A Giant surprise: Who's up, who's down after Week 5 in the NFL

A long-dormant team is making a splash while last season's Super Bowl teams have fizzled out.

October 11, 2022 at 5:00PM
Running back Saquon Barkley has helped the Giants start 4-1 for the first time since 2009. (Alastair Grant, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

BEST TURNAROUND

1. Giants (4-1). The way-too-early NFL Coach of the Year frontrunner is rookie head coach Brian Daboll, who has the Giants playing with confidence we haven't seen in a decade or more. Their first 4-1 start since 2009 already matches last season's win total. The only other team to lose four or more games one year and match that win total by Week 5 the next is the 2019 49ers, who won the NFC.

WORST FLOP (SO FAR)

Super Bowl LVI offenses. Last year's Super Bowl participants — the Rams and Bengals — are both 2-3. The sputtering Rams are last in yards per play, 30th in sacks allowed and 29th in points. The Bengals are 31st in yards per play and 27th in sacks allowed.

RANKING THE 4-1 VIKINGS

7. (Last week: 9.) What they lack in style points they make up for in resiliency. Question for Vikings fans complaining about these close games: Would you rather be 4-1 and worried that your team is only 12 points from being 1-4, or go back to last season when the Vikings were 2-3 and whining about how they were only 12 points from being 5-0?

STATS OF THE WEEK

.000: Aaron Rodgers' deep ball completion percentage in six attempts against the Giants in the 27-22 egg the Packers laid in London.

7: Career games with multiple rushing touchdowns for undefeated Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Only Cam Newton (10) has had more.

0: Number of winless teams after Houston beat Jacksonville for a ninth straight time. It's only the third time in league history in which every team has at least one win through Week 5. It also happened in 1990 and 2018.

STEELERS SOARING … IN 2023 DRAFT ORDER

The Steelers' 38-3 loss to Buffalo was the worst defeat in Mike Tomlin's 16 seasons as head coach. It also was the franchise's worst beatdown since Chuck Noll opened the 1989 season with a 51-0 loss to Cleveland. On a bright note, however, Pittsburgh (1-4) sits No. 2 in the current 2023 NFL draft order. The Steelers have not had a No. 1 overall pick since 1970, when they took Terry Bradshaw.

NO FOURTH-QUARTER FIREWORKS IN TENNESSEE

The Titans have won three straight and vaulted into the No. 3 seed in the AFC since a 41-7 loss to Buffalo dropped them to 0-2. Despite three straight one-score wins, Tennessee remains the only NFL team that hasn't scored a fourth-quarter point.

WEEK 6 SNEAK PEAK

Rematch in K.C. The Bills and Chiefs will have a hard time one-upping their 2021 divisional playoff game nine months ago. But it sure will be worth watching to see if they do. Kansas City prevailed last time in a game that saw four lead changes and 25 points scored in the final two minutes of regulation. With 13 seconds left, Patrick Mahomes drove the Chiefs to a game-tying field goal before they won 42-36 in overtime. This rematch also could be a playoff preview between two of the AFC's best teams and quarterbacks.

about the writer

about the writer

Mark Craig

Sports reporter

Mark Craig has covered the NFL nearly every year since Brett Favre was a rookie back in 1991. A sports writer since 1987, he is covering his 30th NFL season out of 37 years with the Canton (Ohio) Repository (1987-99) and the Star Tribune (1999-present).

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