NFL Week 5 Short Takes

Another week has passed in the NFL and more games affected by COVID-19. But games were played some with surprising results and others with an expected finish. A quick breakdown of each follows.

Chicago 20 / Tampa 19: Is Tom Brady approaching the end of the road? He certainly hasn’t been playing “Tom Brady-like.” He got blasted by media and fans for apparently forgetting which down it was in this game and scolding his teammates on the sidelines. I wonder how he’ll be if the Bucs get into a losing record this season?

Carolina 23 / Atlanta 16: The Jets and Falcons are competing to see who wins a game first. Both lost on this day. Panthers are a mild surprise.
Las Vegas 40 Kansas City 32. No one could have expected the Raiders would get into a shootout with the world champs and more so win the game. But there you have it and K.C. loses for the first time in 2020.

Arizona 30 / New York Jets 10: Boy are the Jets bad. Is there a team out there they will be able to compete with? Perhaps not. They got robbed by Le’Veon Bell and then released him and Sam Darnold is being hung out to dry getting a break right now because of injury. But how far has Joe Flacco fallen?

Steelers 38 / Eagles 29: Steelers Nation has to be excited about Chase Claypool. A rookie and he scores four times. With those four touchdowns, he ties a team record for most in a game joining Roy Jefferson (1968) and Ray Mathews (1954) also tying their record for most points in a game (24). For Pittsburgh now 4-0, it’s their best start since 1979 when they finished the season as Super Bowl champions.

Los Angeles Rams 30 / Washington 10: The Washington Football Team is one of several who won their season opener and lost every game since. They are bad like the Jets but not as bad.

Houston 30 / Jacksonville 14: The Texans are on the board with their first win. The Jaguars are inching close to being the league’s worst team. Two teams heading in opposite directions.

Miami 43 / San Francisco 17: The upset of the day but not so much because of who won but by the final score. This was an outright beatdown. Ryan Fitzpatrick is making sure rookie Tua Tagovailoa does not see the field this season with a 22 of 28 for 350 yards performances adding three passing touchdowns.

Cleveland 32 / Indianapolis 23: The Browns are proving they belong in the top 5-10 teams in the NFL. You have to wonder how much Philip Rivers is enjoying his new digs.

Dallas 37 / New York Giants 34: It must suck to be a New York sports fan this year. The Jets are the worst team in the NFL and the Giants not far behind. The Rangers failed to make the playoffs and the Islanders fell short of reaching the Stanley Cup finals loss to the eventual champion Tampa Lightening. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they lost Dak Prescott for the season.

Seattle 27 / Minnesota 26: The Vikings gave it their all but still lost. They need some wins to turn around their season that was supposed to be playoff competitive.

Saints 30 / Los Angeles Chargers 27: They aren’t missing Philip Rivers in L.A. Rookie Justin Herbert is competing against Joe Burrow for the best rookie quarterback in 2020. Despite losing this game, Herbert was 29 of 34 for 264 yards and tossed four scores. As for Drew Brees, there are murmurs that he just not the same.

Tennessee 42 / Buffalo 16: If you are going to lose your first game of the season this is not the way to do it. The Bills and Josh Allen come crashing back to earth and do so HARD. The Titans have been playing games with very little rest but remain unbeaten.