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The Falcons remain on top with a now 5-0 record, Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning wasn't close and Eric Winston goes on a rant for the ages. Oh, and RGIII was hurt.
Another day in the NFL.
Here are the top stories from Week 5 in our NFL Debrief:
More: NFL scores for Week 5 | Highlights | Injury report
Brady makes it 9-4 against Manning
We start with the game of the millenium of the week. You've all heard the stats: Sunday's game was only the second time in NFL history two quarterbacks with at least 125 wins met in a regular season game. The other was John Elway vs. Dan Marino in 1998.
Tom Brady's Patriots bested Peyton Manning's Broncos, 31-21, and proved they were the better team from top to bottom.The storyline in this game -- the actual game, not the quarterback stuff -- was more about the Patriots' ability to rush the ball -- 150-plus yards from Stevan Ridley and 251 yards in all.
Manning's big mistake came in the third quarter when the Patriots were able to turn a Manning fumble into a touchdown. The game was basically decided at that point with the Patriots nursing a 31-7 lead after that score.
Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE
Eric Winston goes on a rant
I saw this one up close and personal. I covered the Ravens-Chiefs game for SB Nation's Chiefs site, Arrowhead Pride, so I was in the locker room when this went down.
Reporters were talking to various players and I was standing next to Brady Quinn, listening to him talk about coming in for Matt Cassel. ("Matt's our starter" by the way, Chiefs fans.) I saw some reporters start to gather around Winston, who has become a bit of a media favorite in Kansas City, and he asked if the two local radio stations were there, and if the Kansas City Star was there. I knew something was up when I heard that because that was unusual.
The media folks gathered around and he went off on the fans who were cheering after Cassel was hurt. Read the whole statement here.
Were there deafening cheers? No.
But it was obvious that some fans were cheering that Cassel was hurt. From my seat in the press box, I could see more than a few fans standing up and cheering in the stands below me as it happened. Where it gets confusing is that some people are now claiming that they were cheering for Brady Quinn entering the game -- there were "Brady" chants earlier in the game.
I'm sure some fans were legitimately cheering Quinn coming in, as sure as I am that some fans were cheering that Cassel was hurt.
Cassel, by the way, has a concussion.
John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE
RGIII gets his first NFL concussion
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was blown up in Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons, a hit that caused him to leave the game. He was eventually diagnosed with a concussion, but Redskins fans felt better when he tweeted later on Sunday:
Thank you for all the prayers & supportI'm ok and I think after all the testing I will play next week.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) October 7, 2012
I like the optimism but his words mean very little. Doctors will determine when he returns from the concussion. RGIII will have very little to do with that decision. Concussions are as concerning to teams, players and fans now as ever, and doctors will not hesitate to rule a player out if they're unsure of anything regarding a player's return from a concussion.
All you need to know about RGIII's concussion
It's also concerning that we are barely a month into the season and already RGIII has a concussion. He is a mobile quarterback, which means this is probably not the last time he'll get hit and unfortunately probably not his last concussion. Players have been ruled out for the season these days because of multiple concussions. This will not be taken lightly.
Also noteworthy: The Redskins are in some hot water with the league because they never updated RGIII's status despite it seemingly being obvious that he suffered a concussion. This shouldn't surprise you because every team will take whatever advantage they think they can get away with. The Redskins aren't unique in that regard.
Brad Mills-US PRESSWIRE
49ers have won the last two weeks, 79-3
34-0 over the Jets last week and 45-3 over the Bills this week.
Now that's domination.
The 49ers are validating what many people before the season thought -- they're legit Super Bowl contenders. And it's not all about the defense, although three points in two games is impressive.
You know you're in bizarro world when Alex Smith is throwing for over 300 yards, the 49ers are racking up 600-plus yards on offense, and the quarterback is not named Steve Young or Joe Montana (yes, I'm like the millionth person to make that reference).
Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE
Perfect teams remaining: 2
The Falcons beat the Redskins on Sunday moving to 5-0, but they do not look like a team that will go 16-0 this season. I'm not saying they're a bad team -- not at all. They're one of the top five teams in football and they've proven it. But they're not one of the great teams -- yet. For two straight weeks, they looked like a team that could have if not should have lost.
Matt Ryan, on the other hand, is playing like an MVP candidate. He's averaging over 300 yards passing per game, is completing over 68 percent of his passes and has thrown 13 touchdowns to two interceptions. Ryan looks like the quarterback the Falcons thought he would be when they selected him third overall four and a half years ago.
The other perfect team, the Texans, play the Jets on Monday Night Football. If the oddsmakers are right, we will still have two unbeaten teams next week.
