Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. There may not be any unbeaten teams left in the NFL, but there is one winless team. Sorry, Jets fans.
In today’s SI:AM:
🐴 Broncos’ statement win
🦬 Bills fall to Pats
🔱 Julio’s signature moment
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No 5–0
Week 5 was a reminder that the defining characteristic of the NFL is parity. The last two remaining undefeated teams in the league—the Eagles and Bills—both suffered surprising losses at home on Sunday against teams that began the day with 2–2 records. It’s the first time in more than a decade that no team will enter Week 6 without a loss.
The last time that every team in the NFL had already lost at least one game this early in the season was 2014, when the Eagles, Cardinals and Bengals went 3–0 before losing for the first time in their fourth game. This is only the third time in the past 20 years that no NFL team has won at least five straight to open a season.
The Eagles lost early in the day against the Broncos after allowing 18 unanswered points. Philadelphia led 17–3 at the end of the third quarter but allowed Denver to get right back in the game with a pair of long touchdown drives sandwiched between three straight Philadelphia three-and-outs. A late field goal stretched the Denver lead to 21–17.
The Eagles had one last chance to salvage a win, getting the ball back with 1:11 on the clock and no timeouts. The drive got off to a lousy start with a Jalen Hurts sack and a short completion to Saquon Barkley that ran more than 40 seconds off the clock and moved Philadelphia just three yards down the field. The final straw for the Eagles was a noncall on a pass intended for Dallas Goedert. Denver safety JL Skinner grabbed Goedert’s shoulder down near the Broncos’ 5-yard line with four seconds left, but Skinner was not flagged for pass interference. Instead of running the final play of the game from the shadow of the goal line, the Eagles had to settle for a Hail Mary from the 29-yard line. It fell harmlessly to the grass.
It was a fitting way for the game to end after the Eagles’ offense ground to a screeching halt in the second half. Philadelphia opened the third quarter with a four-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 47-yard touchdown pass to Barkley. On the Eagles’ final five possessions of the game, though, they ran 20 plays for a combined 48 yards and punted four times. The struggles were exacerbated by four offensive penalties in the final quarter alone.
“Those are some self-inflicted things that we did,” Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni said. “When those happen, I’m always putting that on myself. When we don’t master the things that require no talent, that’s something that’s always going to be on me, because that’s something that we talk about an awful lot. And we have to drive that home, and I have to drive that home. So that’s on me.”
While the Eagles waited until the final 15 minutes to fall apart, the Bills looked like crap right from the start in their 23–20 loss to the Patriots on Sunday Night Football. Buffalo and New England trudged through a sloppy first half that saw a combined three lost fumbles and five punts as the Patriots took a 6–3 lead into the locker room.
New England capitalized on a Josh Allen interception late in the third quarter, embarking on an 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that extended the Patriots’ lead to 20–10. But the Bills managed to come back and tie the game at 20–20 on a field goal with 2:17 remaining before the Pats took the lead back on a 52-yard field goal by rookie kicker Andres Borregales with 15 seconds on the clock.
The story of the game was a monster night from Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs, who had 10 catches for 146 yards in his return to Buffalo. Diggs had been Allen’s favorite target in his four seasons with the Bills before he was traded to the Texans in 2024. Diggs’ lone season in Houston ended prematurely when he tore his ACL in Week 8, and he signed a three-year contract with the Patriots this offseason to return to the AFC East. On Sunday night, he was the biggest reason why his new team was able to beat his old team.
Asked after the game by NBC’s Melissa Stark if it was personal for him, Diggs replied, “100%.”
“Obviously, I love those guys, still got a good relationship with those guys, got a lot of respect for them, but I love the game of football more,” he continued. “Every time I go out here I’m trying to prove it, not only to them but to myself.”
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Albert Breer dives into his Week 5 NFL takeaways, covering the Broncos’ statement win over the Eagles to rising contenders and standout performances across the league.
- Gilberto Manzano breaks down four things we learned from Week 5, including why it’s time to give the Cowboys more credit after their dominant win.
- SI ranks the 50 greatest Premier League players of all time, celebrating the icons who defined 33 unforgettable seasons.
- Tom Verducci spotlights Julio Rodríguez’s first signature postseason moment—and why he’s built for the biggest at-bats.
- The SI men’s college basketball preseason Top 25 countdown continues with No. 20, a program poised to inject offensive firepower thanks to a bold offseason overhaul.
- Emma Baccellieri breaks down how Las Vegas’s core stars delivered once again, powering the Aces to a 2–0 WNBA Finals lead.
- Pat Forde examines whether two preseason powerhouses can still fight their way back into the College Football Playoff picture.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Lions running back David Montgomery’s touchdown pass out of the wildcat formation.
4. A great job by Detroit’s other running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, to stay on his feet for a touchdown.
3. A powerful 66-yard run by the Cowboys’ Javonte Williams.
2. Julio Rodríguez’s double to drive in Cal Raleigh for the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
1. The atmosphere in Toronto when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a grand slam to blow the game open against the Yankees.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | NFL’s Last Unbeaten Teams Fall as Eagles and Bills Suffer Home Upsets.
