Even though we were two games light this week due to the first set of byes, there was plenty of action to dissect across Week 5 in the NFL.
We saw the Bears pick up their first win of the season while the unbeaten Eagles and 49ers rolled on, and some teams should be really thinking about the future.
Off the field the biggest win of the week had to go to the New York Jets social team after a rare on-field victory with this shot at Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
As we do every week we run through the big stories with our five lessons learned from the week that was in the National Football League.
1 – Short Week Travels
Now that we are over a decade into regular Thursday Night Football matchups, teams are starting to learn how to handle the short weeks, even if it is still impossible for the players to be at 100%.
Travel has not been a factor this year with three of the five road teams coming away with wins so far.
Two of those wins have been surprise victories including Chicago’s shock upset in Washington after a wretched start to the season.
Working against the Commanders was the fact they were coming off a hard divisional game against the Eagles, where they emptied the tank before losing in overtime.
Even if they were at full strength, they would have had their hands full with DJ Moore who has been arguably the lone bright spot on offence for the Bears so far.
If nothing else, Justin Fields has learned to just throw it to Number 2 and good things will probably happen.
The first one you can forgive the Commanders for not covering him because, well even if he was open there was no guarantee Fields would find him.
But the rest of it is on them, sure they were tired but how hard was it to maybe try double coverage?
2 – The Jags are right at home in London
For a moment, just ignore how fundamentally stupid it would be for the NFL to place a franchise in London (even though that’s what they are hoping for), but we got a taste of it as the Jags had their second straight game there this week.
It was one of their toughest tests after handling Atlanta in an ugly game last week, but they came through with flying colours upsetting Buffalo 25-20.
While they might have been the road team on this occasion, they did have the advantage of staying on the other side of the Atlantic for a whole week while the Bills came over for this game.
Jacksonville was rolling from the get-go, although only scoring 25 points off nearly 500 yards of offence is going to be something that needs to be improved on.
Cutting back on plays like this would be a great start.
But for every bad there were a ton of goods for the “away team” in this game.
Trevor Lawrence had a 300 yard day with Calvin Ridley his favourite target, while Travis Erienne rumbled for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Considering how often they play over there, you would hope the Jags are familiar with how to handle the trip over there and if they play more consecutive contests, their advantage will only grow.
3 – QB Health will decide the AFC
Despite only being an 18-game season, it’s still a long one for the players given the amount of punishment they take, especially in the more demanding positions.
But no player remains more important to their team than the starting quarterback and on the AFC side of things, health has already played a massive role in how some teams have fared through five weeks.
Joe Burrow’s early season struggles have been well documented but he was able to drop back 46 times and complete 15 passes to Ja’Marr Chase who said during the week he was “always open”.
If he is able to get and stay healthy the Bengals are going to be able to recover from their slow start.
Josh Allen’s arm injury derailed his team’s run home in 2022 and he needs to stay healthy to keep the Bills going, often times needing to do it all himself.
The more hits like this he takes, the more tenuous his status will be.
Even in the AFC South race, Indianapolis have surprised plenty with how competitive they have been.
Rookie QB Anthony Richardson looks a lot better than someone with his limited experience should, making huge throws.
But for the second time this season, Richardson had to miss time due to taking a big hit and now his shoulder his banged up.
In such a competitive conference, keeping the main guy healthy is going to be the bare minimum for being competitive in January.
4 – Creativity is always welcome
The play of the day unquestionably goes to the Detroit Lions for this reverse, flea flicker tight end touchdown pass.
There are very few ways teams are able to catch us off guard as we are well into the offence-heavy arcade era of the NFL, but the Lions always seem to have something up their sleeve.
It has something to do with Dan Campbell being one of the more aggressive coaches because he is always willing to try something.
Even if it backfires from time to time (and the Lions have had that happen plenty under Campbell), we’re seeing the benefits of empowering players.
Making it even more impressive was the fact one of the main contenders for play of the day came from Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson who is going to win a Defensive Player of the Year award before he retires.
5 – Steelers-Ravens is always must watch
If you love your throwback games, Baltimore and Pittsburgh facing off will be the closest we get to seeing what games used to be like.
Sure it hasn’t always been the prettiest of displays with fancy offensive play design but moreso hard-nosed defensive oriented games between two teams desperate to beat the snot out of one another.
Unsurprisingly, those who expected a low scoring arm wrestle would have been delighted by what unfolded at the venue formerly known as Heinz Field.
It was only fitting for the game to be decided by a pair of defensive highlights.
Their next head to head game on Monday January 8 (AEDT) could be for a playoff spot.