The best sports broadcasters can even turn broken plays into entertainment for fans viewing at home.

Mike Tirico showed off that skill with a hilarious, off-script call during Week 5’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ divisional clash between the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills.

In the second half, there had still only been nine total points scored in the Sunday night prime-time game. When Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw a pass away into the stands, Tirico seized on an opportunity to inject some excitement into the broadcast.

After a fan standing in the front row caught Allen’s throwaway, he turned around and bolted for the exit. Tirico was on the call for the fan’s mad dash up the Highmark Stadium stairs.

‘Nice catch there,’ Tirico began as the fan wearing a Matt Milano jersey hauled in Allen’s throwaway. ‘Oh, he’s gone!’

‘Milano! Milano’s gonna go! He’s in row 10! He’s in row 15! He might get a beer! Where are you going, man? It’s your moment! Milano, row 40, led by Allen (another fan wearing an Allen jersey). He’s going to take it the distance!’

‘Maybe it wasn’t his seat, maybe he doesn’t want to be on TV. He’s gone,’ Tirico said.

The moment was up among the most exciting for the Bills that night. Buffalo scored a touchdown one play after the throwaway to take its first and only lead of the night. The Patriots scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive and held on to win the divisional matchup, handing the Bills their first loss of the year.

Philly’s loss to Denver left just one NFL team with a perfect record … for about seven hours.
Conversely, there’s now only one team without a win in 2025.
Sunday featured one fantastic game, in terms of points scored and the uniforms worn.

The 32 things we learned from Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season:

0. The number of wins for New York Jets rookie coach Aaron Glenn, whose team was embarrassed at home 37-22 by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. With Kellen Moore’s New Orleans Saints getting off the mat against the New York Giants, Glenn is the only first-year coach among this year’s seven to remain winless – and his team is now the only one league-wide without a victory.

1. As in who’s the No. 1 contender to win Super Bowl 60 after the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles lost their first game of the season Sunday a few hours before the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills also went down? It seems like an unusually large field at the moment given the number of questions that abound around the league, so let’s explore.

2. As in the number of losses Philly has now suffered over the last 365 days. The Eagles obviously remain a bona fide championship threat, yet they also have issues to redress – particularly on offense. WR A.J. Brown had another quiet game (5 catches for 43 yards) Sunday, and even RB Saquon Barkley undermined Philadelphia. On a day when he rushed for 30 yards (on a mere six carries), Barkley also committed an illegal shift infraction that nullified a fourth-down conversion in the fourth quarter and forced the team to punt on its penultimate possession.

2a. The Bills also remain right there, even if their icy ‘Cold Front’ uniforms won’t get them closer to any championship ice at season’s end. The sky isn’t falling in Western New York, though the New England Patriots’ win there Sunday night was a clear announcement that the AFC East probably won’t be a walkover. For a change.

3. The number of wins for the Denver Broncos, who beat the Eagles on Sunday for their first win in Philadelphia since 1986. That’s two impressive victories in six days for Denver, which added six more sacks to what was already a league-leading total of 15 entering Week 5. And with QB Bo Nix belatedly settling into his second season, the Broncos look like a team that could make a deep run.

4. The number of 2024 first-team All-Pros, including QB Lamar Jackson, inactive Sunday for the spiraling Baltimore Ravens, who were crushed 44-10 at home by the Houston Texans. Now 1-4, their Super Bowl aspirations in serious crisis, the Ravens face the Rams in Week 6 before reaching a badly needed bye week.

5. The 34-point loss matched the Ravens’ largest in Baltimore, the differential also equaling the Texans’ most lopsided road win in their 24-season history.

6. The number of red-zone touchdowns – in six attempts, no less – scored by the Indianapolis Colts in their 40-6 beatdown of the Las Vegas Raiders. Still feels like a stretch to consider Indy a bona fide championship contender, but a 4-1 squad is increasingly taking on the look of a potential division titlist – and, yes, the AFC South counts.

7. In an odd turnabout to that game, the Colts played most of the day without injured K Spencer Shrader, forcing them to attempt four consecutive two-point conversions in the blowout. Meanwhile, the Raiders lost P AJ Cole, forcing K Daniel Carlson into his role.

8. The number of times the Texans scored at Baltimore, which also coincided with the number of drives played by QB C.J. Stroud, whose four TD passes were one shy of his career high. With two consecutive wins following an 0-3 start, Houston is re-emerging as a team that could win a third straight division title – and, yes, the AFC South counts.

9. The game of the day also featured the best (throwback) uniforms of the day, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beating the Seattle Seahawks at the gun 38-35 in a fitting celebration of two organizations in the midst of their 50th NFL seasons. Could it have been an NFC championship game preview? Very well within the realm of possibility … despite Seattle’s surprising defensive letdown Sunday.

10. The Bucs aren’t blowing anyone out, all four of their victories occurring on game-winning scores in the final minute of regulation – something no team has ever done on the way to its first four wins. The perennial NFC South champs remain a resilient bunch that can beat you in a variety of ways.

11. How about the matchup of former Ohio State first-round wideouts in Seattle on Sunday? The Bucs’ (née Bucks’) Emeka Egbuka and Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba combined for 15 catches, 295 yards and a TD apiece.

12. The Cowboys (mostly wearing white) and Jets (mostly wearing black) provided the worst-looking game of the day – visually and stylistically (21 combined penalties).

13. How crazy has the scoring been so far? There have been 14 40-burgers posted this season, already the most through five weeks since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger … and Week 5 ain’t done yet.

14. As in tied for 14th place all time with 173 regular-season wins – that’s where Denver coach Sean Payton stands after Sunday’s win, which broke a tie between him and his mentor, Hall of Famer Bill Parcells.

15. Payton is now deadlocked with Jeff Fisher and Ravens coach John Harbaugh, whose team doesn’t appear as if it’s going to keep pace with Payton’s Broncos, not in the near term anyway. Mike McCarthy is alone in 13th place − for now − with 174 wins.

16. How about Carolina Panthers RB Rico Dowdle, who rushed for a league-wide season-high 206 yards in relief of injured starter Chuba Hubbard in his team’s 27-24 defeat of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday?

17. Still boggles the mind that the Cowboys didn’t re-sign Dowdle, who rushed for nearly 1,100 yards last year, or that no other team saw fit to offer him even $3 million for 2025 (though he could eclipse that figure by reaching certain escalators). Heck, even Jerry Jones would be willing to pay that.

18. The jersey number, one that might be retired one day, of Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson. With 123 receiving yards in Sunday’s defeat of the Cleveland Browns in London, “Jettas” now has 7,881 in his career – third most by a player in his first six seasons. And he still has 12 games to play in a bid to overtake Randy Moss’ standard (8,375 yards) over a half-dozen years.

19. The Los Angeles Chargers might have lost some juice lately, but don’t blame veteran WR Keenan Allen. Making his 159th career appearance, he hauled in his 1,000th career catch – eight games quicker than Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, who’d previously set the standard for speed to that benchmark.

20. Minus both of their starting offensive tackles, the Bolts seem to be reverting to title pretender – and quite likely the third-best team in the AFC West – after suffering a second straight loss.

21. The Chargers’ defeat came courtesy of the Washington Commanders, who had QB Jayden Daniels back in the lineup. Yet the emergence of rookie RB Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt, who had a career day Sunday – five games into his career anyway – with 150 yards and two TDs from scrimmage, could be the key to returning the Commanders to the league’s elite ranks … to the degree they ever really left.

22. Would the Cincinnati Bengals just trade for Giants QB3 Jameis Winston already?

23. But not really a surprise that the Jake Browning-led Stripes couldn’t handle the Detroit Lions, who also have an increasingly strong case to supplant Philly atop the league throne with a four-game heater erasing memories of their Week 1 flop at Green Bay.

24. Detroit got TDs Sunday from RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery – the 14th time both scored in the same game, tying Emmitt Smith and Daryl Johnston for the most games among RB teammates each scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).

25. The Los Angeles Rams didn’t win Thursday, but WR Puka Nacua caught 10 balls, giving him 52 receptions the season – most ever by a player after five games. Nacua bypassed his former teammate, Cooper Kupp, who had 49 grabs at the same point in 2022.

26. These might be the early stages of what could be a historic year for Nacua, who’s on pace to snag 177 balls – which would smash the NFL single-season record (149) established by Michael Thomas six years ago (in 16 games). Nacua could also become the first-ever 2,000-yard receiver. He’s currently on pace for 1,999 yards.

27. Dillon Gabriel became the Cleveland Browns’ 41st QB1 since their 1999 rebirth – but the first in the NFL to make his starting debut in an International Series game. He was solid Sunday in London but didn’t do quite enough to guide Cleveland past the Minnesota Vikings.

28. Meanwhile, the Vikes improved to 5-0 all time in London … though they’re 0-1 record in Dublin made their two-week European vacation something of a wash.

29. But Minnesota did make a bit of history in the Old Country thanks to WR Jordan Addison’s game-winning TD catch with 25 seconds on the clock. The victory was the first ever played internationally to feature a decisive TD in the final minute of regulation or overtime.

30. When will NFL players – especially ones running free to pay dirt – learn to keep the ball secured until they cross the goal line? Arizona Cardinals RB3 Emari Demercado, whose team really needed him to show up after losing James Conner and Trey Benson to injuries, was the latest to dump the rock prematurely, his would-be 72-yard TD bolt instead a 71-yard run punctuated by a turnover – one that led to his team’s downfall against the previously winless Tennessee Titans.

31. Second to last, but not penultimately least, congratulations to Titans QB Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick of this year’s draft, who notched his first career win Sunday at Demercado’s expense. We sass.

32. Last, but not least, congratulations to Saints QB Spencer Rattler. We’ve noted, more than once, the bagel he’s carried for more than a year in his personal NFL win column. But he got his first, in his 11th professional start, in Sunday’s defeat of the Giants.

Week 5 of the fantasy football season tested everyone. It marked the start of NFL bye weeks, and many managers were still reeling from the season-ending injuries to Malik Nabers and Tyreek Hill. To make matters worse, Bucky Irving and Trey Benson were surprise additions to the injury list, leaving fantasy managers scrambling for replacements.

Now that Week 5 is in the books, your team’s strengths and weaknesses should be clear. Trading is the best way to fix those weaknesses. The smart approach is to trade from a position of strength, usually depth, to a team that’s struggling in that same area but has depth where you’re thin.

Even if your team sits at 5-0, don’t get too comfortable. Sometimes a hot start can be misleading. A few players might be overperforming. Savvy fantasy managers will recognize that and sell them before the production dips.

To help, here are four players to sell high and four players to buy low as we head into Week 6.

Week 6 fantasy football players to buy

WR Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina Panthers

T-Mac managers might be getting frustrated with his lack of production and could be ready to move on to someone scoring more points. Take advantage.

McMillan is seeing an elite 27% target share with no fewer than eight targets per game. One issue has been the lack of help around him, but that should change soon with Jalen Coker expected to return this week. That addition should help open up the field and give McMillan more room to make plays.

RB Woody Marks, Houston Texans

The hype around Marks was sky-high after his breakout performance in Week 4. Many believed he had taken over the backfield, but that’s not entirely the case.

In Houston’s shocking blowout win over the Ravens, Marks played more snaps than Nick Chubb but carried the ball four fewer times. He finished with just 24 rushing yards and one target.

Marks may never be the true bell cow, but his talent is undeniable. Trust that will turn into him getting more work in the future. This down week creates a prime buy-low opportunity.

WR A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles

It feels like the Eagles have finally realized they need to lean more on their passing game. Defenses are stacking the box to stop the run, and Philadelphia is adjusting, finally.

The results haven’t fully shown up for Brown yet, but they’re coming. He saw nine targets in Week 4 and 10 more this week. That kind of volume, combined with Brown’s talent, make it only a matter of time before he delivers more fantasy-friendly results.

WR CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys

If the Lamb manager in your league has a losing record, now’s the time to make an offer. Lamb is not guaranteed to return Week 6, which could push his manager to panic and sell low.

There’s no denying Lamb’s elite ability. If you can afford to stash him for a week or two, you’ll be in a great spot when he returns.

Week 6 fantasy football players to sell

RB Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers

Dowdle is coming off one of the best games we’ll see all season, rushing for 206 yards and a touchdown. It’s unlikely he’ll come close to that again.

If someone in your league believes Dowdle has suddenly become the Panthers’ featured back, cash in. At best, he turned what was a 60/40 split with Chuba Hubbard into a 50/50 split once Hubbard returns.

WR Rashid Shaheed, New Orleans Saints

Four catches, 114 yards, and a touchdown looks great on paper, but don’t be fooled. Shaheed’s problem has not been corrected. That problem is inconsistency.

Shaheed has three single-digit fantasy games already this season and two double-digit games. This week, it required an 87-yard touchdown to get there. If you’re relying on those long plays for fantasy relevance, disappointment will follow more often than not.

TE Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys

Ferguson currently leads all tight ends in targets and sits atop the fantasy rankings at the position. That volume won’t last.

When CeeDee Lamb returns, Ferguson’s target share will dip, making him more volatile week to week. If you can flip him for a tight end with steadier usage, do it before the regression hits.

RB Tony Pollard, Tennessee Titans

Pollard played around 90% of snaps through the first four weeks, but with Tyjae Spears returning, that dropped to 73% in Week 5 and it’s likely to decline further.

Pollard’s early-season workload produced 328 yards and two touchdowns, ranking him as the RB28 in points per game.

The selling point: even with Spears back, Pollard saw 17 total touches and found the end zone. That makes this the perfect time to move him before his volume shrinks.

The Philadelphia Eagles lost 21-17 to the Denver Broncos, marking their first defeat of the 2025 season.
Philadelphia’s offense struggled, running the ball only 11 times despite leading 17-3 in the second half.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts passed 38 times, while star running back Saquon Barkley had just six carries.
Head coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged the team needs to run the ball more and reduce self-inflicted penalties.

The Philadelphia Eagles either can’t run the ball or won’t run the ball. One of those things alone would be unideal. The combination of the two, however, is the most glaring aspect of their 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos at home Sunday. 

Philadelphia managed to generate plenty of positives in the downfield passing game, as quarterback Jalen Hurts passed 38 times; he only took off twice.   

“We want to get them all the ball as much as we can,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said of his star skill players, which obviously includes Barkley. “Obviously we want to run the ball more than what we did today. You always want to come out of that game with Saquon getting as many touches (as he can) because of the player he is.” 

It marked the Eagles’ first loss of the 2025 season and left the Buffalo Bills as the lone undefeated team remaining in the NFL. Hurts – who didn’t complete a pass in the second half of last week’s 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – looked better and finished with 280 passing yards on 23-of-38 passing and two touchdowns.

Hurts threw that many passes in a game just once last season. Barkley entered this contest averaging 3.1 yards per carry and the Eagles’ total offense ranked 30th. Their 3.47 yards per rushing play was 29th. 

But the Eagles led 17-3 in the second half, and with Barkley and that offensive line, the Eagles aired it out. Patullo called eight straight passes across two drives and Philadelphia punted twice while three minutes and six seconds came off the clock. Their next two possessions weren’t much better, with two more punts accounting for a total of 4:39 of clock. 

Doing that against the Broncos’ defense known with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain locking down a receiver on the outside and a stout front-seven – anchored by Nik Bonnito, who had 2.5 of the Broncos’ six sacks (even more passing plays that didn’t result in throws) – seems paradoxical. 

Philadelphia’s defense stayed on the field, Bo Nix went off in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles lost for the first time since Dec. 22, 2024, when Hurts exited in the first quarter against the Washington Commanders.

Barkley now has 267 rushing yards through five games –  he had 255 on the ground Week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams last season. His game-best for 2025 is 88 yards, which came in Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Playing from behind the sticks as often as the Eagles did, Sirianni said, didn’t make it easier. Philadelphia was flagged nine times for 55 yards, half of the 121 yards on 12 penalties the Broncos surrendered.

“Those are some self-inflicted things that we did,” Sirianni said. “When those happen, I put that on myself.” 

The offensive line’s health has been an underlying issue. Left guard Landon Dickerson tore his meniscus in training camp and recovered for Week 1 but has remained banged up. He left with an ankle injury against Denver. Lane Johnson, the right tackle, left the Bucs game but started Week 5 despite a shoulder injury. Replacing Mekhi Becton has been more of a challenge than planned. 

Wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith ended up in a heap on the final play of the day, but at least their stat lines didn’t mirror that entirely. Smith caught eight balls (10 targets) for 114 yards. Brown was targeted eight times and had five catches for 43 yards. 

“We started off really good. We were throwing the ball around the yard,” Brown said. “Just didn’t finish in the second half, just the inconsistency showed up again. 

“We got to put in four quarters. We have to stop putting a lot of pressure on our defense.” 

The Eagles can find coping mechanisms within the defeat. The overturned intentional grounding call on Nix and the lack of communication will be ridiculed. The late hit called on linebacker Zack Baun as the Broncos’ ballcarrier fought for the first down in the fourth quarter.

Last but not least, the game’s penultimate play that featured a pass breakup that could have been called pass interference on Broncos safety JL Skinner.

But the loss was their own doing – from the play calling to the execution. Hurts missed Brown on a deep shot in the third quarter for what would have been a walk-in touchdown. Another perspective, when it comes to the Eagles’ offensive woes, is that this is a no-win situation.

If Barkley goes out and pummels the Broncos and Brown posts cryptically again on social media when the passing game goes MIA, then it’s another week of a “what’s wrong with the air attack?” news cycle. 

It’s definitely not a capability issue, Hurts said. 

“We’re just not doing those things yet,” he said, “but we will.” 

The Eagles have a short turnaround to find balance, with a “Thursday Night Football” date with the New York Giants next up. There’s no reason to think the NFC East, as of this writing, would not be safely in their hands. But the blueprint is out on how to beat the Eagles. Going back to their strength would go a long way to wrecking those best-laid plans. 

The Dallas Cowboys blew out the New York Jets in their Week 5 meeting at MetLife Stadium.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a victory lap during the resounding, 37-22 win despite being on the road.

A video shared by former Cowboys wide receiver showed Jones briefly raising a middle finger to the crowd on hand in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The 82-year-old owner did so with a smile on his face before pointing to the crowd.

‘Quit playing with Mr. Jerry Jones,’ Bryant’s post to X read, in part. ‘Go Cowboys.’

It wasn’t immediately clear what – if anything – prompted Jones’ gesture. The video showed many in the crowd looking back at Jones, with some waving and others holding their phones out to record him.

Jones did not speak about that moment after the game when he spoke to reporters for a few minutes.

The octogenarian did, however, praise his team for their ‘big victory’ over the Jets.

‘This was a great win for [the] team,’ Jones said. ‘Not a win for an individual, or four or five All-Pros. This was done with a lot of guys that wouldn’t have even been dressed or been out there today. There are several of them. So, my hat’s off [to them].’

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Harold Terens, a 102-year-old World War II veteran who made international headlines last year for getting married near Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, has plenty of items he wants to cross off his bucket list before his next birthday.

He checked one off by attending his first soccer match with his grandson, Apple TV play-by-play announcer Tyler Terens, when the Chicago Fire beat Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami 5-3 at Chase Stadium on Sept. 30.

“I’ve never seen a soccer game. It’s my first one ever. I’ve never seen Messi or anybody. I’ve seen soccer on TV, but never live – until now with my grandson,” Harold Terens said before the match. “I’m getting to like soccer. I’m not thrilled with it yet, but I’m getting to like it.”

Hey, it’s a start.

Terens was a U.S. Army Air Force corporal, who first enlisted in 1942 serving as a radio repair technician for a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron. He helped repair planes flying from France so they could rejoin the fight during D-Day on June 6, 1944, then helped transport captured Germans and freed American prisoners of war from Normandy to England 12 days later. He also served in parts of Africa and Eastern Europe.

“I was all over,” he said.

On the 80th anniversary of D-Day last June, Terens married Jeanne Swerlin in a ceremony in Carentan, France. They were invited to the Elysee Palace for a state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden on their wedding day.

“It was quite an event,” said Terens, who has also met Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.

Tyler Terens vividly remembers how Biden treated his grandfather.

“He was a global celebrity for like 72 hours,” Tyler said. “He introduced himself to President Biden, and President Biden said ‘of course, I know who you are! You’re the most famous person in the world right now.’”

After the soccer game, Harold Terens will turn his attention to the other items on his bucket list.  

He’s going to attend Tyler’s wedding to fiancée Shannon in Cincinnati next month.

He wants to take a 10-day transatlantic trip to see an opera in Milan, a ballet in Paris, and the London Philharmonic. 

He plans to close off the bucket list by celebrating his 103rd birthday next year with a long-awaited bar mitzvah ceremony at the Pentagon.

He also has some writing to do, hoping to publish a book next spring about his life story. He’s about halfway done.

“It’s a page turner,” he said. “I’ve read half of it 12 times already. I find it interesting, what I’ve written so I can imagine what others will think of it.’

When Tyler got the assignment to cover the Inter Miami game, it was his chance to deliver on his grandfather’s wish to watch Messi play.

“To have him here, it’s literally the coolest thing in the world,” Tyler said. “He’s the reason, along with my dad, why I’ve became such a sports fanatic and got into this industry. It’s a dream come true to have him here.”

“Every day is an experience for me. It’s probably the highlight of my young life to be here,” Harold added. “I’m so proud of him.”

Jayden Daniels returned from a knee injury to lead the Washington Commanders to a 27-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Southern California native passed for 231 yards and a touchdown in his hometown return.
Washington’s defense held the Chargers scoreless for the final three quarters of the game.

INGLEWOOD, CA — Sunday’s game was poetic for Jayden Daniels.

After missing the past two games due to a sprained knee, Daniels returned Sunday to his native area and was instrumental to the Washington Commanders’ 27-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

“It was gonna be hard to keep him out tonight,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. “Coming back to this area where he grew up, not too far from here. Where his football career began.”

Daniels grew up roughly 70 miles from SoFi Stadium in San Bernardino, California. He had a large contingent of family and friends at the venue for Sunday’s contest. They witnessed the 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year pass for 231 and one touchdown, plus run for 39 yards on the ground.

Most importantly, he helped the Commanders get back in the winner’s column and earn their first victory of the year against a team over .500.

“It means a lot. I’ve dreamt of moments like this to be able to play in front of my family back in my hometown,” Daniels said postgame. ‘Whether that was here or wherever else I was blessed to get drafted to. So for my first return game back to be at home means a lot.’

The game didn’t start pretty for Daniels and the Commanders. They were down 10-0 in the second quarter. Momentum swung in Washington’s direction when safety Quan Martin jarred the football loose from Chargers wideout Quentin Johnston and cornerback Marshon Lattimore recovered.

Daniels led the Commanders on a nine-play, 74-yard touchdown after the change of possession in the second quarter. The score was part of a string of an astounding 27-unanswered points by the Commanders against a mistake riddled Chargers club that had 10 total penalties and two turnovers.

“That’s a really good offense over there with a really great quarterback (and) good running back. So, to be able to keep them under wraps in that second half, I think was big for us,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner, who had a game-high 14 tackles, told USA TODAY Sports.

Washington’s scoring barrage was bookended with a rainbow pass by Daniels to wide receiver Deebo Samuel that resulted in Chargers fans headed toward the exits late in the fourth quarter.

Rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt tallied career-highs in rushing yards (111) and touchdowns (2) in the win. Washington’s defense held the Chargers scoreless for the final three quarters. It was a total team effort by the Commanders.

Week 5 was about the Commanders getting their MVP back, and resembling the squad that advanced to the NFC championship game last season.

“It meant everything. He was able to give us a spark,” Wagner said. “He had some really good plays, and that touchdown on the last play was money.”

Sunday was Daniels’ 20th career regular-season game. His performance in Week 5 put him at 4,232 passing yards and 1,015 rushing yards in his first 20 career NFL games. He’s first player in NFL history to have at least 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in his first 20 career games.

Daniels returned, sparked a Commanders victory and made history in the process – a Hollywood script homecoming game for the Southern California native.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.