While you need a quarterback to really succeed in the modern NFL, the genius of the league's parity system is that it is designed to prevent teams from being down for too long. The use of the salary cap and a rotation schedule formula makes worst-to-first turnarounds all too common, which makes what's happening in Florham Park more frustrating for fans of the New York Jets.
The Jets haven't played a postseason game since January of 2011, when a then-unknown Antonio Brown caught a critical third-down pass to allow Pittsburgh to ice the AFC Championship Game and thwart a furious second-half comeback. That was 15 seasons ago, easily the longest drought in both the league (Carolina and Atlanta are next up at 8 seasons) and North American professional sports, leading New York owner Woody Johnson to turn to former Jets' Pro Bowler Aaron Glenn to fix the mess.
Glenn has brought energy and enthusiasm to the Jets' sideline with a vow to fix their losing culture, but things have gone quite poorly so far as the Jets are one of just three NFL teams to go 0-for-September. We'll dive more into Glenn's current predicament in the falling section of the FanSided NFL Stock Watch, which will begin on a more positive note with some rapid risers.
NFL Week 5 Stock Watch - Risers
Patrick Mahomes
Reports of Mahomes' demise were greatly exaggerated as the Chiefs turned back the clock offensively in a potentially season-defining win over the Ravens on Sunday. The return of Xavier Worthy helped unlock Mahomes' deep ball ability as he took big shots down the field with regularity, throwing for 270 yards and a season-high four touchdowns in Kansas City's 37-20 victory.
Los Angeles' loss to the Giants on Sunday also opened up the door for Kansas City to hang tight in the AFC West race, making them one of the biggest winners of the week. Things should continue to get better for the Chiefs' passing game as Tyquan Thornton continues to build a rapport with Mahomes and Rashee Rice is a few weeks away from his return from suspension, giving Mahomes the chance to have his best passing season since the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Few teams had a better set of circumstances in Week 4 than Pittsburgh, which kicked off Sunday morning's festivities with a gritty 24-21 win in London that saw Aaron Rodgers and company navigate Brian Flores' notoriously tough Minnesota defense. While the Steelers' defense remained a bit leaky, allowing Carson Wentz to throw for 350 yards, they made enough stops when it counted to improve to 3-1 and seize control of the AFC North.
The rest of the weekend provided even more optimsim for Pittsburgh's division title hopes as the Bengals lost again without Joe Burrow and the Ravens fell to 1-3 with Lamar Jackson's status for the next few weeks in doubt due to a hamstring injury. There is a big opportunity here for Pittsburgh to run and hide in the AFC North, which would give them a chance to break out of the 9-8 muck they've been living in since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
Houston Texans
What a difference a week makes for Houston, whose season was on life support after another anemic offensive showing against the Jaguars. Facing the Tennessee Titans at home, the rugged Texans' defense pitched a shutout against rookie Cam Ward and the offense had its most productive day of the season, piling up 26 points to get back in the win column.
DeMeco Ryans' team also caught a big break having the Ravens in Week 5, where it looks as if Jackson will miss the contest due to injury and Baltimore's defense is one of the leakiest in the league. There is a big opportunity here for Houston to get a win and improve to 2-3, which should buy they time to make a run of it in the suddenly competitive AFC South.
Ben Johnson
While it was easy to write off Chicago's huge win in Week 3 due to Dallas' awful defense, the Bears showed major progress by going on the road and winning in Las Vegas. While the Raiders are not a great team by any stretch of the imagination, that kind of spot usually trips up young teams dealing with the weight of expectations after a statement win.
It wasn't always pretty as Las Vegas led most of the way, but Chicago rallied to take a late lead and saw their special teams unit make a big play as Josh Blackwell blocked a potential game-winning field goal for the Raiders in the final seconds. Johnson now hits the bye at 2-2 with a chance to continue instilling a positive culture in his team, which could be huge in the rugged NFC North.
NFL Week 5 Stock Watch - Fallers
Aaron Glenn
While Glenn has indicated he is tired of hearing about the "Same Old Jets", his team's play is making fans long for those days. The Jets have played well enough in spurts to win 3 of their first four games, but the same mistakes that have plagued them for years continue to ruin them now, notably a lack of discipline (they have already committed 32 penalties this season) and mental mistakes, such as watching punt returner Isaiah Williams fair catch a punt inside his own five yard line on Monday.
The Jets' once-vaunted defense has also regressed, failing to force a turnover in four games and letting teams routinely exploit the same weaknesses over and over again. Glenn's team has played a tough schedule early as the first three teams they played enter Week 5 with a combined record of 9-3, but they need to execute much better if they hope to avoid picking at the top of the draft yet again.
San Francisco 49ers
A loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday is a good reason to be down here, but the bigger reason that San Francisco's stock is falling is because they simply can't keep players on the field. Brock Purdy returned from a case of turf toe on Sunday and reported more discomfort on Monday, putting his status for Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Rams in jeopardy.
Already down Nick Bosa for the season, the 49ers could also be down multiple pass catchers on Thursday and are waiting for key contributors to return off both IR (George Kittle) and the PUP list (Brandon Aiyuk). There is still a ton of talent on the 49ers' roster but their inability to stay on the field is a problem.
Baltimore Ravens
It's officially a five-alarm five in Baltimore, which dropped to 1-3 after getting whacked by Kansas City at Arrowhead on Sunday. The defense's sudden regression has been the primary cause of concern, but the bigger issue is the fact that Jackson may miss some time with a hamstring injury.
While John Harbaugh indicated that the injury could keep Jackson out for 2-3 weeks, that is still a lot of ground to potentially concede with a team that is already in a deep hole in the AFC. The downgrade from Jackson to Cooper Rush is enormous, and with the suddenly resurgent Texans and Rams up next, there's a good chance Baltimore could be staring at a lost season at 1-5 by the time Jackson is ready to return.
Cam Ward
It's never easy for a No. 1 pick to turn a bad franchise around but the hope is that the situation isn't so bad that it sinks the player's career. There are concerning signs about Cam Ward's early struggles for Tennessee as he has only shown flashes of the brilliance at Miami that made Titans' coach Brian Callahan fall in love with him, throwing two touchdowns and two picks in four games while completing only 51.2 percent of his passes and averaging just 4.9 yards per attempt.
The offensive line has done Ward no favors, letting him get sacked 17 times in that span, and the Titnas have already changed playcallers as Callahan has ceded that responsibility to Bo Hardegree, making life even more difficult for a young passer to get comfortable. The frustration is clearly mounting for Ward, who told reporters "we ass" after Tennessee was pummeled on Sunday, and the longer the stink continues the greater the odds are that the Titans screw up his development into a franchise quarterback.