NFL Week Five Star Performers
The Packers play their first game abroad, the Eagles remain the only undefeated team in the NFL and the Chiefs sneak past the forever unlucky Raiders but if those are the team highlights of the week, what did the player highlights look like?
Micah Parsons
LB, Dallas Cowboys, W 22-10 @ Rams
Last years DROTY is proving that he can play at an All-Pro level again this season. Whilst a somewhat offensively depleted Rams side is perhaps not the elite opposition that Parsons will have to play next week when he takes on the Eagles, the Rams O-Line was run ragged by Parsons and crew.
Five tackles (three solo, one for loss) alongside two sacks and three further QB hits, Parsons was creating pressure after pressure after pressure and Matt Stafford knew about it, ending up on his butt five times throughout the course of the night.
Micah Parsons is certainly one of the men to catch this year in the DPOTY race, I won’t say he’s Canton bound quite yet – for sure way too early for that sort of talk – however he really is a standout star at his position.
Austin Ekeler
RB, Los Angeles Chargers, W 30-28 @ Browns
This was an easy pick for me. The Browns might not have the stoutest run defense around. But Austin Ekeler carved them up like a razor through a fillet steak. His stats read out at 173 yards on SIXTEEN attempts with a TD to boot. Bolstered by a blitzing 71 yard run for his one score he managed 10.8 yards per attempt but even if you take that away he was still smashing 6.8 YPA on his other 15 rushes.
Grabbing another score and a handful of yards through the air, no wonder he was a top five fantasy pick in most leagues this year.
With WR1 Keenan Allen still out injured and not looking 100% to come back for week six, the Chargers are going to need Ekeler to keep turning out performances like this to lighten the load on Justin Herbert and the passing game.
Justin Jefferson
WR, Minnesota Vikings, W 29-22 vs Bears
Making yet another claim for the title of best wideout in the league, Jefferson was imperious. Kirk Cousins started the game with completion after completion going 17 for 17 out of the traps and Jefferson was his go-to guy against a Bears D which finally woke up to the passing game in the second half.
13 attempts, 12 completions for 154 yards, Jefferson was the difference. Especially impressive after the travel that Minnesota endured the previous week during their trip to London.
The 4-1 Vikings go away next to Hard Rock to play the Dolphins but with Xavien Howard potentially missing from the CB position I wonder if they’ll be able to handle Jefferson any better than the mediocre Bears outfit.
A week to forget for… Mike Tomlin
Head Coach, Pittsburgh Steelers, L3 – 38 @ Bills
This section was tough this week! A mountain of dross to sift through. The shutout for Dan Campbell to deal with, my commentators curse that saw Rashaad Penny break his leg the week after I heaped praise on him. Bye bye Matt Rhule, the Thursday Night snoozefest we saw at Mile High where, if I’m honest, both teams should have lost.
I eventually settled on Tomlin. As a Steelers guy, I love the man. He’s been unstoppable over fifteens years, never having a losing season record but I think 2022 might be the year to break that streak.
The Steelers are abject offensively, unable to protect the QB with a weak O-Line and play calling that doesn’t seem to be shifting defenders from their assignments well.
There is talent in the receiving corp, real talent! Pickens and Johnson are excellent, Claypool a deep threat, Freiermuth has a great pair of hands (hopefully he will clear his concussion protocols quickly and safely) and Harris is easily the best man in the backfield we’ve had since before Le’Veon Bell staged his sit in but Matt Canada and Mike Tomlin need to get this right sooner rather than later.
Kenny Pickett was pretty damned solid this week – yes there were mistakes but his big plays show that he’s got the right intentions, he can be polished up – but he will quickly lose confidence if he is not well looked after. Get at it, guys.
