Quick Hits: Week 5

Sorry about this coming out a day later than usual. College life certainly doesn’t work with your schedule. Five weeks down, 12 to go. This has been a very fun season with plenty of surprises. No one would've thought the Vikings would be cruising to a 5-0 record despite all of their injuries. Unsurprisingly, the Browns sit at 0-5 with not much seemingly going right. Anyways, we have plenty to talk about this week so let’s get right into it.

-       -  Ryan Fitzpatrick has been terrible this year. Everyone wondered why the Jets didn’t resign him for big time money this offseason, it’s because the last big money deal he signed after a good season was with Buffalo. It followed up that good season with bad numbers, including 24 touchdown passes to 23 interceptions. So far this year, he has 10 interceptions to just five touchdown passes. History tends to repeat itself, and thus far Fitzpatrick is only proving that the Jets were right in their decision to not sign him to a big money contract.

-       -  On the topic of Fitzpatrick, I am calling out the Jets organization to BENCH him now. he has looked terrible and the team is suffering because of his decision making. I am not here to say Geno Smith or Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty or far better options, but it wouldn’t hurt to see what you got in them. At most, give Fitzpatrick one last shot vs the Cardinals. But when he fails, and he will, bench him and start moving forward.

-       -  Ezekiel Elliott has taken the hype as the fourth overall pick and run away with it (pun intended). He already has 546 rushing yards and five touchdowns with a ridiculous 5.0 yards a carry. He is on pace for nearly 1,800 rushing yards as a rookie! To put that in perspective, the record for rushing yards by a rookie is 1,808 by Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson back in 1983. Zeke has a realistic opportunity to make history this season and behind an offensive line as dominant as the Cowboys’ have, even 2,000 yards could be possible.

-       -  As good as the Vikings defense has been playing, it never occurred to me just how good they’ve been until the NFL’s Instagram account put out this picture comparing them to the legendary ’85 Bears’ defense. The similarities are insane and we could be watching one of the best defenses of the 2010s. we have been spoiled with great defense such as the Legion of Boom or the 2015 Denver Broncos, but something about this Vikings defense feels like it could be even better than both of them.

-       -  The Ravens parted ways with offensive coordinator Marc Trestman after a loss Sunday to Washington. Trestman elected to have Joe Flacco throw the ball 46 times despite a comfortable lead and only giving Terrance West 11 carries despite the fact that he had 95 yards on those 11 carries. The Ravens have promoted Marty Mornhinweg to be the offensive coordinator and hopefully instill some stability in the offense.

-       -  The 49ers have announced that Colin Kaepernick will be the starting quarterback this week vs the Bills. Kaepernick as we all know has been involved in a highly controversial movement involving him and other NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Looking at it from a pure football perspective, Kaepernick is a below average starting quarterback but can he really be as bad as current starter Blaine Gabbert (five touchdowns to six interceptions)?

-       -  Tom Brady is back, ladies and gentlemen, and he is pissed off. Brady took the Browns behind the woodshed and painted their back porch red, throwing for 406 yards and three touchdown passes (all to Martellus Bennett). This should be a warning to the rest of the league. No matter how bad the Browns are, Brady sent a clear message in week five: get ready for a fight.

-       -  The funniest (sorry Charger fans) story of the season thus far has to be how the Chargers find a way to lose every week. After shanking a game-winning field goal on a botched snap last week against the Raiders, the Chargers will take on the Broncos tonight and will likely stall out plenty of times against on the NFL’s elite defenses.

-       -  Good news though, Chargers fans! Joey Bosa looks like the real deal. In his first game as a Charger, Bosa recorded two sacks and was flying around the field making plays. Having him back in the lineup should make this season more bearable to watch, as he is simply a ball magnet and highlight real to watch.

Richard Bradshaw is available to follow on Twitter @RichieBradz36. Thank you for the read.