays, 72 Yards as Bo Nix converted a 3rd and 15 with a 34 Yard Catch To Wide Receiver Courtland Sutton. The Big Offseason Addition Tight End Evan Engram catches an 11 Yard touchdown, His First as A Bronco. The Broncos Go For The Two-Point Conversion And The 18-17 Lead.

Denver’s Defense Kept The Eagles' Offense From Adding points, But Without A Run Game Behind, it Hurt The Eagles' passing. It can't deliver enough Power To sustain Lead. Eagles Rely On Big Plays And On Other Teams To Beat Themselves. On Sunday, Inflicted Late Penalties Cost The Eagles Against The Broncos. The Broncos' Offense scored 18 unanswered points And Generated 186 Yards Of Offense In The Fourth Quarter. The Broncos Have Struggled Against “Winning” Teams This Season, But Get A “Signature” Win 21-17 Against The Eagles. Not Spectacular Numbers 24/39 242 Passing Yards One Touchdown and A Sub-90 Rating, But He Kept The Game clean, No Turnovers, As The Broncos pulled off The Upset. When The Eagles run Game Can't Help Control Possession, Philly’s Offense Becomes One Dimensional, only Able To win Over The Top Of Defense But Unable To Sustain Drives.

Texans Vs Ravens

Favor Fell On A Texans’ Team Caught In The Throes Of A bad Start To The Season, catching An Ill-Favored Ravens, Battling Injuries, and A Tougher Run Of Games. Back in Week Three, With The Texans 0-3 and Ravens coming Off A Tough Loss To the Lions From A Projection

standpoint The Ravens Could Trounce The Chiefs and Use A Whipping Of the Texans To End Houston’s Morale From A Titans Victory, Then Baltimore Rights The Ship On To An AFC Best Record.

Two-faced, With a Tough Start To The Season, Battling, and The Texans Flip The Script. Last season, the Ravens Embarrassed The Texans on Christmas Day, 31-2. On Sunday, With The Ravens At Their worst, the Texans crushed the Ravens 44-10. As The First Game With Lamar Jackson couldn’t go worse For The Ravens. CJ Stroud 23/27 244 Passing Yards Four Touchdowns, 143.9 Passer Rating As Ten Texans Offensive Player See At least One Target. Stroud Also Rushed For 30 Yards ON A Scramble. If Baltimore Wanted To Lean On The Rushing ATTACK, The Texans Shut Down The Ravens’ Running Game, 15 Carries For 33 Yards On The Ground For Derrick Henry. Cooper Rush 14/20 179 Passing Yards with Three Interceptions in His First Start As A Raven. The Texans Beat Up A broken Ravens Team, But The Moment And Morale Behind This Team Should make them Feel Good About Where They Stand Despite The Rough Start.

Vikings Vs Browns

In Dilon Gabriel’s First Start, The Vikings Survive The

Tormenting Browns That Forced Two Fumbles and Sacked Carson Wentz Three Times, But Count Pull Out The Late Stop On The Vikings Drive in 21-17 Minnesota Win.

The Vikings And The Browns Met In London with Quarterback Conundrums Controlling The Overseas Narratives For Both Teams. This Offseason, the Vikings decided not to Make A Competitive Offer For SamDarnold, who won 14 Games Last season and looks great so Far This Season. Minnesota lost Daniel Jones to the Colts, Who Also look great through four Games. While the Colts While The Vikings' Two Starters This Season Have Struggled To Generate Points For The Offense. I Thought The Vikings Made The Right Decision On Darnold Back When he signed with Seattle, and I Hold To That Belief Despite Minnesota’s Early Struggles. Letting Darnold Walker open up The Books For The Vikings To Spend 345 million in Contracts That Souped This Roster To what looks like Super Bowl caliber With a Top Five ranking. The

Vikings Quarterback Situation Got More Tenuous When Carson Wentz Left

for The Locker Room In the Second Quarter, and Undrafted Rookie Max Browser Set To Take Over

after The Browns Take A 10-7 Lead At The Half. Wentz Would Return.

The Browns Made Their long-awaited Quarterback Change, starting Dolan Gabriel In Place Of Joe Flacco. Gabriel Struggled With Accuracy early In This Game, But His Mobility Opened Up Lanes For The Rushing Attack On RPOs. As Fellow Rookie Quinshon Judkins, whose 32 Yard Run On The Browns' Second Drive Set Up a Red Zone Opportunity and A Yard Touchdown That Gave The Browns An Early 7-0 Lead In London. During This Season, the Cleveland Browns Have Held The Lead for 11 Minutes In Their Four Contest and Have Struck First Blood Just One Other Occasion Against Detroit in week four. The Brown Pass Blocking Picked Up Two Holding Penalties That Nullified A 56 Yard touchdown Run By Judkins on the team’s Next Drive.

The Browns' Time In The Lead Didn’t Last Long. On the Vikings' Ensuing Drive, the Vikings Go Eight plays for 82 Yards, Capped Off With Running Back Cam Akers Taking The Quarterback Spot in the wildcat and hitting Tight End Josh Oliver For The Catch and A 32 Yard Score to tie The Game 7-7. The Browns Took A 10-7 Lead at halftime. After A first-half defensive struggle, both teams scored on Their First Drives Of The Second Half. The Vikings Get The Run Game Going with Jordan Mason Finishing Off a Red Zone Drive With a Yard Rushing Score after Wentz and The Passing Game Set Up The Score With Two Big 15+ Yard Play Through The Air To Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison Over 8 Plays, 71 Yards. The Browns Respond With A Long Drive Taking Up Over Eight Minutes, spearheaded By Their Own Run Game With Quinshon Judkins and Jerome Fire That Set Up Dolan Gabriel’s Second Touchdown Of The Game On A Quick Slant To Tight End David Njoku. Joe Flacco Set The Bar Low, But The Brown’s Offense Looked Better With Gabriel Under Center. But One Thing Gabriel lacks is Next Level Arm Talent. On The Final Play Of The game with seven Seconds Left, Dilan Gabriel Takes An Underneath Shot To Jamari Thrash for 22 Yards As Time Runs Out, And The Browns' Effort To Best the Vikings Falls Short In London. I suspect Gabriel Didnt Have The arm Talent To Swing At The End Zone. Dilon played Respectable 19/33 for 190 Passing Yards and

two Touchdowns. Gabriel didn’t Complete Or Attempt A Pass Over 20 Air Yards All only three Passes Over 10 Air Yards On Ten Attempts.

Browns’s Rookie Running Back Quinshon Judkins really carried The Offense For Many Stretches Of The Game, 23 Rushes For 110, 4.8 yards per Carry.

Carson Wentz, Who Had Another “up and Down” Finished 25/34 For 236 Passing Yards, One Touchdown, and A Passer Rating Of 102.1. He led the Vikings On A Winning Drive Where His 21 Yard Touchdown Pass To Jefferson And His 12 Yard Touchdown Pass To Jordan Addison put the Vikings ahead 21-17 In The Fourth Quarter. Justin Jefferson's Biggest Game Of The Season 7 Catches For 123 Yards Receiving 17.6 Yards Per Reception.

Rams Vs Niners

In Week Three, The Rams Stole A Game Away From The Colts By Forcing Multiple Turnovers and A Blindly Brilliant Late Game Offensive Performance From Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua. On Thursday Night Football, Turnovers Betrayed The Rams As The Niners Forced Two Fumbles From Rams Rushers, And Overtime Execution Undid The Rams As The Shorthanded 49ers Ride The Blistering Hot Hand Of Mac Jones To An Upset Victory. Injury Reports Have Dominated The Discourse On Many Teams Early In The Season, But Only The Ravens Have Found Themselves More Ravaged By Injuries Than The Niners. Brock Purdy Made A Surprise Early Return To The Niners Lineup On Sunday Before Re-aggravating His toe Injury Against The Jags. Tight end George Kittle Continues To Miss Time. Juan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall, the Niners' Top Wide Receiver, are BotH Absent On Thursday Night, Leaving Kyle Shanahan and Mac Jones Without The Team’s Top Three Catching Options. The Niners have 13* players on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, Not Including Those scratched from This Game. Mac Jones Delivered A Career Night 33/49 On 50 Dropback For 342 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns, 69.9 QBR, 0.34 EpA Per Pass Play. Jones, The Former New England Starter, Averaged A Systemic 6.7 Average Depth Of Target

And Netted Just Two Deep Passes Of 20+ Air Yards Or Better, But He Just Guided The Ship And Stayed Efficient. He faced 15 Pressures but Only Got Sacked Once and Got The Ball Out quickly. The Niners Generated Most Of Their Yardage After The Catch, 78 Of Christian McCaffrey’s 82 Yards Came After He Got The Ball On 8 Of 9 Targets and One Touchdown. The Niners couldn’t Run The Ball All Game. McCaffrey had 2.7 Yards Per Carry on 22 Carries, and the Niners generated 33 Yards On The Ground, which kept the Niners in The Game. Kendrick Bourne 10 Catches For 142 Yards Receiving, and The Connection With Bourne and Mac Goes Back To Their New England Days. Despite Winning The Turnover Battle, Time Of Possession Holding a Half Time Lead and A Three Score With Under 7 Minutes Left In The Third Quarter, The Niners Needed Overtime To Seal The Win. Matthew Stafford, who Produced another Weighty Performance With 30/47 For 387 Passing and Three Touchdowns, But Lost A Fumble. Kyren Williams Lost A Fumble in The Forth Quarter With the Rams Needing At Least A Field Goal To Tie The Game

But Sean McVay’s Critical Decision To Go For The Conversion In Field Goal range Time Proved Costly. The Niners Connect On Game-Tying 48 Yard Field Goal From Josh Karty As Time Expired In Regulation. Matthew Stafford and The Passing Game Dug The Rams Out Of A Hole With 13 Unanswered Points After The Niners Took A 20-7 Lead In The Third. Two Stafford Touchdowns, One To End The Third quarter to Puka Nacua, The Other On The Rams' First Possession Of The Fourth Put Los Angeles In Position To Take The Lead However Kicker Joshua Karty Missed The Extra Point Leaving The Score tied 20-20. Neither offense could seize Momentum In The Fourth Quarter Until The Niners Put Together A Scoring Drive With Over 2:50 Left On The Clock. The Niners Run 12 Plays To Gain 57 Yards and Settle For A 59 Yard Field Goal By Eddie Pineiro, The Kicker. The Team Signs Two Games Prior. The Rams' Ensuing Drive Got Off To A Strong, Explosive Start with some Big Pass Plays And An Explosive Run From Kyren Williams. The Rams Set Up in the Red zone, But The Niners forced a Fumble As Kyren Williams Looked To Score From The Yard Line. Niners Rookie Mykel Williams Knocked The Ball Loose. The Niners Punt From Their Own Goal Line, Giving Stafford and The Rams One More Opportunity To Tie Or Win. The Rams Pick Up 20 Yards In 7 Plays, Converting A Fourth Down In The Process, and The Rams Tie The Game As Time Expires To Force Overtime. In the extra Period, the Rams' Kicker Karty Botches The kick, Starting The Niners with excellent Field Position To Set Up A 41 Yard Eddie Pineiro Field Goal And The Lead. The Rams Put Together A Drive, Or Really Two Plays, Stafford Connects With Tutu Atwell For 38 Yards On The Second Play Of Time For The Offense To Set The Rams Up At The Niners' 20

yard Line. The Drive Stalls after Three Plays and Two Completions Set Up a 4th and One. The Rams Decide To Go For The Conversion Rather than Play More Football Or Settle For The Tie With Their Defense Worn Down. Kyren Williams Can’t Pick up The Yards Needed, and The Niners Win. Mac Jones Has Looked Good In His Two Starts, Top 15 In Both EPA Per Play and Passing EPA, SiX Touchdowns, and Nearly One Thousand Yards Passing. Depending on Long Brock Purdy staying out, Mac Jones Could Face an Opportunity To Improve His Stock And Regain A Starting Quarterback Spot Next season. Jones's Last Stint As A Starter In New England Fizzled Out After One Season, But He Looks Poised To Get Another Crack At Starting With How Much The NFL Loves Quarterback Redemption Stories. The Old Narrative That Kyle Shanahan’s System Augments The Skills Of His Quarterback doesn't Quite Work With Jones Piloting This Roster Hampered By Injuries. The Rams' passing attack appears nearly unstoppable when they get into a rhythm. However, the offense needs to function more efficiently on a granular level. Stafford recorded several completions of over 10 air yards, but Sean McVay opted to focus on the ground game after experiencing limited success throughout the match. Throughout Stafford’s Career, He’s Excelled At The Spectacular and “Struggled” With The Pedestrian. The Rams' Run Blocking Didn’t Do The Team Any Favors. McVay Made Two “Questionable” calls, One Going For It On Fourth Down and Two Kicking Off After Winning The Coin Toss To Start the overtime period. The win Leaves The Niners Undefeated In Their Division With Confidence About Winning Without Their Stars Against Tough Conference and Division Opponents.

Week Five—Wow!

Saints Vs Giants

Titans Vs Cardinals

On A Day When The Dolphins lost to the Panthers, Leaving Me Flummoxed, the Cardinals Threw Away A “Gimme” Win With A Historically and hysterically game-collapsing. According to Next Gen Stats, the Titans Had A win Probability Of 1.8% At A Point In This Game, but Arizona didn’t Care About The Odds. The Cardinals lost a Touchdown On a careless Line Fumble By Running Back Emari Demercardo on A 72 Yard Run. The Cardinals Suffered Another Baffling fumble before Demercardo Fourth Let Go. In The Third Quarter, In The Titans' Red Zone, Kyler Murray Get Struck In The Face By An Errant Snap, Resulting In A Turnover, and Instead Of A 28 24-6 Lead for The Cardinals, Who Stall Out On 21 Points in the Fourth. The Improbable Streak Of Bad Luck Didn’t End with Those Two Fumbles. In the fourth Quarter, the Cardinals' Secondary picked off Cam Ward, but it was Dadrion.

Taylor-Demeraon Fumbles The Ball and In The Cardinals' Scrum To Recover, Arizona Players Knock The Ball Into The End Zone Where The Titans' Tyler Lockett Recovers The Loose Ball For A Score, Cutting The Lead Down to 21-19. Despite Playing Like One Of The Worse Quarterbacks In Football This Season, Save Jake Browning, Cam Ward Manufactured One Drive Late In The Fourth Quarter To Send The Cardinals Home With The Worse Loss Of Any Team This Season, 22-21. Kyler Murray gets outplayed by Ward As The Rookie Finishes 21/39 for 265, No Touchdowns, and A Pick. Calvin Ridley Finally Remembered How To Catch A Football, and The Titans Needed all Five Of His CATCHES for 131 Receiving Yards. Murray 23/31 for 220, No Touchdowns, no picks, Taking Three Sacks and one Fumble, Good but good Enough. Speaking of Number One Receiver, Remembering Theri Name, same Marvin Harrison Jr, Four Catches for 98 Receiving Yards.

Bucs Vs Seahawks

Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold Have Ties That Run Deeper Than This Matchup In Week Five. Both Mayfield and Darnold Heard Their names called As Top Ten Picks In The 2018 Draft Class, Baker first, and Darnold Third.

Baker’s Career Got off to a Pleasant Start. Sam Darnold couldn’t Stay Healthy To make A Lasting Mark With The Jets. Both played on the 2022 Carolina Panthers’ roster They have Their Careers were Headed Towards a Turn Before Their Recent Career Renaissance.

When Darnold Produced His breakout season with the Vikings in 2024, Mayfield’s Contract Became The Model For What A Quarterback Career Revival contract Would Look Like.

Jaxson caught a 53 Yard Bomb In The Quarter That Set Up Seattle’s Third Touchdown Of The Game, Which Tied The Game For Seattle, as Darnold Hit Tight End AJ Barner two plays later. On Following Drive For The Bucs Emeka, Former Teammate Of JSN At Ohio State Who Caught Tampa's Third touchdown Himself On A 20 Yard Bomb From Mayfield, Registered His Own 50 Yard Catch, This One 57 Yards. Two Plays Later, Rachaad White Scores A Rushing Touchdown. Both Defenses Got Off To A Strong Start. Seattle Punted Twice and lost A Fumble while Tampa Settled For Two Field Goals. Seattle forced the

fumble And Put The First Touchdown On The Board from Rachaad White. The Seahawks Responded With A Quick Touchdown Before The Half. This was One Of The Hands Of Darnold To JSN To Cut The Difference To One Score. The Bucs and Seahawks Would Score Touchdowns On The Next Five Possessions Of The

Game of The Second Half, Seven Straight After the First Tampa Score(Not Including The Kneel Down Before The Half). Egbuka Had Five Catches For 129 Yards With Eight minutes Left In The Fourth Quarter. The Scoring Cooked Off With Game Tied 28-28. The Seahawks Crack The Stalemate late In The Fourth Quarter. Darnold Completed 15/16 Passes (14 In A Row At One Point) Over a Stretch in The Second Half, and The 15th was a 21 Yard Pass By Darnold To Rookie Tory Horton, Who Put Seattle Up 35-28 With A Little Over Three Minute Left in the Fourth. Unfortunately for Darnold, His Final Incompletion Of The Game ricocheted in The Arms Of Bucs linebacker Lavonte David for An Interception, And The Bucs escaped with a win. The Turnover Took Place In Seattle Territory, Giving The Bucs Excellent Field Goal Position. On The Drive Before Darnold, Ill-fated Baker Mayfield And Offense Put Together a Tying Drive, Which Ended With Mayfield striking Veteran Receiver Sterling Shepard With A Laser beam for 11 Yards, Capping Off a 5 Play 70 Yard Touchdown. Two Big Pass Plays, 25 Yards To Egbuka and 25 Yards To Otten Set Up The Bucs Game Tying Score. The Bucs Pull Off A Thrilling Victory In An Absolute Shootout 38-35. Turnovers Made The Difference in The End as The Bucs Stole Two Possessions From The Seahawks And Scored Ten Points As A Result. Emeka Egbuka 7 Catches For 163. The Bucs haven’t needed Mike Evans or Chris Godwin So Far This year, with Egbuka Completely Taking Over The Bucs Offense By Putting Up Puka Nacua. Jaxson Smith-Njigba 8 Catches For 132 receiving yards And One Touchdown. Tight End AJ Barner Caught Two Touchdowns In The Game. Sam Darnold 28/34 For 341 Passing Yards, Four Touchdowns, and a 135.4 Passer Rating. The Seahawks averaged 8.6 Yards Per Play, including 6.1 Per Rush, 18 Passing Touchdowns, and 4/4 in the Red zone, but fell short. Baker Mayfield 29/33 for 379 Passing Yards, 134.7 Passer Rating, two Touchdowns For His Best Game of the season. The Bucs couldn’t Get Anything Going On The Ground, but Rachaad White got two Touchdowns, And His 12 Yard Run helped the Bucs Run Out The Clock Late and seal The Win. Rookie Wide Receiver Tez Johnson caught Four Passes For 59 Yards, and Tight End Cade Otten Added Four Catches For 81 Yards. I still think the Bucs Should Add A Stronger Weapon At Tight End To Open Up The Offense More, maybe David Njoku In Contract Year On A Browns Team Going nowhere. Despite Getting Lit Up And Not Sacking Sam Darnold Once, The Bucs Defense Deflected Six Darnold Passes.

Panthers Vs Dolphins

Plenty Of Inexplicable Outcomes Happen In Football, But The Panthers, For The Second Time This Season, Shake Off An Inauspicious Start and come back in A Game. This Time, the Dolphins Cough Up an Early Lead, and Despite A Late attempt To Push The Panthers Back, Miami Succumbs To one of the worst outcomes In Football: Bad Rushing Defense. So Much of the NFL Centers On Stopping The Pass, and Miami Performs That Aspect Just Fine. Bryce Young Carelessly Fumbled On The Panthers’ First Drive as the Dolphins Edge Bradley Chubb, who Stuffed Young Trying To Escape The Pocket. The Young Threw A Pick On The Panthers' Next possession and The Panthers Fell Three Scores, 17-0 In The Second quarter. Young suffered A Similar Series Of Bad Plays Against The Cardinals in Week Two before Rallying And Falling Short Late. This Time, The 27-24 Against The Dolphins. Miami lost Tyreek Hill For The Season In Week Four, But Early in His Absence, it didn’t Look Like A Problem As Tua Found Success Connecting With Tight End Darren Waller. Primed for more Action with Tyreek Absent, He Registered His Second Touchdown Of The Season In The early Part Of The Game, which put the Dolphins up 17-0. The Panthers' Run Started After Waller’s Touchdown, Despite Some Early Defensive Effectiveness and some Explosive Offense. Carolina scored 20 Unanswered Points Following The 10 Minute Mark Of The Second Quarter, Straight Into the 4:42-minute mark Of The Fourth Quarter, When The Dolphins Broke A Scoring Drought By Both Teams and reclaimed a 24-20 Lead. The Punt Flew Back and Forth Wildly In This Game, But The Panthers' Rushing Attack Generated 239 Yards On The Ground Without Leading Back Chubba Hubbard. Rico Dowdle, The Former Cowboy, Rushed for 206 Yards On The Ground On 23 Carries, Including Rushes Of 53 and Another Of 45, A Yard Score. Dowdle averaged 3.0 yards on his 28 carries for 83 Yards Total On The Season.

Broncos Vs Eagles

Two Often Criticized Quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts And Bo Nix, Met In Philly. The Eagles, With Elite Pass Protection and Pass Catchers, Rank near The Bottom In Passing Efficiency And Couldn’t Pass The Ball At all Against The Bucs In The Second Half Before Escaping With A win. Hurts Has Somehow Regressed As A Passer, and The Media Jumped On A Cryptic Tweet By AJ Brown. Nix Has Played Frustrating Inconsistently, Missing Too Many “Simple” Reads and Throws. You Get The Flashes Of Brilliance Followed by Moments Of Unsteadiness. Nix Seems Impervious To Feeling Pressure. He's not stepping Up In The Pocket Or Getting The Ball Out. Nix Plays Like The Anti-Tua, Like He Wants To Get Hit, And This Showed Up against The Broncos Against The Eagles. Nix Looks Like He’s Never Seen a Blitz. He always Takes A Bad Sack. One Of These Passing Offenses Would Have To Rally Up Enough Plays To Get The Win. Jalen Hurts Connected On Two Big Pass Plays: A 52 Yarder To Devonta Smith, Then A 24-yard pass that Set Up A Yard Touchdown To Dallas Goedert to end a 3-3 Scoring Dry Spell(and a punt-a-thon) In The Second Quarter. To Start The third quarter, the Eagles broke another Scoring Drought For Both with a 47 Yard Passing Touchdown To Saquon Barkley on A Running Back Fade Route. The Eagles Took a 17-3 Lead. The Eagles Struggled Outside Of Their Three Scoring Drives, and If They Can’t Get A Big Play, they won't move The Ball. The Broncos Force Seven Straight Punts After The Eagles Scored Their Last Touchdown.

Fourth, The Broncos' Response to Bo Nix And Sean Payton Architecting Two Scoring Drives. Despite Bo's Inconsistencies, The V

Denver’s defense prevented the Eagles' offense from scoring points, but without a running game, it hurt the Eagles' passing game. It can't deliver enough Power To sustain Lead. Eagles Rely On Big Plays And On Other Teams To Beat Themselves. On Sunday, Inflicted Late Penalties Cost The Eagles Against The Broncos. The Broncos' Offense scored 18 unanswered points And Generated 186 Yards Of Offense In The Fourth Quarter. The Broncos Have Struggled Against “Winning” Teams This Season, But Get A “Signature” Win 21-17 Against The Eagles. Not Spectacular Numbers 24/39 242 Passing Yards One Touchdown and A Sub-90 Rating, But He Kept The Game clean, No Turnovers As The Broncos pulled off The Upset. When The Eagles run Game Can't Help Control Possession, Philly’s Offense Becomes One Dimensional, only Able To win Over The Top Of Defense But Unable To Sustain Drives.

Texans Vs Ravens

Favor Fell On A Texans’ Team Caught In The Throes Of A bad Start To The Season, catching An Ill-Favored Ravens team Battling Injuries, A Tougher Run Of Games. Back in Week Three, With The Texans 0-3 and Ravens coming Off A Tough Loss To the Lions From A Projection

standpoint The Ravens Could Trounce The Chiefs and Use A Whipping Of the Texans To End Houston’s Morale From A Titans Victory, Then Baltimore Rights The Ship On To An AFC Best Record.

Two-faced, With a Tough Start To The Season, Battling, and The Texans Flip The Script. Last season, the Ravens embarrassed the Texans on Christmas Day, 31-2. On Sunday, With The Ravens At Their worst, the Texans crushed the Ravens 44-10. In Lamar Jackson's debut, the game couldn't have gone worse for the Ravens. CJ Stroud completed 23 of 27 passes for 244 yards, with four touchdowns and a 143.9 passer rating, as ten Texans offensive players recorded at least one target. Stroud Also Rushed For 30 Yards ON A Scramble. If Baltimore Wanted To Lean On The Rushing ATTACK, The Texans Shut Down The Ravens’ Running Game, 15 Carries For 33 Yards On The Ground For Derrick Henry. Cooper Rush 14/20 179 Passing Yards with Three Interceptions in His First Start As A Raven. The Texans Beat Up A broken Ravens Team, But The Moment And Morale Behind This Team Should make them Feel Good About Where They Stand Despite The Rough Start.

Vikings Vs Browns

In Dilon Gabriel’s First Start, The Vikings Survive The

Tormenting Browns That Forced Two Fumbles and Sacked Carson Wentz Three Times, But Count Pull Out The Late Stop On The Vikings Drive in 21-17 Minnesota Win.

The Vikings and the Browns faced off in London, with quarterback challenges shaping the narratives for both teams. During the offseason, the Vikings chose not to make a competitive offer for Sam Darnold, who won 14 games last season and has looked impressive so far this season.. Minnesota lost Daniel Jones to the Colts, Who Also look great through four Games. With the Colts, While The Vikings' Two Starters This Season Have Struggled To Generate Points For The Offense. I Thought The Vikings Made The Right Decision On Darnold Back When he signed with Seattle, and I Hold To That Belief Despite Minnesota’s Early Struggles. Letting Darnold Walker open up The Books For The Vikings To Spend 345 million in Contracts That Souped This Roster To what looks like Super Bowl caliber, With a Top Five ranking. The

Vikings Quarterback Situation Got More Tenuous When Carson Wentz Left

for The Locker Room In the Second Quarter, and Undrafted Rookie Max Browser Set To Take Over

after The Browns Take A 10-7 Lead At The Half. Wentz Would Return.

The Browns' Time In The Lead Didn’t Last Long. On the Vikings' Ensuing Drive, the Vikings Go Eight plays for 82 Yards, Capped Off by running Back Cam Akers Taking The Quarterback Spot in The Wild car and hitting Tight End Josh Oliver For The Catch and A 32 Yard Score to tie The Game 7-7. The Browns Took A 10-7 Lead at halftime. After A first-half defensive struggle, both teams scored on Their First Drives Of The Second Half. The Vikings Get The Run Game Going with Jordan Mason Finishing Off a Red Zone Drive With a Yard Rushing Score after Wentz and The Passing Game Set Up The Score With Two Big 15+ Yard Play Through The Air To Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison Over 8 Plays, 71 Yards. The Browns Respond With A Long Drive Taking Up Over Eight Minutes, spearheaded By Their Own Run Game With Quinshon Judkins and Jerome Fire That Set Up Dolan Gabriel’s Second Touchdown Of The Game On A Quick Slant To Tight End David Njoku. Joe Flacco set the bar low, but the Browns' offense looked better with Gabriel under center. However, one thing Gabriel lacks is next-level arm talent. On The Final Play Of The game with seven Seconds Left, Dilan Gabriel Takes An Underneath Shot To Jamari Thrash for 22 Yards As Time Runs Out, And The Browns' Effort To Best the Vikings Falls Short In London. I suspect Gabriel Didnt Have The arm Talent To Swing At The End Zone. Dilon played Respectable 19/33 for 190 Passing Yards and

two Touchdowns. Gabriel didn’t Complete Or Attempt A Pass Over 20 Air Yards and completed only three Passes Over 10 Air Yards On Ten Attempts.

Browns’s Rookie Running Back Quinshon Judkins really carried The Offense For Many Stretches Of The Game, 23 Rushes For 110, 4.8 yards per Carry.

Rams Vs Niners

In Week Three, The Rams Stole A Game Away From The Colts By Forcing Multiple Turnovers and A Blindly Brilliant Late Game Offensive Performance From Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua. On Thursday Night Football, Turnovers Betrayed The Rams As The Niners Forced Two Fumbles From Rams Rushers, And Overtime Execution Undid The Rams As The Shorthanded 49ers Ride The Blistering Hot Hand Of Mac Jones To An Upset Victory. Injury Reports Have Dominated The Discourse On Many Teams Early In The Season, But Only The Ravens Have Found Themselves More Ravaged By Injuries Than The Niners. Brock Purdy Made A Surprise Early Return To The Niners Lineup On Sunday Before Re-aggravating His toe Injury Against The Jags. Tight end George Kittle Continues To Miss Time, Juan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, the Niners' Top Wide Receiver, BotH Absent On Thursday Night, leaving Kyle Shanahan and Mac Jones Without The Team’s Top Three Catching Options. The Niners have 13* players on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, Not Including Those scratched from This Game. Mac Jones Delivered A Career Night 33/49 On 50 Dropback For 342 Passing Yards Two Touchdowns, 69.9 QBR, 0.34 EpA Per Pass Play. Jones, The Former New England Starter, Averaged A Systemic 6.7 Average Depth Of Target

But Sean McVay’s Critical Decision To Go For The Conversion In Field Goal range Time Proved Costly. The Niners Connect On Game-Tying 48 Yard Field Goal From Josh Karty As Time Expired In Regulation. Matthew Stafford and The Passing Game Dug The Rams Out Of A Hole With 13 Unanswered Points After The Niners Took A 20-7 Lead In The Third. Two Stafford Touchdowns, One To End The Third quarter to Puka Nacua, The Other On The Rams' First Possession Of The Fourth Put Los Angeles In Position To Take The Lead; However, Kicker Joshua Karty Missed The Extra Point Leaving The Score tied 20-20. Neither offense could seize Momentum In The fourth quarter Until The Niners Put Together A Scoring Drive With Over 2:50 Left On The Clock. The Niners Run 12 Plays To Gain 57 Yards and Settle For A 59 Yard Field Goal By Eddie Pineiro, The Kicker. The Team Signs Two Games Prior. The Rams' Ensuing Drive Got Off To A Strong, Explosive Start with some Big Pass Plays And An Explosive Run From Kyren Williams. The Rams Set Up in the Red Zone, But The Niners Force A Fumble as Kyren Williams Looked To Score From The Yard Line. Niners Rookie Mykel Williams Knocked The Ball Loose. The Niners Punt From Their Own Goal Line, Giving Stafford and the Rams One More Opportunity To Tie Or Win. The Rams Pick Up 20 Yards In 7 Plays, Converting A Fourth Down In The Process, and The Rams Tie The Game As Time Expires To Force Overtime. In the extra Period, the Rams' Kicker Karty Botches The kick, Starting The Niners with excellent Field Position To Set Up A 41 Yard Eddie Pineiro Field Goal And The Lead. The Rams Put Together A Drive, Or Really Two Plays, Stafford Connects With Tutu Atwell For 38 Yards On The Second Play Of Time For The Offense To Set The Rams Up At The Niners' 20

yard Line. The Drive Stalls after Three Plays and Two Completions Set Up a 4th and One. The Rams Decide To Go For The Conversion Rather than Play More Football Or Settle For The Tie With Their Defense Worn Down. Kyren Williams Can’t Pick up The Yards Needed, and The Niners Win. Mac Jones Has Looked Good In His Two Starts, Top 15 In Both EPA Per Play and Passing EPA, SiX Touchdowns, and Nearly One Thousand Yards Passing. Depending on Long Brock Purdy staying out, Mac Jones Could Face an Opportunity To Improve His Stock And Regain A Starting Quarterback Spot Next season. Jones's Last Stint As A Starter In New England Fizzled Out After One Season, But He Looks Poised To Get Another Crack At Starting With How Much The NFL Loves Quarterback Redemption Stories. The Old Narrative That Kyle Shanahan’s System Augments The Skills Of His Quarterback doesn't Quite Work With Jones Piloting This Roster Hampered By Injuries. The Rams' Passing Attack Continues To Look Nearly Unstoppable When They Get Going, But The Offense Needs To Generate and Operate More Granularly. Stafford Finished With Plus Completions Over 10 Air yards, but Sean McVay decided to Attack The Niners on the Ground After Limited Success Throughout The Game. Throughout Stafford’s Career, He’s Excelled At The Spectacular and “Struggled” With The Pedestrian. The Rams' Run Blocking Didn’t Do The Team Any Favors. McVay Made Two “Questionable” calls, One Going For It On Fourth Down and Two Kicking Off After Winning The Coin Toss To Start the overtime period. The win Leaves The Niners Undefeated In Their Division With Confidence About Winning Without Their Stars Against Tough Conference and Division Opponents.

Jason Strachan

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