After further thought, Russell Baxter takes a look at Week 5 in the NFL
It’s over. It’s all over.
On Sunday, the 3-0 Arizona Cardinals and 3-0 Cincinnati Bengals turned into the 3-1 Cardinals and 3-1 Bengals. The clubs ventured into Denver and Foxborough, respectively, and both emerged with losses of 20-plus points.
So for the first time since 2010, no NFL team will reach 4-0. And for the 94th time in 95 years, there will be no team to go through the regular and postseason record without a loss or tie.
As for this past week, we once again saw plenty of interesting things. And for a change, at least this season, there were your fair share of close contests.
Once again, here are some thoughts and some numbers regarding Week 5 and entering Monday night’s game between the 2-1 Seattle Seahawks and 1-3 Washington Redskins.
–While we certainly had our share of blowouts this weekend (again), there were also plenty of close games. Nine of the 14 contests in Week 5 have been decided by single digits, including a pair of overtime contests. That’s a season high for 2014 and a stark contrast from Week 4, when nine of the 13 games were decided by at least 13 points—seven of those by 21-plus points…
–Entering Monday evening, there have been 75 games played in the National Football League in 2014. And in 16 of those contests, more than 20 percent, a team has come back from at least 10 points in the contest to rally for a victory. In Week 5, there were five such games, including the Cleveland Browns’ rousing 29-28 win at Nashville over the Tennessee Titans.
Mike Pettine’s club trailed 28-3 at one stage and then watched his quarterback bring back his club from almost certain defeat and raise its record to 2-2. Brian Hoyer threw for 292 yards and three scores (one interception), two of those touchdown to Travis Benjamin in the fourth quarter.
The Browns’ comeback is tied for third in NFL regular-season history in terms of deficit. In 1980, the San Francisco 49ers rallied from 28 points to beat the New Orleans Saints. In 1997, the Buffalo Bills came from 26 points down to beat the visiting Indianapolis and 10 years earlier (1987), the St. Louis Cardinals (like the Browns on Sunday) erased a 25-point deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-28.
The difference when it came to Cleveland’s victory? All of those wins came by the home team, meaning the Browns have orchestrated the biggest comeback, regular- or postseason, by a road team in NFL history…
–On Sunday at Ford Field, the Buffalo Bills came all the way back from a 14-0 deficit to beat the Detroit Lions, 17-14. It was a huge win for the team and even more so for defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who was carried off the field by the triumphant Bills as the former Lions head coach certainly enjoyed his trip back to the Motor City.
Hoisting Schwartz on their shoulders may have been the toughest task for the Bills on Sunday, at least when it comes to their defense. Buffalo held the Lions to a mere 69 yards on the ground on 20 carries, the fifth time in as many games no team has been able to run for at least 100 yards on Schwartz’s unit.
Keep in mind that from 2009-13 the Bills were ranked 28th or lower in the NFL in rushing defense in each of those five campaigns. In last season’s finale against the New England Patriots, Buffalo surrendered 267 yards rushing in a 34-20 loss at Foxborough. In five games in 2014, Buffalo has allowed a total of 355 yards rushing…
–Impressed with what you have seen from the Dallas Cowboys so far? On Sunday against the Houston Texans, Jason Garrett’s club turned over the ball three times and still managed to win a game in overtime, 20-17. Dallas has won four straight games following their Week 1 home debacle against the San Francisco 49ers.
We keep hearing about the Cowboys running attack and with good reasons. The team has been persistent when it comes to controlling the ball.
In each of their five games in 2014, Garrett and company have run for 120 or more yards and rang up at least 23 carries in the process. Running back DeMarco Murray has reached a c-note on the ground in every contest. All told, the Cowboys have totaled 163 attempts for 800 rushing yards this season.
Now take a look back just one year ago. Dallas ranked 24th in the NFL in rushing, amassing just 336 attempts for 1,504 yards—averaging a mere 94.0 yards per contest. Meanwhile, Murray quietly totaled 1,121 of those 1,504 yards. In 2013, the Cowboys amassed fewer than 100 yards rushing in 11 outings and totaled fewer than 20 rushing attempts in eight of their 16 contests…
–Apparently, rumors of the demise of the New England Patriots have been greatly exaggerated. The team’s 43-17 Sunday night victory over the previously-undefeated Bengals showed that in less than a week, Bill Belichick’s club rebounded from a 27-point loss for a 26-point victory. Welcome to the up-and-down nature of this league so far this season.
But did the game say more about the Patriots than the Bengals? Consider that during Cincinnati’s 3-0 start, Marvin Lewis’ team had allowed a combined 33 points (10 in the first three quarters of play). The team had committed just one turnover, had not fumbled and had not allowed a sack in three games.
So what happened? The Bengals trailed 20-3 at halftime and 34-17 after three quarters. Quarterback Andy Dalton (who threw for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns) did not throw an interception but was sacked for the first time in 2014. Cincinnati fumbled three times and lost all three, including one by kickoff returner Brandon Tate that was returned for a score. And a defensive unit that allowed 352.7 yards per game during their 3-0 start allowed 505 total yards to Belichick’s club…
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