By admin 
The leaves are falling. The chill is in the air. Football is turning the corner and going from early-season intrigue to serious business.
Read more ESPN Will Officially Have 3 Different Alt-Casts For Super Bowl 61
Entering Sunday, there are only three unbeaten teams left: 49ers, Vikings and Chiefs. While Kansas City has the week off, San Francisco will take on Seattle at Lumen Field in the week’s marquee matchup, while Minnesota tries to give New Orleans its third defeat in three weeks at the Caesars Superdome. The last time that happened? 2014.
Meanwhile, a quartet of winless teams will try to get into the win column, with one virtually guaranteed, with the Texans and Titans squaring off. The Chargers and Dolphins are both home dogs, facing the Broncos and Bengals, respectively.
Elsewhere, the Bills and Rams play in Englewood on Monday night while the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens will take on the resurgent Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday night.
GOOD: Jaguars win despite all the mistakes to leave Philly in the game
It’s not about style points in the NFL. It’s about winning. No AFC team has had a better point differential through four weeks. But in London, everything went wrong for Liam Coen’s group.
On Sunday, the Jaguars took 13 penalties for 100 yards. They turned the ball over on downs twice inside Philadelphia’s 10-yard line. Without its usual long snapper, Jacksonville saw a bad snap mess up the timing of an extra point, sending Cam Little’s attempt wide left. Trevor Lawrence also threw an interception in plus territory.
Somehow, none of it mattered. The Eagles were outgained 408–232 and converted just 6-of-15 third downs, but took the lead with eight seconds left after the Jaguars went three-and-out while trying to salt the game away. After Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott hit a 48-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 17–16 advantage, coach Nick Sirianni decided to kick deep despite Jacksonville having no timeouts.
Jacksonville returner Ameer Abdullah grabbed the ball and raced 53 yards, setting up Little for a game-winning 57-yard field goal.
At 4–1, the Jaguars lead the AFC South and only trail the idle Chiefs by a half-game for the conference’s top spot. With one more game in London (against the Texans), Jacksonville went from suffering an ugly loss to showing its mettle, finding a way to win despite a poor showing.
Read more ‘Delete This’ – Adam Schefter Shamed For His Pregame Report On Jayden Daniels
Winning despite a bad performance isn’t an indictment; it’s an indication.
BAD: Cowboys every time there’s a whiff of expectation
After hanging 34 points on a Texans defense bursting with talent, the Cowboys were expected to roll the reeling Buccaneers on a short week with a backup quarterback at 0–4.
Instead, the Cowboys looked like a team that didn’t know it had to play until 20 minutes before gametime. Dallas committed three turnovers and still lost to Tampa Bay despite it taking 14 penalties.
The failure falls on both sides of the ball. Dak Prescott threw two interceptions inside the Buccaneers’ 30-yard line, one his fault and the other through the hands of tight end Jake Ferguson. The defense allowed 419 yards while undrafted rookie free agent quarterback Jalon Daniels went 19-of-25 for 189 yards and a touchdown in his first NFL win. Additionally, Tampa Bay rushed for 241 yards on 6.2 yards per carry.
At 2–3 but in the weak NFC East, the Cowboys are in a reasonable position to win the division and host a playoff game. The season remains an open question. But Dallas has long been a trendy pick and a marquee team, only to fail time and again. The Cowboys haven’t been to an NFC championship game or won consecutive NFC East titles since 1996. They haven’t been a top seed since 2007. The Cowboys have been underwhelming for decades.
Over the next two weeks, Dallas visits the Packers and Eagles in prime time. After those spotlight games, we might know more about where the Cowboys are, or aren’t.
MORE NFL FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
- The Evidence Of Mike Ditka’s NFL Legacy: ’85 Bears Reflect on Legendary Coach
- The Eagles Have a New Offense, But Their Issues Look All Too Familiar
- Patriots Will Celebrate How Their Franchise Became the Gold Standard in 2001
- 2027 NFL Draft: USC Quarterback Jayden Maiava Reveals the Secret to His Accuracy
- Home Loss to Winless Bucs Dampens Cowboys’ Hopes That This Year Would be Different
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 5 Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Jaguars Escape After Dramatic Ending.
Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 10:31 AM.