Fansided

5 NFL teams that must win in Week 5

By Joe Schiller

ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 01: Jason Witten #82 of the Dallas Cowboys stands on the field during warmups before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at AT&T Stadium on October 1, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 01: Jason Witten #82 of the Dallas Cowboys stands on the field during warmups before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at AT&T Stadium on October 1, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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FOXBORO, MA – OCTOBER 1: Tom Brady
FOXBORO, MA – OCTOBER 1: Tom Brady /

4. New England Patriots

It’s not the start the defending Super Bowl champs were expecting, but the Patriots have a 2-2 record through four games this season. They come into a must-win game tonight against the Tampa Buccaneers in a Color Rush showdown.

It’s not time to go into panic mode, but how much longer are we going to ride this narrative that the Patriots will be just fine come the end of the season? I think this team makes the playoffs and competes, but they’ve still got a ton of problems on the defensive side of the ball. They rank dead last in total yards allowed per game. It’s great to be scoring 30-40 points a game with Tom Brady, but it doesn’t mean anything if you are giving up more points than that on the other side of the ball. We could be starting to see the effects of getting rid of Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan and other key defensive players from year’s past.

The Bucs offense isn’t going to make life easy come tonight. They rank third in passing yards per game and love to air out the football. Jameis Winston has so many weapons at his disposal and isn’t afraid to take chances during the game. Stephon Gilmore and the Patriots secondary will need to have a heck of game to shut down this potent passing attack.

You can never count out a Tom Brady team, but a loss tonight would be worrying. It doesn’t matter how talented your team is, a 2-3 record is never the spot you want to be in.

(ED. Note — The Patriots went ahead and took our advice, beating the Buccaneers on Thursday night).