Five Wide: 2025 Week Nine

By Thomas Willoughby

Welcome to the second half of the 2025 season, folks. It just speeds by, doesn’t it? No more messing around now, it’s push or be pushed for a lot of teams. We’re 2 months from the end of the season. Either get it together or start watching College ball in preparation for next year.

And the NFL is treating the start of the second half with the first of our next two European games! It’s Berlin this week which is fun isn’t it. Before we get into that, though, we’ve got another big week to look back on. Starting exactly where you’d expect us to start.

Game of the Year

With 4 minutes and 53 seconds remaining, the Chicago Bears led the Cincinnati Bengals 41-27. A blow-out. Never really in doubt, but the Bears stamped their authority on the hapless Bengals, and further called their ability to remain relevant without Joe Burrow into question. 

And then, Joe Flacco, at 67 years of age, if you can believe that, forgot it wasn’t 2011 anymore, and just started to gun it. 4 in game minutes later, they led. Somehow, someway, the Bengals were up 42-41. An utterly unbelievable comeback of biblical proportions. The crowd are on their feet. The Bengals are back, baby.

4 plays later, and the Bears have a touchdown. A 58 yard pass from Caleb Williams to Colston Loveland, with about 5 missed tackles thrown in, and the Bears are back on top. All the air in Paul Brown Stadium is sucked out. They’ve lost. You made Joe Flacco throw 470 yards for nothing. That feels like elder abuse.

I’m not really sure what the point of this bit is, but I just had to write it down. Because, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t believe it to have happened. Unbelievable game.

Albert Cesare-The Enquirer

Falcons. Why.

Alright, it’s that time of the year when I get to put my own team on blast. The Atlanta Falcons! What the hell are we doing here!

I’m not mad that they lost. The New England Patriots are one of 2 sides I’ve never seen the Falcons beat. I’m used to it by now. Playing them close, and even having the opportunity to come away with the win, should be seen as a positive. Unfortunately, the manner of the defeat is sickening. 24-23, thanks to a missed extra point from Parker Romo, despite snagging 2 turnovers and 6 sacks. To lose with that defensive statline is practically unheard of, by the way.

Offensively, the team is stalling. Drake London had a monster game on Sunday, but Penix is still operating in fit and spells rather than with consistency. Head Coach Raheem Morris has called Bijan Robinson the best player in football a number of times this season, but, since their week five win over Buffalo, his production has fallen off. Kyle Pitts, in the final year of his rookie contract, is a far cry from the player taken 4th overall in 2021. And Zac Robinson, the man under the headset, doesn’t appear to have any answer for any of the sides glaring deficiencies.

What that amounts to is a side who sit at 3-5. They pushed their chips on being successful this season, and, thus far, they’ve been anything but. The win over Buffalo on Monday Night was supposed to be the grand reintroduction of the Atlanta Falcons. A statement win against one of the league’s best. Since then, they’re 0-3, having been bested by an extremely depleted 49ers, an extremely bad Dolphins, and the Patriots. The talent is there, the talent extraction is not.

The Falcons are a team dangerously close to going nowhere. They travel to Berlin this week, to play a Colts side that looks legitimate, before hosting the Panthers, and travelling to the Saints and Jets. Our season isn’t done just yet, and you can fully see a scenario where they’re back in the fight with a 3-1 record over the next month, but the margin for error is growing smaller and smaller. And my, and the fanbases, faith in the current set ups to fall within it is disappearing. No doubt I’ll have more on the Falcons next week, so consider this a taster. The Falcons suck. I hate them so much.

Kickwatch

I can’t tell you how disheartening it was watching Parker Romo slice an extra point attempt wide from about 20 yards at about 8.30pm on Sunday evening. I slumped down on the sofa after the defeat, flicked on Redzone, and, less than 2 hours later, watch Cam Little make a field goal attempt from 68 yards out.

Most amazing part is this man kicked a 70 yarder in pre-season. Utterly obscene. Cam Little has had a bit of a tough second season in the NFL. He’s 13/17 on field goals, and hadn’t made a field goal since week 5 coming into this game, even missing at Wembley. What a bounce back for him, though. In a thrilling 30-29 overtime win, he went 3-3 on field goals, and 3-3 on extra points, including, what turned out to be, the game winning point in overtime.

I dunno what his career holds long term. But, regardless, he’s got his name in the history books. No one’s taking that off him for a long old while, I doubt.

Kitwatch 2025: Part VI

The headline act of this week’s Kitwatch can be found in Green Bay, where they chose to throw it all the way back to 1923. This weekend, they debuted their new throwback uniform, and I can’t be alone in thinking it STINKS, right? Like, I don’t mind the jersey, I think the “leather” helmet is a pretty nifty design, but brown pants aren’t for me. As a complete outfit, it’s pretty horrid. A uniform design far better conceptually than in reality. Bin.

Mike Roemer-AP Photo

On the brighter side, the Seattle Seahawks gave us the second outing of their throwbacks. Washington, themselves, opted for their alternate uniform, in what they’re calling their “Super Bowl era” threads. Given they won 3 Lombardi’s in it, you can understand why. I quite like them. They’re not a million miles from what their current away’s are, really, but they’re a bit more simple. Less going on. Another nice throwback-themed match up here.

Scott Taetsch-Getty Images

The New York Giants, too, went for a throwback, donning their “Legacy Blue” outfits. And, look, they’re quite nice. The blue and red clashing feels extremely 80s, for me, and that’s lovely. The thing is…I think I prefer their current home jerseys? I dunno. Good job, but there’s better in the wardrobe.

Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

Big Purple QB

“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” Joni Mitchell sang that very lyric in 1970, but it’s relevance has seeped through each year following like a leak in your bathroom ceiling caused by an upstairs neighbour. All weekend I’ve had Big Yellow Taxi stuck in my head, and it’s all because Lamar Jackson is playing football again.

I bloody love Lamar Jackson. He’s one of the few players in the league with no real peers. No one players the QB position like he does, and he’s magical to watch. The Ravens have suffered badly since he suffered a hamstring injury against Kansas City. An ugly, ugly football team without him.

With him? How does 4 passing touchdowns sound? WIth him, things open up for Derrick Henry, who managed 119 rushing yards against the Dolphins. Because the defense doesn’t know who’s going to be attacking them. Suddenly, the Ravens are back. And all it took was Lamar Jackson. They paved paradise, and put up a dual threat QB.

Features Image Credit: Robert F. Bukaty – AP Photo

Thomas Willoughby

NFL ANALYST

THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER

Twitter Envelope
5/5