NFL: Teams In Panic Mode After Week 5 (2021)
Now that we’re past the 1st quarter of the NFL season, it’s not just mild panic. Teams and their fans should be genuinely concerned about their team’s performance. Looking back at Week 5, here are the top panic contenders:
Kansas City Chiefs – (2-3)
The past few weeks you could link to a slow start. Five weeks in and getting blown out by the Buffalo Bills isn’t so forgiving. The Super Bowl hangover isn’t going away even after they rebuilt the line to protect Mahomes. Now the injuries are adding insult to injury. It’s time to dig deep if they want to turn this NFL season around.
Arizona Cardinals (5-0)
It’s hard to even look in the direction of a panic button when your team is 5-0 and well ahead of the rest of the division. However, Arizona being +62 points for vs points against, barely sneaking out a win at 17 points is concerning. Not only is it a divisional game, but it was also at home, and against a team with an identity crisis. San Francisco is a good team that is underperforming, but until you’re deep enough in the season you can almost guarantee clinching a playoff spot there’s no time to take your foot off the gas.
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Carolina Panthers (3-2)
That’s two in a row for the Panthers now. What was a hot start, is showing real signs of cooling off. We knew Sam Darnold wasn’t going to make it out of the season being the rushing touchdown leader, but it seems teams have started to limit him back to his days as a Jet. Teams are going to dare Darnold to beat them through the air and as it stands, he can’t. It might be too much to ask them to overcome the Bucs for the division, but no one is running away with the wildcard right now and the Panthers are in the mix. They need to figure it out before midseason injuries inevitably start to happen.
New England Patriots (2-3)
With just one win in the division, the Pats needed to face a struggling Houston team. What they didn’t need was a narrow victory. While it’s true in today’s NFL anyone can win any given Sunday, New England needed to make a statement after a missed FG almost beat the Super Bowl champs. Edging out a win versus a 1-win team doesn’t quite light a fire the way dominating would. A win is a win, but it’ll be an uphill battle in the strong AFC.
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Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)
Haven’t the Raiders and their fans been through enough? Multiple moves, doom-and-gloom seasons, and now the Gruden controversy. While Gruden has resigned, this team is and should be in the playoff hunt this year. Yes, there’s too much football left to be talking about playoffs but Las Vegas has been competitive this year. With the Chiefs struggling the way that they are the road got a little easier. There’s nothing saying this team will fall apart without Gruden, but starting midseason with new ideas and philosophies will be a challenge.
We’ll be back for Week 6 of NFL Panic Mode next week!
Rick ODonnell aka Caveman Rick has many years covering the Miami Dolphins, Sports, and all sorts of movies and television.
