It was a good week to be on the road in the NFL with plenty of visitors heading home happy.
Both of the remaining undefeated teams fell, allowing the 1972 Miami Dolphins to remain as the only undefeated Super Bowl winner in NFL history.
New Orleans and Tennessee picked up their first wins of the season… and then there’s the 0-5 Jets who lost by 17 thanks to a couple of garbage time scores.
Check out our full recap of Week 5 here.
1 – San Francisco Gets Their “What If?” Moment
Remember back in 2021 when it seemed like Mac Jones was the perfect quarterback for Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers?
For all money it looked like they had traded up to pick three in the draft for the Alabama signal caller.
Instead they took the raw Trey Lance and… well it was a disaster, in part because he couldn’t stay healthy and the guy they were trying to replace took them back to the Super Bowl.
But what if Shanahan didn’t get overruled by John Lynch and he had Jones from his rookie season?
They have had to do a lot of work rebuilding Jones after falling apart in New England (to the point he and Bill Belichick no longer spoke to one another), but he seems like a natural fit.
The problem is, San Francisco has their apparent guy in place with Brock Purdy on a quarter of a billion (US) dollar contract.
But is Purdy actually worth that deal or is he a good quarterback made to look better by Shanahan’s friendly system?
Jones had another good game as the starter, lighting up a good Rams defence with former Pats teammate Kendrick Bourne his favourite target.
Al Michaels joked about it during the game, but has he really done enough to spark a quarterback controversy in San Francisco?
Probably not, especially since he will need a week or two to recover from the beating he took in that game.
2 – The AFC North Is Up For Grabs
Despite being on a bye in Week 5, the Pittsburgh Steelers somehow managed another win.
With the way the AFC North is unfolding the best thing they can do is not play their games because their three rivals are falling in a heap.
Cleveland… yeah enough said about that mess.
Cincinnati is without a quarterback (more on that in a minute) and just cannot get things going their way.
Meanwhile Baltimore is dealing with a decimated defence and an injured MVP quarterback.
Oh and the only fight they are showing at the moment is after giving up another touchdown on defence in the middle of a blowout loss to Houston.
That left the one-time Super Bowl contender at 1-4 and wondering just how they can turn things around when they can’t catch a break.
10 wins might be enough to win the AFC North now and can the Steelers find their way to that number with a 41 year old quarterback who has taken a beating in his career and a volatile receiver?
They have to like their chances right now.
3 – Cincinnati Should Trade For Jameis (Or Any Capable Quarterback)
Because the AFC North is up for grabs and the Bengals won in Weeks 1 and 2 for the first time this decade, their season isn’t over yet.
If everything goes right for Joe Burrow, they could get him back in December and there is no reason to back against them in the run home.
They didn’t look great against Minnesota and Denver, but this is a team that could sneak into the playoffs at 9-8 as a seventh seed if they can find a way to tread water until their MVP quarterback gets healthy.
Enter this guy…
Stuck on the bench in New York, Jameis Winston is going to be a boom or bust acquisition for the Bengals but at this point, Zac Taylor needs to roll the dice to save his job.
Their schedule is not the easiest, but they have winnable games against the Steelers (twice), Jets, and Bears.
Add in a capable quarterback who can get the ball to his star receivers and the game against New England suddenly becomes winnable and who knows what Baltimore’s defence will look like by Week 13?
If they can get to that game at 5-6 or even 6-5 (somehow), with Burrow ready to go, would you count them out?
Especially with a coach fighting to save his job.
4 – There is No Legislating Against Stupidity
One of the hot button issues in the NFL is whether or not a fumble through the end zone should be a touchback and possession to the defence.
The major objection stems from the belief that losing possession without the defence recovering it is too punitive on the team with the ball.
Over the last two weeks we have seen why the rule is perfectly fine because there is no way the Colts deserved to keep the ball after AD Mitchell dropping the ball before reaching the end zone last week, nor did the Cardinals after Emari Demercado not only dropped the ball but rolled it out of the end zone.
That kick started an all time collapse by Arizona as it would have put them up by three scores against a Tennessee team that was called “ass” by its rookie quarterback a week ago.
Granted, you can only put a certain amount of blame on the rookie back because Arizona not only hit the self destruct button but they treated it like one of those Whack-A-Mole games.
Sometimes teams give themselves no chance.
5 – Drake and the Pats Maye Be Good
We might have two good teams in the AFC East after they way New England has improved in the early part of this season.
A big week for Mike Vrabel’s team yielded their biggest victory in years as they knocked off the Buffalo Bills in primetime.
Granted, for New England it was a chance to prove themselves as a good team and for Buffalo it was Week 5 so the motivation levels might not have been completely level.
But it is hard to ignore the massive improvement in Drake Maye under the tutelage of Vrabel plus the offensive coaching staff.
The guy has the talent to be a top five quarterback in the league, but there were some questions about whether or not he would put it all together.
With the game on the line, Maye kick started the Patriots drive with a special play to withstand the pressure and get the throw off to Stefon Diggs.
But that wasn’t his best throw of the game, that came earlier on as he found Diggs on the move and put it right in his receiver’s hands.
Let’s not pretend that the Patriots are suddenly Super Bowl contenders, there are still a whole lot of issues to solve over the coming years.
Those rebuilds get a whole lot easier when you have the coach and quarterback in place and now they have a chance to get into the playoffs with a favourable schedule ahead.