Welcome to Monday Morning JB! NFL columnist Jarrett Bell has covered the league for decades. Here are the moments, players and results that caught his eye in Week 5.
ATLANTA – Early last week, as anticipation built toward Caleb Williams making his return from the right hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month, the Chicago Bears
star quarterback popped into Ben Johnson’s office and expressed a purpose.Missing the first three starts of his NFL career left Williams a bit antsy.
So, he told his coach, “Man, I want to push this thing and see where we’re at.”
Turns out, Williams is exactly where he needs to be. He started out on fire against the Falcons, completing his first 12 passes to set the tone for a 31-23 victory. And it flowed all day
as Williams completed a career-high 83.3% of his passes (30 for 36) for 305 yards.
The hamstring checked out, going full-speed again, and Williams demonstrated his signature knack for extending plays by finishing the opening drive with a 14-yard TD strike to tight end Colston Loveland while rolling out of the pocket.
Yet for as much as Williams, 24, wanted to confirm his physical healing, it was mental, too. The three-game layoff was the longest of his career.
“He just said to the team, when he got the game ball, how the last few weeks were hard for him because he didn’t know,” Johnson said. “He had never been in that position before.”
And now Williams can chalk up another learning experience.
“Being able to sit back and recover, recover, recover,” he said, repeating for emphasis – or maybe to note the tedious process of rehab. “It was just me having a consistent, positive mindset through the weeks. With myself, about myself, fighting to get back, and when I get back to just show who I am.”
Of his meeting with Johnson, he said, “I walked in his office, dapped him up and said let’s get this thing going this weekend.”
On the Fox broadcast, Tom Brady said it was the best performance of Williams’ career. Told of Brady’s remarks, Williams mentioned missing on a couple of potential big plays and that he was eager to break down the videotape. That, too, seemed like a mental check.
“When you win, it covers up things,” he said. “When you lose, it shows everything. We’ll go back, we’ll be truth-tellers about ourselves and look in the mirror and figure out what we need to fix.”
Still, Williams was pleased that he kept his composure, given that he was “super juiced-up” for his first game back. As the game progressed, complete with a few hits, sacks and escapes, he settled.
And judging by his description of the TD bullet to Loveland, it was apparent that he accomplished the mission he expressed to his coach.
“That first one, first game back, first touchdown, it’s awesome,” he said. “Just let it rip, let the emotions rip and celebrate with the guys.”
Which sounds like quite the mental marker to go with his physical comeback.
Other impressions from Week 6 in the NFL:
What I learned
The clock is poised to strike zero for Jameis Winston as the Giants fill-in quarterback. Coach John Harbaugh benching Winston during the loss to New Orleans in favor of recently acquired J.J. McCarthy is one thing. Harbaugh saying afterward that he couldn’t answer whether McCarthy – who led a 17-point rally in the fourth quarter – earned the opportunity to start might have been the damning clue.
Winston threw for three TDs without an interception in the previous two games for New York, but his two turnovers against the Saints opened the door for McCarthy.
With as much praise as Harbaugh had showered on Winston since he stepped in for an injured Jaxson Dart, maybe it’s an overreaction to think the switch to McCarthy is imminent.
But maybe not. Regardless, the first-place Giants (3-2-1) are in the QB Controversy Zone.
Did you notice?
- Patrick Mahomes posted the 100th victory of his career in his 131st game, which matches Tom Brady for fastest QBs to 100 W’s. In burning the Chargers, Mahomes killed them by targeting crossing routes. According to NextGen Stats, he completed 8 of 9 passes to crossing routes for 149 yards, most of any thrower this season.
- Alaric Jackson’s one-game suspension (for his postgame punch of Bradley Chubb last Monday night) hurt the Rams during their upset loss to the Cardinals. His replacement at left tackle, David Quessenberry, gave up two pressures and a sack when matched against Josh Sweat.
- A week after his overtime fumble cost the Giants the chance to attempt game-winning field goal at Washington, running back Cam Skattebo played just six snaps and had zero carries in the loss to the Saints. Punished.
- A.J. Brown was rusty in his return after missing four games while nursing a high ankle sprain. The Patriots receiver was targeted 10 times against the Jets and managed just three catches for 27 yards – and dropped several passes.
Two-minute drill
- There’s a reason C.J. Gardner-Johnson is with his seventh team in eight NFL seasons. And it was evident during the game at Las Vegas when the Bills safety was ejected for spitting at opponents. He’s so talented. Has a knack for big plays. Yet the track record suggests he’s also a hothead who lacks composure. That makes it difficult for teams to trust him. For a Buffalo defense that needs to tighten up after allowing at least 30 points in four victories this season, counting on CJGJ to not lose his cool in say, a playoff game with a Super Bowl berth in the mix, is risky business.
- Deshaun Watson produced his fourth game-winning drive this season, which ties for the NFL high and has fueled the Browns (4-2) to first place in the AFC North at the latest point in season since 2014. The latest result, though, is also notable because it was the second time in the post-John Harbaugh era that the Ravens have lost after blowing a double-digit lead.
- Which 2-4 team is in worse shape? The Rams or the Eagles? I’ll vote for Philly. While the Rams burned themselves again with self-inflicted gaffes while losing two games in six days by a combined total of five points, the Eagles have lost four consecutive games for the first time under Nick Sirianni. And you’d have to go back to 1999 (Andy Reid’s first year as coach) to find a Philadelphia offense that produced fewer yards over a four-game stretch than the 874 yards the current unit has managed during the losing streak.
- This is not the same Daniel Jones we saw before he blew out his Achilles last season. The Colts quarterback, sacked six times during the loss to the Titans, completed a season-low 52.4% of his passes and posted a mediocre 60.5 passer rating. Remember in 2025, Jones posted a career-high 100.2 passer mark with a 19-8 TD-to-INT ratio in 13 games.
- As the Chargers (0-6) head to a bye week having lost as many games as they did all of last year, the ice is getting thinner beneath first-year offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, with L.A. coach Jim Harbaugh acknowledging that everything will be under review. If McDaniel is dumped, Adam Gase is positioned as a potential replacement from within. Weird but true: The last time the Chargers started 0-6, in 2000, the quarterback was a fellow named…Jim Harbaugh.
- That former quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, in his role as Thursday Night Football analyst on Amazon, questioned Bo Nix’s heart after the Broncos squeaked by Seattle in overtime crossed the line. I’m wondering whether Nix has gained full confidence in the right ankle for which he underwent two surgeries to repair during the offseason, but there’s no sugar-coating the results. Against Seattle, Nix had the first game of his career without a downfield completion (10+ air yards). And he won for the 18th time with a sub-90 passer rating – most in the NFL since 2024, seven more than the next-most. Yeah, winning is the bottom line and Nix matches Watson with the four game-winning drives this season. But the Broncos are playing with fire.
- Travis Hunter, who became the first NFL player to post a receiving touchdown and an interception in the same game since Brian Dawkins in 2002 (Dawkins? He went 57 yards on a pass from a Brian Mitchell pass off a fake punt), has a thing for London. Hunter has scored two NFL TDs in London games…and zero NFL TDs on U.S. soil.
- The Dallas Cowboys are 0-3 in primetime games this season and 1-7-1 in such matchups since the start of the 2025 campaign. For what it’s worth, Dallas is scheduled for three more primetime games this season, including its next game on Monday night, Oct. 26, at Philadelphia.
Stat’s the fact
Arizona is 2-0 this season at SoFi Stadium (and 0-4 everywhere else), which means Big Red has won more games in L.A. than the Rams and Chargers combined (1-5).
Studs of the Week
- Kenneth Walker III. Him again. The Chiefs’ MVP candidate had 128 yards and two TDs on 19 carries against the Chargers – and forced seven missed tackles. He leads the NFL with 52 missed tackles forced (per NGS) and joins Calvin “Megatron” Johnson (2011) as the only players since the 1970 merger with multiple TDs in four of the first five games of a season.
- Josh Allen. Six days after burning the Rams for 121 yards on 10 carries, the Raiders limited the multi-dimensional Bills quarterback to 1 yard on five rushing attempts. And they still couldn’t contain him. Allen was deadly when extending plays to throw, completing 3-of-5 passes for 63 yards. And his improvised, 12-yard TD pass to Keon Coleman – the third straight game Coleman notched a TD catch – was a thing of beauty on third down that may be best described as a shovel pass/shot put heave.
- Kyler Gordon. In his first game of the season after rehabbing a calf injury, the Bears nickelback was the best pass-rusher on the turf in Atlanta. Gordon rushed on blitzes eight times and generated three sacks and five pressures, with two forced fumbles.
- Jeffrey Simmons. It’s no surprise that the oft-overlooked all-pro defensive tackle had a huge role in the Titans’ first win of the season. Simmons had two sacks and seven pressures – tied for the most of any D-tackle this season – despite being double-teamed on 24 pressures. He also forced a fumble to start the second half.
- C.J. Stroud. The Texans quarterback passed for 312 yards and three TDs in the victory against the Jaguars. Stroud threw a pick, too, which is notable in that it was his first interception of the season. After his four-interception disaster in the AFC divisional playoff loss in January, Stroud has rebounded so well. He’s tracking for career-highs in passer rating (100.9) and completion rate (65.3%), while tossing nine TD passes.
- Jalen Ramsey. Pittsburgh’s versatile DB had 10 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks during the comeback job at Jacksonville. And in dumping Jalon Daniels on fourth-and-8, Ramsey became just the third player since 2000 to post a game-ending sack in OT.
What intrigues me about Monday Night Football
Mike Evans. The wily veteran receiver is officially listed as questionable for the matchup against the Commanders as he nurses an Achilles heel injury to go with the fractured ribs he played with while producing seven catches for 113 yards and a TD in the win last week at Seattle. It would be something of a stunner if Evans doesn't suit up. In any event, the 33-year-old has been a major fit – and hit – in Kyle Shanahan’s offense since coming over as an offseason free agent after 12 seasons in Tampa Bay. He said he wanted a chance to win another Super Bowl ring. Well, as it stands now, Evans is a big reason why the 49ers – with the rash of wide receiver injuries that now includes the hamstring setback that forces Deebo Samuel to miss the MNF showcase – are positioning themselves to have a legitimate chance to reach that goal.
What I’m looking forward to in Week 7
Chiefs at Seahawks. On the other hand, the defending Super Bowl champs may not be looking forward to Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III’s return to the Pacific Northwest on Sunday night. It’s a reminder of how essential the running back was to the championship journey last season – and rather painful when considering how Seattle’s offense has stumbled without Walker. The Seahawks (3-3) have committed 12 turnovers in six games, while Sam Darnold is tied for the NFL high with seven interceptions despite missing time due to injury. Walker, meanwhile, has transformed KC’s offense with his 760 yards from scrimmage and eight TDs. And the Chiefs (6-0) are undefeated. There’s a hot storyline waiting to happen.
Follow Bell on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: From Giants' QB controversy to spitting on opponents, what stood out in NFL Week 6 | Monday Morning JB
