NFL Week 5 Winners and Losers

Winners

Drew Brees

I had to start the winners list with this. New Orleans QB Drew Brees passed Peyton Manning for the most passing yards of all-time Monday night against the Washington Redskins. Brees passed Manning, who was at 71,940 yards total, after a 62 yard TD throw to WR Tre’Quan Smith in the second quarter. Luckily, with the play being stopped due to it being a touchdown, Brees got to celebrate with his teammates on the field, and then later celebrated with his wife and sons. Who knows how many more years he will be a QB in the NFL, but we have all been and will continue to bear witness to pure greatness.

Isaiah Crowell

I missed him last week, but this week I couldn’t ignore him. New York Jets Isaiah Crowell practically carried the Jets to a victory over the Denver Broncos 34-16. He ran for 216 yards and a TD in only 15 carries! The Jets are a total mess mostly, but Crowell has kept them afloat. Rookie QB Sam Darnold has been iffy, and the defense has been inconsistent. Maybe Darnold will get better with age, but if not, he will have Crowell to fall back on. We should all just hope is undisclosed injury keeping him out of practice Wednesday is not too serious.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the groove of things after a deserved win over the Atlanta Falcons 41-17 on Sunday. I said last week that RB James Conner and the rest of the Steelers team looked off. This week, they answered by scoring 41 points. Yes, it was against the Falcons, who haven’t looked like themselves the whole season, but they still looked good. Conner had a great running game, going for 110 yds and 2 TDs, and the defense looked alright against a high-caliber quarterback like Matt Ryan. We just have to wait and see if they can repeat their successes this week against their division rivals Cincinnati Bengals.

Honorable mentions: Baker Mayfield, Eric Ebron, LA Rams, and Arizona Cardinals

Losers

Green Bay Packers

The Packers’ performance on Sunday overall was pitiful. They lost 31-23 to the Detroit Lions, falling to 2-2-1 on the season. First off, K Mason Crosby had the worst game of his career, going 1-5 on field goals, and missing an XP. He cost the Packers 13 points, which could have won them the game. Second, Green Bay had way too many turnovers, having 3 fumbles (2 from QB Aaron Rodgers, and 1 from CB Kevin King during a Lions turnover). It wasn’t like the Packers couldn’t produce offense, they just couldn’t be clinical. The positives are that the defense had an ok game, Rodgers is still playing like he usually can, and the running game is starting to be more consistent. Green Bay just needs to fix the little things to perhaps turn the season around.

Jacksonville Jaguars

I am going to be blunt, the Jaguars were awful on Sunday in their 30-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Granted, the Chiefs are probably the best team in the AFC this season so far, but the Jaguars just didn’t look settled. Their defense, which is the best part of their team, allowed 439 yards. The offense looked decent, with QB Blake Bortles passing for 400+ yards. But when you have 5 turnovers total, you need to reevaluate risk and reward. Jacksonville can still be a division winning team, they just can’t be so careless with the ball.

Nick Williams

I kept on watching the clip of WR Nick Williams of the Tennessee Titans dropping perhaps the game-winning touchdown, thinking to myself how bad he must feel right now. As of writing this, he just got cut from the Tennessee Titans. How quickly this can happen is insane to me. He dropped one pass, his only target in the whole game, and he got cut. No, he is not an all-star capable player, but he wasn’t bad by any means. And now his career could be over due to one dropped pass. The Green Bay Packers didn’t drop WR Randall Cobb for not catching a few throws. I just can’t wrap my head around it, and I hope Nick Williams gets back on an NFL team soon.

Honorable mentions: Philadelphia Eagles, Marcus Mariota, Dallas Cowboys, and the Oakland Raiders