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What we learned in NFL Week 5: Lions legitimately good, Patriots worst team in football?
By Zak Keefer
2h ago
He probably won’t admit it, but Nathaniel Hackett had to enjoy that one. Even as nervy as it got at the end.
After the Jets’ offensive coordinator was trashed during the preseason by new Broncos coach Sean Payton — “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton infamously said of Hackett’s one-year run in Denver — Hackett largely brushed off the comments, mindful that the two teams would meet five weeks into the season.
On Sunday, Hackett and the Jets sent Payton’s Broncos to 1-4.
The Jets capped the 31-21 victory with a Quincy Williams strip-sack of Russell Wilson, which cornerback Bryce Hall scooped up and returned for a game-sealing score. Despite a late interception, it was the second strong showing for Zach Wilson in as many weeks (maybe Aaron Rodgers’ pep talk worked?). Robert Saleh deserves credit for the job he’s done of late. His Jets are 2-3, and despite the rockiness that followed Rodgers’ Week 1 injury, all is not lost in New York.
“We probably could’ve blown that team out of the water,” Saleh said, asked about his team’s red zone struggles Sunday (the Jets settled for four field goals inside the Broncos’ 20). He later added that Hackett got a game ball.
The Broncos, meanwhile, remain quite terrible. Wilson is now 5-15 in two seasons in Denver, and without a 21-point, second-half rally last week in Chicago, the Broncos would be winless in 2023.
There’s not much left for Payton to say, other than the glaring fact that his team is among the league’s biggest disappointments so far.
Across the NFL, the Bengals looked right again, at least for one week. And Ja’Marr Chase looked unstoppable.
Despite still not playing their best football, the Eagles are 5-0. They dropped the Rams 23-14 in Los Angeles.
In Pittsburgh, T.J. Watt walked off the Ravens with some help from Kenny Pickett and George Pickens, spoiling Baltimore’s bid to sweep their AFC North rivals on the road this season.
In Atlanta, Bijan Robinson’s one-handed, behind-the-back catch, Desmond Ridder’s 329 passing yards and Younghoe Koo’s 37-yard field goal as time expired helped the Falcons stave off C.J. Stroud and the Texans. But don’t overlook the sizzling start for Stroud, who’s now 184 pass attempts into his career without an interception, the best start in NFL history.
In Minnesota, Travis Kelce briefly left the game, got an X-ray on his ankle, then returned and caught a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory against the Vikings, pushing the reigning champs to 4-1. On the flip side, another disappointing loss leaves the Vikings 1-4.
In Miami, the 4-1 Dolphins made history (again) in their 31-16 win against the Giants: Their 2,599 yards are the most by any team five games into the season in the Super Bowl era. The Dolphins are also one of two offenses in league history with more than 2,500 yards in five games, joining the 2000 “Best Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams.
Here’s what else stood out from the afternoon slate of Week 5:
The Lions aren’t just a fun story. They’re legitimately good.
Dan Campbell’s Lions aren’t merely a feel-good story, a popular preseason pick to turn some heads in 2023. They’re more than that. They’re a well-coached, well-balanced, dangerous football team, an upstart that’s finally, finally giving fans in the Motor City some semblance of real hope.
More than that, five weeks in, they look like NFC contenders.
Detroit steamrolled the hapless (and still winless) Panthers on Sunday, 42-24, in a game that wasn’t close after the second quarter. Dating back to last season, the Lions have won 12 of their last 15. They’ve beaten the Chiefs, Falcons and Packers. They have a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense. And they’ve established themselves as the team to beat in the NFC North.
Campbell admitted to having some worries ahead of kickoff, worries his team eased quickly and definitively.
“You tell your team your concerns, you talk about it, and your team tells you, ‘Coach, just freaking relax,’ and they did that today,” Campbell said.
“They came out, they set the tone for the game and really never let off the gas.”
The Lions’ 4-1 start is the best for the franchise in 12 years. For a team that has made the playoffs just three times this century, and hasn’t won a postseason game since 1991 — that was three years into the Barry Sanders era — this is starting to look and feel like it could be the year things change in Detroit. Start with this aim: the Lions haven’t won a division title since 1993. There’s still a long way to go, but if they end that streak, Detroit would host a playoff game for the first time in three decades.
Are the Patriots the worst team in football?
Hey, at least the Bears are looking better these days.
Not once in his gilded, 23-year run in New England has a Bill Belichick team looked this lousy five weeks into the season, and you have to go all the way back to his first season — 2000 — to find one that’s even comparable. Though the Patriots became somewhat accustomed to slow starts during the Tom Brady era, this is wholly different: They look like one of the worst teams in football.
After Sunday’s embarrassing 34-0 loss to the Saints in Foxboro, the Patriots are 1-4, tied for the worst start of the Belichick era (they were also 1-4 in 2000; they finished 5-11 that year). They haven’t scored a touchdown since Week 3. The offense is averaging a league-low 11 points per game, and starter Mac Jones, who leads the league in pick-sixes, has been pulled late each of the past two weeks, a pair of lopsided losses that have been mostly foreign to this franchise since the turn of the century.
Against the Cowboys and Saints, the Patriots have been outscored by a staggering margin of 72-3.
That’s right: The single-worst loss of the Belichick era (35 points) was followed by the second-worst loss of the Belichick era (34 points).
“Kind of the same old story,” offensive lineman David Andrews said after the loss, summing up last two weeks.
“Plain and simple, we’ve got to find a way to play and coach better than that,” Belichick said. “So let’s go start all over and get back on a better track than we’re on right now.”
Start all over? We’re five weeks into the season. And these flaws, and a gross lack of talent on offense, won’t be easily fixable.
The offense under Bill O’Brien, who’s back for a second stint as offensive coordinator, has been abysmal. On Sunday, the Patriots’ first six drives looked like this: two three-and-outs, two punts, a pick-six and a missed field goal. Through five games, the Patriots have scored 24 fewer points than in any other season of the Belichick era, and the unit’s EPA is a ghastly -86.3. (The Patriots’ second-worst offensive EPA since 2000 is -26.7.)
Don’t excuse the defense, either, though the team’s offensive struggles remain the primary culprit: So far, the Patriots are allowing 33 points per game, also the worst of the Belichick era by a wide margin.
Asked after the loss if he’s sticking with Jones as his starter, Belichick confirmed that he is.
“Yeah, there were a lot of problems,” he said. “Certainly wasn’t all on him.”
No, but Jones has done little to solidify his starting job beyond this season — if he even holds it for the rest of 2023.
Gardner Minshew is the best backup in football. But how worried should the Colts be about Anthony Richardson?
The Colts are 3-2, tied with the Jags atop the AFC South, and the biggest reasons are the backup quarterback and the second-string running back. A day after the team inked Jonathan Taylor to a $42 million contract extension — ending a bitter feud that dragged on for months — Indy outlasted the Titans 23-16 at home. Taylor’s usage, which will increase in the coming weeks, was minimal: six carries for 18 years.
Zack Moss’ was not: He was again invaluable for the Colts’ offense, piling up 165 yards and two touchdowns. Since returning from a broken arm he suffered in training camp, Moss has been excellent in Taylor’s stead, averaging 111 yards a game to go with four touchdowns.
And Gardner Minshew? He’s been nothing short of the best backup QB in football.
“To me, he is,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said after the win, calling Minshew “an elite processor of the game.”
In the three games Minshew’s either started or stepped in for Anthony Richardson, the Colts are 3-0.
But Indy exits Sunday with concern at quarterback: Richardson, their rookie starter, left the game after taking a shot on a designed run in the second quarter. It’s the third time — in just four career starts — that Richardson has failed to finish a game, and he missed another due to a concussion. The good news: X-rays on Richardson’s throwing shoulder were negative, according to The Athletic’s James Boyd. The bad news: It’s an AC joint sprain, the severity of which will determine how much time Richardson misses, if any.
It’s too soon to label the rookie “injury-prone” at this point in his career, especially considering how freakish some of his injuries have been. But as the hits pile up, particularly on plays designed to have Richardson escape from the pocket, it’s fair to wonder if the Colts aggressive usage of him as a runner is worth the risk.
A gutsy win by the Jaguars leaves the Bills hurting
Despite some leaky (and concerning) offensive line play, especially on the edges, the Jaguars earned an impressive win against the Bills on Sunday in London, Jacksonville’s second consecutive victory overseas. Trevor Lawrence was sacked five times but was still terrific, throwing for 315 yards and a touchdown in a 25-20 win that pushes the Jags to 3-2 on the season, tied with the Colts atop the AFC South.
The throw of the game came with 3:15 left and Jacksonville owning a five-point lead. On the decisive third-and-4, Lawrence lofted a beautiful, high-arching throw down the sideline for Calvin Ridley, who hauled it in for a 32-yard gain, setting up Travis Etienne’s second touchdown of the day. (Ridley finished with 122 yards on seven catches.)
Josh Allen and the Bills scored a late touchdown, but the rally proved futile.
“Never felt like we really got into a rhythm until late,” Allen said. “They were ready to go today and we weren’t.”
It sure looked like it. Did the Bills make a mistake in traveling to London so late in the week? (They didn’t arrive in London until Friday morning.) The Jaguars, of course, stayed all week after beating the Falcons last Sunday. Buffalo looked sluggish and out-of-sync for most of the game: The Bills were forced to punt on their first four possessions and didn’t pick up a first down until 12 seconds remained in the first quarter.
And this was an offense that scored 48 last week against Miami, looking utterly unstoppable for most of the game.
Most concerning for the Bills, though, are the mounting injuries on defense: A week after losing top cornerback Tre’Davious White for the season (ruptured Achilles), star linebacker Matt Milano went down with a knee injury in the first half Sunday, and coach Sean McDermott said after the loss it’s “not looking good.” Also of note, defensive end DaQuan Jones left the game with an injured pectoral muscle.
Zak Keefer is a national features writer for The Athletic, focusing on the NFL. He previously covered the Indianapolis Colts for nine seasons, winning the Pro Football Writers of America's 2020 Bob Oates Award for beat writing. He wrote and narrated the six-part podcast series "Luck," and is an adjunct professor of journalism at Indiana University. Follow Zak on Twitter @zkeefer
By Zak Keefer
2h ago
He probably won’t admit it, but Nathaniel Hackett had to enjoy that one. Even as nervy as it got at the end.
After the Jets’ offensive coordinator was trashed during the preseason by new Broncos coach Sean Payton — “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton infamously said of Hackett’s one-year run in Denver — Hackett largely brushed off the comments, mindful that the two teams would meet five weeks into the season.
On Sunday, Hackett and the Jets sent Payton’s Broncos to 1-4.
The Jets capped the 31-21 victory with a Quincy Williams strip-sack of Russell Wilson, which cornerback Bryce Hall scooped up and returned for a game-sealing score. Despite a late interception, it was the second strong showing for Zach Wilson in as many weeks (maybe Aaron Rodgers’ pep talk worked?). Robert Saleh deserves credit for the job he’s done of late. His Jets are 2-3, and despite the rockiness that followed Rodgers’ Week 1 injury, all is not lost in New York.
“We probably could’ve blown that team out of the water,” Saleh said, asked about his team’s red zone struggles Sunday (the Jets settled for four field goals inside the Broncos’ 20). He later added that Hackett got a game ball.
The Broncos, meanwhile, remain quite terrible. Wilson is now 5-15 in two seasons in Denver, and without a 21-point, second-half rally last week in Chicago, the Broncos would be winless in 2023.
There’s not much left for Payton to say, other than the glaring fact that his team is among the league’s biggest disappointments so far.
Across the NFL, the Bengals looked right again, at least for one week. And Ja’Marr Chase looked unstoppable.
Despite still not playing their best football, the Eagles are 5-0. They dropped the Rams 23-14 in Los Angeles.
In Pittsburgh, T.J. Watt walked off the Ravens with some help from Kenny Pickett and George Pickens, spoiling Baltimore’s bid to sweep their AFC North rivals on the road this season.
In Atlanta, Bijan Robinson’s one-handed, behind-the-back catch, Desmond Ridder’s 329 passing yards and Younghoe Koo’s 37-yard field goal as time expired helped the Falcons stave off C.J. Stroud and the Texans. But don’t overlook the sizzling start for Stroud, who’s now 184 pass attempts into his career without an interception, the best start in NFL history.
In Minnesota, Travis Kelce briefly left the game, got an X-ray on his ankle, then returned and caught a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory against the Vikings, pushing the reigning champs to 4-1. On the flip side, another disappointing loss leaves the Vikings 1-4.
In Miami, the 4-1 Dolphins made history (again) in their 31-16 win against the Giants: Their 2,599 yards are the most by any team five games into the season in the Super Bowl era. The Dolphins are also one of two offenses in league history with more than 2,500 yards in five games, joining the 2000 “Best Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams.
Here’s what else stood out from the afternoon slate of Week 5:
The Lions aren’t just a fun story. They’re legitimately good.
Dan Campbell’s Lions aren’t merely a feel-good story, a popular preseason pick to turn some heads in 2023. They’re more than that. They’re a well-coached, well-balanced, dangerous football team, an upstart that’s finally, finally giving fans in the Motor City some semblance of real hope.
More than that, five weeks in, they look like NFC contenders.
Detroit steamrolled the hapless (and still winless) Panthers on Sunday, 42-24, in a game that wasn’t close after the second quarter. Dating back to last season, the Lions have won 12 of their last 15. They’ve beaten the Chiefs, Falcons and Packers. They have a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense. And they’ve established themselves as the team to beat in the NFC North.
Campbell admitted to having some worries ahead of kickoff, worries his team eased quickly and definitively.
“You tell your team your concerns, you talk about it, and your team tells you, ‘Coach, just freaking relax,’ and they did that today,” Campbell said.
“They came out, they set the tone for the game and really never let off the gas.”
The Lions’ 4-1 start is the best for the franchise in 12 years. For a team that has made the playoffs just three times this century, and hasn’t won a postseason game since 1991 — that was three years into the Barry Sanders era — this is starting to look and feel like it could be the year things change in Detroit. Start with this aim: the Lions haven’t won a division title since 1993. There’s still a long way to go, but if they end that streak, Detroit would host a playoff game for the first time in three decades.
Are the Patriots the worst team in football?
Hey, at least the Bears are looking better these days.
Not once in his gilded, 23-year run in New England has a Bill Belichick team looked this lousy five weeks into the season, and you have to go all the way back to his first season — 2000 — to find one that’s even comparable. Though the Patriots became somewhat accustomed to slow starts during the Tom Brady era, this is wholly different: They look like one of the worst teams in football.
After Sunday’s embarrassing 34-0 loss to the Saints in Foxboro, the Patriots are 1-4, tied for the worst start of the Belichick era (they were also 1-4 in 2000; they finished 5-11 that year). They haven’t scored a touchdown since Week 3. The offense is averaging a league-low 11 points per game, and starter Mac Jones, who leads the league in pick-sixes, has been pulled late each of the past two weeks, a pair of lopsided losses that have been mostly foreign to this franchise since the turn of the century.
Against the Cowboys and Saints, the Patriots have been outscored by a staggering margin of 72-3.
That’s right: The single-worst loss of the Belichick era (35 points) was followed by the second-worst loss of the Belichick era (34 points).
“Kind of the same old story,” offensive lineman David Andrews said after the loss, summing up last two weeks.
“Plain and simple, we’ve got to find a way to play and coach better than that,” Belichick said. “So let’s go start all over and get back on a better track than we’re on right now.”
Start all over? We’re five weeks into the season. And these flaws, and a gross lack of talent on offense, won’t be easily fixable.
The offense under Bill O’Brien, who’s back for a second stint as offensive coordinator, has been abysmal. On Sunday, the Patriots’ first six drives looked like this: two three-and-outs, two punts, a pick-six and a missed field goal. Through five games, the Patriots have scored 24 fewer points than in any other season of the Belichick era, and the unit’s EPA is a ghastly -86.3. (The Patriots’ second-worst offensive EPA since 2000 is -26.7.)
Don’t excuse the defense, either, though the team’s offensive struggles remain the primary culprit: So far, the Patriots are allowing 33 points per game, also the worst of the Belichick era by a wide margin.
Asked after the loss if he’s sticking with Jones as his starter, Belichick confirmed that he is.
“Yeah, there were a lot of problems,” he said. “Certainly wasn’t all on him.”
No, but Jones has done little to solidify his starting job beyond this season — if he even holds it for the rest of 2023.
Gardner Minshew is the best backup in football. But how worried should the Colts be about Anthony Richardson?
The Colts are 3-2, tied with the Jags atop the AFC South, and the biggest reasons are the backup quarterback and the second-string running back. A day after the team inked Jonathan Taylor to a $42 million contract extension — ending a bitter feud that dragged on for months — Indy outlasted the Titans 23-16 at home. Taylor’s usage, which will increase in the coming weeks, was minimal: six carries for 18 years.
Zack Moss’ was not: He was again invaluable for the Colts’ offense, piling up 165 yards and two touchdowns. Since returning from a broken arm he suffered in training camp, Moss has been excellent in Taylor’s stead, averaging 111 yards a game to go with four touchdowns.
And Gardner Minshew? He’s been nothing short of the best backup QB in football.
“To me, he is,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said after the win, calling Minshew “an elite processor of the game.”
In the three games Minshew’s either started or stepped in for Anthony Richardson, the Colts are 3-0.
But Indy exits Sunday with concern at quarterback: Richardson, their rookie starter, left the game after taking a shot on a designed run in the second quarter. It’s the third time — in just four career starts — that Richardson has failed to finish a game, and he missed another due to a concussion. The good news: X-rays on Richardson’s throwing shoulder were negative, according to The Athletic’s James Boyd. The bad news: It’s an AC joint sprain, the severity of which will determine how much time Richardson misses, if any.
It’s too soon to label the rookie “injury-prone” at this point in his career, especially considering how freakish some of his injuries have been. But as the hits pile up, particularly on plays designed to have Richardson escape from the pocket, it’s fair to wonder if the Colts aggressive usage of him as a runner is worth the risk.
A gutsy win by the Jaguars leaves the Bills hurting
Despite some leaky (and concerning) offensive line play, especially on the edges, the Jaguars earned an impressive win against the Bills on Sunday in London, Jacksonville’s second consecutive victory overseas. Trevor Lawrence was sacked five times but was still terrific, throwing for 315 yards and a touchdown in a 25-20 win that pushes the Jags to 3-2 on the season, tied with the Colts atop the AFC South.
The throw of the game came with 3:15 left and Jacksonville owning a five-point lead. On the decisive third-and-4, Lawrence lofted a beautiful, high-arching throw down the sideline for Calvin Ridley, who hauled it in for a 32-yard gain, setting up Travis Etienne’s second touchdown of the day. (Ridley finished with 122 yards on seven catches.)
Josh Allen and the Bills scored a late touchdown, but the rally proved futile.
“Never felt like we really got into a rhythm until late,” Allen said. “They were ready to go today and we weren’t.”
It sure looked like it. Did the Bills make a mistake in traveling to London so late in the week? (They didn’t arrive in London until Friday morning.) The Jaguars, of course, stayed all week after beating the Falcons last Sunday. Buffalo looked sluggish and out-of-sync for most of the game: The Bills were forced to punt on their first four possessions and didn’t pick up a first down until 12 seconds remained in the first quarter.
And this was an offense that scored 48 last week against Miami, looking utterly unstoppable for most of the game.
Most concerning for the Bills, though, are the mounting injuries on defense: A week after losing top cornerback Tre’Davious White for the season (ruptured Achilles), star linebacker Matt Milano went down with a knee injury in the first half Sunday, and coach Sean McDermott said after the loss it’s “not looking good.” Also of note, defensive end DaQuan Jones left the game with an injured pectoral muscle.
Zak Keefer is a national features writer for The Athletic, focusing on the NFL. He previously covered the Indianapolis Colts for nine seasons, winning the Pro Football Writers of America's 2020 Bob Oates Award for beat writing. He wrote and narrated the six-part podcast series "Luck," and is an adjunct professor of journalism at Indiana University. Follow Zak on Twitter @zkeefer
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