The NFL season is about to be one-third of the way over, and there have been plenty of great performances by individuals and teams. This is the point of the season where contenders step forward and the pretenders start to fade back. It is also getting to the time where you can start using the phrase "he is having a Pro-Bowl Season" when describing a player.
There are still three unbeaten teams (New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs) all sitting at 5-0. There are also four winless teams as the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants are both 0-5 and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-4.
During Week 5, there were five games decided by a touchdown or less. Denver beat Dallas 51-48 on a last second Field Goal that was set up by a Tony Romo interception with only 1:57 left on the clock. The New York Jets beat the Atlanta Falcons 30-28 on Monday Night Football with a game winning Field Goal by Nick Folk.
There were also two teams (New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks) that suffered their first loss of the season. The Patriots couldn't get their offense going against the Cincinnati Bengals and didn't get into the end zone at all. The Seahawks' top ranked defense gave up 34 points to the Indianapolis Colts in a 34-28 defeat.
The Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills both lost their starting quarterbacks to knee injuries on Thursday Night Football. Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season, and Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel sprained his LCL and is expected to miss about four weeks. The Browns brought in previous starter Brandon Weeden, who went 13-of-24 and threw for a TD, while the Bills were forced to bring in undrafted rookie free-agent Jeff Tuel who went 8-for-20 and threw a pick six to seal the game for Cleveland.
Week 5 was full of exciting finishes and All-Pro performances. Unfortunately for some it was also filled with failures and disappointments.
Once again Blaine Gabbert left a game early with an injury for the Jacksonville Jaguars. At this point, an injury would be the best thing for Jaguar fans so that they could finally move on from this first round bust.
This looked like the week for the New York Giants to get their first win of the season. They were beating the Philadelphia Eagles late in the third quarter before giving up 17 consecutive points to end up losing 36-21 to their division rival.
With Nate Burleson and Calvin Johnson out against the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions turned to Kris Durham and Ryan Broyles at the receiver position. Instead of stepping up and taking advantage of their opportunity, these two combined for just five catches for 57 yards and a garbage time TD.
The Houston Texans started the season 2-0 with two very close victories. Since then they have gone 0-3 losing by a combined score of 87-32 and should be 0-5 on the season. Matt Schaub started the game with a pick six against San Francisco, and it seemed as though they gave up from that point.
Larry Fitzgerald finished Sunday with only three catches for 43 yards against the Carolina Panthers. He wasn't matched up against an elite cornerback, so his stat line was expected to be one of the top 10 for receivers on Sunday.
The Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers met in a matchup of former No. 1 overall picks at quarterback. Cam Newton and Carson Palmer combined for one TD, six Interceptions and three tackles in the game. That's right, they had three times as many tackles as TD passes.
Matched up against one of the worst teams in the NFL, Tavon Austin of the St. Louis Rams was held in check against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had three catches for 32 yards and four punt returns for 15 yards on the day.
The former Pro Bowler finished sixth on the team in receiving yards for the New Orleans Saints. His two catches for 15 yards was less than fellow receiver Nick Toon and fullback Jed Collins.
If you look at the rushing leaders for the Tennessee Titans against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday you will see that Ryan Fitzpatrick led them in rushing yards. Fitzpatrick finished with six carries for 50 yards and a TD. In second place was backup running back Jackie Battle who contributed six carries for 38 yards. Finishing in last place was Chris Johnson who had 10 carries for only 17 yards and no scores.
It's usually difficult to statistically prove an offensive line either struggled or succeeded during a game. However, against the Baltimore Ravens, the Miami Dolphins rushed 11 times for 22 yards and QB Ryan Tannehill was sacked six times, including once on the final drive of the game which forced kicker Caleb Sturgis to attempt a 57-yard field goal to tie the game.
Julio Jones was beginning to separate himself from the rest of the receivers in the NFL. In his third year, Jones had become a top two receiver and maybe surpassed Calvin Johnson as number one. Unfortunately his season has come to an end due to a foot injury and more than likely ends the Atlanta Falcons' playoff hopes.
When you look at elite defenses that win Super Bowls like the Baltimore Ravens, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers, usually they don't give up 34 points in a game. Seattle was ranked as the top defense in the NFL until the Indianapolis Colts put up 34 on them.
In a matchup between two playoff teams from last season, the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals were expected to be one of the best games of the week. However, due to poor weather and poor play, this may have been the most boring game of the week and had one combined TD.
506 passing yards and five touchdowns can't be a disappointment, can it? Unfortunately for all Dallas Cowboys fans, they went home disappointed because of the interception Tony Romo threw at the end of the game against the Denver Broncos. The Cowboys had the ball in a 48-48 tie with Denver and a chance to beat the unbeatable team. But then, Tony Romo did what Tony Romo does and threw an interception on his own 24-yard line which allowed Denver to kick a game winning field goal.
After throwing a pick-six against Seattle and costing the Houston Texans a victory, Matt Schaub was under the microscope this week. As soon as Al Michaels mentioned that Schaub had thrown a pick-six in a record tying three consecutive games, he threw his fourth. From that point it seemed as though Schaub wanted to be doing anything other than playing quarterback in the NFL. He was pulled late in favor of TJ Yates after finishing the game with zero touchdowns and three interceptions in a 34-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
