CNN
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Football gets an early start Sunday as the NFL kicks off its yearly international tour with the NFL London Games.
With some preseason favorites struggling, and a couple of surprise teams sitting atop the standings, Week 5 will be a chance for those contenders to right the ship, while other teams will look to prove their staying power.
With a full slate of football from morning to night, here are the three games you don’t want to miss.
The NFL’s first game of the day has a variety of intriguing storylines to follow, the first being where the match-up takes place – in London.
As the NFL continues its expansion as a global brand, fans can take in the game at the home of Tottenham Hotspur or at local bars featuring an American football takeover.
Wherever fans watch the game, count on it being loud – Sky Sports NFL analyst Phoebe Schecter said she received a call from Buffalo tight end coach Rob Boras following last year’s game saying the noise was comparable to a Bills home game.
Minnesota will be looking to use some of that noise as fuel as the Vikings have never lost in London – a perfect 3-0 in their visits to England’s capital.
What’s more surprising is Minnesota’s 4-0 start to the season, given that ESPN had them 23rd in their preseason power rankings.
A major reason has been the play of quarterback Sam Darnold, who got the starting job after first round pick JJ McCarthy had season-ending surgery. Darnold, originally drafted by the Jets with the third overall pick in 2018, leads the league in touchdown passes (11).
Darnold is enjoying playing winning football with his Vikings teammates, notable as the Jets finished 2-14 in 2020 – Darnold’s final season with the team.
“At the end of the day, we believe in each other more than anyone else believes in us,” Darnold said. “To have all these pieces we can use – it’s special, it makes our offense really tough and (I’m) going to continue to learn and grow and continue having fun playing ball with these guys.”
CNN’s Coy Wire believes that Darnold could he in line for a “big revenge game” against his first team in the NFL.
“As someone who’s been cut by one team in the NFL, then picked up by another, and given the chance to play against the team that let me go, I can say that Darnold is going to do everything in his power to show the his former team, the Jets, what they’re missing,” the former Buffalo Bills and Atlanta Falcons linebacker said.
“He looks like he’s finally found a home in Minnesota. He’s playing more relaxed, confidently, and like a man on a mission. He now leading the NFL in touchdown passes, ahead of Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes, and Josh Allen in completion percentage, and a major part of the reason the Vikings are undefeated. He actually has the third-best odds behind Mahomes and Allen to win league MVP heading into the Jets game.”
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Meanwhile, the Jets are wondering if they’ll be at the peak or valley of the London Eye on Sunday as their season of ups and downs continues.
After a 24-3 dismantling of divisional rival New England, the Jets turned in a lackluster performance against the Broncos in which they failed to score a touchdown. The 10-9 loss was especially difficult to swallow, as the Jets only allowed the mediocre Denver offense to gain a paltry 186 yards of offense.
A frustrated Rogers took to the podium following the game and gave a frank assessment.
“I think we were kind of killing ourselves,” said Rodgers.
“We had way too many mental mistakes … we just missed some easy stuff. Our focus wasn’t as sharp as it was the first three weeks.”
With a rueful smile, Rodgers added: “When your defense holds them to 10, you gotta win the game 100% of the time.”
It will be up to Rodgers and his playmakers to improve their performance after the New York defense held consecutive opponents under 200 yards of offense.
Josh Allen and the Bills got roughed up by the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday night, halting a three-game win streak to start the season.
From the time Derrick Henry took the first Ravens snap and went 87 yards to score, it seemed like it would be a long night for Buffalo. While there looked to be a glimmer of hope in the third quarter, a fumble by Allen on a botched trick play led to another Ravens score.
Allen, who has compiled a 63-30 record going into his seventh season with the Bills, knows that every now and then, a good old fashioned beatdown comes to even the best of teams.
When asked about his team’s resiliency, Allen pointed to “that no blink mentality.”
“We were down and out early on, and we kind of stopped the bleeding,” said Allen, pointing to that moment of hope in the third quarter. “We could have done more to put a band-aid on it, but we kind of let it slip away.”
However, he’s not concerned about any long-term effects.
“The guys who make up this locker room understand who we are, what we are. We’re not going to let this avalanche … the guys in this building understand the ebbs and flows of an NFL season,” he said.
Wire believes that his former side have looked like one of the teams to beat so far this season.
“Buffalo looked scary good through the first three weeks before getting humbled on the road by the Ravens,” Wire said.
“The Bills’ perennially powerful defense will be put to the test once again, they were already down three starters going into the Ravens game last week. Then they lost starting safety Taylor Rapp in the first half of that game too.”
The Texans are leading the AFC South with a 3-1 record, but their wins haven’t come against elite teams, with all victories coming against opponents who are .500 or worse. The Bills will serve as the first real test for C.J. Stroud and company.
The former Ohio State standout had a spectacular rookie season last year, leading the Texans to the playoffs after three straight seasons of winning four games or less. A win against the Bills would further prove that Houston can compete with the NFL’s elite.
And no stranger to being elite is wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who earned all four of his Pro Bowl nods with the Bills before moving to the Texans this offseason.
Despite reaching such success with Buffalo, many detractors point to his animated demeanor on the field as detrimental, with one notable incident of irritation as Diggs confronted Josh Allen on the sideline during the Bills 2023 playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Following that loss, Diggs wrote on X: “It’s easy to criticize my reaction more than the result.”
For his part, in a profile in GQ last month, the wide receiver issued a variation of Rasheed Wallace’s infamous “ball don’t lie quote”, saying: “You can’t lie to the game. It knows how much time you put in, knows how much effort you put in, knows how good you want to be, knows how much you talking and how much you doing.”
Both the Bills and Allen and the Texans and Diggs will be looking to put their money where their mouth is when they square off.
The Sunday night game features a couple of teams at a crossroads in their respective seasons – the Steelers pondering who will be their starting quarterback for the rest of the season, while the Cowboys are looking to build momentum to return to contender status.
Pittsburgh, for the meantime, is rolling with Justin Fields as QB1. After confirming Fields will start Sunday, Tomlin said that the deciding factor in when to bring presumptive starter Russell Wilson back “is the amount of ball we have in front of us.”
There’s a lot of season left, and both quarterbacks have something to prove. Wilson, a Super Bowl champion and decorated veteran, suffered through a couple of difficult seasons with Denver; while Fields was unceremoniously traded from Chicago after the Bears drafted Caleb Williams with the first overall pick.
Fields has done his part for Pittsburgh so far this season, reeling off three straight wins to start the campaign.
However, Pittsburgh did fall last week to the middle of the pack Indianapolis Colts, and showed some weaknesses despite nearly rallying back from a 17 point deficit.
For Fields, all he can do is focus on what’s right in front of him.
On the other side of the ball, the Cowboys are coming off a win, albeit not a very convincing one, against their division rival.
After two straight losses, the 20-15 victory against the Giants was a step in the right direction – at least in the win column. It did come at a cost – Dallas linebacker Micah Parsons left the game with an ankle sprain, while defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was placed on the injured reserve list with a foot injury.
Parsons is not expected to play this week, while Lawrence will miss at least four games – that’s seven combined Pro Bowl appearances the Dallas defense will have to do without.
Parsons, however, feels good about his team’s chances even if he can’t play.
“I’m very confident in these guys – we got a good foundation of guys that can play anywhere on the field,” Parsons told reporters.
The Cowboys themselves are looking to play at the highest level and move into the upper echelon of Super Bowl hopefuls.
Despite strong regular season showings, finishing 12-5 for the past three years, Dallas only has one playoff victory during coach Mike McCarthy’s tenure. Looking to improve from the uninspiring start, the Cowboys know they can play better.
Following last week’s win, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said: “We’re an offense that can finish better and score more touchdowns than we did tonight, so we have to look ourselves in the mirror and go get that done.”
Sunday night will be a great litmus test for the Dallas offense, facing a Pittsburgh defense ranked fourth in total yards allowed and first in touchdowns allowed.
Away vs. home
New York Jets (2-2) @ Minnesota Vikings (4-0) – 9:30 a.m. ET
Carolina Panthers (1-3) @ Chicago Bears (2-2) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Baltimore Ravens (2-2) @ Cincinnati Bengals (1-3) 1:00 p.m. ET
Buffalo Bills (3-1) @ Houston Texans (3-1) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Indianapolis Colts (2-2) @ Jacksonville Jaguars (0-4) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Miami Dolphins (1-3) @ New England Patriots (1-3) – 1:00 p.m. ET
Cleveland Browns (1-3) @ Washington Commanders – 1:00 p.m. ET
Las Vegas Raiders (2-2) @ Denver Broncos (2-2) – 4:05 p.m. ET
Arizona Cardinals (1-3) @ San Francisco 49ers (2-2) – 4:05 p.m. ET
Green Bay Packers (2-2) @ Los Angeles Rams (1-3) – 4:25 p.m. ET
New York Giants (1-3) @ Seattle Seahawks (3-1) – 4:25 p.m. ET
Dallas Cowboys (2-2) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) – 8:20 p.m. ET
