Week 5's NFL All-Stars

By Rhys Knott

Week 5 saw the return of some old favorites. Some returning from injuries and some who just had a rare bad week last time out. After a strange beginning to the 2023 season, it looks like some offenses might have finally clicked. If the Bengals and Bears can find some consistency the next three months are going to be exciting 

Week 5's NFL All-Star Quarterback

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Joe Burrow 

Joe Cool is well and truly back, or maybe he just needed to play against the Cardinals?  

CJ Stroud had another impressive outing for a rookie, but the Texans defense was blown away by the quiet storm that is Desmond Ridder in a home game. Sam Howell put up good numbers, but some of that came in garbage time after the Bears pulled down the Commanders pants on prime-time TV. 

Burrow on the other hand completed 36 of 46 passes, threw three TD passes to Ja’Marr Chase, and ended the game with a passer rating of 108.1 despite throwing an interception and being sacked three times. Still some kinks for the Bengals to iron out then, 

Week 5's NFL All-Star Running Back

Breece Hall  

He’s also back and what a beautiful site it is to see. Hall suffered a brutal injury against the Broncos last season so seeing him gallop in for a 72-yard touchdown against the Broncos was particularly cathartic. He averaged 8 yards per carry on 22 runs. Hall also caught all three of his targets for 17 yards. The Jets said he would no longer be on a pitch count and if he keeps going at 8 yards a carry nobody in New Jersey will be missing Aaron Rodgers. 

Week 5's NFL All-Star Wide Receivers

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DJ Moore  

Commanders’ defense decided to give the Bears a nice confidence boost in Week 5. Chicago’s offense got a huge assist as the Commanders decided that tackling was overrated. In fairness da Bears may have been inspired by the loss of Dick Butkus. If they continue to play with a similar amount of determination and Fields and Moore can link up consistently the Bears might be the ones who are back. 

Moore ended Thursday Night with 230 receiving yards, three touchdowns on just eight catches! 

Ja’Marr Chase 

Chase’s back cos Burrow’s back. He caught all Burrow’s touchdown passes and 42% of Burrow’s completions. Burrow’s 192 receiving yards accounted for 51% of the Bengals total yards on offense! In Week 5 nobody else caught more than 11 passes. And Moore and Chase were the only two receivers to catch more than one touchdown. 

Tyreek Hill 

Him again, you can’t keep him quiet, well the Patriots could (they held him to 40 yards in Week 2). We call that the Christian Gonzalez effect. But Hill caught eight out nine his targets against the Giants. 

He absolutely roasted the Giants defensive backs for 181 yards through the air and a touchdown.

Week 5's NFL All-Star Tight End

George Kittle 

Sam LaPorta gets better every week, and he caught two touchdowns this week, impressive considering he only caught three passes for 47 yards in total. But he’s second to another Iowa graduate. 

Three TD receptions will earn you All-Star status most weeks, but when you haven’t caught three touchdowns in the same game despite playing 87 games for the Niners it’ll definitely get you there. 

Kittle saw four targets on Sunday night and hauled in three of them. All of them ended as touchdowns. He ended the game with just 67 receiving yards. 

Week 5's All-Star D/ST

Saints 

They picked up an away clean sheet, now granted it was against a generationally poor Patriots offense. But a shutout anywhere is worth shouting about. Dennis Allen’s unit ended the game in Foxboro with two sacks, four total QB hits and two interceptions. Tyrann Mathieu took his all the way for a touchdown too. It was his first pick six since 2021 when he was a Chiefs player. 

Saints’ kicker Blake Grupe didn’t miss a kick in New England either ending the game with 10 points. 

Feature Image Credit: The Athletic

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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