Hello and good afternoon, everyone! Can you believe we’re already onto Week 5? Things move quickly in the NFL. Anyway, since we’re not sure whether Andy Dalton will be back under center this weekend, John Breech has taken the day off to call up Matt Nagy and make his case. That’s why I, Cody Benjamin, am here to guide you through the latest from around the league.
This is the Pick Six Newsletter. Now let’s get to it. (And please, do yourself a favor and make sure you’re signed up to receive this newsletter every day! You don’t want to miss our daily offerings of everything you need to know around the NFL.)
We’ve got Urban Meyer fallout, Week 5 predictions, QB power rankings and much more:
- Today’s show: Assessing the fallout from the Urban Meyer drama
The Jaguars coach addressed his entire team Wednesday, apologizing for his recent actions seen in viral videos, which showed Meyer, who is married, touching a dancing young woman at a Columbus-area bar after Jacksonville’s Week 4 loss. Brady Quinn joined Will Brinson on the “Pick Six NFL Podcast” to assess the fallout from the situation.
“I’ve said this and I’ll stand by this: The media doesn’t like Urban Meyer,” Quinn said. “They are gonna look at any little thing to pick at and make a big deal about.” Quinn continued by saying he spoke with a front-office executive who thinks Meyer is “gonna be OK” and that Jaguars players “understood.” Still, like Brinson, he believes the drama “makes the 0-4 record look worse” and brings into question Meyer’s standing as an accountable leader in the locker room. In the end, Quinn doesn’t foresee a big change happening.
“I think if things got bad, I think Coach Meyer would step down before he would have Shad Khan fire him.”
Catch the entire discussion (and subscribe for all kinds of daily NFL talk) right here.
2. Prisco’s Picks: Rams roll past Seattle, Bills upset Chiefs
Pete Prisco swears he gets hot picking NFL games in October, his birthday month. If you believe him, you’ll wanna check out his predictions for every Week 5 game. Here are some of his most notable forecasts:
- Rams 30, Seahawks 19: The Rams have traditionally played well against Seattle, even in Seattle, which is why I think they will bounce back. The Seattle pass defense has too many busts that will show up here for Matt Stafford.
- Bills 30, Chiefs 28: The Bills lost to the Chiefs twice last season, but have addressed their biggest issue in those losses, which is the pass rush. I think they’ve done enough there to slow Patrick Mahomes some.
- Cowboys 28, Giants 26: The Cowboys have won three straight and are much improved on defense. The Giants, though, will hang around in this game because of Daniel Jones.
3. Patriots trade All-Pro CB Stephon Gilmore to Panthers
Gilmore was long a subject of trade rumors before landing on the Physically Unable to Perform list while recovering from quad surgery. But now he won’t be returning to the Patriots at all, with New England trading the former Pro Bowler on Wednesday to the Carolina Panthers for a sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Gilmore had reportedly been seeking a raise in the final year of a five-year deal with the Pats, but now he’ll join a Carolina defense that just last week acquired former first-round cornerback C.J. Henderson from the Jaguars.
For more information about the trade, be sure to click here.
4. Insider notes: Ravens quietly evolving to pass-first approach
Jason La Canfora thinks there’s something unique about Baltimore’s offensive prowess this year: while the run game is still an obvious priority for Lamar Jackson and Co., the Ravens are really shining through the air.
What if I told you that through the first month of the NFL season, no team is chucking the ball around like the Ravens. No unit is attacking defenses with more air yards than Baltimore. No quarterback is averaging more yards per completion than Jackson, Hollywood Brown is in the top seven in the NFL in yards per catch, and Mark Andrews is second among all tight ends in air yards per target. … First down is becoming a passing down for the Ravens, as crazy as that sounds. And as long as teams defend them as the Broncos and Lions did, or close to it, that will be the case.
5. QB Power Rankings: Kyler Murray approaches top five
Every week throughout the season, we rank all the starting QBs from 1-32. This week saw big jumps for Joe Burrow, Taylor Heinicke and Daniel Jones, among others, but no signal-caller deserves more praise than Murray, who might be the MVP front-runner after leading Arizona to its fourth straight win. Here, in our latest top 10, he’s approaching the top five:
- Patrick Mahomes (+1)
- Aaron Rodgers (-1)
- Russell Wilson
- Tom Brady
- Dak Prescott
- Justin Herbert (+2)
- Kyler Murray (+2)
- Josh Allen (+1)
- Matthew Stafford (-3)
- Lamar Jackson
6. Rapid-fire roundup: Gronk update, Steelers‘ murky future
Want more NFL content? Good, because we’ve got some other tidbits right here:
- Gronk says he’s “week-to-week” in rehab: The Buccaneers tight end has several injuries
- Cowboys cut Jaylon Smith: How much juice does the former Pro Bowler have left?
- Chiefs activate Josh Gordon: The wideout is set to make his K.C. debut against the Bills
- What’s next for the Steelers?: Bryan DeArdo revisits other times Pittsburgh has started 1-3
- Matt Ryan “all in” on Falcons: The QB still believes Atlanta can compete in 2021
- Patriots bringing back Jamie Collins: Out goes Gilmore, in comes one of his ex-teammates
