The Cleveland Browns proved they can be winners while the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers are in a bad place after Sunday in NFL Week 5.
A blanket statement for the first four weeks of the 2018 NFL season would say that it had been full of surprises. From upset wins to disappointing showings, we’d already seen it all to start the year However, NFL Week 5 wasn’t the time where that formula was about to change. It was more of the same in terms of shocks and stunners, which makes for another exciting week of action.
Just when you thought the Tennessee Titans might start to take the AFC South by the throat, they put forth their worst performance of the 2018 season against the Buffalo Bills. Similarly, as the Green Bay Packers tried to show they are still tops in the NFC North, Mason Crosby forgot where the middle of the uprights were and they fell to the Detroit Lions.
That wasn’t all that happened in NFL Week 5, of course. On Sunday, we also saw the Arizona Cardinals win their first game of the season, the Cleveland Browns grind out a win in yet another overtime game, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Blake Bortles lay an egg in a marquee matchup and the Dallas Cowboys offense go back to being the giant question mark that they seem to revert to every other week.
All of this is to say that you can’t set your watch to much in the NFL at this point of the season. While there are some certainties, most things in this league are variable right now. What we can do, however, is look at what we saw on Sunday and see which teams, players and so on came away for the better, and which look worst after what transpired.
Let’s dive into the winners and losers from NFL Week 5.