What a Week 5 it was for this 2024 NFL season! In the first couple of weeks, we thought that passing might be down forever and that every game was just going to be weird and sloppy. I'm pleased to say as we hit October that the football is still good, gang.
That Ravens-Bengals game was wild and gave us an opportunity to look at the future for Cincinnati. That Bills-Texans game was wild and gave us a chance to complain about officiating. I mean, Giants-Seahawks and Cardinals-49ers were also both excellent games, and I didn't even get the chance to talk about those in this space. Here's a good stat from ESPN Research: Forty-seven games this season have been decided by seven or fewer points. That's the most through the first five weeks of a season in NFL history.
Every Tuesday, I'll spin the previous week of NFL football forward, looking at what the biggest storylines mean and what comes next. We'll take a first look at the consequences of "Monday Night Football," break down a major trend or two, and highlight some key individual players and plays. There will be film. There will be stats (a whole section of them). And there will be fun. Let's jump in.
Jump to a section:
The Big Thing: Bengals' next steps
Dream deadline: Trades we want to see
Mailbag: Questions from ... you
Second Take: Adams' potential impact on Jets
Next Ben Stats: Wild Week 5 stats
Monday Night Mahomes
The Big Thing: What's next for the 1-4 Bengals?
Every week, this column will kick off with one wide look at a key game, player or trend from the previous Sunday of NFL action. What does it mean for the rest of the season?
Joe Burrow played one of the best games of his career on Sunday.
The Ravens' defense threw a lot at him. Blitzers came from all angles, and they won on those rushes, too -- especially in the interior. They played tight to routes and tackled wonderfully in space. Yet Burrow punished them for every tiny ray of sunlight that snuck between the cracks. He hit tight window after tight window, downfield and across the middle, between zones and against man. He was 7-for-7 on third-down dropbacks in the second half, including on third downs of 14 and 10 yards to go to start the third quarter. Nails!