Welcome to the Riker Report, where I open up my game day files each week and share a quick-hitter observation or development from each of the eight NFL divisions. Week 5 was a terrific week for teams breaking out their throwback uniforms, with the Falcons, Jaguars and Broncos sealing crucial wins while harkening back to their glory days. For the 49ers, the trend didn’t work quite as well. These are the developments to track from around the league.
AFC East: Jets crash in Week 5 with London loss and Robert Saleh’s firing
Of all of the teams to be the first to fire their head coach in 2023, the one with a four-time MVP at quarterback and Super Bowl aspirations was not exactly at the top of the list. True, head coach Robert Saleh had not posted a winning record in his first three seasons in New York and the heat was on for him to perform with a presumably healthy Aaron Rodgers in 2024, but this year’s Jets roster was his best yet, with top playmakers on both sides of the football. Saleh’s fate looked bleak after a 2-3 start that included an upset loss to the Broncos at home and a poor showing in London against the Vikings, but his firing on Tuesday morning was nothing short of sensational. Saleh was reportedly escorted from the team facility by security without the opportunity to address the team — a cold exit for a coach who established a dominant defense and dealt with some wild headlines and personalities in the nation’s biggest media market.
Where do the Jets go from here? Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the interim head coach, while offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett kept his position but could take a smaller role in the team’s playcalling. Coaching isn’t the only necessary fix, though. Rodgers’ long-awaited arrival to the starting lineup has been underwhelming, and his presence hasn’t elevated the play of the offense’s young stars, running back Breece Hall and wide receiver Garrett Wilson. The Jets’ best source of optimism might be external. There’s still plenty of season left, and New York has still been a cut above New England and Miami in the division.
NFC East: Dak Prescott overcomes three-turnover performance to lead Cowboys’ game-winning drive on SNF
Dak Prescott’s uneven performance on Sunday Night Football won’t rank among his best career performances — or his best this season, when the year is complete — but his clutch play illustrates the unflappable, team-first play he has brought to Dallas since arriving as a rookie in 2016. Prescott’s decision-making was confounding throughout the rain-delayed prime-time affair, including two turnovers in the Pittsburgh red zone and another on a well-covered deep ball, but the 2023 MVP runner-up led touchdown drives of 16 plays each to steal a win from the Steelers. Prescott’s gutsiest play wasn’t his fourth-down, go-ahead touchdown toss to wide receiver Jalen Tolbert with 20 seconds remaining, but his instinctive dive toward a Rico Dowdle goal-line fumble two plays earlier that avoided catastrophe and gave the Cowboys a fighting chance.
In a game that ended well after midnight Eastern time, Prescott came away with quite the statline — 352 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, a fumble and a much-needed prime-time win. Dallas should also be encouraged by the emergence of Dowdle as a potential lead running back and a brilliant performance from an undermanned defense. The Cowboys should get their rest after the game, because their upcoming stretch is nothing short of brutal: Detroit, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Houston. But in terms of making the most of their Week 5 opportunity, a resilient road win and a clutch showing from Prescott is exactly what the Cowboys needed on Sunday.
AFC North: Ravens-Bengals overtime thriller becomes early candidate for Game of the Year
The NFL might have its best divisional quarterback rivalry since the days of Dan Marino and Jim Kelly on its hands.
Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson have combined for seven playoff wins, two MVP awards and a Super Bowl appearance in their young careers, and Sunday afternoon’s matchup in Cincinnati pitted the two passers against each other at their very best. Burrow passed for five touchdowns and 392 yards… and it still wasn’t enough due to Jackson’s heroics. The reigning NFL MVP registered 348 yards and four touchdown passes in his own right, and his red-zone mad scramble and throw to tight end Isaiah Likely helped the Ravens erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and turn disaster into one of his best career highlights. Both Burrow and Jackson committed crucial mistakes — Burrow’s fourth-quarter interception to Marlon Humphrey kept Baltimore’s hopes alive, while Jackson’s mishandled snap in overtime gave the Bengals possession in sudden death — but Jackson emerged victorious after Cincinnati’s Evan McPherson missed the game-winning field goal and Ravens running back Derrick Henry virtually sealed the win with a 51-yard rumble. Baltimore needs to get back to the drawing board with its porous secondary, but the 36-30 overtime win is still pretty sweet and moves the Ravens into first place in the AFC North. For Cincinnati, an 0-3 start at home seemed unfathomable coming into the season and has become a reality, and the defense will need to find answers quickly.
NFC North: Bears’ 36-10 rout of Carolina underscores lopsided nature of the Bryce Young trade
At some point, the Panthers need to move forward from the Bryce Young trade. But Sunday was the exact opposite of that day. In a trade that may turn out to be one of the most impactful of the 2020s, Carolina sent a package of top picks and an elite receiver in D.J. Moore for the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which they used to draft Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. Since that fateful trade, the Panthers have remained the worst team in the NFL, while the Bears used the Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick to select their quarterback of the future, Caleb Williams, with the first overall pick. The NFL media has revisited the trade plenty of times over the past couple years with Williams’ selection, the Bears’ Hard Knocks appearance and Young’s benching for veteran Andy Dalton just weeks into the season, but the impact of the trade was crystal clear in the Bears’ 36-10 win over the Panthers in Chicago. Williams posted the best start of his young career and led the NFL with an ESPN QBR of 83.9, while Chicago’s defense dominated so much that Panthers head coach Dave Canales inserted Young back into the game for garbage-time action. Suddenly, the Bears are in the thick of the NFC playoff hunt, while the Panthers’ risky trade to return to relevance continues to drag the franchise down.
AFC South: All three phases come together in Texans’ dramatic walk-off victory
The Texans are running away with the AFC South, but they’ve had their sights set higher after last year’s breakout run to the division title. And against the Buffalo Bills in their home stadium, Houston showed why it is one of the most complete and dangerous teams in the AFC. Despite an injury knocking out their top offensive weapon, wide receiver Nico Collins, and the Texans going almost the entire second half without scoring a point, the Texans outclassed the Bills in all three phases and earned a 23-20 walkoff win with contributions from its stars and supporting cast. Whether it was Houston holding MVP candidate Josh Allen under 10 completions or kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn knocking through 50-, 47- and 59-yard field goals (and that final kick for the last-second win), the Texans came to play and put a full two games between themselves and the next-closest AFC South team, Indianapolis. Coming off their first win of the season against a real contender, Houston will look to continue its momentum in a battle against the 1-4 New England Patriots.
NFC South: Kirk Cousins wins over Atlanta in 506-yard Thursday Night Football performance
Kirk Cousins’ introduction to Atlanta has been clumsy, to say the least. Just weeks after his high-profile signing, Cousins’ long-term future with the Falcons was cast into doubt with Atlanta’s first-round selection of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Cousins’ on-field return against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 was rough — he registered just 155 yards and threw two interceptions in an upset 18-10 loss — and a miraculous comeback drive against the Eagles in Week 2 stood as his only big-time highlight through the first four weeks.
Against the reigning division champion Buccaneers in primetime, Cousins more than doubled his season-best yardage totals and set a new Falcons record with an astounding 509 passing yards. Situationally, Cousins was on point. The Pro Bowler set the tone early with three completions of more than 15 yards on the Falcons’ game-opening touchdown drive, then bounced back from a fourth-quarter interception to drive Atlanta into field goal range for Younghoe Koo’s game-tying field goal as the final seconds ticked off regulation. Cousins put together another masterful drive in overtime, hitting all three of his pass attempts and ending the game on a 45-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown by KhaDarel Hodge. The 36-30 divisional victory in Mercedes-Benz Stadium sets the Falcons up well in the race for the NFC South and gives Cousins another clutch primetime moment to endear him to his new fanbase.
AFC West: Denver’s Pat Surtain II records career highlight with 100-yard pick six
If Pat Surtain II winds up winning his first Defensive Player of the Year award, the definitive image of his season-long highlight reel will be the game-changing play he made on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. With the Broncos trailing 10-3 at home and Gardner Minshew’s Raider offense threatening to extend their lead to two scores, Surtain snagged Minshew’s overthrown pass attempt and burst down the sideline, Ed Reed-style. Adorned in the Broncos’ throwback orange threads, PS2 sprinted coast-to-coast for a 100-yard pick-six that tied the score and irreversibly shifted the game’s momentum. Surtain also intercepted backup Aidan O’Connell in the fourth quarter in the Broncos’ 34-18 romp and first win against the Raiders since 2019.
Football’s highest-paid cornerback is looking the part through the season’s first five weeks, and his candidacy for the most prestigious defensive award received a major boost in his career-best day. Prior to playing the Raiders, Surtain matched up against D.K. Metcalf, George Pickens, Mike Evans and Garrett Wilson and came out on top each time. Only two cornerbacks have come home with DPOY honors in the 21st century — Green Bay’s Charles Woodson in 2009 and New England’s Stephon Gilmore in 2019 — and Surtain now has the big plays to match his consistent quality of play. Factor in Denver’s defensive dominance in year two under defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, and Surtain is crafting a compelling case for the award and lifting his team to a winning record in the process.
NFC West: What should we make of the wild, wild NFC West?
The NFC West isn’t the best division in football — the NFC North has four teams with winning records and one 5-0 team. It’s also not the most competitive, an honor that the NFC South has earned with three teams above a 30 percent chance of winning the division, per The Athletic’s analytics. But it has been the most unpredictable, and the anarchy is something to behold.
The 49ers looked poised to lock up the division for the third straight year, but last-second losses to the injury-plagued Rams and inconsistent Cardinals have put them in an early hole. There’s time for San Francisco to get healthy, but a losing record and third-place standing is not an ideal start for the NFC favorites. Seattle looked excellent in a 3-0 start under new head coach Mike McDonald and have enjoyed top-tier play from quarterback Geno Smith, but their operation fell apart in a 29-20 loss to the lowly New York Giants. Yet even after consecutive losses to Detroit and New York, the Hawks sit atop the division five weeks in. Arizona bounced back from a 42-14 shellacking at the hands of the Washington Commanders to a one-point win in San Francisco over their division rivals this week. The division’s one easily explainable team is the Rams, who have sunk to the bottom of the standings due to a rash of injuries and defensive regression. Sign me up for more divisional games, because I can’t wait to see the next turn in this four-way battle.
Riker's Block 