Just two undefeated teams remains as Week 5 kicks off in earnest Sunday: the 4-0 Chiefs and Rams. There are, however, seven teams at 3-1, and last season’s Super Bowl contenders — the Eagles and Patriots — are mired at 2-2.
With that, here’s The Post’s High Five for Week 5:
Game of the week to watch
The 3-1 Jaguars travel to face the 4-0 Chiefs.
The Chiefs, led by wunderkind quarterback Patrick Mahomes, own the NFL’s top scoring offense (36.3 per game), and the Jaguars own the league’s top-ranked defense (14 allowed per game). Obviously, something has to give.
In his second season, Mahomes has thrown for 1,200 yards and has 14 TDs and no INTs. The Chiefs have scored 18 TDs on offense. The Jags have allowed just five TDs in four games.
Jags coach Doug Marrone, assessing the loaded Chiefs skill position players — Mahomes, receiver Tyreek Hill, running back Kareem Hunt and tight end Travis Kelce — said, “What you’re seeing is … it’s kind of it’s unbelievable. We’ve got our hands full.”
Said Jacksonville safety Tashaun Gipson: “If I’m a betting man, I’m taking this defense, no matter who we’re playing against, no matter who’s at quarterback. We’ve shown that no matter who’s on offense, we’ve got the guys over here to do it. This is something that we’re built for.’’
One of the juicy subplots to the game is the matchup between Jacksonville’s loquacious cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Hill, because Ramsey is insulted by it being referred to as a matchup between the two.
“I don’t like how whoever has made it a matchup me against Tyreek,” Ramsey told reporters. “He’s good for what he does for their team. He made All-Pro as a return specialist … let’s get that right, as a return specialist. I made All-Pro in my position as a corner. So it’s not a wide receiver versus corner matchup, so we can get that out of the way off the bat.”
This was a Ramsey response to Hill calling Ramsey “all right, I guess’’ then telling reporters he hoped Ramsey plays press coverage against him.
“If you look at my film, what do I do every week? I play press, right?” Ramsey said. “Every week, no matter who I’m playing, so if he wants smoke, it’ll get there.”
New all-time record to watch
Saints quarterback Drew Brees is on the verge of breaking Peyton Manning’s all-time NFL record of 71,940 career passing yards, needing just 201 yards to do it when the Saints play host to the Redskins on Monday.
Brees has thrown for more than 200 yards in his past 11 games, so it would be surprising if he doesn’t break the record Monday. It’ll be the second major career passing record that Brees will break this season, having already topped Brett Favre’s mark for most career completions.
One person who’s looking forward to seeing Brees break the record is the record older himself.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when,” Manning told reporters. “He’s been a great player for a long time. Obviously, he’s just been the ultimate pro, taking care of himself, being in great shape. Credit to him for playing as long as he has at such a high level. He’s just been a great model of consistency,”
Manning retired in 2016 after playing 18 seasons with the Colts and Broncos. Brees is in his 18th year in the NFL. Brees is 51 TD passes short of Manning’s record of 539. New England’s Tom Brady just threw his 500th career TD pass Thursday night.
“[I’m] just trying not to make a bigger deal out of this than it already is,” Brees told reporters of his impending record. “It doesn’t affect my approach. [I’m] just focusing on winning the next game. The rest take care of itself.”
Suspension returns to watch
Eleven players were eligible to make their season debuts this week after serving four-game suspensions for various infractions. One of them, Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, returned to play Thursday night.
The others are Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, Cowboys defensive tackle David Irving, Colts running back Robert Turbin, Chargers defensive tackle Corey Liuget, Vikings linebacker Kentrell Brothers, Saints running back Mark Ingram, Raiders cornerback Daryl Worley, Giants linebacker Josh Mauro and Jets cornerback Rashard Robinson.
Edelman, the Patriots’ most productive receiver, already had a big impact. Here’s a look at what some of these other players can do.
Corey LiugetAPFor the Bengals, Smith, the Ravens’ top corner, is expected to be eased back into his starting spot on what already is the league’s No. 4 defense, which faces these quaterbacks in upcoming games: Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan.
For the Chargers, with Joey Bosa having missed the first four games with a foot injury, their pass rush has struggled, so the return of Liuget, who has 22.5 career sacks, could help them get better pressure from the interior.
The return of Ingram will help the already rich Saints get richer. He’ll take some of the load off Alvin Kamara. Kamara has averaged 59 snaps and 23 touches per game this season while leading the NFL with 611 yards from scrimmage and tying for the league lead with six TDs.
Struggling team to watch
What’s the deal with the Falcons, who play at Pittsburgh? And, what’s the deal with the Steelers? Atlanta enters the game desperate for a win at 1-3, and the Steelers are a sluggish 1-2-1.
“I am concerned about a 1-3 start,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank told ESPN during the week. “I don’t know anyone who would say that’s where we had planned on being or that’s where we had hoped to be, but we are 1-3.”
Sure, the Falcons have had some injury issues, losing safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen to a season-ending injuries and Pro Bowl linebacker Deion Jones until later in the season.
“This is not excuses, but reality is reality,” Blank said. “We’ve had some very difficult injuries to really good players. All three of those guys are really good communicators. They not only play at a very high level in their own right, but they get everybody else in the right positions. They make everybody else better.’’
Interestingly, the Falcons entered the season with questions on offense, with coordinator Steve Sarkisian having taken a lot of criticism in 2017. Yet, the Falcons are averaging 29 points per game — about a touchdown more pre game than they did last season.
The defense has been a problem, ranked 28th overall,
“On the defensive side, I think they will continue to figure it out and improve from week to week,’’ Blank said, almost hopefully.
Matt Ryan is sacked during the Falcons’ Week 4 game against the Bengals.Getty ImagesBest team to watch
The 4-0 Rams have a chance to put some early separation between itself and the rest of the NFC West with a key game on the road against the 2-2 Seahawks.
The 1-3 49ers and 0-4 Cardinals are of no threat to the Rams. A win over the Seahawks would give the Rams a commanding three-game lead in the division and set them up with a chance to run away and hide.
The Rams rank No. 1 in the NFL in total offense and No. 9 on defense. Quarterback Jared Goff is the top-rated passer in the NFC with 11 TDs and just two INTs and a league-leading 1,406 passing yards.
The Rams are on pace to score 560 points, which would be the most in franchise history and just short of the 2013 Broncos single-season record of 606. The Rams record is 540 points (33.8 per game), set in 2000, the year after Kurt Warner helped lead “The Greatest Show on Turf’’ to the Super Bowl.
This year’s Rams have averaged 35 points per game and have been consistent _ with 33, 34, 35 and 38 points in their four victories.
Warner, who the Rams 38-31 Thursday night win over the Vikings in L.A.’s last game as an NFL Network analyst, said on social media that Goff and the Rams are “looking to smash” some of the records his former St. Louis set.
“Those are quite flattering words, and it’s a reflection of the way that our players are playing,’’ Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters. “But ultimately, the truest measurement of performance is that consistency. We’ve got to consistently do it. We’ve done it for one quarter of the season, so far, where we’ve played at a pretty high level. Now, the challenge is can we continue it on when we get back for Week 5.”
High standards to watch
Sure, the Packers beat the Bills 22-0 last week. And sure, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 22 of 40 for 298 yards with a TD and an INT. But Rodgers wasn’t happy with the performance.
“We were terrible on offense,” he said early last week. “Four hundred and twenty-three yards looks pretty good in comparison to some of the games we’ve put forward the first three weeks, but it should have been about 45 points and 600 yards. I think a lot of people played really good. But there was no flow to the game.’’
Rodgers and the 2-1-1 Packers will seek more flow in Detroit against the 1-3 Lions.
“We need to find ways to get our playmakers in position to get more opportunities,’’ he said.



