The 72′ Miami Dolphins champagne bottles are still on ice after the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs made it through Week 5 with yet another W in the left side of the column.
Also, the 08′ Detroit Lions and 17′ Cleveland Browns (maybe for reasons unexplained) can keep their brown paper bags in the kitchen cabinets after the Arizona Cardinals picked up their first victory of the season on Sunday.
Still, it’s always fun to see this every now and then.
Enough with picking on the Detroit Lions, who can’t beat quarterbacks with more than three years of starting experience but can beat Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
NFL Week 5 saw Isaiah Crowell turn into Barry Sanders, Patrick Mahomes first interceptions and Ben Roethlisberger finally remember he has Antonio Brown to the delight of fantasy owners.
Overall a solid week of games, here are my takeaways from the biggest headlines from the week that was in the NFL.
Philadelphia Eagles Continue To Stumble
Whether Eagles fans were angrily booing the referees for what they felt was a bad roughing the passer call on Michael Bennett or their overall play as a team in the first half, there just wasn’t much to cheer for for Philly heading into the half.
The Minnesota Viking snapped their two-game skid with a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wide receiver Adam Thielen would become the first receiver in NFL history to record 5 consecutive 100-yard receiving games to begin the season.
Kirk Cousins finished the game with a efficient performance as he completed 81 percent of his passes while throwing for 301 passing yards and 1 TD to help Minnesota to their second win of the season.
The Philadelphia Eagles are reeling after their latest defeat, their third in the past four weeks and there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Philadelphia’s offensive line, a strength in 2017, has fallen off from last season as they’ve become increasingly incapable of protecting the quarterback.
Carson Wentz in the first half alone was hit five times, one of those hits resulting in a sack and a comedic 64-yard fumble recovery touchdown by defensive tackle Linval Joseph in the second quarter.
The Minnesota Vikings very well may be a team that had its rough patches and will regain its form from 2017, but for Philadelphia the same may not be the case.
Philadelphia’s identity, swagger and in some ways chemistry seems to be greatly diminished from the Super Bowl winning team last season.
The team wouldn’t convert a third down until the third quarter and allowed Kirk Cousins to consistently have a clean pocket to throw the football.
The Philadelphia Eagles unsettling start in 2018 has many now surprisingly pondering if the team will be able to recover and make the NFL postseason.
They won’t have long to lick their wounds as a trip to East Rutherford to face the New York Giants on Thursday is next for Doug Pederson’s struggling team.
Rams Hang On To Top Seahawks In Shootout
The Los Angeles Rams have real concerns defensively, but troubles on that side of the ball are not enough to keep them from repeating a trend each team wishes to repeat.
The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks 33-31 on Sunday at CenturyLink Stadium to remain unbeaten this season.
The Rams needed to overcome a fourth quarter deficit for the first time in 2018 to move to 5-0 this season as 39-yard field goal by kicker Cairo Santos with six minutes to go proved to be the difference.
Todd Gurley would rumble his way to a well earned 113 yards from scrimmage and 3 TDs to lead the Rams to the win.
The Seahawks, who were blown off their home field 42-7 last season by the Los Angeles Rams in Week 15, came for a fight today with their division rivals.
Russell Wilson (198 passing yards and 3 TDs) got plenty of help from the Seahawks rushing attack (32 carries, 190 rushing yards) as Chris Carson led the way with 116 rushing yards.
The Rams defense, which looked strong over the first two weeks is looking increasingly suspect they have given up an average of 28 PPG the last three games.
Wade Phillips’ unit is continuing to give up big plays through the air and a steady dose of yards on the ground. Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh got to Wilson for a sack each on the day but failed to factor in much against the run.
Why is this unit struggling to dominate? That was the expectation this season with the new additions. While losing Aqib Talib hurt the secondary, that’s not having a ripple down effect in Los Angeles’ ability to stop the run as they struggled vs the run even with Talib in the lineup.
Flawed on that end of the ball now unexpectedly, Sean McVay and the Rams will take being 5-0 with room for improvement.
Chiefs Defense Stands Up vs Jaguars
All the talk this week understandably was about the matchup of the Kansas City Chiefs top ranked offense vs the the Jacksonville Jaguars top ranked defense.
On Sunday, an unlikely group would make their presence felt.
Kansas City’s defense, which ranked 31st in the NFL coming into today, would be the unit making all of the headlines at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kansas City would force Blake Bortles into three first half turnovers which included a 20-yard interception return by defensive end Chris Jones before the half to make it a 20-0 Chiefs lead.
The Jacksonville Jaguars would be shutdown on a 4th and goal play in the early in the second quarter as head coach Doug Marrone took a gamble on a 4th and 1 play at the Chiefs 3-yard line.
Kansas City’s defense, led by the pass rush of outside linebacker Dee Ford, would keep Jacksonville off the scoreboard until the 3:10 mark of the third quarter where Blake Bortles would connect with T.J. Yeldon for a 14-yard touchdown.
The Kansas City Chiefs went on to win the game 30-14 as they forced Blake Bortles into a career-high five turnovers.
It’s the second consecutive season where the Kansas City Chiefs have started the season 5-0.
Graham Gano Stuns Giants on 63-Yard Field Goal
In a game they had to get to keep their season afloat, the Giants would come to life at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday vs the Carolina Panthers, but it would not be enough.
In a game of momentum switches that featured a Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown pass and grab as well as Eli Manning and Cam Newton trading dueling touchdowns …. and interceptions, the drama was plenty.
The Giants rallied back from a early 17-3 deficit to take a 31-30 lead over the Carolina Panthers late in the fourth quarter after Saquon Barkley scored his second touchdown of the game, a 15-yard touchdown reception from Eli Manning.
Just as was the case the last time these two played, Cam Newton would have the ball in his hands to win the game, but it would be Graham Gano handing the Giants a bitter pill to swallow.
Gano would Stun the Giants on a 63-yard field goal to give the Carolina Panthers a 33-31 victory over New York.
Giants cracked the 30-point plateau for the first time since Week 17 of the 2015 season, but that wasn’t enough to keep New York from falling to 1-4 on the road.
Though a ugly victory coming off a bye week, Carolina can now rest easy after averting disaster vs a team coming in that averaged 18.3 PPG.
Baker Mayfield Leads Browns To Improbable Overtime Win
That’s a way to make amends for a poor performance.
A week after turning the ball over four times and costing his team dearly in a 45-42 OT loss to the Oakland Raiders, Baker Mayfield would lead the Browns to a 12-9 OT win over the Baltimore Ravens.
After letting a 9-6 lead slip away in the final minutes, allowing Joe Flacco and the Ravens to tie the game and send it to overtime, we would be in for an eventful overtime period.
After failing to convert on a 4th and 5 from the Ravens 39 yard-line with under four minutes to play, Cleveland would shutdown Baltimore and force a three-and-out.
Cleveland would begin the possession at their own 16-yard line and it would turn into a 2nd and 21 situation for Cleveland after a 11-yard loss on a end around by wide receiver Rod Streeter.
After a 13-yard scramble on 2nd and 21, Mayfield would turn a quiet Browns crowd into a noisy one after a 39-yard completion to wide receiver Derrick Willis after the two-minute warning.
Duke Johnson would rush for 15 yards on the following play and add 9 more on the next two plays as Cleveland would be set up for a 37-yard field goal attempt with six seconds remaining.
With every Browns fan in attendance having it finely imprinted in their minds that the worse was to come give their struggles at kicker to start the season as well as during this game, their prayers would be answered.
Greg Joseph, who missed a 55-yard field goal and a extra point during the game, would hit a game-winning 37-yard field goal that was low and wobbly but made it through to give the Browns their second win of the season.
It’s been a fascinating start for the Cleveland Browns franchise during the 2018 regular-season.
In the first five games, the Cleveland Browns have played in three overtime games, tying, losing and now winning in those games.
Baker Mayfield (342 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) lit up a Ravens defense that coming in allowed the fourth fewest passing yards at 193.3 passing yards.
Not to be forgotten, Cleveland’s defense continued their strong play to begin the season.
Gregg Williams’ unit would hold the Ravens to 4-for-16 on third down while limiting Joe Flacco to a pedestrian game in which he finished 29-for-56 for 298 passing yards and a INT as Baltimore did not score a touchdown.
What are your thoughts on Sunday’s NFL action? Leave your comments below!
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