Week 5 is done and dusted and it was a weekend of comebacks. Carolina, Buffalo, New York Giants, New Orleans and Cleveland all pulled off some stunning comebacks to make week 5 at least a little bit more exciting than the snoozefest of another Thursday night hammering. The Thursday night fixture needs to be fixed quickly if the NFL wants it to remain in the fixture for next season.
Thursday was never going to be good for the Vikes once they found out rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater hadn’t recovered from an ankle injury and Christian Ponder was named starter. It only got worse from there for the Vikes as Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy and the Packers D beat-up on the undermanned and outclassed Vikings. Julius Peppers also became the first player to notch 100+ sacks and 10 return TDs. (10-42) Packers
The highly rated Bears offence once again ground to a halt in the second half against the Panthers only scoring 3 points (still 3 more than last week). The Panthers smelling blood pounced to bounce back into the winners circle. After some lacklustre performances in the past couple of weeks that had everyone questioning the team, a strong come from behind win could just spark them into action. (24-31) Panthers
It was the battle for Texas. J.J Watt v Tony Romo. It looked like it was going to be another Dallas meltdown as they gave away a 10pt lead in the 4th and the game went to overtime. Watt proved he was human by missing a sure fire sack on Romo that kept not only Tony alive but the Cowboys drive, which was capped off by a Dan Bailey 49yard field goal. DeMarco Murray is still producing at an alarming rate as the Cowboys go 4-1 as they head to Seattle. (17-20) Cowboys
Kyle Orton made his return to a starting line-up as E.J. Manuel was benched in favour of the 10year journeyman. It paid dividends for the Bills as they came from behind against a Megatron-less Detroit that had problems all day against former coach Jim Shwartz’s defence. Stafford was sacked 6 times and to make things worse kicker Alex Henery missed all 3 field goals in an effort reminiscent of previous kicker Nate Freese. (17-14) Bills
Indianapolis capitalised in a turnoverfest at Lucas Oil Stadium to claim win number 3 for the season in a row ending Baltimore’s 3 game winning streak in the process. Defence was the order of the day as both offences struggled, but the Colts showed up most when required well Luck did at any rate. It also made the Ravens record against the Colts 0-5 all time. (13-20) Colts
The poor Jags, a grand stadium and the fans have to watch that team. The winless Jags kept their streak alive and the odds of securing the number 1 pick firmed. Pittsburgh on the other hand was lucky to only be playing the Jags, not a good side like the Bucs. (17-9) Steelers
Something is wrong down in Naw’leans. A terrible start to the season and then at home they had to come from behind in the 4th to force the game into overtime against Tampa Bay. The Bucs shot themselves in the foot with 15 penalties throughout the game costing them big time and keeping the Saints in the game. (31-37) Saints
The injury plagued offensive line crumpled at the wrong time for the Falcons as they gave up a lead to a revitalised Giants side. ELIte Manning may finally be getting into the swing of things in a new offence under Ben McAdoo that had many questioning if Manning was washed up, yours truly included. The Falcons need to get healthy and soon otherwise they will be bundled out of the playoff race as Ryan can’t shoulder the load alone. (20-30) Giants
The Eagles nearly let a 27 point lead slip at home as they somehow improved their record to 4-1 in the least convincing fashion possible. The dominant team they just beat? Why it was the St. Louis Rams led by 2nd year and third string QB Austin Davis (even his own mum had google who he was). In better news for Eagles fans, they have 5 return TDs in the past two weeks. Bad news is those numbers aren’t sustainable and when they can’t maintain that they will fall flat on their face. (28-34) Eagles
28-10 at half time and the opposing team is led by Brian Hoyer, how much do the Titans win by? Well the answer is the Browns. Not only did they humiliate the Titans but they set an NFL record doing so by recovering from a 25 point deficit to post the biggest comeback win in the NFL by a road team. Not even Clipboard Jesus could save the Titans from Hoyer. As bad as Jacksonville are they would never surrender a 25 point lead (I’m aware they won’t ever hold one). (29-28) Browns
Peyton Manning threw for TD number 500 as Demaryius Thomas broke a Broncos’ receiving record posting 226yards on the previously unbeaten Cardinals. The Cards came back to reality as the Broncos put up a strong showing over the injury depleted line-up the Cards trotted out. The Cards are now down to third string QB Logan Thomas. It could be ugly for the Cards in the coming weeks. (20-41) Broncos
Gangrene turned gangrenous as the Jets became the first team shutout for season 2015. Seriously how bad can a team be that they didn’t score in a competition featuring such sides as Jacksonville, Oakland, Tampa Bay and a Ponder led Vikings. Not even Vick could turn the tide as he replaced Geno Smith at the half. The Chargers are ploughing full steam ahead though registering their fourth win in a row. (0-31) Chargers
Alex Smith returned to face his old side in their new stadium in front of the same old 49er fans who would much rather start fights than watch football. I used to think Mike McCarthy didn’t know how to run the football, turns out Andy Reid has the same philosophy as he continuously threw the ball in 3rd and short situations and it cost the Chiefs bigtime. (17-22) 49ers
Questions swirled around the future of Tom Brady, he put those to bed. Brady led his Pats to an emphatic victory over what really was a deplorable Bengals side that shouldn’t have even shown up after the performance they put on the field. In what could be a preview of a future play-off game the Bengals put on a typical Bengal play-off performance on the big stage. (17-43) Patriots
Russel Wilson contributed 323 yards of offence and 3TDs to hand the Redskins another loss in primetime. After Percy Harvin scored a TD after running out of bounds a few weeks ago the refs decided to even the ledger by throwing not 1, not 2, but 3 flags on 3 scoring plays from Harvin to wipe them off the board. While still the best team in football the Seahawks would want to fix their sometimes sloppy and inconsistent play as teams are circling. (27-17) Seahawks
Things to look forward to in Week 6:
- What bewildering play will Andy Reid call this week?
- Will the Jets score?
- How long before the Jets put a call in to bring back Sanchez?
- How will the Eagles fluke a win this week?