At this point, is it even a surprise when the Jacksonville Jaguars end up on the losing end? The Jaguars have scored 51 points total over their first five games--which is how many points the Denver Broncos had against the Dallas Cowboys alone last Sunday.
In other words--the Jaguars will be at the bottom of this list heading into Week 7.
Once again, the New York Giants hit a new low by losing at home to the Philadelphia Eagles. Too many turnovers by Eli Manning and the most frustrating part of the game is the Giants lost with Nick Foles playing quarterback for the Eagles.
It's time to start looking forward to the 2014 NFL Draft for the G-Men.
The only reason why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved up a spot ahead of the Giants is because they were on a bye week. With Josh Freeman no longer around, all eyes will be on Mike Glennon for the remainder of the 2013 season and it will be interesting to see how the Buccaneers matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles--a team they could easily earn their first win against.
While the rest of the AFC North is in a three-way tie for first place in the division, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still looking for that first win of the regular season heading into Week 6. For the sake of Mike Tomlin, let's hope the bye week was just what the Steelers needed to turn things around this season as the offense and defense should look better against the New York Jets.
Cam Newton is slowly losing the faith of Carolina Panthers fans as he's coming off another disappointing performance against the Arizona Cardinals in which he threw three interceptions. For a team that was supposed to be a sleeper contender in the NFC, things aren't looking good for the Panthers heading into Week 6 and the hot seat of Ron Rivera is only going to heat up more if they continue to struggle.
Coming off a bye week, the Washington Redskins still have a shot at the division as crazy as it sounds when looking at how bad the NFC East has been this season. If the Redskins can pull off a win against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6, they'll be right back in the hunt with the rest of the teams in the division, but it certainly won't be easy.
Let's just hope Robert Griffin III's knee starts to look better than it did in the first month of the regular season.
Even though they're coming off a bye week, the Minnesota Vikings were quite the popular team after deciding to sign Josh Freeman to a one-year, $3 million deal. When considering the team's 1-3 start, Christian Ponder's days in Minnesota could be coming to an end and it will be interesting to see how this team performs against the Carolina Panthers.
On the bright side, at least this team will always be contenders with Adrian Peterson in the backfield.
How bad are things for the Atlanta Falcons? Losing a must-win game at home to the New York Jets stings for a team that went 13-3 during the regular season last year, but what hurts even more is the New Orleans Saints are 5-0 heading into Week 6.
There's still plenty of time, but this 1-4 start is nothing short of pathetic for the Falcons.
As painful as it was to lose to the Cleveland Browns considering it was a game they could have won, the Buffalo Bills have to adjust to playing without E.J. Manuel for a few weeks. This team has been inconsistent during the regular season, but it's difficult to imagine this team contending with Jeff Tuel at quarterback.
The cure for any football team to get back on track is simply a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars as Sam Bradford and the St. Louis Rams finally picked up their second win of the regular season. This team was expected to be a sleeper contender like the Panthers in the NFC, but they've struggled to get anything consistent going this year.
After a win over the Jaguars, it will be interesting to see how the offense matches up on the road against the Houston Texans.
Give the Oakland Raiders credit for pulling off a big win against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night as Terrelle Pryor (18 of 23 for 221 yards with two touchdowns) looked impressive once again. Speaking of Pryor, it was a bold move by the Raiders to release Matt Flynn on Monday and putting even more pressure on their quarterback.
After Michael Vick left the game with an injury, all hope seemed lost for the Philadelphia Eagles--that is until Nick Foles showed up. The second-year quarterback came up huge for the Eagles as he finished with two key touchdown passes, but the main story in this game was the performance of the defense as they picked off Eli Manning three times.
Once again, the San Diego Chargers ended up on a losing game they could have easily won as the ground game was an absolute joke. Philip Rivers may have crossed the 400-yard mark, but his three interceptions ended up being costly and unfortunately--it's difficult to determine what to make of the Chargers at this point in the season.
So the Dallas Cowboys score 48 points, Tony Romo throws for over 500 yards and five touchdowns--yet the team still comes up on the losing end. Talk about the definition of bad luck as the Cowboys were the unfortunate victims of falling to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in what may go down as the greatest shootout of the 2013 season.
Carson Palmer completes 19 of 28 passes for 175 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions--and the Arizona Cardinals still manage to go on and win in Week 5. Give the defense credit as they made it a long afternoon for Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers, but the offense still needs plenty of work if they're going to compete with the best in the NFC.
After sending Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts, the Cleveland Browns have won three-straight games and are currently tied for first place in the AFC North--which nobody could have expected. Brian Hoyer has done a fantastic job with providing this team with a spark, but losing him for the season to a torn ACL is a huge blow as the team will have to resort back to Brandon Weeden.
Try harder at containing your level of excitement, Cleveland fans.
Not sure what Rex Ryan is doing this year, but whatever he's doing--it's certainly working as the New York Jets are 3-2 and coming off a huge road win against the Atlanta Falcons. For a team many expected to win four games at most in 2013, Geno Smith has looked phenomenal as a rookie and it will be interesting to see if the Jets can keep it up heading into a Week 6 matchup against the winless Steelers.
Seriously--what has happened to this team? For a team that was supposed to compete in the AFC once again this year, the Houston Texans have looked flat-out awful this season and Matt Schaub could lose his starting job soon after his fourth-straight game with a pick six.
What's even more sad to think about--the Texans could have easily been 0-5 considering how close they were to losing their first two games of the season.
This was a game the Green Bay Packers simply had to win and even though the offense struggled in the first half, Aaron Rodgers and company came through when it mattered the most. Unfortunately, a hard-fought victory sometimes turns out to be a loss as well as losing Clay Matthews to a broken thumb was the last thing this team needed to deal with.
The Tennessee Titans had a chance to come through with a big win against the Kansas City Chiefs, but they simply just couldn't hang on in the fourth quarter. This game could have been much different with Jake Locker under center, but how can the Titans expect to win games with Ryan Fitzpatrick as their leading rusher over Chris Johnson?
After a 3-0 start, the Chicago Bears have struggled over the last two weeks against two of the top teams in the NFC--leaving many to believe whether or not this team has finally been exposed. It's clear this team needs some help on the defensive side of the ball, but don't count this team out just yet.
If anything, keep an eye on Alshon Jeffery as the second-year wideout has tore it up over the last two weeks (15 catches for 325 yards with two touchdowns).
It's hard to believe the Miami Dolphins seemed like one of the top teams in the AFC two weeks ago and now--they're coming off two straight losses after falling to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. While Ryan Tannehill (21 of 40 for 307 passing yards with one touchdown) is the leader on offense, the Dolphins need to figure out their issues in the running game as 22 total rushing yards won't get you far when it comes to winning football games.
Obviously, this game would have been much different with Calvin Johnson in the lineup, but the Detroit Lions need other players to step it up on both sides of the ball in these types of situations. If the Lions are going to have any chance at winning the division, they'll need to figure out a way to get by the Green Bay Packers and after Sunday's game--that could be a big challenge.
The Cincinnati Bengals entered the regular seasons as one of the favorites in the AFC and while they've looked far from impressive at times, this was a huge win against the New England Patriots. Mike Zimmer's defense proved why they deserve to be considered one of the best in the league, but Andy Dalton (20 of 27 passes for 212 yards with one interception) needs to figure out a way to put up better numbers as he only has five touchdown passes on the year--all of which came in the first three games.
With the way Colin Kaepernick has struggled as of late, this was a must win for the San Francisco 49ers and give the team credit for stepping it up in the national spotlight--especially on defense. While Kaepernick (6 of 15 for 113 yards with one touchdown) still has plenty to work on, the 49ers have to be pleased with how impressive the ground game has looked over the last two weeks--especially Frank Gore.
One week after an embarrassing loss to the Bills, the Baltimore Ravens came back with a huge road win against the Dolphins in Week 6. This has to be one of the most difficult teams to figure out so far this year, but at least the Ravens have to be pleased with Ray Rice (74 rushing yards with two touchdowns on 27 carries) finally coming through in the ground game.
As disappointing as it is to see Tom Brady's touchdown streak come to an end, the New England Patriots knew they were facing a tough challenge against the defense of the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5. The Patriots managed to squeak by with a few games they could have easily lost over the first four weeks of the regular season and the struggles of a young group of wide receivers certainly showed on Sunday.
Give the Seattle Seahawks as they lost a very tough game on the road against one of the top teams in the AFC in the Indianapolis Colts. There's no reason to panic after one loss as the Seahawks still have one of the best teams in the NFC and Russell Wilson continues to look more impressive each game he plays--even if he did throw that costly interception at the end of the game.
Talk about a big win as the Indianapolis Colts dominated one of the league's top defenses in the Seattle Seahawks. Andrew Luck continues to show why he's becoming one of the league's top quarterbacks and props to T.Y Hilton (five catches for 140 yards with two touchdowns) for having one heck of a game.
The Kansas City Chiefs just seem to get better and better each week as they're coming off another impressive win on the road against the Tennessee Titans. It's amazing to see how quickly Andy Reid and Alex Smith have made a difference for this team, but they still have plenty to prove if they're going to continue being one of the top teams in the AFC--especially since they play in the same division as the Denver Broncos.
Remember a few weeks ago how fans were saying the New Orleans Saints weren't for real? Well, nobody is questioning them anymore as they look like the team to beat in the NFC after a big road win against the Chicago Bears.
Not only do the Saints have one of the most dangerous offenses thanks to Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham, but it's amazing to see how much the defense has improved under Rob Ryan.
Sunday was the perfect example of why Peyton Manning will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football. The offense of the Denver Broncos looks unstoppable at this point in the year as they've recorded 50+ points in back-to-back games and expect them to remain at the top of this list next week with an easy matchup against the Jaguars.
