Philadelphia looks to stay perfect against Denver, while Tampa Bay battles through injuries in Seattle and Drake Maye gets a shot at an upset in Buffalo.
of games, and it’s a good one. In Philadelphia, the Eagles try to run their record to a perfect 5–0, but can they block the Broncos? In an NFC clash between two 1976 expansion teams, the Seahawks and Buccaneers will be wearing their original uniforms in a contest likely to be decided by how Seattle holds up against a banged-up Tampa Bay passing attack.
At SoFi Stadium, can Jayden Daniels overcome his knee injury to rally the Commanders past the Chargers? Looking at the data, the game might actually be decided when Daniels is on the sideline. On Sunday night, can Drake Maye and the Patriots pull an upset in Buffalo? To do it, New England has to slow down the best running game in the league. And finally, the Chiefs and Jaguars square off in Duval County on Monday night. Kansas City must hold onto the ball. And, more to the point, if Jacksonville can’t rip it away, an incredible stat says the Jaguars have virtually no chance of winning.Key statIf the Broncos are going to hand the Eagles their first loss of 2025, and their first defeat with Jalen Hurts playing 60 minutes since Week 4 of last season, it will start up front. Denver has the league’s best defensive front by sacks, with 15. Those sacks, though, have come against some of the league’s worst offensive lines, including the Titans, Chargers and Bengals, which rank 30th, 19th and 29th in sack percentage allowed, respectively. This is a much tougher test against an Eagles line with four Pro Bowlers, including tackles Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, center Cam Jurgens and guard Landon Dickerson. However, a surprising stat. Philadelphia ranks 23rd in sack percentage allowed while throwing only 101 times, the fewest attempts going into Week 5. Translation? The Broncos aren’t going to have many chances to pin their ears back, but when they do, success could be found, even against some household names. If Denver does get home, look for Nik Bonitto to be the reason. Bonitto is developing into an All-Pro player with 4.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits, ranking second and first in those categories. Baker Mayfield will have to operate with a depleted receiving corps. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn ImagesThrough four weeks, Seattle has played against Brock Purdy, Aaron Rodgers, Spencer Rattler and Kyler Murray. Those passing rank second, 26th, 27th and 28th, respectively. It’s worth noting that Seattle’s one loss was to Purdy and the Niners. Tampa Bay’s passing attack is ranked 15th despite dealing with injuries to receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan. Baker Mayfield is also struggling to a degree, completing 59.7% of his attempts Against Seattle, Mayfield will need to have a good game. Running back Bucky Irving is dealing with foot and shoulder injuries that sidelined for Wednesday’s practice. Additionally, the Seahawks are tied for fourth-best in yards per carry allowed . Mayfield is capable of having a big game despite the expected absences of Evans, Godwin and McMillan, mostly because rookie Emeka Egbuka already has 282 yards and four touchdowns. Pay close attention to Egbuka against Devon Witherspoon.For starters, quarterback Jayden Daniels will return after missing two games with a knee injury. Additionally, the Chargers will be without a pair of stud tackles, with Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt both out. While Slater is out for the year and has been since summer, Alt’s injury was sustained on Sunday. This will be the first time Justin Herbert doesn’t have either for an entire game since Week 4 of last season, when Los Angeles fell 17–10 to the Chiefs and averaged 4.2 yards per play, including 2.3 yards per carry. Can the Commanders take advantage? They’ll face an offensive line that has allowed sacks on 7.5% of drop-backs, ranking 14th in the league. Meanwhile, Washington’s defense has been middling in pressure numbers, sitting 23rd in pressure rate and 28th in hurry rate . For the Commanders to win, they will have to pressure Herbert, who has already thrown for 1,063 yards and seven touchdowns. Watch Dorance Armstrong Jr. and Von Miller, who will be the duo primarily assigned to take on Los Angeles’s backup tackles in Trey Pipkins III and Austin Deculus. Last week, the pairing allowed 12 quarterback hits to the Giants.Drake Maye and the Patriots put up 42 points in a blowout of the Panthers in Week 4. / Brian Fluharty-Imagn ImagesBefore Sunday’s win over the Panthers, no team had rushed for more than 63 yards against the Patriots, despite all three of those games being close. Carolina did manage to rack up 129 yards on 4.6 yards per carry, but that came in a 42–13 New England rout. Buffalo enters Week 5 with the most prolific rushing attack in the sport, gaining 163.5 such yards per game. James Cook is second in the NFL with 401 yards behind Jonathan Taylor, while Josh Allen has contributed 159 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. While New England has enjoyed success limiting teams in this capacity, it also hasn’t faced a dual-threat quarterback this year, with Geno Smith, Tua Tagovailoa, Aaron Rodgers and Bryce Young as their prior opponents. Those four have rushed for 153 yards combined. If the Patriots can contain Allen and limit Cook, they will have a chance at an upset. If not, it will be a long night in Buffalo.Jacksonville, after having just nine takeaways last year, already has a league-best 13 this time around. The defense has picked off nine passes, with linebacker Devin Lloyd and slot corner Jourdan Lewis combining for five. And yet, on Monday night, they’ll face one of three teams that have committed only one turnover thus far. The Chiefs have been uneven offensively, ranking 17th in yards per play , 17th in total yards and 15th in points. Still, in receiver Xavier Worthy’s return in Week 4, they put up 37 points and 382 yards on the Ravens in a blowout win. Against Jacksonville, Kansas City’s biggest chore will be taking care of the ball, something it has typically done well. Last year, the Chiefs had 14 turnovers, ranking fourth-best. A few historical notes on this matter: The Jaguars haven’t lost the turnover battle and still beaten a team that finished with a winning record since Week 12 of the 2023 season, when they toppled the Texans, 24–21. As for Kansas City, it has a 34-game winning streak in the regular season when winning the turnover battle, not losing since Week 6 of 2019.Matt Verderame is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated covering the NFL. Before joining SI in March 2023, he wrote for wrote for FanSided and Awful Announcing. He hosts The Matt Verderame Show on Patreon and is a member of the Pro Football Writers Association. A proud father of two girls and lover of all Italian food, Verderame is an eternal defender of Rudy, the greatest football movie of all time.
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