Well, what have we learned in the NFL this week? First off, no team will finish the season without a win as the Texans finally got that monkey off their back this past weekend, while the Eagles remain the only 100% winning team.
Oh, and it seems that officials don’t know any longer what a legitimate tackle is on a quarterback without it being called as a roughing the passer penalty.
Same old, same old in many ways.
We’ve also learned that things are looking up in a big way in the Big Apple with both New York teams enjoying winning records after five weeks, that the Bears may have a few issues, but they can put up a pretty decent fight of things and that the Ravens can win a home field game without throwing away a huge lead.
Unfortunately, too, we’ve also seen some bad news on the injury front with a number of players now likely out for the season and in Tua Tagavailoa’s case, it could even been a career threatening situation developing in Miami.
After offenses posted some big scores last week, this week the defenses were on top in a number of games which saw low scores, especially the AFC South clash between the Texans and Jaguars.
Let’s now take a look at some of the key stories that have emerged in the NFL this week.
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NFL Matchday 5 – Main Stories
Eagles Continue To Fly To Move To 5-0 – The Philadelphia Eagles hung on against the Arizona Cardinals to claim a 20-17 win and remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL. Strong games from Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith and the Eagles RB team laying the foundation for their success against Kyler Murray’s Cardinals.
Giants Produce Stunning London Comeback Against Pack – Brian Daboll’s Giants moved to 4-1 in the NFC West, one behind the Eagles and level with the Cowboys after a stunning comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers in London. A superb combined effort in the second half led the Giants to claw back a two-score deficit and claim an outstanding win against Aaron Rodgers and the Pack.
Texans Claim Win In Battle Of Defenses In Duval – The Houston Texans are no longer winless after they put the Jacksonville Jaguars to the sword for the eighth successive game in a row. It wasn’t a pretty game, with just one touchdown scored, but Rookie RB Dameon Pierce was the difference maker as he continued his stellar rookie season form for the Texans.
Jets Stun Tua-Less Dolphins With Big Win In NY – Could the Dolphins season be heading down the pan after Tua Tagavaioloa’s injury? With Teddy Bridgwater now questionable, the Dolphins had to rely on Skylar Thompson in their heavy defeat to a quickly improving Jets. While the Dolphins may be on the phone to free agent QBs this week, the Jets continue to improve, moving to second in the NFC East.
Cowboys Defense Too Hot For Rams To Handle – This Dallas Cowboys defense is proving too hot for many teams to handle and that proved the case as Dallas fans not only came to SoFi Stadium and turned it into almost a home game, but they witnessed their team put the Super Bowl holders in their place with a very fine victory with the stellar defensive play the foundation for that win.
Falcons Victim Of Dreadful Call In Defeat To Bucs – Finally, I can’t finish without mentioning that awful call against Grady Jarrett in the Falcons @ Bucs game. Jarrett landed a perfect, textbook sack on Brady and should have got the ball back for his team via a punt. The decision to call a foul for roughing the passer was an absolute joke. The Falcons were robbed of a chance to win the game after making a stellar play on defense and that cannot be right.
NFL Star Performers of the Week – Offense/ST
RB Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots) – 25 carries for 161 yards, 2 catches for 14 yards.
K Nick Folk (Patriots) – 5/5 Field Goals, plus 2 extra points
RB Nick Chubb (Browns) – 17 carries for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns.
RB Austin Ekeler (Chargers) – 16 carries for 173 yards and 1 touchdown
WR Mike Williams (Chargers) – 10 receptions for 134 yards
RB Leonard Fournette (Buccaneers) – 14 carries for 56 yards & Touchdown, 10 receptions 83 yards and a Touchdown.
QB Josh Allen (Bills) – 20/31, 424 yards and 4 touchdowns and 42 yards rushing.
WR Gabe Davies (Bills) – 3 receptions for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns
WR Justin Jefferson (Vikings) – 12 receptions for 154 yardsm 1 pass for 23 yards
RB Derrick Henry (Titans) – 28 carries for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns
QB Taysom Hill (Saints) – 1 pass for 22 yards and a touchdown, 9 rushes for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns
WR Tyler Lockett (Seahawks) – 5 receptions for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns
TE Mark Andrews (Ravens). – 8 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown
TE Travis Kelce (Chiefs) – 7 receptions for 25 yards and 4 touchdowns.
RB Josh Jacobs (Raiders) – 21 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown
WR Davante Adams (Raiders) – 3 receptions for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns
Dallas Cowboys – The Cowboys defense terrorised the Rams offensive line and had Matt Stafford pressured constantly as they earned a superb win in Los Angeles. This is a special unit. Stafford was sacked five times and threw an interception as the Dallas defense swarmed over him.
Houston Texans – The Jaguars had started to look a bit tasty on offense in their recent games, but the Texans kept them to two field goals to win yet another game against the Jags. They intercepted Trevor Lawrence twice, patted down eight passing attempts and were very effective at stopping the Jaguars in or close to the red zone.
New England Patriots – The Detroit Lions had scored the most points on offense in the NFL ahead of the game with the Patriots, but the Pats snuffed out the Lions attack in brutal fashion leaving them with no points and another heavy loss. Matt Judon forced a fumble and made two sacks, while Jack Jones intercepted Jared Goff once in this one-sided win.
Kansas City Chiefs – Admittedly the Chiefs defense weren’t great in the whole game against the Raiders, but that defence on the 2-pt conversion attempt for the Raiders effectively won them the game.
Indianapolis Colts – Despite mustering just 12 points on offense, the Colts defense stepped up big to hold the Denver Broncos to just 9 points in return, intercepting Russell Wilson twice and patting down seven attempted passes from the Broncos struggling QB. Add to that four sacks and it was a productive day for the Colts defense.
NFL Rookies Of The Week
RB Dameon Pierce (Texans) – 26 carries for 99 yards and a touchdown. 17 Broken Tackles (NFL Record)
RB Breece Hall (Jets) – 18 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown and 2 receptions for 100 yards.
CB Sauce Gardner (Jets) – 5 tackles, A Safety, Interception, Patted Down and QB hit
QB Bailey Zappe (Patriots) – 17 out of 21 passes for 188 yards and a Touchdown
Derek Stingley (Texans) – 7 tackles, an interception and 2 passes defensed
S Marcus Williams (Ravens) – Dislocated his wrist against the Bengals and is expected to be out for several weeks.
QB Baker Mayfield (Panthers) – Had protective boot on his left foot following Sunday’s game and will be assessed this week.
QB Teddy Bridgwater (Dolphins) – Out against the Jets with an elbow injury and due to being in concussion protocol. His status is not known.
WR Tyreek Hill (Dolphins) – Hill picked up a foot injury late in the fourth quarter and will be assessed this week as to his likely availability on Sunday.
WR Chris Olave (Saints) – Could miss next week;s game due to being concussion protocol following a head injury in Sunday’s game.
C Emmanuel Moseley (49ers) – There are fears Moseley has suffered a season-ending torn ACL, which will be confirmed with tests later this week.
DE Nick Bosa (49ers) – Bosa was forced from the game in the first half due to a groin injury and wll be questionable for next week’s game.
RB Rashaad Penny (Seahawks) – Penny suffered a fractured tibia against the Saints and will likely miss a considerable amount of time, possibly the rest of the season.
NFL Bonehead Play of The Week
He may claim that his team were right behind his decision to go for two to take the lead against the Kansas City Chiefs, rather than kick an extra point to tie the game, but Josh McDaniels call to go for two proved to be a dud.
It also didn’t make sense. There was still plenty of time left on the clock, so going ahead at that point would not have altered the Chiefs mindset any if the game was tied, the Chiefs would have needed to score to win.
The Raiders defense would have needed to stop the Chiefs and ideally with enough time to give the Raiders offense time to score, but if not, then Overtime was a possibility.
So to go for two at that point, especially after such a momentum swing with the Davante Adams touchdown catch, was a poor judgement call, especially considering the fact they failed to score meant that the Chiefs could just eat up the clock to register a narrow win.
Sometimes the stats show it is worth going for a 2-pt shot, especially when time is short. The Giants did so very well against the Titans on the opening week. But this was a poor call at the wrong time and with the wrong play.
Nah why the hell did the raiders go for two with that much time left?? That made absolutely no sense at all.
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3) @ Indianapolis Colts (2-2-1)
New England Patriots (2-3) @ Cleveland Browns (2-3)
Cincinnati Bengals (2-3) @ New Orleans Saints (2-3)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (1-4)
San Francisco 49ers (3-2) @ Atlanta Falcons (2-3)
New York Jets (3-2) @ Green Bay Packers (3-2)
Minnesota Vikings (4-1) @ Miami Dolphins (3-2)
Carolina Panthers (1-4) @ Los Angeles Rams (2-3)
Arizona Cardinals (2-3) @ Seattle Seahawks (2-3)
Buffalo Bills (4-1) @ Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
Dallas Cowboys (4-1) @ Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)
Monday 17th October
Denver Broncos (2-3) @ Los Angeles Chargers (3-2)
Bye Week Teams: Detroit Lions (1-4), Las Vegas Raiders (1-4), Tennessee Titans (3-2), Houston Texans (1-3-1)
NFL Matchday 6 – Top Betting Tips With Bet365
We had another good week last week with a 16/5 winner, 3/1 winner and a 7/5 winner across our five games, posting another good profit. Two weeks in a row we have hit 3/5, so let’s see if we can continue that here.
Antonio Gibson 1st touchdown scorer and Commanders to beat Bears by 1-6 pts (25/1)
Buffalo Bills v Kansas City Chiefs – Over 7.5 Touchdowns (43/20)
Bengals to beat the Saints by 7-12 points (5/1)
Jaguars @ Colts – Special Teams or Defensive Touchdown to be scored (21/10)
Cowboys to beat the Eagles by 1-6 points (4/1)
NFL – Power Rankings (After Week 5)
Buffalo Bills (4-1) (1,1,1,2,1)
Kansas City Chiefs (4-1) (2,2,4,3,2)
Philadelphia Eagles (5-0) (7,4,2,1,3)
Dallas Cowboys (4-1) (19,17,11,6,4)
Minnesota Vikings (4-1) (9,12,13,9,5)
New York Giants (4-1) (22,10,15,14,6)
Baltimore Ravens (3-2) (6,8,6,8,7)
Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) (3,5,16,10,8)
San Francisco 49ers (3-2) (16,11,17,15,9)
Green Bay Packers (3-2) (11,9,7,5,10)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2) (4,3,8,12,11)
Tennessee Titans (3-2) (24,31,23,19,12)
Cincinnati Bengals (2-3) (8,15,12,11,13)
Miami Dolphins (3-2) (13,7,3,4,14)
Los Angeles Rams (2-3) (5,6,5,7,15)
Cleveland Browns (2-3) (14,18,9,13,16)
New Orleans Saints (2-3) (12,14,18,23,17)
Arizona Cardinals (2-3) (25,19,22,17,18)
New York Jets (3-2) (32,27,31,26,19)
Denver Broncos (2-3) (20,13,10,16,20)
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3) (31,26,14,18,21)
Indianapolis Colts (2-2-1) (15,29,20,25,22)
Atlanta Falcons (2-3) (29,30,27,20,23)
New England Patriots (2-3) (26,20,24,28,24)
Seattle Seahawks (2-3) (23,25,29,24,25)
Chicago Bears (2-3) (21,22,19,22,26)
Las Vegas Raiders (1-4) (17,24,30,21,27)
Washington Commanders (1-4) (18,23,26,30,28)
Detroit Lions (1-4) (28,21,25,27,29)
Houston Texans (1-1-3) (27,28,32,32,30)
Carolina Panthers (1-4) (30,32,28,31,31)
Pittsburgh Steelers (1-4) (10,16,21,29,32)
Join me again next week when we round up the first week of the season that has teams on a Bye Week and which sees the Bills and Chiefs clash in a rematch of their memorable AFC Playoff clash last season.
Check out the latest odds with bet365 Sport on the NFL each week and if you have not yet signed up, use our bet365 Bonus Code to get a cracking deal when you join!
Ian John is a seasoned Sports Writer and UK gambling expert with over a decade of experience at Bonus Code Poker. For the past 10 years, he has been providing readers with insightful analysis and expert opinions on sports betting and poker.
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