What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Week 5

By Rhys Knott

Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season provided a delightful rookie quarterback, an undisciplined Cowboys performance, more bemusing officiating and some frankly ludicrous interceptions.
 
Taking umbridge is hot in Week 5; awful defensive back play is hot too. So are redemption stories.
 
But starting a QB who has completed just 35 passes since 2023 on the road in Lambeau is very Knott. And not knowing the overtime rules is, once again, very Knott!

What’s Hot in Football – Week 5

It’s mascot watch time. Last week Blue was on the roof at the Tottenham Stadium (because if a team is paying you $50,000, you do what they want); this week the Falcons’ mascot Freddie the Falcon is showing everyone that he’s absolutely bonkers too!
And once he got back on terra firma, he managed to do something far less athletic. The catching needs a lot of work, but the entertainment Freddie provides is definitely hot.
In news that only their parents will be delighted to hear, Drake Maye and Jordan Love are hot again. Love usually waits until Toyotathon starts before he catches fire, but he’s started this year. It should be pointed out that Laken Tomlinson and Kevin Zeitler improved the Packers’ pass protection no end, and the concerns about the Bears pass rush (especially without Marcus Davenport) are very real.

And, don’t forget Drake Maye.

Jalon Daniels is hot in Week 5. The rookie QB did something Baker Mayfield couldn’t manage in 2026: win a game for the Mike Evans-less Buccaneers. The most impressive part of Daniels’ first win in the pros wasn’t how he dissected the Cowboys’ pass defense; it’s his calm decision-making. The former Jayhawk knew the Cowboys would make mistakes, and he capitalised when they did.
The Bucs win was far from a one-man show, though; Bucky Irving made hay against a Cowboys defense that has struggled against the run this season. They hadn’t given up more than 192 yards on the ground since Week 6 last season though!
The hilarious interception club made an early start in Week 5, with two coming on Thursday. You can’t put the first one on Dak. Ryan Flournoy should catch it, and even Jake Ferguson had a chance to stop the pick.
And, while Dak guns the second intercepted pass in there, Ferguson has to catch this and not head it up in the air like he is defending a corner.
Ja’Marr Chase is permanently hot, but Eric Collins’ reaction to this touchdown grab is even hotter!
And on the topic of being hot in Miami, when it’s so hot that people are collapsing on the sidelines (and your President is purchasing diesel from Russia to speed up climate change), someone somewhere really needs to have a word.
Parker Washington didn’t want Chase getting all the love, though. His catch is so hot that North London is still sizzling!
Aggro is back with vengeance on Week 5. Not that we condone that sort of thing here at The Touchdown, but it happened and it seems to be becoming a trend, so it’s hot.
 
The Jags started it, or maybe the Eagles started it. Either way, they both had players ejected on an opening kickoff that was called back for a penalty.
Then the Seahawks and 49ers decided the NFC West divisional rivalry is all rivalry and very little skill. Resulting in Dre Greenlaw deciding to headbutt someone who wasn’t wearing a helmet.  
 
But, with all the shenanigans going on around him, Mike Evans still had time to rack up 113 receiving yards and a touchdown. He also provided a moment so hot that Trevon Diggs is still feeling it. The “who are you again dude?” is 10/10, no notes.

A Divisional road win for San Francisco is hot, and a great omen for the Bosa-less ‘9ers.

Christian Watson is having a season, by the way. Any comparison with Randy Moss is hot!

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Art But Make it Sports is always hot. Hang it in the Louvre.
Defensive players scoring multiple sacks is also hot this week. 12 guys made more than one! Even more impressively, Will Anderson Jr. and David Bailey (not the photographer) racked up three apiece against some diabolical pass protections.
Sacks are fun and all, but we know why you’re really here. It’s time for more hilarious interceptions.
 
Cam Ward loves a hilarious pick, possibly more than life itself. If we bothered to keep a leaderboard, Cam is so hot he’d be number one by a street.
 
He’s throwing the bad interceptions too. Either throw it or run; don’t stand in the pocket until the rush gets to you!
 
This is an exceptional “dying duck” from Malik Willis.
Trevor Lawrence’s goal-post doink isn’t technically an interception, but should it be? Either way, it’s kind of hot.
The grumbling about the NFL London ticket prices is very understandable and valid, but in the end the attendance didn’t suffer. A new record at the Tottenham Stadium is hot.
And Jalen Hurts bumping into some fans while he was just pottering around one of the local parks in London is heart-warmingly hot.

But, nothing is as hot as having Kurt Warner as a hype man. If Jason Kelce is husky the Eagles are just a few pieces away.

What’s Knott in Football – Week 5

Dropping what would have been the most hilarious interception in the history of interceptions? You better believe that’s top of the Knott list in Week 5!
Moaning at Dak Prescott after the Cowboys lose on Thursday Night Football is very Knott. Yes, the Cowboys were terrible, but Dak was one of their only competent players in Week 5. Plus, you’re a Cowboys fan; what did you expect?
Jake Ferguson was so Knott that he may as well have been playing for the Buccaneers. We’ve already seen how he headed a ball to Alex Anzalone, but he had three passes slip through his fingers.
 
You could argue he hadn’t even run the correct route on this fourth-down play; it looks like Dak is aiming for the sideline while Ferguson is just sitting down between the zone coverage.
But it’s not just the Cowboys in the Knott category after Thursday. Celebrating so wildly that you clobber your 62-year-old head coach is absolutely Knott!
Making little kids cry is Knott too. This one is on you Eagles special teams (and Cam Little, sort of).
Drilling a game-winning field goal might be hot, but wearing a Man Utd jersey to a press conference in the Tottenham Stadium is worthy of jail time. This is so Knott, Cam.
This one technically could have made the hot list under “deep pass plays”, but some of these passes were short throws followed by a lot of missed tackles! Jaylen Warren led the way with an 80-yard touchdown catch-and-run, but in all, 12 players had receptions that went for 40 yards or more!

And, the Bears defensive backfield is so Knott! They need Kyler Gordon and Coby Bryant back as soon as possible. Dillon Thieneman is a very promising rookie, but he got toasted by Watson and co. Three Bears pass catchers had receptions over 45 yards!

The Falcons? Well, it turns out they’re very Knott too. When a defense can stop their run game, the whole thing turns to dust. And if you have to put Tua in, forget about it.
The Ravens’ defense won them the game, but Mark Andrews made sure they had to work for it. That’s a lot of very Knott from the tight end.
And, for the first time this season, we have a Malik Nabers sighting. We’d prefer it was in the hot section, but there’s no way this is hot. Tripping over the man you just pushed over and then claiming pass interference is very Knott big fella!
But that game ended in even more Knott fashion. Jayden Daniels needed to clock the ball or throw an incomplete pass to give the Commanders a last-second field goal to win the game. But he instead tried to scramble and kept the ball running. It had all the earmarks of a QB who thought he was playing by the same OT rules they use in college.

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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