The Arizona Cardinals are still the only unbeaten team, the Kansas City Chiefs are in a freefall and the Buffalo Bills, the Los Angeles Chargers and Baltimore Ravens are on top of the AFC with 4-1 records.
That’s the surprising way the NFL looks after the fifth weekend of the season. Here’s a closer look at last weekend:
—Buffalo’s easy takedown of Kansas City may mean a passing of the torch in the AFC. Kansas City was looking for its third consecutive Super Bowl appearance but is now 2-3 and even Patrick Mahomes can’t seem to overcome the team’s defensive woes, although it didn’t help he threw two picks. Meanwhile, Buffalo is now 4-1, tied for best AFC record with the Chargers and Baltimore.
—The Chargers pulled off a 47-42 victory at Cleveland as Justin Herbert passed for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth. The Chargers are a gambling team, too. They went for it on fourth-and-2 at their own 24 early in the fourth period while trailing by two touchdowns and made it to start their comeback.
—Lamar Jackson had a career game, leading the Ravens to a come-from-behind victory over Indianapolis in overtime even though Carson Wentz threw for 400 yards in losing effort.
—The Raiders not only lost their second game in a row when they fell to the Bears, but they also lost their coach, Jon Gruden, after emails of him making inappropriate remarks were leaked. The Raiders are still in the hunt at 3-2 but it remains to be seen whether they can regroup.
—Tom Brady still shows no signs of aging as he threw for five touchdowns in the victory over Miami. The Dolphins now take a 1-4 record to London next week to face 0-5 Jacksonville, which lost to Tennessee. London has yet to host a game when both teams have winning records.
—Green Bay posted its fourth win in a row after their horrid opener by beating Cincinnati and is now one of five NFC teams with the inside track at a playoff berth. The other four are Cowboys, Bucs, Cardinals and Rams. The rest of teams may be fighting for two final spots.
—Six rookie quarterbacks started and two –Mac Jones and Justin Fields – won. Jones beat another rookie Davis Mills as the Patriots came back to beat Houston. Fields, who is now the Chicago starter, led the Bears to the victory against the Raiders. The other three Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance in his debut, all lost. Lawrence is 0-5 and Wilson 1-4.