Thing about football that sticks out for me about yesterday is that sometimes, you see things that just seem miraculous. We make predictions and bets and guesses, and then the games happen and you get things that nobody saw coming. I'm thinking of one game in particular, but let's get into all of them.
Browns versus Vikings across the pond: Benched for the first quarter for apparently partying or whatever, Jordan Addison showed up to catch the game-winning touchdown. Big game for Justin Jefferson, credit where it's due to Carson Wentz for pulling it out, good numbers for Quinshon Judkins alas no touchdown. Both Browns TEs scored, Dillon Gabriel a clean, conservative short-passing game, not so great for the wide receivers unfortunately. Vikings split their international games and now get a bye to get ready for a rough three-game stretch: Eagles, at the Chargers, at Detroit.
Texans at Ravens: Blown out, by the Texans, at home. That's rock bottom for Baltimore, yes? Houston's offense moved the ball at will, but game script favored Nick Chubb more than Woody Marks, unfortunately for those of us who gambled on the rookie. Houston passing game moved the will, Baltimore defense one to attack right now. Nothing good from Baltimore's offense, at all, at least Derrick Henry scored and Zay Flowers had a good looking stat line. Presumably Cooper Rush will start again in Week 6, but we'll see. Getting near desperation time already for the 1-4 Ravens. Good thing they're in the AFC North, but that's what Steelers fans are thinking these days.
Dolphins at Panthers: Dolphins get an early lead, but no lead is safe with either of these defenses. Panthers come back behind 206 yards from Rico Dowdle and some solid play from Bryce Young, Dolphins start serving up sacks, and it's another close Miami loss that maybe should have been a win. Least you got touchdowns from the right people (Waddle, Achane and Waller), and nice to see much maligned Xavier Legette score too.
Raiders at Colts: As it seems I'm saying every week, Is Pete Carroll glad he came back for this? Raiders fall again, badly. Big numbers for most Colts, no touchdowns for Las Vegas. Ashton Jeanty had serviceable PPR numbers, but that's about it for the offense. Not sure where they go from here, but the defense definitely needs some help.
Giants at Saints: Last week it seemed the Giants were playing it safe with their rookie quarterback. This time they let Jaxson Dart throw it downfield, with decidedly mixed results. Led two early touchdown drives, Giants up 14-3. Threw a couple of late picks and the Giants lose three fumbles (Dart. Cam Skattebo, Darius Slayton), Giants lose. In-between, you had Slayton dropping a well-thrown bomb over the middle, getting wide open for a flea-flicker touchdown that Dart underthrew, and leaving with a hamstring injury. So not the best first game replacing Malik Nabers. Congrats to the Saints, with Spencer Rattler throwing a long bomb to Rashid Shaheed and his teammates reeling in all those Giants turnovers. Wild game.
Cowboys at Jets: Rest assured, the Cowboys defense is still really bad. But are the Jets worse? They still don't have a takeaway on the season. How can that be? Anyway, big numbers for most guys you might have started here. Except Jalen Tolbert, who saw 1 target and made his biggest impact recovering Jets onside kicks, while Ryan Flournoy had a breakout game. Guess he'll be on the add list this week. Good passing numbers by Justin Fields, though of course 5 more sacks and a lot of the production when the game was over. But if you started Mason Taylor and Garrett Wilson you don't mind. Aaron Glenn era not off to a good start.
Broncos at Eagles: One of the best games of the week, living up to or perhaps exceeding expectations, since Denver hadn't really shown much sign it would be able to hang with the Eagles. But it played great defense and got some things going on offense late, and some gambles (a fourth-down conversion, and going for 2 after a late touchdown) worked out. Eagles didn't get many breaks late, with a couple of tough calls not going their way, and a final Hail Mary that was pretty close to be completed. I'm actually more impressed with both teams after this game. Not many great fantasy performances, but two really good defenses here.
Titans at Cardinals: This is the game. Arguably the worst loss I've ever seen, not as momentous obviously as a playoff loss or something, but bad in the number of seemingly impossible things that had to happen for Arizona to not win this game (knocking one of my two entries out of a pretty large Survivor Pool). Presumably most have seen the highlights, but just in case: I was here talking with a reader about the lamentable no-show by Emari Demercado, right before he had what should been a 72-yard breakaway touchdown, only to inexplicably drop the ball millimeters short of the goal line. That would have put Arizona up 28-6 in the fourth quarter. But still, Arizona intercepted Cam Ward in the red zone, up 21-12 with under 5 minutes left. Game over? No, because the guy who picked it off tried to get up, fumbled it, and his nearby teammates in trying to collect it kicked the ball into the end zone, where Tennessee fell on it for a touchdown and 21-19. At that point, the winning field goal was not even surprising. I feel bad for the Cardinals. Titans don't look any better than their 0-4 start, but congrats on the comeback I guess.
Bucs at Seahawks: Fun to be a Bucs fan these days. Week after week they're making incredible plays late to win games. This one, both the Bucs and Seahawks made plays throughout from start to finish -- an instant classic. Game lost on a late Sam Darnold interception, a poor throw that glanced off a lineman's helmet (the actual INT was flukey, but no good was going to come of that throw either way). Huge games for Emeka Egbuka and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 2 TDs for Rachaad White, a lot of highlights in this one. Maybe they'll meet again in January.
Lions at Bengals: Ok, so it was a Lions blowout, yes, but at least we finally got the Jake Browning that can make Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and maybe Chase Brown viable in some games the rest of the way. Yes he threw 3 interceptions, but let's focus on the positives: 251 yards and 3 TDs. Admittedly, only Ja'Marr really had a great game. For the Lions, they all did. Bengals will make a lot of offenses look good, but a nice week to be starting most Detroit players. (Most; there's a reason I don't have Jameson Williams anywhere.)
Commanders at Chargers: A surprising game (to me anyway), thinking the Chargers would win. But the Jacory Croskey-Merritt breakout game happened, Omarion Hampton left with an ankle injury, and Justin Herbert had a goal-line interception (ball was tipped, but still) that factored into things. Another good game for Deebo Samuel, otherwise the offense spread things around. (I have no explanation for Zach Ertz being shut out, he played more than half the snaps, but just one target; better when Washington playing from behind, which was not the case.) Chargers not looking quite as tough as a couple of weeks ago.
Patriots at Bills: I guess the league knew what it was doing scheduling this one in primetime. Mike Vrabel has his defense playing well, especially against the run, and Buffalo never really got its offense going (and added some uncharacteristic mistakes). New England's offense, meanwhile, overcame an early Rhamondre Stevenson fumble and (after Antonio Gibson got hurt) went back to him for a second touchdown. Revenge game narrative gains some evidence as Stefon Diggs has a big game against his former team. Fitting the day ended with an angle that was highlighted a lot over the course of the day -- you can never get too comfortable with what you think you know out of teams.
Monday, Monday: Most likely, Kansas City takes care of business here. They seem to have righted the ship, while nothing we've seen out of Jacksonville's passing game suggests they'll be breaking things down and getting a win. But you never know. Still, I'm going with Kansas City 24, Jacksonville 17.