Week 5 of the 2022 NFL season kicked off Thursday night with an Indianapolis Colts victory at the Denver Broncos that went into overtime. Usually extra action means lots of big offensive plays, but somehow neither team managed to score a touchdown in the 12-9 affair.
For the second week in a row, we got some Sunday morning action, as the New York Giants faced the Green Bay Packers in London, England. This game came right down to the wire, as the Giants held off the Packers for a 27-22 victory.
Our NFL Nation reporters react with the biggest takeaways and lingering questions coming out of this week’s matchups and look ahead to what’s next. Let’s get to it.
Jump to a matchup:
Giants
What to know: Daniel Jones and the Giants really showed something. They rallied from down 14 in the first half against the Packers to post a huge upset victory, perhaps their best win since beating the Cowboys late in 2016. Jones did it while clearly not 100 percent (ankle) and despite a questionable supporting cast. If anything, it put his toughness on full display. Jones went 13-of-14 passing for 136 yards in the second half. He also rushed seven times for 37 yards, before kneeling with the ball late. Jones carried a Giants offense that had Marcus Johnson, Richie James, David Sills V and Darius Slayton at wide receiver. A monster effort.
How did star RB Saquon Barkley come out of the game? The Giants’ offense revolves around Barkley. He accounted for 43% of their total offense coming into the game and said this week he’s “good with whatever [workload] they throw at me.” But after New York went to Barkley early and often, he left Sunday’s contest in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. He went to the locker room before returning to score the game-winning TD out of the Wildcat midway through the fourth. Everyone will be watching how Barkley feels this week given his importance to this offense. — Jordan Raanan
Next game: vs. Ravens (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)
Packers
What to know: At some point, the Packers are going to have to find a deep threat — whether he’s on their team right now or not. Either that or they should forget about trying and just run the ball more, because Aaron Rodgers was just chucking and hoping on Sunday. He tried to go deep to Allen Lazard several times and couldn’t connect. He tried Romeo Doubs and missed him. He tried Randall Cobb, who had a nice game (seven catches for 99 yards), but Cobb has never been a consistent deep threat. Rodgers was 0-of-5 on attempts of 20 or more yards in the air, including 0-of-4 in the second half, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
What’s happened to the Packers’ defense? Green Bay almost lost to Bailey Zappe last week. Daniel Jones got the Packers this week. The Giants played without their top-three receivers, and it didn’t matter. All the talk in the offseason was how the Packers have one of their best defenses in recent years. Yet they still managed to leave players open, miss tackles and commit costly penalties. It started in Week 1 when they let Justin Jefferson destroy that, and it hasn’t gotten much better — if at all. The Giants scored on five straight drives after opening the game with consecutive three-and-outs. — Rob Demovsky
Next game: vs. Jets (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)
Thursday
Colts
What to know: The Colts’ defense is legit. Russell Wilson and the Broncos’ offense have some deep issues, no doubt. And Denver’s failures certainly contributed to the success of the Indianapolis defense. But the Colts dominated the line of scrimmage, and that is an area where having an advantage can go a long way. Indianapolis has not allowed any points in the fourth quarter or overtime in its five games.
Can the Colts stabilize their offensive line even a little? They’re desperately trying. The Colts reconfigured their lineup for Thursday night’s matchup, making moves at three of the five positions. It didn’t work, though, so they might not be done tinkering. During their 10-day layoff before Week 6, they will continue examining their options. But nothing matters unless highly paid linemen such as Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly and Braden Smith play, at minimum, at a respectable level. That might be enough to allow embattled quarterback Matt Ryan and an emerging group of pass-catchers to keep the Colts in games. Maybe. — Stephen Holder
Next game: vs. Jaguars (Sunday, Oct. 16, 1 p.m. ET)
Broncos
What to know: All those good intentions from the offseason simply don’t matter now, as the Broncos’ offense has the look of a group that overreaches when it doesn’t have to and overthinks when it shouldn’t. The result is the Broncos simply don’t score touchdowns at a rate that’s anywhere close to a playoff hopeful. Thursday night, they handed the Colts an ugly overtime win with two Wilson interceptions in the fourth quarter — both in Colts territory. And on the game’s last play, when a conversion of a fourth-and-inches would have given them four chances at a game-winning touchdown, they elected to put Wilson in the shotgun, and he threw an incompletion to end the game.
Is Russell Wilson pressing? Not all the time, but there are moments, especially when Wilson is trying to push the ball downfield when he doesn’t have to, when it looks like he is trying to live up to the trade and his contract on every play. He played his most composed, most efficient game in the season opener — the loss in Seattle — and it also happens to be his only 300-yard passing game of the young season. Look, the Broncos haven’t protected him well enough, and running back Javonte Williams‘ season-ending knee injury will take some adjustment, but things aren’t going to improve until Wilson — and coach Nathaniel Hackett — settle down a little. Dial up the big-play options after some groundwork has been done. — Jeff Legwold
Next game: at Chargers (Monday, Oct. 17, 8:15 p.m. ET)
Source : ESPN
