Week 5 left the NFC East in a strange place: nobody got the result they wanted, and every head coach walked away with some level of headache. The Cowboys stumbled on Thursday night, the Eagles crumbled in London, and the Giants and Commanders played a tie that felt like a missed opportunity from Washington’s side and a rescue job from New York’s.
For Dan Quinn, the damage came without an actual loss on the schedule. Washington had control of the game for most of the afternoon, building a 14-point lead before the Giants stormed back to force overtime. Then the Commanders had the game in front of them again in the extra period, only to botch the final play and let the clock run out before they could even try for the winning field goal.
“Leaving tonight with a tie feels like a loss,” Quinn said after the game. “The right call is to clock it early and don't put ourselves in that spot, and that's my responsibility and nobody else's,”
That outcome only adds to the pressure around Quinn. Washington is now 1-3-1 in the division and sitting in last place, so letting that one slip away makes the result sting even more. A win over New York would have mattered a lot in that race, and instead the Commanders are left sorting through a tie that landed like a defeat.
Nick Sirianni’s Sunday was uglier. In London, the Eagles took a one-point lead with eight seconds left, then watched the Jaguars rip off a kickoff return that set up the winning Jacksonville field goal. It was the kind of ending that can turn a routine postgame into a full-blown reckoning.
“One of the craziest endings of the year. https://t.co/Wm9hwOjk1U”
Sirianni put the blame on himself and said the kicking team should have sent the ball out of the endzone.
"I didn't make the right decision, and I lost us that game. And that's what I said to our guys," he said.
"I [didn't] make the decision that I should make at the end of that game, and I cost us that one. And I put that fully on me."
The late-game collapse was the loudest part of the story, but it wasn’t the only issue hanging over Philadelphia. The offense still didn’t do enough, and that has already been a source of frustration. Sirianni probably isn’t headed for a midseason firing, but he does need a turnaround to quiet the noise that keeps building around the Eagles.
Dallas at least got to watch the rest of the division make a mess of Sunday and take some of the attention off its own Thursday-night loss. Brian Schottenheimer’s team fell at home on a short week to the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers and undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, dropping to 2-3.
Schottenheimer entered the year hoping Christian Parker would help repair a defense that was broken in 2025, but the unit still hasn’t looked much better. That has left Dallas in the familiar position of asking its offense to cover for the defense’s mistakes.
Even so, Schottenheimer’s job security doesn’t appear to be in the same danger as some of his division peers. Jerry Jones last fired a head coach midseason in 2010, and every Cowboys head coach since 2000 has lasted at least three seasons.
That doesn’t mean everything is comfortable in Dallas. Schottenheimer still needs to make the playoffs to ease any concerns, but compared with the heat surrounding Quinn and Sirianni, his seat is not as hot. And with nobody in the division winning on Sunday, the Cowboys probably took the best emotional break of the bunch.
John Harbaugh’s situation is the calmest of all four. The Giants are in first place in his first season, and their fan base has plenty to feel good about simply because the team is competing at a high level.
The tie with Washington fit that broader picture. New York rallied from two touchdowns down to get to overtime, then leaned on its defense late to stay alive. The Giants left some points on the field in the extra period, but they still dug out a result on the road against a division rival.
Harbaugh has had a few decisions in these first weeks that he probably wants back, but Sunday still ended in a way that left Giants fans relieved more than disappointed. They didn’t win, but they also didn’t lose, and in this kind of week, that counted for something.
In Other News...
Cowboys Fans Already Have A Week 5 Scoreboard To Sweat
At 2-3, the Cowboys are already in the familiar spot of watching the rest of the conference as closely as they watch their own sideline. Week 5 brings the kind of scoreboard math Dallas cant ignore, especially with NFC East results carrying extra weight so early in the season and a handful of other matchups around the league shaping the playoff picture if the Cowboys keep drifting around .500.
The most immediate attention is on the division games that can either help Dallas close ground or make the climb steeper, with Washington set to have a significant piece back in the mix. There is also a deeper layer for Cowboys fans to keep in mind beyond the present standings, since a couple of other games this week have ripple effects tied to future draft capital from past trades, which gives the rooting guide a little more range than your usual early-October scoreboard watch. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Have A Jake Ferguson Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Jake Fergusons rough afternoon fit neatly into a bigger Cowboys problem, because the offense could not afford wasted chances in a game where the defense was already getting pushed around. Ferguson has been a key part of Dallas passing game, but the tight ends recent decline has become hard to ignore since the ACL sprain, and the ball-security issues that have followed him since last season only add to the concern.
The timing makes it sting even more for Dallas, which committed to Ferguson long term after moving Micah Parsons. With guaranteed money now tied up in a player expected to be a stable piece of the offense, the Cowboys need far more than occasional flashes from a position that is supposed to help steady Dak Prescott. Instead, the discussion around Ferguson keeps circling back to the same uncomfortable question the team can no longer dodge. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Fans Have An Uncomfortable Week 5 Reality To Root For
The Cowboys head into the week at 2-3 after the loss to Tampa Bay, and for all the frustration around that start, the bigger picture may now be just as important as the next snap. With NFC East and NFC North results carrying extra weight, Dallas fans have reason to keep one eye on the standings and another on the draft board, because this season is already shaping up to affect more than just the playoff chase.
Philadelphias roster keeps shifting, and Washington could be getting Jayden Daniels back, which adds another layer to a division race that already feels volatile. For Dallas, the uncomfortable part is that these outcomes now matter in more than one direction, with the teams own future assets also hanging in the balance as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]