# NFL Week 5 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 3, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313 "2014-10-03T22:12:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/21 "2014-10-05T19:44:03Z")
I haven’t been playing super close attention to New Orleans thus far this year. Is Brees playing as badly as numbers and the W-L record suggests? Or are the problems there elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/22 "2014-10-05T19:57:28Z")
Wow. Chicago are really working hard on throwing this game away. 3 up - interception leads to tied game. Then Forte fumbles on his own 23. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/23 "2014-10-05T20:20:31Z")
Cleveland just took late lead against Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/24 "2014-10-05T20:21:40Z")
Well, the Eagles tried to give up a huge lead, but couldn’t quite pull it off. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/25 "2014-10-05T20:23:42Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > Wow. Chicago are really working hard on throwing this game away. 3 up - interception leads to tied game. Then Forte fumbles on his own 23. The Panthers did their best to give the Bears the game in the first half. I think it’s only fair that the Bears gave it away in the second half. And while I do love watching Jay Cutler be Jay Cutler, I felt bad that Forte also made a bonehead mistake at the end. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/26 "2014-10-05T20:23:44Z")
And if I had had the guts to go out to the casino to put some money down I would have had an auto-win as the Saints and Bucs are now in OT and me with 10.5 points in hand. Yeah, I’m pretty much just a big talker. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/27 "2014-10-05T20:25:09Z")
I’m not entirely sure that Charlie Whitehurst realizes that he’s out of timeouts. Edit: And he does it again, this time ending the game when the pass is complete. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/28 "2014-10-05T20:26:37Z")
Titans looked like the Browns trying to find a way to lose. Good not to be on the wrong side of that. All Browns games had exciting finishes this year. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/29 "2014-10-05T20:46:50Z")
OK. Let’s see if I can get anything right in the afternoon. Niners to cover 4.5 points. Oh. Go Chargers, go. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/30 "2014-10-05T21:33:21Z")
Yay, Chargers. And the other favorites Niners -7.5, and Broncos -8.5. Maybe this all like a Sunday afternoon fantasy league with me as the only member. Hee. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/31 "2014-10-05T22:57:34Z")
The Browns are an interesting team to watch this year. Game one, utterly disastrous first half where they look like they can’t beat a college team, followed by a second half where they completely shut out the opponent from scoring and move down the field at will. Loss to a last second field goal. Game two - first quarter domination, held Drew Brees to 24 yards passing in the first quarter. Awful 2nd and 3rd quarters. Came back in the fourth quarter with a 87 yard drive in the final minutes to win on a last second field goal. Game three - Close game with lots of lead changes, came down to the final play, or close enough. Game four - repeat of game 1. Trailing 28-3 at the half, shuts out the other team entirely in the second half, makes crucial plays on offense and defense, score the game winning TD with a minute left on the clock, game comes down to the last play. For some reason, they’ve got two totally dominating quarters of football in them and two totally incompetent ones. That’s gotta be coaching, right? But always entertaining finishes. Mike Shanahan should seriously be the frontrunner for coach of the year, if there’s some sort of non-HC award like that. He has turned an offense with nothing at all into one of the NFL’s most efficient and productive offenses. Their WRs are a washed up Miles Austin who can’t run sharp routes, a first year starter midget, a UDFA midget, a guy who’s afraid of playing football, and a tight end who’s been injured all year. A journeyman backup at QB, and mostly rookie running backs. And he’s done amazing things with them in the first year of a complex scheme to squeeze as much out of them as he could. He is truly top notch. The one thing he does have working for him is a top notch offensive line. They’ve been dominating this year. The pockets Hoyer gets for a ridiculous amount of time have been beautiful. If Tom Brady was getting the pockets Hoyer has been getting, he’d look like the old Tom Brady. And holes in the running game you can drive a truck through. Rookie left guard Joe Bitonio should be the front runner for rookie of the year, you know, if they ever gave that to linemen. Both guards were actually in PFF’s top 5 guards as of last week. The Browns just had their first turnover in minute 55 of their fourth game of the year. That’s amazing. How does a team with no turnovers in 4 games barely squeak out 2-2? I guess slight differences here and there, and they could be 4-0. A small difference like one of the top receivers in the league to replace Miles Austin, perhaps. Fuck you NFL. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/32 "2014-10-05T23:16:06Z")
Er, Kyle Shanahan, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/33 "2014-10-05T23:40:09Z")
That Panthers beat the Bears to get to 3-2. The D, which looked so good in weeks 1 and 2, and so awful in weeks 3 and 4, started poorly but came up huge in the 2nd half. Thank goodness they were playing Jay “Just Wait For It” Cutler. On a related note, I found myself in a bar in Charlotte yesterday afternoon and ran into a group of 33 Bears fans that had traveled here for the game. They have a big group (as many as 60), mostly from Chicago, but with people all across the country, who pick one Bears road game each season to go to. Fun guys. Stereotypical Chicago (Da Bears) kind of guys. Hope they had a good time at the game, even though their team lost. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/34 "2014-10-05T23:46:51Z")
Gee, with zero money on the games I hit 4 out of 4. Maybe next week I’ll go throw some money at it and lose all of them. Such fun playing with funny money. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/35 "2014-10-05T23:52:03Z")
And to keep babbling on I’d like the Patsies +3. I don’t think I can drive fast enough out to the Indian casino to get anything down. Which just increases the fun because I am fully protected from loss. Hee. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/36 "2014-10-05T23:52:28Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The Browns just had their first turnover in minute 55 of their fourth game of the year. I think that’s the biggest thing about the Browns season this year. They haven’t turned the ball over. Not beating yourself can have a huge impact on NFL games, where parity rules and the bell curve of teams is status quo. Not turning the ball over, not killing yourself with penalties, and playing an efficient game can be, to my mind, the difference between 6-10 and 10-6. I think the Browns this year show that to be true. The problem with the Browns, though, is that I don’t think they have the roster talent on offense to be anything better than the top of the blob of average teams in the NFL. If I squint, I can see (if Tate and Cameron stay healthy and Hoyer is better than I think he is) a 10-6 year, but I don’t look at the Browns and see a team that can win it all. Unless you have a stellar defense (and giving up 28 to the crappy Titans tells me you don’t), you need more playmakers on the offensive side of the ball to compete with the big boys. Not beating yourself and/or letting the other team beat themselves can lead to a good season, maybe the playoffs. But I don’t think you can gain much beyond that. Still, for the Browns, it’s nice that they’re not killing themselves like years previous. Baby steps. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/37 "2014-10-05T23:54:27Z")
Does Rex Ryan last this week, or the rest of the year? The Jets look pathetic, almost as bad as the hopeless Raiders and Jaguars. Geno Smith isn’t the answer, and it looks like Vick is done as well. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/38 "2014-10-06T00:54:58Z")
The 49ers are back to a winning record. Somehow I doubt people will stop talking about discord in the locker room. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/39 "2014-10-06T01:25:44Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The 49ers are back to a winning record. Somehow I doubt people will stop talking about discord in the locker room. Do you think that discord is real? If it is, do you think it will matter at all on the field? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313/40 "2014-10-06T01:30:24Z")
Apparently the Browns’ 25 point comeback today is the biggest road team comeback in NFL history. Who knew? They came back from a 24 (?) point deficit earlier in the season to tie, but didn’t pull it out. I guess you’re always in any game when you’ve got Brian Hoyer throwing to, uh, Taylor Gabriel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-5/700313.md?page=3)