Week 5 Recap and Can the Broncos Go 16 - 0?

Are you getting a sense that the Haves are starting to separate themselves from the Have Nots?  Other than in the accursed NFC East of course where even the 0 - 5 Giants are still somehow only two games back.  Elsewhere though, the Broncos, Chiefs and Saints all had big road games to remain undefeated while the Jaguars continue to make everyone else look good.  With a litany of notable performances and league happenings to sort through, here's your Lady Blitz Week 5 Recap and my assessment of whether the Broncos can go 16 - 0.

Week 5: The Good Stuff

A Shootout in Big D - Sweet Kanye does Romo know how to ruin a game better than anyone else.  But for the other 58 minutes of the Cowboys-Broncos game, you couldn't have asked for a more exciting offensive duel between Peyton Manning and Tony Romo.  The pair combined for a staggering 920 passing yards and 9 TDs on the day, 10 if you count Manning's sneaky rushing TD.  It wasn't the prettiest performance for either team's defense, but this game will certainly be one of the most memorable of the season and perhaps the Broncos' biggest hurdle to 16 - 0. And though the hits are coming in the Bad Stuff section, credit Tony Romo for playing the game of his life and giving Dallas a wildly unexpected chance to win against one of the best teams we've ever seen.

Cincinnati's Shut Down Defense - The fanfare for next week's Saints-Patriots game got just a little less interesting thanks to the Bengals' stingy defensive performance on Sunday that held Tom Brady to 0 TDs for the first time in 53 weeks and less than 200 passing yards.  Brady was just two games shy of tying Drew Brees' record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass but was sacked four times in Cincinnati and intercepted inside the 5-yardline with seconds to go in the fourth quarter.  You could blame the torrential rain or the scab-quality receiving corps Brady has had to work with this season, but there's no getting around how scary the Bengals' defense has become.  They've already made mincemeat of three Super Bowl winning QBs this season (Brady, Rodgers, Roethlisberger).

Rex and Rob on the Road - How about those Ryan brothers rising from the ashes this season?  Rob is fitting in nicely in New Orleans judging by the size of his beignet-filled gut.  His Saints defense continues to put pressure on the quarterback week after week and hasn't allowed a single opponent to break 20 points this year.  What?!  Then there's Rex's Jets who held the Falcons to just 64 yards on the ground last night and made a stunning goal-line stand to end the half and ultimately preserve the win at the Georgia Dome.  Both of these guys have been humbled in recent years, so all the swagger feels a little more grounded and a lot more justified for their spectacular starts to 2013.

A Special Corner for Pierre Thomas - This may be the only time I reasonably get to feature my very favorite Saints player on this blog.  He's not the flashiest when it comes to stats or explosive plays, but he's been a consistent glue guy for New Orleans since his first electrifying start at Soldier Field where he put up over 200 yards from scrimmage back in 2007.  Good things tend to happen for Thomas on that field, as he had one of his best games in recent years on Sunday with 90 all-purpose yards, 2 TDs and a number of clutch third- and fourth-down runs to keep the chains moving.  His 25-yard scamper into the end zone reminded me of the good old days.  And as Grantland's Bill Barnwell pointed out last week, Thomas is emblematic of the army of undrafted and late round nobodies who so often find a home on Sean Payton's offense.  Good stuff indeed.

Nailed It!  My Best Week 5 Prediction - It wasn't exactly rocket science, but the Titans-Chiefs bout ended up just about how I thought it would:

• "The Titans will have to rely on Ryan Fitzpatrick to keep the chains moving and protect the ball against one of the best pass rushes in the early part of this season. Kansas City already has that guy in Alex Smith, and the Chiefs should command the line of scrimmage by the time the fourth quarter rolls around."

Week 5: The Bad Stuff

Romo's Gonna Romo - Oh to be a Cowboys fan at any point since 1996.  Seriously, few fanbases in sports have been so abused by great expectations in tandem with crushing, inevitable disappointment.  Cue the Sarah McLachlan music.  Case and point: Tony Romo has an aforementioned career game against a Denver team that has looked otherwise unstoppable. All he has to do is march Dallas down the field and into field goal range with two minutes left in the game since he's been gashing the Broncos defense all day. But you already know how this one ends.  Even now, you'll be able to Google lots of pundits who are wringing their hands at how unfair it is to beat up on Romo for his perceived shortcomings in the clutch. They're mostly getting paid a lot of money by a league that generates a great amount of revenue from the Cowboys, and they do not know the definition of insanity.  But to add shades of complexity to this pat statement, at least he had a better day than Schaub, Gabbert, and one other equally inconsistent but crazy-lucky guy...

The Giants. Again. - These guys might end up having a permanent home here on The Bad Stuff.  With a golden opportunity yet again to right the ship against a struggling Eagles team at home, they really couldn't have done much worse this week especially considering that Michael Vick went out fairly early in the game.  Only these 2013 Giants could have a great shot at locking up a win like this and wind up with Eli turning the ball over on three consecutive drives in the fourth quarter.  New York now has 20 turnovers in just 5 games and has allowed over 30 points every single week.  Tom Coughlin better watch out - I hear Lane Kiffin is looking for a job.

Shanked It!  My Worst Week 5 Prediction: It was staring me right in the face, but then again, Ron Rivera's Panthers are just the kind of team that could still lose after picking off Carson Palmer three times:

• "I really want to pick the Cardinals in this one because they’re a little closer to mediocre than people think, and they can definitely give Cam Newton the shakedown with a solid pass defense. Still, the Panthers are coming off a bye and probably feeling pretty good about their chances of sacking Carson Palmer after a dominant win against the Giants two weeks ago."

Week 5 Feature: Can the Broncos Go 16 - 0?

Denver dodged a heck of a bullet in Dallas this week.  They owe Tony Romo comps in Augusta or something anyway.  So now the surviving '72 Dolphins are probably starting to get a little bit antsy as they eye the rest of Denver's manageable schedule and Peyton Manning's unprecedented performance under center so far this season. Can the Broncos do it?  Here are some things to watch over the next three months:

Team Health - This one is a giant "duh" but one need look only to the Patriots to see how the mighty can fall over the course of a month when skill players go down.  Luckily for the Broncos, the receiver depth is so vast these guys could sniff test tubes at the CDC and still find someone to catch the ball.  Further, Denver has dealt with roster absences swimmingly so far with Pro Bowlers Von Miller and Champ Bailey out on defense (save Sunday in Dallas of course) and Ryan Clady out on the O-line.  A whole lot of things can go right with even a second string supporting cast as long as No. 18 stays upright.  One need look only at Sunday's performance at the line of scrimmage to see that Manning isn't going anywhere any time soon.  He had all day to go through his progressions in the pocket against the likes of Demarcus Ware and the Broncos currently lead the league with just 5 sacks allowed on the year.

Opponent Parity - So if not the team that put up 48 points against the Broncos, who else has the best shot at taking these guys down this season?  I'm guessing it won't be the profoundly struggling defenses of Jacksonville or Washington.  Of last year's fellow #1 seeds, Denver already took down the Ravens with ease in Week 1 and the Texans are shells of their former selves now that Matt Schaub is basically Steve Blass.  The Patriots are fragile too despite their 4 - 1 start, but keep an eye on this game.  Tom Brady owns this series and it won't resume until the end of November; that means more health and rapport for Brady's receivers and potentially chilly conditions in Foxboro that have given Manning a hard time in the past.  I'm guessing the Patriots aren't ready to share the 16 - 0 nod with an arch nemesis either.  Denver also faces the Colts who've already taken down preseason favorites San Francisco and Seattle and have upset potential here, though Kaepernick and Wilson aren't exactly Robo-Manning.  Other than that, perhaps the biggest question mark is how surprisingly decent the rest of the AFC West is this year.  Who knows what might happen if the Chiefs pass rush gets into Manning's head or if Philip Rivers or Terrelle Pryor take a page from Tony Romo and stir up a shoot out?  Regardless, it's hard to imagine picking against the Broncos as long as No. 18 is playing at this level of extra-terrestrial.

The Vulnerability Curve - I'm sure there's a real term for this out there in the sports universe, but the longer the Broncos go without a loss, the bigger the target gets on their back.  Talking heads and coaches alike will zero in on any vulnerabilities they can find (like that, ahem, secondary) in order to take down this year's Moby Dick.  If there's any reason for Denver to be concerned, it's that Manning has lost some zip on his arm and relies heavily on no-huddle audibles to outwit opposing defenses.  Should a growing pile of film study reveal a few of his tricks of the trade, the savvier defensive squads coming up may have a chance to slow the Broncos down or at least force Peyton into a couple costly mistakes to get within reach.  And as illustrious a career as Peyton Manning's had, he can be his own worst enemy when things aren't going his way, especially as the stakes get higher.

So can they do it? I gotta say no, and it may be better for this team to take some pressure off before January rolls around.  As impressive as Denver has been through five weeks, there are tougher, more well-rounded opponents and road games ahead.  The six week stretch including the Patriots and Titans as well as the Chargers and Chiefs twice a piece ought to be the Broncos' biggest test and what goes up must come down.