What a fun, entertaining Week 5. We’re ready to roll with the takeaways to recap it all, morning (Hello, London!) to night …
Caleb Williams looked like the first pick in the NFL draft on Sunday. Tucked into that fact is this—the Chicago Bears had a good enough team over the first month of the season to allow him the time to get there. In Week 1, it was a pick-six and a score on a blocked punt doing the job for Chicago. In dropping their next two games, the coaching staff never panicked or asked too much of its quarterback. Instead, Williams got to play, make his mistakes, and learn.
And Sunday, he was 20-of-29 for 304 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks as the Bears blew out the Carolina Panthers, 36–10.
“It’s just about us being able to have him grow every week,” coach Matt Eberflus told me during his commute home. “He’s learned about the game up here every single week. It’s the noise in Houston and taking that into Indianapolis and operating in the noise way better there. Being able to fit the ball into his skill [players], he did that also in Indy. Then, just worked every single week to get better. Then, just playing clean football.
“I think what he learned most was, I do have a good team around me. If I play clean football in that position, we can win some games. He said that last week, and I think he’s spot on.”
This is a different Bears team, for sure. Eberflus told me the turning point came this week last year—when Chicago won in Washington, 40–20, on a Thursday night in Week 5 to stem the tide of an 0–4 start. Since then, the Bears are 10–8, with three different quarterbacks (Justin Fields and Tyson Bagent) registering multiple wins as through that 18-game stretch.
So where usually being the first pick means going to an objectively bad team, Williams found a soft landing with a team in that draft slot via the Bryce Young trade of the year before. Which gave him the freedom, through the first regular-season month of his NFL career, to figure out what he could get away with, and what he couldn’t, in pro football, and also get his footing in operating the offense as prescribed.
“He’s done a really good job, especially the last couple of weeks with that, knowing that our defense is playing at a high level,” OC Shane Waldron told me Sunday night. “Our special teams are really good. That’s the complimentary football that we can play.”
And with that consistent growth, he positioned himself this week to look a little more like the Superman the Bears drafted him to be, even if they didn’t necessarily need that from him with Carolina in town.
The interesting thing, though, is how most of the progress was shown in the stuff he isn’t known for—operating on schedule and in rhythm within the offense. Both of his touchdown throws to DJ Moore were examples of it—downfield throws from the pocket, the first one a 34-yarder in the first quarter, and the second a 30-yarder in the second quarter.
• The 34-yarder was on second-and-6 less than 10 minutes into the game, with the Panthers bringing pressure, and Cole Kmet and D’Andre Swift picking up the blitz. What the coaches loved was how Williams calmly and quickly identified it, and then reacted to the job the tight end and back were doing in pass protection.
“That understanding of—If there is pressure, is the pocket collapsing and I got to find a check down, or is the pocket firm and I can go ahead and take a shot down the field?” Waldron says. “That was one of those instances up front where the o-line and then those two guys in the blitz pickup did such a good job keeping a firm pocket. And DJ’s able to run away from the corner on that look on the crossing route on the deep cross.”
In other words, he recognized the rush was picked up, saw Moore running free underneath the three-deep coverage, and 34 yards later, the Bears tied the score at 7.
• The 30-yarder also highlighted a more patient Williams in the pocket. The difference with this one was how quickly he got to Moore in reading the coverage, with Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, in Waldron’s words “1A and 1B” on the front side of Williams’s progression.
“The number one option’s to the right side unless the safety plays over the top, which he did,” Waldron says. “Caleb’s ability to instantly progress to the second part of the read and find DJ on the post for a touchdown based on the look, I thought those were really good feels, natural quarterback play, where he could feel everything that was happening and not having to go slowly through everything, but just feeling it happen in the moment, so he could progress quickly.”
And the throw itself was a dime.
Then, there were examples where Williams did the safe, smart thing. One was on a call that had go routes up each sideline, with Kmet running a crosser. Reading a backed-up defensive look, the quarterback prudently checked it down to Moore for a two-yard gain, which helped to position the offense for a 26-yard, Williams-to-Kmet chunk play on the next snap.
"Last week, had a couple of shot plays called where the coverage didn’t play out perfect or maybe there was an edge rush or something like that,” Waldron says. “He did a really good job of taking the check-downs. The flip side of that is you want to get the ball down the field. What he did a really good job of in this game was letting those plays naturally occur. When he did have a chance, they were in rhythm and in-the-pocket downfield throws.
“He was able to hang in there and the big plays came to him.”
The final result on Sunday was a 126.2 passer rating, his second consecutive triple-digit rating—which was significant to Eberflus—in that being over 100 in that category means a quarterback is playing clean, efficient football. And after those early bumps, Williams is.
That, in turn, has set the foundation, or floor, for a player with a sky-high ceiling.
“I told the guys after the game, and Caleb’s no different, that we have to learn from this game,” Eberfus says. “We can get better from every performance. It doesn’t matter if you win by three lose by seven or win by a wide margin. That doesn’t matter. We have to get better from this game right here."
Based on a month of evidence, it’s a good bet Williams is on a good track.
Commanders
There are a lot of great things about Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, and the way he gets the ball down the field is certainly one of them. I don’t think there’s a ranking of this out there, but if there were, I’d imagine the rookie’s deep ball would be up there with any quarterback who has come into the league over the past 20 years.
You saw it against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3. The Arizona Cardinals did a good job defending it last week. That may have lulled the Cleveland Browns into a false sense of security in defending Daniels & Co. on Sunday.
Whether the visitors saw it coming, Washington gave it to the Browns in its 34–13 rout of the AFC North cellar-dwellers. Daniels hit Terry McLaurin for 66 yards to land Washington’s initial first down of the day. And where an interception inside the 5-yard line ended up cutting that drive short, Daniels made up for it later by delivering a 41-yard dime down the right sideline to Dyami Brown.
"That’s something that jumped out right away, his anticipation, his ability to throw it on the run,” McLaurin told me from the locker room after the game. “He has a lot of talent with being able to stretch the field vertically and horizontally. He can hit all the throws. Going into the season, we had to get a little better at the scramble drill—it really came from him becoming more confident keeping his eyes down the field. He uses his legs to prolong the play.
“That throw today was something that we’ve been practicing since spring.”
So on that one, Daniels broke contain to his right, and McLaurin, like he said, followed his rules, mirroring the direction his quarterback was running while looking for dead spots in the coverage. But there wasn’t really a dead spot, just a little space that McLaurin was able to create on his old college teammate, Denzel Ward, and somehow, that far downfield, that was enough for Daniels to fit the ball in.
On the Brown touchdown, he saw the matchup and dropped the ball over Martin Emerson Jr. and into his receiver’s arms.
These things, of course, generally take talent, football IQ and some experience to pull off.
Which makes what Daniels is doing even more impressive to everyone involved, his most respected veteran teammates included.
"I didn’t anticipate him coming in and hitting the ground running like that,” McLaurin says. “I’ve played with a few quarterbacks and definitely a few rookie quarterbacks. Sometimes it takes some time to get comfortable in the NFL system, not just at practice. Then you go to a game and it’s a different animal. What’s always encouraged me about him is his ability to get better every day in practice. When he would have a so-so practice, the next day he would not be making the same mistakes twice.
“Same thing in joint practice. Then you get in the game, you see him getting better each and every week. I think that’s a testament to his experience that he had in college, but also the preparation he puts in. That dude works so hard. He’s always prepared.”
One example came last week when the team spent the time between wins over the Bengals and Cardinals in Arizona. Commanders coach Dan Quinn told me last week that late into the night, he’d notice the lights were still on in the makeshift quarterbacks room set up at the team hotel.
McLaurin noticed it, too.
“When you see him working hard and putting in the time each day, you make sure you’re on your Ps and Qs as well because you know he’s going to be prepared,” he says. “As his wide receiver, I want to be on the same page as him. I’ve got to make sure I’m preparing just like he is.”
Based on what we’ve seen, and what I know, I’d say there’s a lot more of where Sunday came from.
Broncos
Patrick Surtain II may be the best player in the NFL. I know, I know. Another Patrick (Mahomes) didn’t retire, and it’s probably blasphemy to call anyone else the greatest.
But just as far as how good each player in the NFL is at their job, I’m not sure anyone is doing their job better than Surtain is doing his right now. The Broncos’ 34–18 beatdown of the visiting Las Vegas Raiders provided more compelling evidence of it—in how Surtain turned Denver’s afternoon around in short order.
When the ball was snapped in this particular circumstance, it was first-and-goal from the Denver 5. Vegas led 10–3, poised to push that edge to 17–3. When the next whistle blew, the game was tied, in the aftermath of Surtain’s 100-yard interception return (a first for him).
🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮 pic.twitter.com/t0LOAgaZ0I
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 6, 2024
“I was on my man. I saw play action, so I stuck with him,” Surtain says. “Next thing you know, I see the ball in the air, and I made a play on the ball. I saw nothing but daylight, nothing but green grass. I knew that was going to be a game-changing play because I was going to hit the end zone. That was a special play.”
The Broncos didn’t look back—it was 34–10 by the time the Raiders scored again—and Surtain wasn’t done, either. His second pick set up Denver’s final touchdown. That one was impressive in a different way, where Surtain played the ball in traffic, popped it in the air, and fielded it himself.
“I just read my keys, read my technique and played my leverage and broke on the ball,” Surtain says. “I had to put my hand in there, made a tip, by luck, the ball was in the air and I got to capitalize on that opportunity.”
Truth is, very little of this is luck, and the big individual plays are simply punctuation for Surtain’s dominant end-to-end performance.
By the 24-year-old’s accounting, he’s been covering the other team’s top receiver every week since his second year, 2022. It’s what he wants, and he’s thrived in that ultra-competitive environment. Going into Sunday, per Next Gen Stats, he had covered the other team’s No. 1 on 71.3% of their routes and held Jets WR Garrett Wilson, Seahawks WR DK Metcalf, Buccaneers WR Mike Evans and Steelers WR George Pickens to a combined seven catches for 75 yards—which is less than 19 yards per week.
The other thing weaponizing Surtain, according to him, is how veteran defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has empowered all of the Broncos' defenders.
“He allows us to be more aggressive,” Surtain says. “He allowed me to be more aggressive and hone in on my skill set for sure—that’s being aggressive at the line of scrimmage and being able to make plays. He’s allowed us defensively to shine in our skill set.”
Put it together and, through a month, you’ve got the sport’s best defensive player, and maybe even more than that. He won’t say it himself—“I don’t like to compare … I just try to be the best version of myself”— but that much is clear.
As for where he will go in describing himself, that part came out after I asked him about signing his four-year, $96 million extension in early September.
“I just love the game of football,” he said. “At the end of the day, I never let money tell me different. It’s a blessing to be able to obtain [money], but I know I got a job to hone in on. I got a duty, and that’s being the best player I can be on the field for my team, for the coaches, and the organization. I’d never think of letting my foot off the gas.”
Surtain hasn’t. And the best player he can be is, evidently, better than just about anyone else.
Vikings
There has rightfully been a lot of focus on Sam Darnold’s career renaissance in Minnesota, but the 5–0 Vikings are showing an ability to win in different ways. Sam Darnold’s stat line in Minnesota’s Sunday morning (U.S. time) win in London over the New York Jets proves that.
The quarterback went 14-of-31 for 179 yards and a pick. His team won, 23–17.
And, yes, Darnold made some plays down the stretch. Strikes on the team’s final real possession to tight end Johnny Mundt and Justin Jefferson moved the chains and helped the Vikings drain nearly three minutes off the clock. But Darnold is in a position to do that because of what Brian Flores’s defense did, in just about every big spot. Veteran corner, and former Defensive Player of the Year, Stephon Gilmore—who joined the team in August—isn't surprised.
“It doesn’t surprise me because I think that we just play together, unselfishly,” he says. “We don’t care who makes the plays. We just want someone to make the plays each down. It’s just unselfish guys playing with each other.”
So this week, the biggest plays were made by Andrew Van Ginkel, Cam Bynum and Gilmore, with each picking off Aaron Rodgers. Van Ginkel’s interception accounted for the Vikings’ first touchdown—he dropped in a zone-blitz look, one-handed a ball intended for Mike Williams, and took it 62 yards to give Minnesota a 10–0 first-quarter lead. Bynum’s was minutes later on what looked like an overthrow of Allen Lazard.
Gilmore, meanwhile, saved his best plays for the biggest moments. At the end of the third quarter, with the Jets in the red zone, the 34-year-old was all over Garrett Wilson and Allen Lazard on consecutive plays to force a field goal, and keep the Vikings up a touchdown. And at the end of the game, Gilmore picked off Rodgers with 49 seconds left to seal the win, doing it in a way that showed his football IQ.
“I just know Aaron Rogers, he likes back-shoulder [throws],” Gilmore says. “I was able to cut [Williams] off at the top of the route and be able to see the ball. They got me the play before that on the slant. I told him if he threw it my way again, I’m going to make him pay. I had good technique and made the play.”
The Vikings got the win, and the defense had another feather in its cap. And Flores—a huge draw for Gilmore, since Gilmore won a title with him in New England—had another piece of evidence for the difference he’s making for a team that Kevin O’Connell has pulling every lever to pick up wins.
“[Flores] listens. He holds us accountable,” Gilmore says. “The thing about him, he will call anything to help the team win. He’s not a guy that’s going to play one coverage. He’s going to mix it up. He has to do that to be a great defensive coordinator in this league. Most guys don’t do that, but he’s able to do it.”
As it stands, there’s a lot the Vikings can do these days, which is why this hot start sure looks like it’ll stand the test of time.
Jets
While we’re there, the Aaron Rodgers throw to Mike Williams seems indicative of an offense that seems a little off in about every single way. That’s why, reluctantly, I’d say I agree with my colleague Conor Orr that the Jets have to do everything they can to pry Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Normally, I’m not the guy to press the panic button. But after Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London, the Jets are 2–3, with the Buffalo Bills and a short-week trip to Pittsburgh up next.
There’s no question that the franchise is all in to win now. They have aging players in key spots across the roster. They have really good talent on rookie contracts (Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall) who are going to need second contracts very soon. They, of course, have a 40-year-old quarterback. So this group probably has a max of two shots at this, counting this season as the first one (and last season as the one that got away for obvious reasons).
Perception across the teams involved holds that Adams is trying to get to the Jets, but the Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers have called, as well. The Saints are also one of the teams Adams would like to go to. But the Jets might be in the best position.
The Raiders want a second-round pick. That ask is too much based on the trade market that developed for Keenan Allen (a fourth-round pick) and Stefon Diggs (the rough equivalent of a third-round pick) in the offseason. So the Jets’ offer should come in with a third-round selection and maybe some sort of sweetener. I’d be hesitant to do it … but it might take as much as a second-rounder.
The reason why? Rodgers’s timing and chemistry with Williams and Wilson aren’t there right now. Rodgers has things working with Lazard, but there’s only so much you can do with Rodgers’s old Green Bay friend. The opportunity is there to get another, more talented Green Bay friend of his, where chemistry, timing and knowledge of the offense won’t be a problem. The Jets need to make the deal.
And maybe meet the Raiders’ desire for that second-round selection.
Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are better than you think. They have been all year, going back to the end of last year, when they upset the Philadelphia Eagles on New Year’s Eve in Philly, then almost took out the Seattle Seahawks before losing 21–20 in Pete Carroll’s final game.
And this season they’ve brought it, with one exception. They lost one-possession games to the Bills and Detroit Lions. They pummeled the Rams. The aberration was getting clobbered by the Commanders last week. And Sunday, they came back from a 23–10 halftime deficit to knock off the mighty San Francisco 49ers on the road, beating their NFC West rivals for the first time in three years.
Arizona is still just 2–3, so this doesn’t mean the team assembled by coach Jonathan Gannon and GM Monti Ossenfort has arrived. But it is a nice piece of validation for a young group of players growing together.
“They were fired up,” Gannon told reporters. “They know [San Francisco is] a good football team. And last week was not a good performance by us and they took that some type of way. ... We took the arrow in the forehead, and we put all our energy and focus into San Fran.
“That’s what we did.”
They did more than that Sunday—the Cardinals made big plays at every critical turn in the second half.
• Roy Lopez got his hand on a first-down throw from Brock Purdy three minutes into the third quarter, with Mack Wilson hauling in the deflection to flip the field. The Arizona offense could only move the ball a yard over the next three snaps, but the turnover put Chad Ryland in position to kick a 42-yard field goal, cutting the gap to 23–13.
• Arizona controlled the back end of the third quarter and front end of the fourth with a 12-play, 73-yard drive, effectively mixing the run and the pass, and needing only one third-down conversion. Tight end Elijah Higgins hauled in a two-yard scoring pass from Murray, with Murray drawing a roughing flag on the throw—which set the Cardinals up for the two-pointer to make it 23–21.
• Still down two, Murray delivered a strike to Marvin Harrison Jr. while taking a hit on fourth-and-5. Harrison Jr. turned upfield and wound up with 14 yards to the Niners' 46. The Cardinals then ran it five times to set up Ryland’s 35-yard go-ahead kick.
• Another team-effort interception sealed it, with a blitzing Jalen Thompson drilling Purdy, and Kyzir White fielding the resulting deflection with 1:10 left.
These Cardinals, clearly, are figuring things out. Even better, this is a young team, with 21 picks taken over the past two drafts, including 11 in the top 100. There are experienced guys such as Wilson, White and Murray, of course. But there are more such as Harrison, Paris Johnson Jr., Michael Wilson, Darius Robinson and Max Melton, who stand to keep improving.
Texans/Bills
It’s at least interesting to see the difference between the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. The Texans are, effectively, who the Bills were a few years back. Star quarterback on a rookie contract. Aggressively built roster, with a hotshot defensive head coach and a sharp offensive coordinator destined to get his own team someday.
Watching these teams was a reminder that—while C.J. Stroud is still only 23 years old and DeMeco Ryans is 40, and that usually means a team like this one will be good for a long time—these sorts of setups aren’t forever.
The Texans got a 67-yard touchdown from newly paid No. 1 receiver Nico Collins. They also got six catches and 82 yards from Stefon Diggs, an expensive luxury item that adds to a receiver group headed by Collins and second-year man Tank Dell. Pricey veteran additions Azeez Al-Shaair and Danielle Hunter accounted for a third of the team’s quarterback hits. That's all in addition to an offensive line with three former first-rounders on big second (and third) deals.
Four of the Bills’ five leading receivers, conversely, from Sunday are on rookie deals; the one exception is Mack Hollins, who is on a one-year, $2.6 million deal. The defense is chock full of homegrown guys that still come cheap, with the unit’s highest-paid guy, Ed Oliver, out Sunday. Roster building with affordable contracts is simply a reality after your quarterback gets paid.
It’s just a different dynamic all together.
Again, it’s a good reminder for the Texans after their thrilling win about the opportunity they have in front of them. It only got better when Ka’imi Fairbairn cooly nailed a 59-yard field goal to win the game. But it won’t last forever.
Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott deserves a lot of credit. He threw for 352 yards, two touchdowns and two picks, on 29-of-42 passing in Dallas’s 20–17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. He did it with CeeDee Lamb, the team’s $34 million man, catching only five balls for 62 yards, and held to just a single, nine-yard catch in the second half. And he led two long, fourth-quarter touchdown drives—the first covered 90 yards over 16 plays, and the game-winner went 70 yards over 15 plays.
Jalen Tolbert caught the winning touchdown. Jake Ferguson was reliable at tight end. KaVontae Turpin, Rico Dowdle, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Jalen Brooks and Luke Schoonmaker were in the mix. Fullback Hunter Luepke had an 18-yard catch-and-run that moved the ball inside the 5-yard line in the final minute of the game. And all of this was with a rookie left tackle and center.
The Cowboys still have a ways to go. The defense’s survival through the absences of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence won’t be easy—though Sunday night was a good start. Mike Zimmer has settled in as a coordinator after a rocky start, but those injuries create new challenges. Dowdle showed signs of being able to carry the run game, but the lack of a real bell cow and youth on the line is why Dallas entered the weekend last in the league in rushing.
But I think we saw what Prescott is Sunday night with the way he won that game on sheer will.
He’s at least one thing Dallas can feel good about.
Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons have a bunch of guys who have yet to live up to their billing—which is another reason why Thursday night’s triumph was so encouraging. This is something I thought about in the immediate aftermath of Atlanta’s scintillating 36–30 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I recalled what I’d heard about Kirk Cousins’s start from people on the ground in the days leading up to this particular showdown.
Specifically how Cousins expressed disappointment in his own play to those in various corners of the organization. He also intimated the same to me two Sundays ago after the Falcons outlasted a really good New Orleans Saints team at home.
It’s fair to say, he’s happier with himself now. Passing for 509 yards and four touchdowns will do that for a quarterback.
But more than just that, it’s the progress you saw from the offense as a whole. Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson may never live up to their draft billing. Pitts, taken with the fourth pick in the 2021 draft, has been really only a matchup player—rather than an evolved tight end—in his four pro seasons. Robinson’s vision, instincts and feel for the game have held him back from being the do-everything skill player he was drafted to be as the No. 8 pick in the ’23 draft. And London has grown into a tough, solid possession receiver, but one that lacks the ability to get downfield as a receiver taken with the No. 8 selection in the ’22 draft.
Yet, those three went for 319 yards on 34 touches Thursday night (London had nearly half of those yards), and that’s just the start of it. Darnell Mooney (nine catches, 105 yards) and Ray-Ray McCloud III (six catches, 66 yards) showed why Cousins trusts them again. And an offensive line with three first-round picks was sturdy, too.
All in all, it was a really good night. It was also a pretty good display of the depth and balance of talent Atlanta has on that side of the ball—where if some guys end up being doubles instead of home runs, that’s O.K. And if Cousins, who struggled to drive the ball through his first month back since recovering from his torn Achilles (the injury was to his plant foot), keeps getting better, the Falcons might really have something. I like where they are right now.
Also, given the flashes we’ve gotten from New Orleans in Tampa, that division might be a whole lot stronger than anyone thought it’d be over the summer.
Quick-hitters
It’s early Monday, and it’s time to wrap up Week 5 with a few quick-hitters …
• We’ll have more on the Baltimore Ravens in Monday’s MMQB lead but as for the team that lost that game Sunday—the Bengals' offense looks like their strong offense of old. The defense, and secondary in particular, however, hasn’t kept up, and is largely the reason why Cincinnati is 1–4. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has his work cut out for him, with corner development and pass-rush production needed.
• Trevor Lawrence is a lot of things. Resilient is one. He has fought through a lot as a pro, and a lot the past couple of weeks. And he was the best player on the field when the Jacksonville Jaguars needed him to be Sunday, with 0–5 staring them in the face. Now, if they can find a way to beat Chicago and New England in London, they could return 3–4. The Jaguars will leave for the U.K. on Thursday.
• Credit to the Miami Dolphins after rushing for 193 yards on 41 carries when just about everyone in New England (yes, all six states) knew that the Dolphins had to run to win with Tyler Huntley at quarterback.
• This New England Patriots team lacks details right now, which is antithetical to what they were in Bill Belichick’s heyday. At the end of the Belichick era, that stuff started to slip, and it’s not any better five games into Jerod Mayo’s tenure. New England was flagged 12 times Sunday for 105 yards. The Patriots got run on. Last week, they lost contain on the quarterback, and gave up big plays. The talent isn’t good enough to expect many wins. Curbing these sorts of problems is a more attainable goal for Mayo as he continues to set his standard.
• I don’t know what you do about Deshaun Watson if you’re the Cleveland Browns. But he’s not playing well enough to be untouchable, no matter what his contract says.
• The Green Bay Packers defense in the second half: Fumble, interception, punt, touchdown, turnover on downs. Take a bow, Jeff Hafley.
• The Kansas City Chiefs' plan at receiver: Examine what it looks like with Xavier Worthy, JuJu Smith-Schuster, et all at the position, and then plan toward the Nov. 5 trade deadline. The Tennessee Titans (DeAndre Hopkins, Treylon Burks) and Panthers (Adam Thielen, Diontae Johnson) could have options for Kansas City should it get aggressive. The team certainly isn’t counting on having Rashee Rice (or Marquise “Hollywood” Brown) for the rest of the year, even if a glimmer of hope exists.
• Good on Isaiah Simmons for blocking that field goal to seal the New York Giants’ win over the Seahawks, but also for buying in on being a special teams player. Not every former top-10 pick would be as willing.
• Joe Flacco—he’s still got it (even in defeat).
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Week 5 NFL Takeaways: Caleb Williams Playing Like No. 1 Draft Pick.