Week five in the NFL sees the return of Pinktober and the NFL’s crucial catch campaign to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. During the month of October, the players, coaches and officials will all be wearing pink to raise awareness of breast cancer screening. The NFL also auctions off some of the apparel worn by players and coaches with the proceeds going to breast cancer awareness. For more information on Pinktober and the NFL’s crucial catch campaign please click on the ribbon picture to the left.
Back to the action now and heading into week five there were five unbeaten teams, the question is could they all survive and preserve their perfect records.
Let us start in Cincinnati who played host to the undefeated New England Patriots. Like most of us, I was expecting this to be a close affair and I was definitely expecting a lot more scoring too. It was however not until the back end of the second quarter that the first points went on the board courtesy of a Mike Nugent 39 yard field goal for the Bengals. The Patriots returned the favour and got a field goal of their own to level things up just before halftime.
The game remained reasonably uneventful until the fourth quarter when the Patriots got the ball trailing by seven points with a few minutes to play. Out of nowhere the heavens opened and a torrential downpour ensued making it next to impossible for Brady to throw the Ball. The Patriots went four and out but they did manage to get one more try before the end of the game. With the rain still pouring down and Cincinnati giving away penalties to help New England progress down the field, the game finally ended with an interception from Adam Jones near the goalline. Following the interception and as if by magic, the rain stopped and the Bengals took a knee to seal the game and 13 – 6 win.
This loss wasn't the only bad news for Tom Brady, as by not throwing a touchdown pass in this game it ended his 52 game streak with a touchdown pass. Drew Brees’s record stays safe, for now at least!
That was one unbeaten team down and next we move onto the Seattle vs Indianapolis game, could Seattle remain unbeaten? This was another match up that I was really looking forward to this week as the Colts under Andrew Luck have been great at home and we all know that Seattle does not travel very well.
In the early going Seattle were on fire, Russell Wilson was running free whenever they needed key yards to convert on third down and they took the lead with a 42 yard field goal. Following the field goal the Seattle defence stopped the Colts offence and forced them to punt. After the punt Seattle continued there dominance with an eight play 64 yard drive resulting in a 10 yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate. Seattle now up by 10 and looking impressive managed to block a Colts punt and force a safety, have a look at the highlight below and see if you think he managed to get control before going out of the endzone:
The score was now 12 – 0 to Seattle and to be honest even at this early stage I was writing the Colts off, as I soon learned however this was very foolish indeed. It seems that you should never write off Andrew Luck as before the end of the first quarter he throw a magnificent 73 yard touchdown pass to T Y Hilton who continues to show great speed and ability.
Now we move into the second quarter and it was the special teams from Indianapolis that came up with a monster play as Delano Howell scored on a 61 yard return of a blocked field goal. Seattle then answered back with a 28 yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse. At halftime the two sides were locked in battle with the Seahawks up 19 – 17.
This was turning out to be the great match-up I was expecting and the third quarter had three Seattle field goals and another touchdown reception from T Y Hilton, this time for 29 yards making it 28 – 23 to Seattle with just one quarter left to play. In the fourth quarter it was to be Indianapolis and Andrew Luck who stepped up to win the game as they scored with a three yard run from Donald Brown and converted the ensuing two point conversion. To put the icing on the cake the Colts also scored a 49 yard field goal with one minute and 55 seconds left on the clock.
This was turning out to be the great match-up I was expecting and the third quarter had three Seattle field goals and another touchdown reception from T Y Hilton, this time for 29 yards making it 28 – 23 to Seattle with just one quarter left to play. In the fourth quarter it was to be Indianapolis and Andrew Luck who stepped up to win the game as they scored with a three yard run from Donald Brown and converted the ensuing two point conversion. To put the icing on the cake the Colts also scored a 49 yard field goal with one minute and 55 seconds left on the clock.
Two undefeated teams had now fallen, let us see now how the others faired as we take a look at all of the week five scores baring the Monday Night game between Atlanta and New York Jets, due to kick off in a matter of hours:
Buffalo 24 vs 37 Cleveland
San Diego 17 vs 27 Oakland
Houston 3 vs 34 San Francisco
Denver 51 vs 48 Dallas
Carolina 6 vs 22 Arizona
New Orleans 26 vs 18 Chicago
New England 6 vs 13 Cincinnati
Detroit 9 vs 22 Green Bay
Kansas City 26 vs 17 Tennessee
Seattle 28 vs 34 Indianapolis
Jacksonville 20 vs 34 St Louis
Baltimore 26 vs 23 Miami
Philadelphia 36 vs 21 New York Giants
San Diego 17 vs 27 Oakland
Houston 3 vs 34 San Francisco
Denver 51 vs 48 Dallas
Carolina 6 vs 22 Arizona
New Orleans 26 vs 18 Chicago
New England 6 vs 13 Cincinnati
Detroit 9 vs 22 Green Bay
Kansas City 26 vs 17 Tennessee
Seattle 28 vs 34 Indianapolis
Jacksonville 20 vs 34 St Louis
Baltimore 26 vs 23 Miami
Philadelphia 36 vs 21 New York Giants
As you can see three undefeated teams remain in New Orleans, Denver and Kansas City. The question is can any of these teams go 16 - 0 and if not which of them will remain perfect the longest? Personally my money is on New Orleans as they seem to be playing with a renewed energy under Sean Payton, and with the Broncos giving up 48 points against the Cowboys I have to question their defence. More about that game though on the podcast coming up later in the week. The dark horse or unknown is certainly Kansas City as the defence is looking pretty phenomenal with the pressure they can put on opposition quarterbacks but, this is Kansas, so can they go unbeaten?
Let's move on to a few other items from around the league starting with Baltimore's first ever trade during the regular season which saw Eugene Monroe move from Jacksonville to the Ravens for draft picks not known at this time. Who will this have the bigger impact on, Jacksonville or the Ravens, well after the weekend and the season ending injury to Luke Joeckel you would have to say it's the Jaguars who will suffer considerably. Loosing a starting left tackle to injury is one thing but trading away the back up in the same week can not be good for your franchise. Well hindsight is a wonderful thing I guess.
Finally I would like to finish off by reminding you to check out our podcast 'Spitball' later in the week as I will be covering the ever increasing decline of the Giants, The Broncos vs Cowboys epic confrontation as well the usual awards and swings of the week.
If you have any questions for us or comments regarding the blog then please either leave them below or contact us on any of the social media icons above. Until next time football fans, stay safe, take care and 'Thanks for Stopping By'.