The NFL Roundup 2021: Week 5 Recap

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Welcome back, football fans, to another edition of the NFL Roundup and man… do we have some incredible storylines to discuss today. Because not only are we seeing some changing of the guard in the AFC and seeing more teams basically tap out with their lackluster play, but we also saw some stunning accountability take place over the last twenty-four hours. So, with that in mind… the time has come to dive into all of those stories and all of the lessons that Week 5 in the NFL sent our way!
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The league and the Raiders sent an important message this week.
By now, you’ve heard the news about Jon Gruden and all the horrible things he said via email, so we won’t rehash any of that here. No instead, we are simply going to offer up a round of applause to the NFL and to the Raiders for doing the right thing by asking him to step down. Because let’s be honest, we all know this kind of behavior is a long-standing norm in the league, and we all know that guys like Gruden tend to get away with it more often than not because their football IQ is praised over anything else. So, to see the league put the squeeze on and to see Mark Davis have the hard talk, means that the league is finally working toward impactful change in how its coaches do business and really, their actions here make it clear… this stuff won’t fly going forward and that everyone needs to do better and that’s a wonderful thing. 
 
The Cincinnati Bengals might be a contender.
Now, there is a sentence that I never expected to type, but here we are. Because the Bengals are playing lights out football right now, the kind that is allowing for them to handily beat teams and hang with the big boys, as evidenced by their play against the Packers on Sunday. Because they had an answer for everything Green Bay threw at them, and they even made it to a tense overtime fight that came down to the kickers to decide, and while they did indeed lose… this team really needs to reflect upon what they accomplished in this game. In that, they stood tall when facing an NFC Playoff Contender and they’re 3-2 and if they can remember that, and keep this level of play going… they might be a contender this year and they might make it deep into the playoffs.
 
The Buffalo Bills are the best team in the AFC right now.
The past five years have seen the Kansas City Chiefs dominate the AFC. But nothing lasts forever in this league and well, now that everyone has figured out how to beat Patrick Mahomes and his mighty offense, teams are challenging them left and right and Buffalo is the latest squad to teach the Chiefs a lesson. But what matters more about their grand victory over KC is how dominant it turned out to be. Because the Bills were simply magnificent in all three phases of the game and there was little that KC could do to stop them and well, when you beat the defending champs in that manner, it’s obvious you’re the best in the conference and that’s precisely what Buffalo is, the best, and if they keep this up, the road to the Super Bowl will head through New York.
 
Stick a fork in the Detroit Lions, they’re done.
Five weeks, that’s all it took to write off our second team for the NFL season and this one should come as no surprise. Because the Detroit Lions have simply been awful in every phase of the game. To the point where they are basically confirming that Jared Goff is a bust and that they might be the first team to go 0-17 in league history. Which means, outside of hitting 0-17, we won’t be talking or thinking about the Lions at all going forward and all we can do at this point is hope that things get better for Detroit fans. Because they deserve better than this. They deserve better play on the field and better coaching, and my only ask for management out there in the Motor City, is that they go out and get those things for the fans that stand by this awful team year after year.
 
The time has come for Daniel Snyder to sell the Washington Football Team.
One cannot talk about the Gruden incident without examining how we came to this point. Which revolves around the workplace investigation that the league conducted on the Washington Football Team and that investigation is important. For it uncovered some unsavory behavior from the WFT, the kind that led to all kinds of accountability and fines. But alas, the fact that more ugly news keeps coming out of this investigation and that a pair of trainers are now suspended because they’re being investigated by the DEA… it might be time for Daniel Snyder to take a good long look in the mirror and realize, it is time for him to sell the team. Because all of this happened under his watch, and that’s unacceptable for an owner in the NFL and not to mention, the team stinks and he’s done nothing to improve them. So, its best he simply moves on and lets someone interested in restoring glory to one of the league’s oldest franchises take over and run the thing. That way, these embarrassments can end, and this team can get back to playing some quality football for its fans.

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