NFL 2011: Week Five Review

Thoughts and observations after Week Five of the 2011 NFL season:

For a guy with as much talent as Eli Manning has, he shouldn't be playing as badly as he did vs. Seattle on Sunday. A career passing day of 420 yards and 3 TDs was nullified by three INTs, the last of which was returned 94-yards for a TD that sealed a victory for Seattle, a team who shouldn't have even been close to the Giants. The last INT was indeed tipped and intercepted, but Eli threw it what felt like a mile behind the receiver's back. Throw a football that haphazardly...well, you see what happens!

Another New York QB under pressure is Mark Sanchez, who was mediocre at best in a loss to New England. The Patriots have the worst defense in the league. Really, Sanchez should've lit them up like quarterbacks have done all year, quarterbacks with less talent than the Jets signal caller has. Problem for Rex Ryan is that Sanchez is just about the only option under centre right now. Even so, the former USC Trojan needs to get better and fast, or the Jets season is cooked.

Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in the league currently, when you are looking purely at this season's body of work. Even as his defense let Atlanta score twice on their first two possessions of the Sunday night game, the Cal alum was unflappable, spreading the ball around to a dozen receivers en route to 396 yards passing and 2 scores. Watching Rodgers right now is like watching a clinic. He's shredding defenses left, right and centre. Watching this guy - sorry Jon Gruden - in his prime is a rare opportunity.

The start of the year saw the Philadelphia Eagles designate themselves as the Dream Team. Pretty outrageous call to make, even if you possibly are the Dream Team. Man, have the wheels fallen off that bandwagon in a hurry? The Eagles are 1-4, after a loss to the impressive Buffalo Bills, and have star QB Michael Vick is throwing INTs like it's going out of fashion. This team is in serious disarray, and a few more losses might cost long-time coach Andy Reid his job. And after all of their pre-season bravado, it's nice to see the Eagles being forced to eat some humble pie.

Early days in Cincinnati, still, but the Bengals, long a franchise known more for off-field dysfunctionality than on-field results might have something good in the combination of QB Andy Dalton and WR AJ Green. It was the Red Rifle Dalton who spearheaded a 30-20 win vs. Jacksonville yesterday, with help from Green, who nabbed 5 catches for 90 yards. Finally, there is hope inside of Paul Brown Stadium.

The only hope for the Indianapolis Colts is probably to lose enough games to get QB Andrew Luck in the draft. Another loss yesterday drops them to 0-5. It's one thing to drop games to good teams, but to the Kansas City Chiefs, that's a different story altogether. It just goes to show how important Peyton Manning is to that franchise and it's sad seeing him on the sidelines, and the team floundering without his direction.

Early candidate for Coach of the Year, San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh. He might just have re-energised a proud franchise and their maligned QB Alex Smith. If nothing else, Sunday's beat-down of a Tampa Bay team that looked hapless at times, brought a smile to the face of long-suffering Niners fans. It's been a rough trot since that fella Steve Young left town. Harbaugh took a bad Stanford team and made them good, and appears to be doing the same thing for the 49ers. Good to see!!

Don't look now, football fans, but the Detroit Lions are 5-0 and looking a good like they've never looked good before! They are scary on offense, with big play threats like WR Calvin Johnson - a lazy 5 receptions for 130 yards and a score - and RB Jahvid Best - 12 carries for 183 yards and a touchdown - it seems to be a case of picking your poison. Who ever thought that the Lions offense would be causing opposing defensive coordinators sleepless nights?

Gutsy win by the Raiders in the wake of Al Davis' passing. Sure, the guy might've at times been as mad as a cut snake, but he was also a football pioneer and I daresay that the NFL wouldn't be like it is now without Davis' input. A titan of the football world, and of professional sports, dead too soon at 82 years young. RIP!