Every Sunday, we cut through the noise to spotlight the NFL's most important developments and break down why they matter moving forward.
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Sunday night spotlight
Ravens take OT battle of backups
With Lamar Jackson out of action, the Ravens spent much of Sunday night stuck in neutral against the Falcons. Baltimore didn't score its first touchdown until the latter half of the third quarter as NBC's Cris Collinsworth talked glowingly about Atlanta's "nameless and faceless" defense. Then, with the Ravens' back against the wall in the final minutes, backup quarterback Tyler Huntley led the team on a six-play, 71-yard touchdown drive. It tied the game with a two-point conversion in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.
Huntley kept the momentum rolling into overtime, where the Ravens' offense methodically marched down the field on a 14-play touchdown drive.
The Falcons, who were forced to turn to Tua Tagovailoa due to a rib injury suffered by Michael Penix Jr., didn't find the same success. After Tagovailoa's first pass of overtime resulted in a 20-yard gain, his second attempt was thrown straight to Baltimore defensive back Kyle Hamilton.
That tale of two backups was a fitting end to a wacky Sunday that included two overtime games, a tie, and a pair of go-ahead field goals in the last 10 seconds of the same game.
Late slate
49ers-Seahawks was a premium slugfest
A divisional battle between two of the NFC's top contenders looked like it'd be the best matchup of Week 5, and it lived up to the billing. While the final score of the San Francisco 49ers' 32-29 win suggests offenses reigned supreme, the defenses were the ones making the game-changing plays Sunday.
The Seattle Seahawks scored 17 points off the three turnovers forced by their defense. But they were one-upped by the 49ers' defensive unit, which had four takeaways that resulted in 21 points. The combined 38 points off turnovers were the most in any game so far this season.
It was a close call for the 49ers, who managed to stay undefeated and improve to 3-0 in NFC West play. But the 3-2 Seahawks aren't too far in the rearview mirror, and they'll have a November rematch for a chance to get their lick back.
Should Jahmyr Gibbs be in the MVP race?
The NFL MVP is a quarterback award. The only three exceptions in the last 25 years were running backs Shaun Alexander, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Adrian Peterson. The first two broke the NFL touchdown record in successive seasons, while Peterson came 8 yards away from the single-season rushing record. The moral of the story is that it takes historic numbers to supersede the best passer of the year, and only tailbacks have a realistic chance at doing so.
Gibbs has a chance to fit the bill.
With 207 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns Sunday, Gibbs is now averaging 149.4 yards and a league-leading 1.8 touchdowns per game. Given the Lions' defensive struggles and the departure of David Montgomery, Detroit will continue to feed Gibbs all year, so there's not much reason to think he's in danger of slowing.
A quarterback is still likely to win the award, but Gibbs could sneak into the conversation if he has more monster days like his field day in a 45-21 triumph over Arizona.
Chargers are dropping like flies, and Herbert is falling apart
The first game of the Chargers' regular season was less than a month ago, but the team is already playing with a cast of offensive players that looks like the lineup in the third quarter of a preseason game.
The list of players on Los Angeles' injured reserve includes starting offensive linemen Rashawn Slater, Tyler Biadasz, and Trey Pipkins, as well as tight end David Njoku. On Sunday, the team was also without offensive tackle Joe Alt and receivers Quentin Johnston and Brenen Thompson. Ladd McConkey was active but didn't play a single offensive snap. Fellow wide receiver Tre' Harris exited the game in the second half with a hamstring injury.
Somehow, with a makeshift offensive line and a bottom-of-the-barrel receiving corps, the Chargers entered the fourth quarter of their game against the Denver Broncos with a lead.
Then L.A.'s weekly implosion happened.
In the last eight minutes of the game, Justin Herbert fumbled three times and threw an interception, clearing the way for the Broncos to score 13 unanswered points and deny the Chargers their first win.
Given Herbert's surrounding cast, his struggles are understandable, but also not quite forgivable. His interception was thrown directly to Denver safety Brandon Jones, and the fumbles were partly a consequence of the two-time Pro Bowl passer holding the ball too long.
Early slate
NFC East race turning into the saddest pillow fight
No NFC East team won in Week 5, despite two of them playing each other. The Dallas Cowboys were embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday, the Philadelphia Eagles choked away a late lead in London, and the Washington Commanders and New York Giants stumbled their way to an ugly tie Sunday.
Both New York and Washington were well within range of game-winning field goals in overtime. The Giants fumbled away their chance when Cam Skattebo was stripped of the ball on Washington's 23-yard line. Then the Commanders bungled their final play, leaving themselves without time to spike and stop the clock in the final seconds. It was a comedy of errors from both squads that was fitting for an NFC East that is shaping up to be the NFL's worst division.
Dallas is struggling to stop anyone on defense; the Eagles' inability to avoid late-game collapses has Nick Sirianni on the hot seat; the Giants are hard to trust with Jameis Winston at quarterback; and the last-place Commanders can't seem to find a way to get wins.
One of those teams has to win the division. It doesn't look like any of them want to, though.
Vikings are dangerous if they get that version of Murray
Kyler Murray completed 80 percent of his passes, threw for 229 yards, and ran for another 51 in Sunday's 23-13 win over the New Orleans Saints. He wasn't intercepted and found Justin Jefferson six times for 79 yards, including an impressive 15-yard touchdown in traffic.
It wasn't a prolific day, but Minnesota doesn't need that from Murray. With a defense that held the Saints to 142 yards and forced three turnovers, the Vikings are always going to be in great shape as long as the offense strings together long drives and doesn't make significant errors. While there were a pair of costly fumbles by the Vikings' offense that helped out the Saints, Murray's steady and efficient performance made up for those mistakes.
Feeding Jaylen Warren is a winning strategy
In the first two games of the season, Warren split carries in the Steelers backfield with offseason acquisition Rico Dowdle. But with the latter out of action in the last three weeks, Pittsburgh has asked Warren to be a workhorse - and he's carrying his team to success.
Warren has racked up 490 yards of offense over that three-game stretch. On Sunday, he turned a short pass from Aaron Rodgers into an 80-yard receiving touchdown down the right sideline and later cut through several would-be tacklers for a 50-yard rushing score.
The Steelers have averaged 28.3 points in their last three games after scoring 23 in the first two weeks combined. Nobody deserves more credit for that turnaround than Warren.
Will Anderson will be tough to beat for DPOY
Anderson took down Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward three times Sunday, bringing his sack total to 7.5 in 2026, the highest in the NFL through five weeks. With Myles Garrett on injured reserve and Micah Parsons yet to make his season debut, there aren't many pass rushers capable of keeping up with the Houston Texans star's torrid pace.
The Buffalo Bills' Gregory Rousseau, Vikings' Dallas Turner, and Steelers' T.J. Watt are all making their presence felt in opposing backfields too, but Anderson is the clear early front-runner for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Browns' tightrope act was doomed to fail eventually
For a little bit, it looked like Cleveland was going to do it again Sunday.
After three straight fourth-quarter comebacks, the Browns were in good shape to make it four in a row when Denzel Boston caught a go-ahead touchdown with just over six minutes left against the New York Jets.
But a bobbled snap by punter Corey Bojorquez set up the Jets for a go-ahead TD of their own minutes later. One more stop from New York's defense ended Cleveland's win streak and, at least for now, toppled Cleveland from first place in the AFC North.
Malik Willis isn't doing much to keep his job
The Miami Dolphins aren't going to be a playoff team after gutting the roster in the offseason. Presumably, they'll have one of the top picks in the 2027 NFL Draft and an opportunity to take their quarterback of the future. That's increasingly looking like the right course of action, because Willis isn't offering much hope that he'll be their guy.
Granted, Willis doesn't have much to work with in Miami. The Dolphins' wide receiving corps is comfortably the NFL's worst on paper, and star running back De'Von Achane is done for the year with a knee injury. Still, that doesn't excuse Willis repeatedly throwing across his body into traffic, resulting in two interceptions in a 31-24 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Bears' backup QBs finally looked like backups
It was no Caleb Williams, no problem for Chicago for two weeks. But the Bears desperately missed their starting quarterback during Sunday's 31-7 loss to the Packers. Tyson Bagent threw two interceptions against Green Bay before he was replaced by Case Keenum, who threw a pick of his own.
Meanwhile, the Packers' offense finally figured things out by chucking the ball deep all day at Lambeau Field. Jordan Love completed six of his eight deep passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden had six catches each for 143 and 123 yards, respectively.
Jaguars successfully navigate a dreaded long snapper injury
Losing a long snapper for any stretch is quietly a doomsday scenario for an NFL team.
When Ross Matiscik suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter in London against the Eagles, the Jaguars had to turn to DaVon Hamilton - a 335-pound nose tackle who snapped in high school - to get the job done. The big guy did pretty well, but it was up to holder Logan Cooke to make sure it wasn't too disastrous of a situation.
A high snap from Hamilton contributed to Jaguars kicker Cam Little missing a crucial extra point late, but another high snap from Hamilton in the final second of the game was corralled by Cooke, who successfully teed up Little's 57-yard game-winner.
Adam Stites is a contributing writer for theScore.
