7 Things We Learned After NFL Week 5

As the 2018 NFL season continues to make its run, we highlight some of the most notable events that happened in the past 5 weeks. Before you start looking at the upcoming NFL odds, here are the things that we learned from Week 5 of the NFL season:

• Rookie quarterbacks went 4-0 last Sunday. Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield and Arizona’s Josh Rosen bagged their first wins as NFL starters, Sam Darnold recorded his first three-TD passing game as a Jet, while Josh Allen posted the only touchdown in the upset match between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans.
• The Rams head to week 6 with a 5-0 record. They are the fifth team to score at least 30 points in each of the first five games of the season. L.A. quarterback Jared Goff underperformed and had his worst statistical outing of 2018, but his 2-yard sneak on fourth-and-1 from his own 42 with under 2 minutes to go closed the game. This was a risky call by coach Sean McVay, especially in a venue as wild as CenturyLink Field.
• The Eagles, who finished 13-3 in 2017, are the first defending champions off to a shaky start with 2-3 since the 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers, who eventually missed the playoffs. Of the seven reigning champs to go into Week 6 of the season 2-3, only the 1996 Dallas Cowboys was able to reach postseason.
• Minnesota Vikings’ Adam Thielen is the first in the Super Bowl era to exceed 100 yards in each of his team’s first five games. He also played a key role during the team’s win at Philadelphia by recovering an onside kick with the clock about to run out, while Cleveland’s Jarvis Landry shot past Larry Fitzgerald–with 11 games remaining–for most receptions in his first five seasons, recording a total of 429.
• The Browns played their third overtime game in 2018, becoming the fourth NFL team to do so in its first 5 games, and needed their bonus football to get the win against the Baltimore Ravens.
• Isaiah Crowell pulled off a 219-yard rush, which set a Jets record. Crowell, who recorded 102 yards in Week 1, has 321 in his first and most recent matches with the New York Jets but just 69 total in the remaining three.
• The Giants go over 30 points after failing to score more than 30 since the regular-season finale of the 2015 season. However, the team also gave up 33 points, including a special teams TD thanks to an OBJ punt muff and a 63-yard, game-ending field goal by Carolina’s Graham Gano.