These are the 5 biggest surprises of the NFL season heading into Week 6

1. The Giants haven’t lost a game since Jaxson Dart’s injury

It sure felt like the Giants’ season was over when Dart left the field in Los Angeles in Week 2, and it definitely seemed even worse the following day when the significance of his knee injury came to light. And yet somehow the team hasn’t lost since. Jameis Winston is 2-0-1 since taking over as starter, a record that belies his sometimes shaky play. Oddly enough, he played his best football in the comeback against Washington last week, the one game the Giants didn’t win, so perhaps he is getting his footing in the new role and the Giants are finally adjusting their offense around him. We’ll see how long this hot streak lasts — there are some doozies of opponents on the back end of the schedule — but that it has gone on this far has to be one of the more shocking chapters of this early NFL season.

2. The Rams and the Jets have the same record

One was just about everyone’s pick to at least get to if not win the Super Bowl, the other was supposed to be playing for the first overall pick in April’s draft, and yet through five games the Rams and Jets find themselves with the same 2-3 record. The Rams have been through an early gauntlet that included a mishandled plan for playing in Australia and super-close losses to the Broncos and Bills that came down to the final plays (and some questionable officiating on those plays). They’ve also been without Myles Garrett since returning to this continent and getting him back will help. They may not wind up as the runaway top seed in the NFC as was predicted but they should be OK and it would not be a surprise to see them in the Super Bowl on Feb. 14.

The Jets? It’s probably safe to make Valentine’s Day plans, but their two wins have them just one shy of matching their total from last season. And as far as their draft strategy goes, the two other first-rounders to which they lay claim besides their own are tied to the fates of the Colts and Cowboys, two other teams with matching 2-3 records.

3. Coaches’ inabilities to navigate the ends of games cleanly

That look on Dan Quinn’s face as he stood dumbfounded on the field in the moments after last week’s tie against the Giants would have been comical if it wasn’t so commonplace. This has become the Year of the Coaching Gaffe, a season defined by their collective inability to handle critical decisions late in games. Even the brightest and most esteemed of them have had difficulties figuring out what to do as the clock ticks down; Sean McVay of the Rams was the latest to join that club on Monday night when his strategies in overtime against the Bills backfired. Everyone from Aaron Glenn to Nick Sirianni to Brian Schottenheimer has mismanaged critical junctures of games to the detriment of their teams’ success. While some of those decisions were simply derailed by poor play — Sirianni and the Eagles just needed to make a tackle on special teams in the closing seconds of last week’s game to beat the Jaguars but instead got roasted for doing the exact opposite of what Schottenheimer did the week before — just as many featured dubious logic and a surprising lack of communication. Perhaps it is a symptom of informational overload with coaches having too many analytical voices in their heads to keep things straight. Whatever the cause, the result has been mayhem throughout the league . . . and it will likely lead to job changes in the very near future.

4. The Browns and Raiders’ hot starts

If the season ended after five weeks, the Browns would be in the AFC playoffs as the final wild card and one spot ahead of the Raiders in the standings. Both of their impressive 3-1 starts took a bit of a hit last week when they each lost to fall to 3-2, but the fact that two of the least-regarded teams in the league are even in the conversation in mid-October is one of the biggest shocks of the young season.

The Raiders, the team Maxx Crosby wanted so badly to ditch in the offseason, haven’t even had to turn to the keys over to their first-overall pick at quarterback yet as Kirk Cousins has looked rejuvenated and first-time head coach Klint Kubiak has brought confidence and competence to Las Vegas.

Cleveland, meanwhile, has embraced the personality of its 60-year-old rookie head coach, Todd Monken, and managed to squeeze some last-minute comeback victories to set a new tone for the organization. We’re certainly not expecting either of these teams to stick around near the top of the standings for much longer as their flaws will eventually catch up to them, but for this first month they both have been a joy to watch.

5. The decline of the third-year QBs

The Class of 2024 quarterbacks sure looked as if they were poised to take over the league, but this third season of theirs has certainly put that conquest on pause for a bit. Who would have thought that the most consistent of the bunch at this point in 2026 would wind up being Michael Penix Jr.? Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels have struggled mightily, Caleb Williams has been sidelined since Week 2 with a hamstring injury from which he may be close to returning, and Drake Maye was off to a very slow start to the season before cranking things back up in the last two weeks. He’s still not close to the MVP runner-up form with which he cruised through last and reached the Super Bowl, but perhaps facing the Jets on Sunday will be good for whatever had been ailing him. Who are we missing from that draft class that saw six quarterbacks taken with the first 12 picks? Ah yes, J.J. McCarthy. He’s already had the Vikings give up on him and trade him to the Giants where he is the backup (and apparently the occasional gadget guy) behind Winston.