NFL Week 5: Patriots roll past Broncos, Colts stun Packers

“We want to be multiple.” - Every defensive coordinator ever

The best place to start with the Seattle defense is its base defensive alignment. It’s essentially a 4-3 under. That means the defensive front four is shaded on the offense’s weak side and the Sam linebacker is walked up on the line of scrimmage. It’s a classic front that every team has in its playbook somewhere. Seattle lined up in this base alignment, the very first play of the season.

On to the weekend ...

Geno Smith can do it against good teams, too. Despite Texas’ tackling problems, its defense is loaded with NFL talent. And while he didn’t put up the video game numbers he did against Baylor, Smith looked no less dominant Saturday night in West Virginia’s 48-45 win in Austin. He was 25-for-35 for 268 yards and four touchdowns, extending his streak to 204 consecutive passes without an interception. There may be a better player in college football, but how will anyone play better than Smith has through five games? Assuming the Mountaineers terrible defense doesn’t let him down too often, the combination of his skills and Dana Holgorsen’s offense has “Heisman” written all over it.

The Falcons remain on top with a now 5-0 record, Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning wasn’t close and Eric Winston goes on a rant for the ages. Oh, and RGIII was hurt.

Another day in the NFL.

Records were broken. The undefeated fell. New legends were born. Yep, Week 5 was just another week in the NFL.

Rivers was leading the Chargers on a comeback drive in the final two minutes of play, completing multiple big passes, but it was interspersed with sacks and penalties, setting them back time and time again. With 1:40 left in the game, the Chargers actually faced a second-and-37, and managed to turn it into a first down ... thanks to a New Orleans penalty, in which the defender was called for “illegal hands to the face.”

Still, the Chargers weren’t able to get things done. They took the ball over midfield and couldn’t do much else, and a forced fumble on a third-and-10 with less than a minute to go sealed the deal for the Saints.

Plus he’s short, at just 6-feet tall. Now, this isn’t a new revelation by any means, as it was correctly observed by scouts prior to him entering the league 12 years ago. Since that point there’s only ever been one solution to his problem: hopping. And on Sunday night, he did exactly that.

Given that Brees has one of the quickest releases in the NFL, one has to figure that adding in the hop is a natural thing that he’s added over the years, as he can afford to take that quick second before firing off a strike. Or maybe he’s just got a really bad wedgie, who knows?

Graham eventually returned to the game early in the third quarter, but we’ve got a .gif below of what initially took him out of the game. If you watch his right ankle, you’ll notice it turning in a way that human ankles typically do not turn under normal circumstances.

So yeah, that happened. Watching it is cringe-inducing enough, so plenty feared that Graham might be out and unable to assist the Saints in a possible second half comeback, but he’s been in on offense off and on since returning to the game. He’s caught one pass for four yards on the day, and hasn’t been a frequent target thus far.

The Manning Face. Manning did everything he could in this one, but the Patriots still won, 31-21. Chin up, buddy. And maybe you should try one of those skull caps to prevent that redness?

If Christian Ponder can make these types of throws with more regularity it will make the Vikings’ defense all the more potent.

The win moved the 49ers to 4-1 and into a tie for first place in the NFC West. The Bills dropped to 2-3 and have now lost two straight games.

Fantasy studs and duds

Harvin all but put the game away with 10-yard touchdown catch near the end of the third quarter than put the Vikings up 23-0. Harvin broke several ankles on the score. Jocks were strewn across the field.

With the win, the Vikings move to 4-1 on the year. The Titans drop to 1-4.

Fantasy studs or duds?

Injury report

Jay Cutler and Mike Tice had an icy moment last week during the Bears’ win over the Cowboys, when Cutler walked away right as Tice began to talk to him on the bench. What a difference a week makes, because it’s totally all good, bro.

“Hey bro, sorry about that last week. Still bros?” “Still bros, bro.”

This from RGIII’s Twitter account:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO /clap clap clap

/chews gum /nods

Yeah, that was a dropped pass on fourth-and-1. McGahee gets the Manning Face for his derp moment.

Hauschka added his third field goal on a 44-yard effort to put Seattle up 16-10. Seattle later took a safety when punting from deep in their own end to close the scoring for the game.

Odds/Gambling: Carolina was a two-point favorite, so it failed to cover the spread. The over/under was set at 42.5 points, so those who took the under are smiling.

Michael Bush is known for his bone-crushing running style. He’s a man more comfortable punishing defensive tackles than he is breaking off pretty runs on the outside. All true, but you would be wrong to overlook his moves -- the kind of athletic ability not usually associated with a gentleman of his proportions.

Watch Bush leap over one of Jacksonville’s defenders.

Also, it bears repeating that no one does a sack dance like Von Miller does a sack dance. I hope he inspires legions of pee wee football defenders to emulate him for a generation.

This is most definitely a game between Jay Cutler and Blaine Gabbert.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Alex Smith is really playing like a franchise quarterback today.

Could there be a brewing quarterback controversy in Seattle? After the season started out #AllRussellWilsonEverything, Wilson has struggled, no more so than while throwing this 33-yard interception for a touchdown to Carolina Panthers cornerback Captain Munnerlyn.

Luckily for the Seahawks, Cam Newton has also struggled, but the score put the Panthers ahead 10-6. The pass was several feet behind its intended receiver. And there wasn’t even a tall offensive lineman in the way!