Week Five – Washington 0-5 Let’s Blame The Coach
Week Five saw its fair share of upsets and the first head coach firing of the season when Washington finally decided to bring the Jay Gruden era to an end. They could have handled it better though – calling him in around 5.00 am to break the news; he couldn’t even go for a beer to drown his sorrows at that time. Anyway, he shouldn’t be out of a job for too long and there are a lot more heads that should be rolling at the Redskins as he is far from the only one to blame for their 0-5 start. In the weekend’s other games there were a fair number of upsets with the Chargers, Chiefs & Cowboys all losing at home.
The new young QBs generally speaking had another good week with Teddy Bridgewater continuing to fill in admirably for Drew Brees, putting up 314 yards and scoring 4 TDs in their win, while Lamar Jackson had the unusual distinction of being the leading passer and rusher in the Ravens narrow win at the Steelers. But the one who has caught the eye the most is Gardner Minshew who had 374 yards and another 2 TDs in the Jags one-score loss at Carolina. Have they found their franchise QB finally?
One who didn’t have such a good time was Daniel Jones who saw his honeymoon period in New York came to an abrupt end when facing a playoff calibre team for the first time. Four sacks, and little in the way of support. Now he knows what Eli had to put up with for the last few seasons. He will be a good QB given time if he survives the beatings he looks set to take.
Two teams are left unbeaten the Patriots (no surprise there) and the 49ers who are starting to make people take notice.
Anyway, with all the upsets we struggled with our picks this week finishing a worst-ever 7-8. Hopefully, we will get back to form next week.
NFL Week Five’s Results
LA Rams 29 Seattle 30
The Rams will be kicking themselves for letting this one slip away. Jared Goff put um an impressive 395 yards but the defense just couldn’t stop the run when it mattered. This, a costly interception, and an uncharacteristic FG miss by Greg Zuerlein meant they fell short. At 3-2 they have an uphill struggle now in the NFC West given how well the 49ers are playing.
Arizona 26 Cincinnati 23
Barring a tie one of these teams had to finally get a win on the board and a field goal as time expired gave the win to the Cardinals. Kyler Murray once again showed his mobility picking up 93 yards rushing.
Buffalo 14 Tennessee 7
The Bills defense is very good, and QB Josh Allen is playing adequately which is why they are 4-1. Their schedule doesn’t look overly taxing going forward and right now we think they can scrape a wild card place if the defense maintains this level of play.
Chicago 21 Oakland 24
The first of the London games turned out to be rather entertaining with Oakland Bouncing out to a 17 point lead by the half, and then the Bears rallied with three straight TDs to take the lead. Fittingly to cap off a dramatic game, the Raiders snatched the upset win with a late TD. Stand in QB Chase Daniel threw a couple of costly interceptions in the game and the Bears will be hoping that Mitchell Trubisky hurries back from injury.
Tampa Bay 24 New Orleans 31
Teddy Bridgewater had a great night completing 26-34 passes for 314 & 4 TD’s. The only blight was throwing an interception deep in his own half which gifted the Buccs 7 points. The game was well over before a late TD made the game look much closer than it actually was.
Minnesota 28 New York Giants 10
The Vikings dominated this one on both sides of the ball and talk of Kirk Cousins being out of sorts looked short of the mark as he threw for 306 yards. Dalvin Cook had a good night too, adding 132 yards on the ground. The only concern if you are a Minnesota fan is the lack of points after such a dominant display.
New York Jets 6 Philadelphia 31
The Eagles defense totally dominated this game, which is fortunate as the Offense didn’t look good. What is most scary is that the Eagles were missing three of their better defensive players, but still dominated. Either the Jets are really bad or Philadelphis have a monster defense – probably a bit of both. This win means the Eagles are now 11-0 against the Jets all time.
Baltimore 26 Pittsburgh 23 (OT)
Baltimore scraped home in this one largely thanks to the efforts of Lamar Jackson who generated 231 yards of combined offense. The game was marred by a nasty foul by Earl Thomas which knocked Mason Rudolph out of the game.
New England 33 Washington 7
This 4-0 v 0-4 clash went pretty much as expected with an easy Patriots win. Tom Brady had a good night racking up 348 yards and throwing 3 TDs. Once again Washington played well early before fading down the stretch. Anyway their inability to see a game out has cost Jay Gruden his job and with the evident dysfunction at all levels within the franchise, if they don’t beat the Dolphins next week an 0-16 season can’t be ruled out given their remaining schedule.
Jacksonville 27 Carolina 34
The Panthers led this one from start to finish, but of the two promising young QB’s on display Gardner Minshew stood out the most throwing for 374 yards. The Jags defense struggled to stop Christian McCaffrey who had 176 yards rushing and when you lose the turnover battle 3-0 then you usually lose.
Atlanta 32 Houston 53
Deshaun Watson had a career night throwing for 426 yards and 5 TDs three of which went to Will Fuller. However despite this, the game was a lot closer than it looks and the Falcons pulled to within one score deep in the Fourth, before two Houston TD’s inside the last two minutes put the gloss on the win. It is probably fair to say the Falcons season is done.
Denver 20 LA Chargers 13
Not a game that will live long in the memory, won by the Bronco’s defense who forced 3 turnovers and kept Philip Rivers in check all night. So The Bronco’s are finally off the mark at 1-4 while the Chargers are now in a bit of a hole at 2-3. They look a mere shadow of the team which went 12-4 last year.
Green Bay 34 Dallas 24
Green Bay bounced back from last weeks self-inflicted loss against Philadelphia with a much improved Offensive display. Aaron Jones, in particular, looked a different player from the one who had averaged below 2 yards per carry in the previous two weeks, finishing with $ TDs, while Rodgers despite lacking his no 1 Wideout played error-free. The Packers Defense was again more opportunistic than dominating giving up 563 yards. Still, they had three takeaways which in the end settled the game. Dak Prescott managed 463 yards passing but threw three interceptions which resulted in 10 points. The Cowboys also missed two field goals in what as not a vintage night for them.
Indianapolis 19 Kansas City 13
Patrick Mahomes didn’t have a great night, well by his standards only putting up 321 yards, and got scant support from his defense which led to a surprise win for the Colts at Arrowhead. The Colts ran the ball well, controlled the clock and benefitted from 125 yards of penalties. Not sure this result will be repeated if they meet in the postseason.
Cleveland 3 San Francisco 31
San Fransisco moved to 4-0 with an impressive display against the heavily hyped Browns who have now slipped to 2-3. First-round pick Nick Bosa had a big night with two sacks, as the Niners moved on to 4-0 and clear first place in what looks like a very strong NFC West.
Detroit & Miami both had Bye Weeks
