Week 5 of the NFL is in the books, and week it was—for some.
Christian McCaffrey ran all over the Jaguars. The Cardinals and Broncos tipped those half-full glasses after grabbing the first victories of the year. Jon Gruden sort of trolled the football-watching world over in London (hello, Khalil Mack), and Deshaun Watson’s postgame explanations of defenses continue to be a thing of beauty, absolute gems of the internet that shouldn’t be overlooked!
Speaking of which…
While the e-hardware is shelled out this week for the hard-earned efforts of running backs, teams, defenses, quarterbacks, and breakout fantasy performers, let’s not glance over the unsung heroes of the game who helped lead the way for a lot of that glory.
That’s right, folks—let’s give some credit to the offensive line, too. The champions of the choppy steps, whose fan bases might know them better as, “The big guy, right there!” or “You know, number 79?”.
From down in front, here are the Top 5 offensive lines from Week 5.
5. Arizona Cardinals
The offensive line was certainly one of the pieces to solving the puzzle in Cincy. Underdogs coming into the game, the front stayed strong throughout the Bengals’ rush, only surrendering one sack. To that, Kyler Murray rushed for 93 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown, and David Johnson added another 91 yards on 17 attempts. Chase Edmonds—the Flash of Fordam—had himself a Hello Party, with 68 yards and one touchdown on only eight carries. Not. Bad.
A.Q Shipley, Justin Pugh, JR Sweezy, DJ Humphries, and the rest of the Cardinals’ O-line: A job very well done, congrats!
4: Oakland Raiders
One hundred years into the storied NFL lore and we can finally say, “The Raiders went to London and beat the Chicago Bears!” And, with that kind of historical precedent, it’s almost expected that the offensive line would be some of the fine blokes to make it all happen.
Derek Carr was 25 of 32 for 229 yards passing. While he didn’t have any touchdowns or gif-making heroics, he also didn’t get sacked. That’s impressive in any NFL game, but when you’re talking about going up against the No. 2 overall defense, it’s incredible. Add in the fact that Khalil Mack is on that Bears defense, and you’re getting into an area of bonkers that looks like a Max Headroom video. And Kudos to the Raiders’ line for helping create that scenario—and also for aiding Josh Jacobs’ 123-yard, two-touchdown performance.
Excellent day, good sirs. Rodney Hudson, Trent Brown, Kolton Miller, Denzelle Good, and the rest of the Black ‘n’ Silver front: Stand up and take a bow!
3: New Orleans Saints
OK, so the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense isn’t exactly a tour de force—truth be told, it’s more like a tour on an old horse. But, that’s not Drew Brees lining up under center for the Saints, either. That’s Teddy Bridgwater with a dash of Taysom Hill. And to give either of those quarterbacks the time needed to pick apart any—any!—defense is what the Saints and coach Sean Payton are most likely preaching during this Brees-less stretch.
The O-line knew of the possible chaos within that dynamic and performed admirably. Check that, amazingly!
Bridgewater completed 26 of 34, for 314 yards and four touchdowns. Taysom Hill had a cameo appearance and went 1-for-1 for 18 yards. While Teddy did have one pick, he wasn’t sacked. Again: Zero sacks! Alvin Kamara rushed for 62 yards on 16 carries, with Latavius Murray adding another 42 yards on the day. A day, mind you, that produced a win and avoided a logjam atop the NFC South with Buccaneers and Panthers.
Terron Armstead, Andrus Peat, Ryan Ramczyk, Erik McCoy and Larry Warford—Who Dat?
Dat was a great effort!
2. Indianapolis Colts
The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo said something interesting about the Colts’ offensive line via twitter:
Good point. But, somewhere among the 109 people who were talking about that tweet, I’d like to think that at least a few people stood up and shouted at their mobile device, “Yeah, we’re outta Luck! So what? The NFL moves on, just like our O-line during drives. Woot!”
And, oh man, did those drives move on…
The Colts racked up 180 yards on 45 carries, with one touchdown. Jacoby Brissett wasn’t sacked once, and the offense managed to stay on the field with an opportunity-aiding 37:15 time of possession.
True, Kansas City’s run defense isn’t a high-octane brick wall, ranked 31st and besting only the Bengals as worst in the NFL. But still! Let’s not treat the Colts like they are in the ACC. They went into Kansas City, on a Sunday night, with AL Michaels and all the glitz, and took on an undefeated team who many think are Super Bowl contenders.
Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith, Mark Glowinski, Anthony Castonzo, and Quenton Nelson: Way to choppy step, men! Congrats on making the ’72 Dolphins a little happier this year!
1. Houston Texans
Deshaun Watson had an incredible game against the Atlanta Falcons. He completed 28 of 33 passes, for 426 yards and five touchdowns (a QBR of 158.3). The running game shined too, totaling 166 yards and one touchdown on 33 carries.
Most impressive, though, Deshaun Watson wasn’t sacked at all. Not once. Zero. And that is pretty much historical—which is why the Texans’ offensive line tops this week’s list.
Deshaun Watson has been sacked 18 times this year (in only four games), and is coming off a 2018 campaign where he was sacked 62 times. Needless to say, the Texans O-line has been…Swiss cheesy…at times. But not yesterday, though. No, yesterday was textbook.
Are the Falcons a defensive juggernaut? No, they only have five sacks this season. There were missed assignments. I get all of that.
The pass defense is ranked 23rd, though, which is better than nine other NFL teams that pay guys not to be poor defenders (ironically). Handicapped with the Texans’ shaky O-line resume, and there’s really no argument.
Zach Fulton, Laremy Tunsil, Tytus Howard, Max Scharping, and Nick Martin: Bask in the Week 5 Glory, men. You were the best of the best!
