Five Wide: 2026 Week Four
By Thomas Willoughby
According to NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan, the Atlanta Falcons specifically asked the NFL not to be considered for a Monday night 20th anniversary “Dome-coming” game against the New Orleans Saints this season. That’s despite sweeping the Saints in 2025, and battering the Saints on the 10th anniversary of that game in 20216. The Falcons were definitely running scared.
45-24. At no point was it close. The Falcons walked into the Whoever-the-sponsor-is-now Superdown and beat the brakes off a New Orleans side that had played quality teams close through 3 weeks. A drubbing of titanic proportins, and one that furthers the Falcons lead in the all-time series (59-56).
Maybe they weren’t scared at all, Jeff. Maybe they were offering New Orleans the slighest bit of mercy ahead of an emotional anniversary. And that’s how you repaid them. Let that be a lesson to you.
Here’s Five Wide.
InterJETSion
We highlighted this stat last year. The New York Jets went a full season without intercepting an opposition quarterback once. That run seeped into the 2026 season, with teams finding ways to throw the ball on the Jets without concern of turning it over. The run ended THIS WEEKEND. For the first time in 637 days, the New York Jets caught a pass that was not intended for them. Tyson Bagent have you no SHAME, sir.
They should erect a statue of Minkah Fitzpatrick outside the Metlife. The Jets’ designated drought-ender slipped in front of Colston Loveland to deliver a moment some Jets fans would be forgiven for thinking they’d never experience again. When one leads, many will follow. The new age of interception has begun in New Jersey.
Was it enough for the Jets to nab their second win of the season? Gods, no. Everything that offense tried to do was snuffed out with ease. But they’re playing teams close. They are clearly a better team than they were this time last year. With their three first round picks in 2027, they’re in good shape to be a legitimate football team next season. They’ll undoubtedly find a way to squander the opportunity in front of them, but, right now, the future, if not the immediate one, is potentially pretty bright for them.
Cat's out the bag
A special Five Wide entry this week, straight from the brain of my girlfriend Elizabeth. HISTORY MADE in the NFL this weekend, and a piece you’ll want to hang onto. For the first time EVER, we enjoyed a weekend where the leagues four cat mascot-ed franchises were drawn to play one another. I am stunned it took this long for the league to fill the cats bowl, but boy am I glad they did.
Our trip to the cat cafe began at 6pm, when the Jacksonville Jaguars travelled to the Cincinnati Bengals, both sides looking to extend themselves to 3-1. This was the most one-sided one score game I think I’ve consumed in a while. Every time I looked up, the Jaguars were either picking Burrow off or matching down the field themselves. 22-17 is a scoreline that would suggest the Jaguars won by a whisker, but it was anything but. The Bengals were declawed with relative ease, and I’m starting to think they might actually be bad this season.
Into Sunday night, then, as the Carolina Panthers hosted the Detroit Lions. Neither side has looked particularly impressive this season, with the Lions in particular looking a shadow of the side that rocked worlds a thousand times over just two years ago. Their offense started to come alive a bit last night, but whatever is going on with that defense needs to be sorted asap. Tet McMillan is a fine receiver, but I can’t have him purring his way for over 190 yards. Both sides ended the night 2-2, and the Panthers’ lead in the NFC South looks insurmountable at this stage.
Will we ever see anything like this again? It’s not unfair to suggest not for a while! And that’s a damn shame. We need more derbies in the NFL. Until a team chooses to become “the Pigeons”, we have an odd number of bird teams in the league. Time for another re-brand, Washington.
Costcutters
We witnessed our first of three games in London this week, with the Washington Pigeons playing host to the Indianapolis Colts. The big story going into the game wasn’t whether we’d see Jayden Daniels or Marcus Mariota starting for Washington (TRICK QUESTION! The answer was “Athan Kaliakmanis”), or whether this would be the week the Indianapolis offense of last season would make its return. It wasn’t even about the viability of London sustaining a franchise of its own, a conversation I’m sure you’re all sick of litigating on an annual basis (the answer is “yes”, but there would need to be some league-wide restructuring to make it work). No, it was TICKET PRICES. That’s right, it’s a topic a get to enjoy on an annual basis every year until the sun eats the Earth.
I wrote last year about the cost of entry being an issue for many. I suggested that the the best we could hope for was probably a price-freeze, given how hyper-capitalist the NFL. We didn’t get that, and when tickets went up, many opted to give it a miss. This didn’t affect the Eagles/Jags game this weekend, by the way. Probably because the Eagles have been very successful over the past 10ish years, and haven’t been in Europe since 2018.
The league responded, however. Prices were cut, with some more expensive seats available for less than £80. Colloquially, I know people who spent a tenner the morning of (resale, granted) and secured entry. That’s unprecedented. Those who bought early, for multiple hundreds of pounds, were left disgruntled as those same seats were made available for a third of the price. Though I did see those people demanding the difference in price be refunded to them. That just isn’t how tickets, or the world, works. I can’t take a frozen pizza back to the shops 3 weeks after I bought it and demand a refund because they’re on offer now, can I?
We’ve established the league will not reduce prices if it can help it. What I think is more likely is an adjustment to the European games model. If you’re a neutral fan from Germany, what reason do you have to come to London for a game when you’ve (arguably a better one) a few Bahnhof’s away? Are they more likely to make the games more wallet accessible, or remove a game or two from the slate entirely to manufacture scarcity? I’ll let you answer that yourself.
If you work for the NFL, or NFL UK, and are reading this, however, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can: we want to spend money on you. We want these games. The interest is and always will be there. But things are tough right now, man. I walk into Sainsbury’s and walk out £20 worse off basically every single time. Life is expensive, but we still want to enjoy ourselves. Price your games reasonably next year. Unless you’re sending us Kansas City vs Buffalo Bill and Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers, there really is no way you can justify the pricing structure as it is. Drop the prices and prosper. Thank you.
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
No half time show this weekend, so you’ll have to wait another week for my take on the popular music of the day. The space at half time was allocated for a far more worthy cause. London used its opening weekend to appreciate a genuine legend of the sport. Efe Obada, formerly of the Carolina Panthers, Buffalo Bills, and Washington Commanders, retired in August this year. The Brit was something of a trailblazer, becoming the first player through the NFL’s International Player Pathway program to actually make it in the league. He is, without question, the first British success story in the NFL.
Obada’s career is wild. He bounced around training camps in Dallas, Kansas City, and Atlanta before the program landed him a spot with the Carolina Panthers in 2017. A year, later, he made the roster, and returned that faith in him by winning the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award in Week 3 of 2018. That feels nuts. Across a 6 season, 72 game career, Obada managed to notch 53 solo tackles, 15 sacks, 1 interception, and 1 forced fumble.
He joins Osi Umenyoira and Jared Allen, who were inducted in 2024. In the coming years, I fully expect to see Jay Ajayi, Graham Gano, and Jamie Gillan added in. It’s a really cool initiative, I think. It’s gonna be cool to walk through in 15 years, when the “NFL in the UK Museum” that I’ve got in my head opens its doors.
Kitwatch 2026: Part IV
Look, I know I said last week that I’d stop talking about the new Falcons uniforms. And I will. But, on Monday night football, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Saints return to the Superdome post-Hurricane Katrina, the match up of the week unfolded. Both sides dressed in the same colours they wore 20 years ago. A stunner in the wardrobe to match the leagues greatest rivalry.
The New York Giants celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first Super Bowl victory by donning their throwback home uniform. It’s a pretty nice thing, though, and I think I’ve said this previously, I find this to be one instance where the current iteration trumps the retro design. For me, the Giants detail-less home jersey is about as iconic as it gets. For a change up, though, this is a nice one.
The Carolina Panthers opted to bring in their alternate black helmet for an all-black vs all-white (sort of) clash against the Lions. Is it a great look? On paper, yes. In reality, kind of? I’ve watched the Panthers with silver helmets for so long that it feels weird seeing them in anything else. A decent effort, but starting to think these might be a contender for a wardrobe refresh sooner rather than later.
The Dallas Cowboys were forced to wear something other than white for the first time this season, as they travelled cross-state to the Houston Texans. An absolute humdinger of a game, made better by seeing the Cowboys pull off a comeback victory in threads you only usually see worn in the stands at international games. They should wear these more often, I reckon.
Features Image Credit: Joshua A. Bickel-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
