NFL Week 5 will be remembered for the rich quarterbacks striking back.
Yeah, that line needs work, but it’s not easy giving up on a play on words that reference Star Wars movies. Similar to the film and TV franchise, quarterbacks made many millions this offseason thanks to lucrative contracts from antsy teams afraid of not having a franchise signal-caller.
It seemed the financial boom for the position had reached a breaking point with many of those highly paid quarterbacks struggling in the first month of the season, while castoffs like Sam Darnold and Justin Fields piled up victories.
Darnold won again—what’s new with the 5–0 Minnesota Vikings? But the quarterbacks who were paid handsomely in the offseason also recorded victories. Kirk Cousins, Jordan Love, Dak Prescott and Trevor Lawrence each lifted their respective teams to wins in Week 5. They are four of six quarterbacks who cashed in this offseason with contracts that had an annual average salary north of $45 million. Jared Goff, who was on a bye week, and Tua Tagovailoa, who’s on injured reserve, are also part of that list. Goff’s Detroit Lions are 3–1 and the Miami Dolphins’ offense has suffered without Tagovailoa. Points were made this past week as to why teams had no hesitation paying quarterbacks even if some haven’t had much postseason success.
Perhaps no quarterback was better than Cousins last week. The Atlanta Falcons lead off this week’s “winners and losers” column.
Winners
Falcons’ front office
Many of the bold decisions Falcons GM Terry Fontenot made in the offseason paid off in a big way during the thrilling 36–30 overtime victory on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Cousins had a career night, recording 509 passing yards and four touchdowns to rally the Falcons, while also proving Fontenot right for bringing him to Atlanta. Fontenot received some criticism for handing Cousins $100 million guaranteed before he entered his age-36 season and coming off a significant Achilles injury. But many understood why Fontenot made the splash signing after the Falcons trotted out Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke and Marcus Mariota to start most games the past two seasons.
Not many spared room for reasoning, however, when Fontenot made the shocking decision to select quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in April’s draft. The Falcons were ridiculed, even though Fontenot told stories of how he missed on Patrick Mahomes when he was with the New Orleans Saints.
It might be a while before Fontenot knows what he has in Penix, but it’s starting to become clear he has the Falcons set up for success in the immediate future and in the long term. What made Cousins’s sensational performance even sweeter for Atlanta was how he distributed the ball and received clutch performances from Drake London and Kyle Pitts—two former first-round picks who have struggled to develop with bad quarterback play.
London was unstoppable and Pitts was consistently reliable last week. Also, Cousins has established a connection with wide receivers Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud III, two underrated signings for Fontenot. The Falcons (3–2) haven’t unlocked running back Bijan Robinson, but that’s a good problem to have with the passing attack finally taking off.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris is also proving his GM right because many bashed the team for not hiring Bill Belichick. It might be too soon to take a victory lap there, but it seems all the right offseason moves were made in Atlanta.
Giants’ coaching staff
It wasn’t that long ago when the New York Giants were embarrassed by the Vikings in every phase during the season opener. That loss doesn’t look as bad now knowing the undefeated Vikings have the most complete team in the NFL.
And the ugly setback is starting to become a distant memory because the Giants (2–3) had a complete performance of their own during the upset road victory against the Seattle Seahawks. It was more surprising that New York pulled that off without rookie stud wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was sidelined with a concussion.
Nabers deservedly received plenty of credit for getting consistent performances from quarterback Daniel Jones the past few weeks, but it was clear in Sunday’s win that Giants coach Brian Daboll has developed an offensive scheme that can churn out quality production even with rotating players due to injuries. Darius Slayton was the top wideout for Jones in Seattle, and rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. had a breakout performance while filling in for Devin Singletary.
Third-year wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson got yelled at by Daboll for going live on Instagram after the upset win, but he’ll likely be forgiven soon for emerging as a reliable No. 2 wide receiver in New York.
The defense is also showing signs of improvements under first-year New York defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. The Giants hit Geno Smith 10 times, including four hits and three sacks from Dexter Lawrence II. New York has come a long way since Lawrence recorded the lone hit against Darnold in Week 1.
NFC North teams
The NFC North might be sending at least three teams to the postseason with every team currently over .500.
It was a good Sunday for the division after the Vikings (5–0) defeated the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers (3–2) prevailed over the Los Angeles Rams, and the Chicago Bears (3–2) cruised by the Carolina Panthers. The Lions (3–1) were off with a bye week.
The Week 7 showdown between the Vikings, who head into a bye week, and Lions could determine which team is truly the best in the NFC North. But the Packers and Bears can’t simply be viewed as wild-card contenders.
The Bears’ offense is finally starting to help the defense with the improvements rookie Caleb Williams has shown during the two-game winning streak. Williams was accurate, extended plays and protected the football vs. the Panthers, completing 20-of-29 passes for 304 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. It helped that Keenan Allen was back on the field to take attention away from DJ Moore, who recorded five catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns against his former team.
Love has had mixed results since returning from the MCL sprain that sidelined him two games, but he brushed off an early pick-six vs. the Rams to record the road win on a day the Packers’ offense was without wide receivers Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson. The Packers somewhat resemble the Vikings with an opportunistic defense and an offense that can get hot in a hurry.
Green Bay leads the league in takeaways with 14, followed by Minnesota (13) and Chicago (11). The Lions have work to do defensively, but they have Aidan Hutchinson on their side, and an abundance of weapons on offense. The NFC North could be a four-team race throughout the season.
Dak Prescott
The jokes quickly hit social media after the NBC broadcast aired footage of CeeDee Lamb shouting in Prescott’s direction after a costly interception in the end zone during Sunday Night Football.
The faux lip readers stopped analyzing Lamb’s words after Prescott threw the game-winning touchdown to Jalen Tolbert on fourth-and-goal with 20 seconds left in regulation to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20–17. Ironically, the game-winning throw went to the same side of the end zone where Prescott was picked off attempting to hit Lamb.
It was a mistake-filled night with a chaotic final drive, but Prescott found a way to get it done, showing why he’s worth $60 million per season—at least in the regular season. Perhaps wait to make memes about Prescott until the postseason. And, yes, Prescott needs to be better in January, but Sunday night was a reminder that he’s constantly lifting his team to be in a position to compete for a playoff spot.
Dallas (3–2) was without Micah Parsons, Brandin Cooks and many other key players against one of the toughest teams in the NFL. But Prescott was enough to save the night in Pittsburgh.
Trevor Lawrence
Seems a bit silly to highlight the Jacksonville Jaguars (1–4) for being the last team to win a game this season. But it was a much-needed victory that took pressure off Lawrence, who was constantly reminded about his nine-game losing streak dating back to last season.
Maybe the win against the Indianapolis Colts could be a turning point in Lawrence’s career—it better be for the sake of coach Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke, who re-signed the 2021 No. 1 pick to a five-year, $275 million contract extension back in June.
For the first four games, Lawrence struggled with accuracy and connecting with wide receivers not named Brian Thomas Jr., the standout rookie who had another lengthy touchdown vs. the Colts. On Sunday, Lawrence put the team on his back during a messy shootout against a divisional opponent. Mistakes were made and a tablet was reportedly thrown, but Lawrence delivered many dimes on the field, recording a season-high 371 passing yards for two touchdowns and one interception.
Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor have struggled to produce productive game plans and play calls on the field. But sometimes the quarterback making $55 million per year needs to mask the mistakes. Lawrence did that Sunday, and maybe he could do a lot more of that moving forward.
Losers
Bills vs. quality opponents
The Buffalo Bills attempted the delicate balance of repairing the salary cap with cheaper options, which often means turning to inexperienced players, without sacrificing a prime season from Josh Allen.
But even if the Bills win the AFC East again, it appears that GM Brandon Beane will be unable to pull off the tough feat because these Bills don’t have the look of a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Winning it all is truly what this team should strive for with a star quarterback on his second contract, not a fifth consecutive divisional title. The Bills (3–2) regressed in back-to-back losses against the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. The lack of depth, talent and experience was exposed throughout the roster over the past two weeks.
Allen will probably help his team beat up on bad teams, which they did to jump to a 3–0 start, and win a few games against postseason contenders to take advantage of an AFC East division that includes the Patriots, Tua-less Dolphins and Jets, who can’t get on the same page during their first season with a healthy Aaron Rodgers. But what the Bills showed in Houston and Baltimore could be a sign of things to come in January.
Without a star wideout, the Bills can’t afford to lose a playmaker, which was the case Sunday with Khalil Shakir sidelined. Allen had a horrific performance, only completing 30% of his 30 passing attempts against the Texans. The defense is in worse shape, but the unit got bailed out a bit when Texans star wide receiver Nico Collins missed the second half due to injury.
Perhaps Beane swings for a blockbuster trade, like adding Davante Adams, but that could derail the team’s plans of getting a healthy salary cap. This losing skid could test the Bills’ patience for long-term goals.
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase
Burrow could throw for 5,000 passing yards and Chase could flirt with 2,000 receiving yards and it still might not be enough to get the Cincinnati Bengals into the playoffs. Burrow was right when he said the Bengals aren’t “a championship-level team right now.”
The Bengals’ duo was near perfect against the Ravens, but their one mistake cost them in the shootout game that didn’t feature much defense. The Bengals (1–4) have had a poor defense for more than a season now and it might not get any better any time soon. Burrow and Chase weren’t on the same page when Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey recorded an interception that led to Baltimore adding the game-tying field goal to erase a fourth-quarter 10-point deficit.
The Bengals had plenty of opportunities to put away the Ravens, but the defense failed to get a stop in the second half, allowing four consecutive scoring drives, including three touchdowns. Burrow and Chase being asked to light up the scoreboard is good for their fantasy football managers, but they’re not going to get far this season with a bad defense and inconsistent rushing attack. Running backs Chase Brown and Zack Moss only combined for 70 rushing yards against Baltimore.
Jets’ front office
New York Jets GM Joe Douglas has been reluctant to mortgage the team’s future, even though that’s essentially what the team did when they traded for Aaron Rodgers last year.
Douglas did play hard ball to land Rodgers and wasn’t fleeced by the Green Bay Packers to acquire the four-time MVP, but these contract-negotiation methods need to stop at least until the NFL treadline next month. This 2–3 team that’s all about winning now needs all the help it can get as soon as possible, including from edge rusher Haason Reddick, who’s been at home trying to get the Jets to give him a new deal.
Reports are swirling of the Jets being in contention to acquire Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders, but will Douglas play hard ball again and wait for the Jets to lose a few more times before agreeing to a deal? And even if the Jets land Adams, it might not solve all their issues, because Rodgers’s mobility is certainly one of them. The 40-year-old quarterback injured his ankle in the loss vs. the Vikings. Adams can’t block for Rodgers, but the Jets have no time to waste and now need to be aggressive in hopes the star wideout solves most of their problems.
Raiders owner Mark Davis
The Raiders were embarrassed in Denver last week and are on the verge of losing another All-Pro wideout in the prime of their career, but at least they’re gaining a healthy market for Adams and could convince a team to cough up a second-round pick.
Small wins have been a theme under Raiders owner Mark Davis with very little to show for his aggressive attempts to revive the once proud organization of his father, Al Davis.
The younger Davis, who took over the team in 2011, has continued his father's trend of rostering elite wide receivers. But the Antonio Brown experience in 2019 was brief and disastrous to say the least. Three years later, the Raiders traded for Davante Adams to pair with Derek Carr, but the close friends were teammates for only one season. Now Adams reportedly wants out because of the poor quarterback play since Carr left.
Davis also made splash moves at head coach with Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels. Gruden didn’t win much in nearly four seasons before resigning in 2021 when it became public that he wrote racist and homophobic emails. McDaniels was fired midway through his second season partly because of a divided locker room and broken offense.
Davis will likely gain more picks by shipping Adams to start new again. But Raiders fans must be tired of aggressive approaches with little to show from it.
49ers’ red-zone offense and poor defense
It’s not time to panic for the defending NFC champions, but it’s getting close after the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Arizona Cardinals at home and dropped to 2–3 on the season.
San Francisco did receive good news about Christian McCaffrey potentially coming back in the near future, and the team has gotten steady contributions from backup running back Jordan Mason in the former’s absence. But McCaffrey could be coming back to a team with issues in the red zone, something they need to fix quickly with a defense that hasn’t been as good as previous seasons.
Brock Purdy and the offense didn’t register a touchdown in the final three quarters against the Cardinals. The 49ers had the ball inside Arizona’s 10-yard line three times in the final three quarters and finished with two field goals and one fumble. To make matters worse, the 49ers could be without kicker Jake Moody for a while after he was carted off the field Sunday.
As for the defense, the unit failed to stop the Cardinals’ rushing attack after also struggling in the losses against the Rams and Vikings. This team is going to need a lot more than just the return of CMC to get them back to the Super Bowl.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 5 Winners and Losers: High-Priced QBs Come Through in Crunch Time.