NFL Week 5 recap: News & updates (2024)

Week 5 of the NFL season is underway! Check in with The Athletic for all the latest news, game previews, injury updates and analysis from our team of experts and insiders.

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The Buffalo Bills wanted to maintain their routine for as long as they could before venturing across the Atlantic Ocean for a game.

A similar approach served them well last year, when they waited until the last possible moment, barely escaping snowbound Western New York, to relocate operations to Detroit, where they defeated the Cleveland Browns on a Sunday and then returned four days later to beat the Lions on Thanksgiving.

The Bills’ resilience then helped coach Sean McDermott decide how to handle their London experience, but the results were disappointing this time.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, having been here for 10 days because they played a week ago in Wembley Stadium, toppled the jet-lagged and injury-ravaged Bills 25-20 in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“I did feel like our guys were ready to go,” Jaguars coach Doug Pedersen said. “The 10 days over here were good for us.”

In the other locker room, McDermott was left scratching his head about his team’s flatness despite the raucous atmosphere.

Read more here.

Justin Jefferson walked alone. The Minnesota Vikings’ locker room had emptied, and Jefferson had finally stretched his body into his tie-dye coat and jeans. Moving gingerly, with his head angled downward and his braids swaying slowly, he exited without saying a word.

The 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs would have been hard enough for Jefferson to handle, but a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter only put a further damper on his temperament.

“It was tough on him,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “He’s the ultimate competitor.”

Minnesota was trying to mount a comeback when Jefferson pulled up on a route in the red zone. He released off the line of scrimmage from the right side of the formation and positioned his body as if he were running a quick route toward the flat. In an instant, Jefferson stabbed his right foot into the U.S. Bank Stadium turf and attempted to slice off a route back to his left. He slipped awkwardly then grabbed at his right leg.

Jefferson was initially ruled questionable to return. Instead, he spent the duration of the fourth quarter on the sideline, a towel draped over his head. His frustration showed. The bleakness of a team finding itself at 1-4 and without its most integral player settled in. All while his team was trying to earn what would have been an epic win.

Read more here.

Through four games, the Cleveland Browns are still forcing opponents to go three-and-out more than they’re not (a league-best 51 percent ahead of Week 5), and they’re camping out in opposing backfields. Per Pro Football Focus, opposing runners are gaining just 0.73 yards before contact, and Myles Garrett entered Week 5 tied for second in the NFL in sacks (5.5).

How are the Browns just 2-2? Ten turnovers are a good place to start, specifically the two Steelers defensive touchdowns that bookended the Week 2 game in Pittsburgh. An injury to Deshaun Watson led to a white-flag performance in Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens. The company line is that Watson just has a shoulder contusion and will be able to play following the team’s bye week. But the Browns head to Week 6 with no momentum and much to fix with an offense that’s been uneven and sloppy.

Read more here.

Malki Kawa, Jonathan Taylor's agent, took a lot of flak for the way he handled Taylor's contract negotiation with the Indianapolis Colts, which included getting into a social media spat with team owner Jim Irsay.

But Kawa was the one laughing in the end, as he and Taylor landed a three-year extension worth $42 million this past weekend. And he wasn't content letting his work do his talking. He wanted to make sure he let everyone know he was paying attention when they questioned his judgement and tossed insults at him, sharing a victory lap video on social media Monday.

Kawa is also the agent for Colts linebacker Shaq Leonard, who signed a five-year, $98.5 million extension in 2021.

Two days before Taylor inked his new deal with Indianapolis, Leonard was asked how contract negotiations can avoid getting too personal – which definitely seemed like the case when Irsay and Kawa traded public jabs about Taylor and the running back market in July.

Leonard, indirectly, still credited Kawa.

“That’s why you have an agent,” Leonard said. “Some people take it personal. Sometimes you can get disrespected and things get personal, but that’s why you always would love to have a middleman to kind of keep that seesaw kind of level so you won’t just be taking it all head on.”

Thanks to a big bag of money, the seesaw was finally level Saturday, and Taylor was back on the field for his season debut Sunday.

The Washington Commanders’ scheduling setup felt scripted.

Thursday night’s Week 5 home clash against the 0-4 Chicago Bears kicked off a three-game “winnable” stretch against teams with a combined 3-9 record. At 2-2 and coming off an overtime road loss to the reigning conference champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Commanders were supposed to give a national streaming audience the chance to gauge their progress five games into the franchise’s euphoric ownership change.

Instead of Washington’s first winning record after five games since head coach Ron Rivera’s hiring in 2020, the “as bad as it gets” 40-20 loss dropped the Commanders to 2-3. That meant instead of discussing positive signs before the Oct. 15 game at Atlanta, the chatter turned into near and big-picture questions about the franchise’s future, including why this fraught-inducing, overweighted portion of the script is repeating itself.

Read more here.

Hello everyone, it’s been a while!

During almost an entire month of fatherhood that has felt like one long day full of lovely moments, infinity diapers and middle-of-the-night wake-ups, I closely watched what the Bills have been doing from afar. The All-22 of the first four games has been watched, the players graded and observations formed.

That was all before their horror movie-themed trip to London and subsequent 25-20 loss to the Jaguars. However, it’s almost fitting that the first day back is amidst a firestorm looking for answers and trying to figure out what the formula will be moving forward for the Bills to reach their playoff peak this season.

There are plenty of clues as to how the Bills can get by in future weeks, where they need more from and what else is on the horizon from both a positive and negative perspective. Where is the Bills season headed?

Here are some of my big-picture Bills takeaways from a month away from the madness.

With five minutes left in the game Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings were in prime position to make things really interesting against the defending Super Bowl champions.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, they had ripped through the Kansas City defense to score a touchdown to climb within seven points, then forced Patrick Mahomes to punt it back to Kirk Cousins and rumbled right back down the field again. It was second-and-7 from the Chiefs’ 19-yard line when the wheels started to wobble yet again.

Coach Kevin O’Connell anticipated the Chiefs sending the house and called the perfect play to combat it. But Alexander Mattison dropped a screen pass with all the green turf in the world in front of him. After an incomplete pass on third down, O’Connell decided to stay aggressive and go for it on fourth-and-7. But the Vikings took too long to get the play in and took a delay of game penalty to make it fourth-and-12.

With 4:54 still on the clock, the Vikings probably would normally kick the field goal, try to play some defense and hope to get the ball back with a chance to win the game. Only they had to go for it because they had already used all three of their timeouts in the first 21 minutes of the second half, including one on a questionable challenge decision from O’Connell and another because they were late substituting personnel into the game when the Chiefs kept the offense on the field for a fourth-down play with nine minutes to go.

On fourth down, Cousins threw deep to rookie Jordan Addison in the end zone and appeared to draw a pass-interference penalty on defender Trent McDuffie. After a brief discussion, however, the officials controversially picked up the flag and the ball was awarded to Kansas City.

When the dust settled on a 27-20 loss that dropped the Vikings to 1-4, it became clear they are where they are in large part because of how easy they have been to play against. From their turnovers (they are tied for last in the league in turnover differential at minus 9), to the blown timeouts to untimely penalties and other late-game chaos, the Vikings are making far too many mistakes to put the kind of pressure on their opponents that helped them win 13 games last season.

Read more here.

New York Jets offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker is out for the season with a torn Achilles suffered in New York’s 31-21 win against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, coach Robert Saleh announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

• This marks the second straight year Vera-Tucker has suffered a season-ending injury in a game against the Broncos in Denver. Last year, he suffered a triceps injury in Week 7.
• The third-year player had started all five games for New York, which is 2-3.
• The Jets also lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a torn Achilles in their first game of the season.

Read more here.

The Minnesota Vikings are still evaluating Justin Jefferson’s hamstring injury and are focused on the receiver’s “big-picture” outlook, coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Jefferson pulled up on a route in the red zone during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
• The 24-year-old was initially ruled questionable to return but remained on the sideline for the rest of the game.
• O’Connell said the team, which dropped to 1-4, is “going to do what’s best for Justin and make sure we give him the treatment and plan that is a big-picture positive for him.”

Read more here.

Commanders safeties Darrick Forrest (shoulder) and Jeremy Reaves (knee) are headed to injured reserve.

Forrest had started all five games this season and Reaves was named All-Pro last season as a special teamer.

The Bears returned from their “mini bye” and activated two players off injured reserve — starting slot corner Kyler Gordon and center Doug Kramer.

Gordon broke his hand in the season opener, and Kramer got hurt in training camp.

If the Bears can get Gordon back, that’d be a major upgrade for the secondary. Greg Stroman Jr. did have a career game against Washington, but Gordon is the second-round pick who was having an outstanding summer before his injury.

“Kyler is a good player, dynamic player in there at nickel, does a lot of things for us,” head coach Matt Eberflus said Monday. “That position, if done right, enables us to play various coverages, to pressure player and do a lot of different things with him. He was on his way, had a great camp. We were really excited about him starting the year and then he got hurt the first game."

Running back Khalil Herbert’s ankle injury will reportedly sideline him for a couple weeks, so the Bears brought back an old friend, signing Darrynton Evans off the Dolphins’ practice squad. Evans was with the team last season and had 14 carries for 64 yards.

In non-injury news, Eberflus said the team plans to bring on a senior defensive analyst to help him with advanced scouting. It won’t be Eberflus’ mentor and former Bears coordinator Rod Marinelli. “He’s very comfortable in retirement,” Eberflus said.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen when asked if he’ll consider changing the offense to protect rookie dual-threat QB Anthony Richardson whenever he returns from his shoulder injury:

“We’ll cross that bridge when it gets time."

Colts head coach Shane Steichen says that rookie QB Anthony Richardson has an “AC injury” and will miss “some time.”

No clear timeline for his return. Asked if placing Richardson on injured reserve is a possibility, Steichen says they’re still awaiting more assessment.

Backup Gardner Minshew will start against the Jaguars on Sunday.

Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder wasn’t sacked Sunday, a first in his nine-game career. There are a lot of reasons for that, head coach Arthur Smith said Monday, including the improving play of rookie left guard Matthew Bergeron, Ridder’s protection calls, the Falcons’ patience sticking with the run game and the Texans choosing not to blitz often.

An underrated element, though, may have been Ridder changing his snap cadence and using a hard count. He coaxed the Texans into four encroachment flags in Sunday’s 21-19 victory.

“There is like a sickness with those D-line coaches the way they study those cadences,” Smith said.

Ridder had been sacked 11 times in the previous two games and part of the problem, Smith said, was allowing the play clock to get too low, which allowed defensive linemen to better time their rush.

A win to end a losing streak can, for a day or two, make everyone forget about all the losses.

The Chicago Bears are going to enjoy their 40-20 win over the Washington Commanders, and they should. It’s been a long time — 346 days since their previous victory.

When analyzing what worked, including in the first three quarters against the Broncos, coaches will spend the mini-bye figuring out what can be part of this team’s identity. What can be replicated?

Back-to-back home games against a pair of below-.500 teams means there is a path for the Bears to start turning this thing around. It’s easier to have that frame of mind after a win of Thursday night’s magnitude. But the four previous losses happened. Justin Fields’ mistakes, the defensive struggles and all the drama still occurred.

The off-field nonsense has subsided, and the Chase Claypool chapter is over. But for every morsel of optimism, there’s still a reminder that the Bears entered the game at FedEx Field as the worst team in football.

Let’s review five good things we saw Thursday and consider what’s sustainable.

Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was not on the field Monday when the Browns returned to practice after their bye week.

Watson missed the Browns' Week 4 loss to Baltimore with a shoulder injury he suffered in the second half of the Week 3 win over Tennessee. Watson was listed as a limited participant in all three practices ahead of Week 4, but he did only minimal throwing. On the morning of the Baltimore game, he made a handful of short throws before being officially ruled out.

Watson was in the Browns' facility Monday, but he was not on the field when reporters viewed the start of practice. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Watson has been working hard to get back to the field and is throwing better than he did before the Ravens game.

"He'll be out there when he's ready and functionally ready," Stefanski said.

Stefanski had previously said that there was nothing structurally wrong with Watson's shoulder. That Watson missed was essentially a bonus practice Monday is not cause for real alarm, but with few known details and Watson not being on the field with his teammates after the team had a full week off, it's fair to wonder if Watson will be able to return Sunday when the Browns host the unbeaten 49ers.

The Browns practice again on Wednesday. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson and practice squad quarterback P.J. Walker handled the quarterbacking duties in Monday's practice.

Broncos coach Sean Payton on Monday addressed a sideline interaction with quarterback Russell Wilson during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 31-21 loss to the New York Jets that was captured by CBS broadcast cameras.

The exchange happened after Wilson fumbled after being sacked from behind by Jets linebacker Quincy Williams. Cornerback Bryce Hall scooped the ball up and returned it for a touchdown, ending Denver’s comeback bid. Payton was shown addressing Wilson as the quarterback came off the field.

“I don’t think I was that animated,” Payton said, downplaying the incident. “Look, every attention to exchange or discussion I have with Russ … I just wanted to make sure he knew the (weakside) linebacker was the free rusher. It wasn’t as big of an exchange or as big of a deal as maybe some may have thought.”

The play was similar to one during Denver’s Week 2 loss to the Commanders, when Wilson fumbled after being sacked by Jamin Davis. The play helped fuel Washington’s comeback from a 21-3 deficit. On Sunday, Wilson was also called for intentional grounding in the end zone on Denver’s second drive, resulting in a safety.

Playing in just his first game back after recovering from a left ACL tear suffered in Week 5 of 2022, Detroit Lions cornerback Emmanuel Moseley tore his right ACL in Week 5’s win against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, a league source confirmed Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Moseley played just two snaps in the Lions’ 42-24 win over the Panthers.
• The 27-year-old joined the Lions on a one-year, $6 million deal last offseason.
• He spent the previous five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, tallying four interceptions.

Read more here.

Jonathan Taylor finally got the contract he was coveting.

But will his deal change the landscape of the running back market at large?

There’s some debate within league circles about whether it will open the floodgates for his fellow running backs. Taylor cashed in Saturday with a three-year, $42 million extension with the Indianapolis Colts that included $26.5 million guaranteed, becoming the first running back in a couple of years to ink a new long-term contract worth in excess of $10 million per season.

It’s been a frustrating stretch for the league’s ball carriers. The New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley and Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs were franchise tagged, though each got a small pay bump with one-year contracts, and Taylor had requested a trade over the summer when his negotiations stalled.

Despite being three of the best backs in the NFL, all resorted to extraordinary measures to get new contracts. And unlike other high-profile positions, none of them reset the market.

The Athletic polled eight NFL decision-makers to assess whether Taylor’s deal could swing negotiating leverage in the running backs’ favor in future negotiations, and their opinions were split. Perhaps that’s why the position’s market has already become so complicated.