NFL Week 5 Winners & Losers

By Lee Wakefield & Peter Mann

 

We are officially a quarter of the way through the NFL season! Time is flying for fans of teams like the 49ers, Eagles and Chiefs, I’m sure! And for fans of teams like the Panthers and Bears, well, it’s almost draft season! In this week’s winners and losers, we have both sides covered.

Winners - Peter Mann

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints bullied Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots into submission, scoring 34 points and registering a shut-out in the process. Which is decent at the best of times, but when that comes against the flailing Patriots, once a dominant franchise, it’s even sweeter. 

Just ask Saints Head Coach Dennis Allen, and their excitable running back, Alvin Kamara, as well as quarterback Derek Carr, they enjoyed that one – Kamara was vocal prior to the game at the Gillette Stadium, he told the Saints coaching team he wanted more of the football. 

A rushing touchdown for him early in the second quarter, as the Saints picked up the pace, saw him become the franchise’s career TD leader, the 73 of his career; Carr meanwhile, he supplied two scoring passes, for Chris Olave in the second, and Foster Moreau in the fourth, to finish with stats of 18 of 26 for 183 yards. 

Victory pushed the Saints to 3-2, and saw the Patriots, for only the second time under Belichick, drop to 1-4, the last time being his first season with the franchise, back in 2000, and with it their second worst shut-out in franchise history – the other, a 52-0 drubbing to the NFLs Invincibles, the ’72 Miami Dolphins.

Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins, are they supermen? Speaking of the Dolphins, there’s got to be something in the Florida waters, surely. 

Records are falling where Josh McDaniels’ Dolphins franchise are concerned, and it continued at the weekend against the New York Giants (31-16) at the Hard Rock Stadium, the Dolphins going top heavy on both passing, and rushing yards. 

Most of the games scores arrived in the second and third quarters, but that mattered not for the Dol-fans as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa registered two TDs, 2 INTs, for 308 yards, running back De’Von Achane 1TD for 151 yards, and wide receiver Tyreek Hill 1TD for 181 yards. 

In totalling 524 offensive yards against the Giants, the Dolphins set a new, NFL record, for the most over the first five games of a season, knocking up 2,568 already, surpassing that of the 1999 LA Rams; Hill moved up to fifth in the all-time standings following his 69-yard TD taking his tally to 19 of 60 or more yards in his career; and RB Achane, where to begin.

Achane became the first player in NFL history to register at least 100 rushing yards, averaging 10.0 per rush, in three straight outings, is the first player of the Super Bowl era to score seven TDs in his first four career games, AND he became the third rookie of the past 35 years to run at least 100 yards and a rushing TD in three, consecutive games, joining Barry Sanders and Mike Anderson. 

Let’s not forget the speed stats these Dolphins are putting out there – seven times already this season a Dolphin player has clocked over 20MPH and, against the Giants, Tyreek Hill topped them with 22.01MPH, alongside De’Von Acahane posting 21.76MPH – catch them if you can!

San Francisco 49ers

Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers continue to roll as one of only two, undefeated franchises (Philadelphia Eagles the other) this season, following a dust-up against the Dallas Cowboys, the Niners claiming a 42-10 victory. 

Not just that, but the win stretched their regular season winning streak to fifteen, the longest in franchise history and with it, quarterback Brock Purdy, he having won his first ten straight and finds himself tied as the second-longest streak, Ben Roethlisberger (15) with the best start to a career. 

In picking up those 42 points against the Cowboys, the 4-0 Niners have now registered at least 30 points in each of their last five outings as Purdy took 4 TDs for 252 yards, and George Kittle 3 TDs, 3 INTs for 67 yards, Purdy and Kittle combining for the games first two scores, 19 and 38 yards respectively, adding a third late in the third quarter, for 10 yards. 

The scoring run in which the Niners currently find themselves on, the last four franchises to match that all made the Super Bowl, the last being the Rams in 2018; as for Kyle Shanahan, his game-calling was one step, and many yards ahead of that of the Cowboys at every turn as the Red and Gold continue to flourish.

Losers - Lee Wakefield

Sean Payton & Bill Belichick

I’m going to club both of these seasoned coaches together.

We continue to dunk on them on the weekly pod, both in our meme-able moments and our games of the week.

Payton lost to the Jets. The teams whose offensive coordinator he accused of one of the worst coaching jobs in the league.

The Jets social media teams conjured the perfect response after the game on Sunday. I’m sure they had this one saved in drafts ever since the original comments were made.

As for Bill… Well, we all thought that last week’s loss to the Cowboys was the nadir of his coaching career.

But no. Shut out against the Saints, whose quarterback has a barely functioning shoulder.

The Patriots haven’t scored a touchdown since week 3 and big questions are being asked.

Dallas Cowboys

Well, that wasn’t supposed to go like that, was it?

Shellacked by the 49ers on national television, and their feared defense was made to look toothless in the process.

The 49ers just seem to have the Cowboy’s number these days. Dallas will be hoping that they don’t have to travel to Levi’s Stadium in the postseason. Kyle Shanahan’s boys have eliminated them from the playoffs in the past two years, with Sunday’s win making it three in a row for San Francisco.

George Kittle’s t-shirt was the icing on the cake in terms of the sheer disrespect that they have for Dallas.

Fans Who Don't Want a London Franchise

With the Jags playing the guinea pig for the NFL international expansion, their back-to-back wins were fantastic news for anyone who is all for a London (or at least, non-US based) franchise.

The Jags set up shop at The Grove, they were happy to remain in the UK and they even celebrated their franchise quarterback’s 24th Birthday in London. London really is a home away from home for Jacksonville, and owner Shahid Khan is keen to continue the transatlantic relationship.

With two wins in their first two week business trip, the Jags’ success is only going to fuel talk of further international games. So if you’re against the idea, well, you better talk rooting for whoever the Jags play each time they visit!

Feature Image Credit: Sports Illustrated

Lee Wakefield

NFL, CFB & NFL Draft

Lee Wakefield IS A defensive line enthusiast, Chargers Sufferer, and LONG-TIME writer and podcaster with a number of publications. Find his Chargers content over at Bolt Beat. @Wakefield90 on twitter

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