Best and Worst of Week Five In The NFL

Week five of the 2013 NFL season is in the books, showing us that there are still surprises that can happen on any given week. The New England Patriots perfect season comes to an end, the New York Giants are still winless, Josh Freeman has a new team to play with, Geno Smith comes of age on Monday Night Football. Dallas and Denver treated fans to a shootout in Big D, until Tony Romo made that one mistake near the end that gave Denver the win. All in all a good week in the NFL. So with all of that in mind, lets take a look at some of the best and worst from week five in the NFL.

Best:
Geno Smith Quarterback New York Jets
Smith really showed me something on Monday night. Its the big stage of Monday Night Football, in a building that's normally a tough place to play in in the Georgia Dome. Smith had seemed to struggle a little over the first four weeks of the season, turning the ball over 11 times, including a disasterous week last week against the Titans. This week Smith went 16 of 20 for 199 yards 3 touchdowns and more importantly NO INTERCEPTIONS. Smith actually held onto the football, and lead the game winning drive with under two minutes to go in the ball game. He really had a coming of age this week. The big question going forward is, is this the real Geno Smith or is this just a flash in the pan? Whatever it is, it was a great performance from the rookie.

Worst:
Tom Brady Quarterback New England Patriots
Brady went 18 for 38 for 138 yards, got picked once and was sacked four times. Now the four sacks weren't his fault, his line just simply was unable to help keep him on his feet. He struggled for the first 58 minutes of the game.It still looked like he might be able to pull off some of his famous late game magic, but after three first downs got him down to the Bengals 27, Brady’s deep pick to Pacman Jones sealed the loss, as well as the end of the future Hall of Famer’s streak of 52 games with a touchdown pass. His post-game outfit was pretty fantastic though.

Best:
Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are one of the few teams left in the NFL that are 5-0 at this point in the season. A big reason for that has been the connection between quarterback Drew Brees and tight end Jimmy Graham. Graham, who is currently on pace to obliterate the NFL single-season record for yards receiving by a tight end by 560 yards, was targeted 11 times in New Orleans’ 26-18 win over the Bears and pulled in ten catches for 135 yards.

Worst:
Tony Romo Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
I know I praised the Cowboys for the game they played against Denver, and they did play one hell of a ball game. Tony Romo played out of his mind. He went 25 of 36 for 506 yards and 5 touchdowns. Then why do I have him here on a worst list? Because of the one bad pass he threw at the end of the ball game. Throwing a pick to Danny Trevathan with two minutes left to set up the Broncos’ game-winning field goal. That's why Romo is on a worst list. The one mistake pass cost Dallas the game. Sure Romo had one hell of a week, but one play undid all of it.

Best:
T Y Hilton Wide Receiver Indianapolis Colts
With the exception of a 47-yard catch in the team’s Week 2 loss to Miami, Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton hadn’t done much to showcase the big play potential announcers and fantasy experts had been touting all preseason. He certainly made up for it in Indianapolis’ 34-28 win over Seattle, faking out safety Earl Thomas for a 73-yard touchdown, one of his two scoring plays on Sunday. He finished the day with 5 catches for 140 yards. Hilton was one of the big reasons why the Colts knocked off the Seahawks.

Worst:
Mike Munchak Head Coach Tennessee Titans
Not really sure if its Munchak that should get this or his offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains that should get this. Here's the reason I even have them here. The Titans struggled badly to score in the red zone, especially late in the ball game. After finally getting into the red zone for the first time all game, the Titans failed to score on three plays after getting a 1st and 1 at the Kansas City goal line in the second quarter. Down 10-0, Munchak and Loggains opted to go for it on fourth down but chose a predictable carry up the middle by Jackie Battle that went nowhere. The team also couldn’t do anything on a 1st and goal from the KC 7 in the third quarter, giving them three points (and only three yards) on those eight plays. If the Titans want to prove to the rest of the league that they can really do something, play calling has got to be better than that.

Best:
Baltimore Ravens Pass Rush
So much for the demise of Baltimore’s defense without Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and several other key members of the Super Bowl winning group. Terrell Suggs got to Ryan Tannehill for three sacks and Elvis Dumervil, Courtney Upshaw and Pernell McPhee each added one in the Ravens’ 26-23 win over the Dolphins. So yeah the Ravens seemed to find their intimidating defense once again.

Worst:
New York Giants Defense
While their offense continues to turn over the football at an alarming rate, the 0-5 Giants defense has given up at least 31 points in each of its five games this season, the first team to do so since the Chicago Cardinals in 1954. Sure going into the season, there were questions about the Giants defense. You knew from the start of the season that the defense was going to be average to good for the Giants to have a chance. The offense was supposed to be a lock and they have had their own problems. The last few weeks the Giants defense has really been coming up short. The team doesn’t have much time to come up with a new plan as they head to Chicago to face the Bears in primetime Thursday night.