NFL Week 5 Film Review: Vikings’ Offensive Potential, Jets’ Defensive Starts and Bills Biggest Weakness

The NFL season is beginning to reveal which teams can make a deep playoff run and which still have glaring weaknesses to address. The Vikings are showing flashes of an offense that could be hard to stop, while the Jets’ young defensive playmakers are emerging. Meanwhile, the Bills’ secondary continues to raise concerns, and offensive line injuries could threaten the Jaguars’ Super Bowl aspirations. With the film offering plenty of reasons for optimism and concern, here are four key takeaways from around the NFL

Vikings offensive identity

NFL, American Football Herren, USA 2026: Vikings Vs Giants AUG 15 August 15, 2026: Before the game, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray 1 warms up in a NFL preseason game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. The Minnesota Vikings defeat the New York Giants 13-10. Shaquan Woody/Cal MediaCredit Image: Â Shaquan Woody/Cal Sport Media East Rutherford Nj USA EDITORIAL USE ONLY Copyright: xx ZUMA-20260815_faf_c04_005.jpg ShaquanxWoodyx csmphotothree511937

The Minnesota Vikings offense has rarely been fully healthy this season. Kyler Murray is back, but the team is now missing multiple offensive line starters and Jordan Addison. Watching this offense on tape, you have to understand that, but you can still see glimpses of what it can be.

Murray had his best game as a Viking against New Orleans, going 24-of-30 for 229 yards and one touchdown. The biggest takeaway from this game is that we saw the old Murray, the one who wants to scramble for yards, but who also wants to pass. He found star receiver Justin Jefferson on a scramble drill, showing he’s keeping his eyes downfield. But the good thing is Murray still does damage with his legs. He had seven scrambles against New Orleans, with two going for 10-plus yards. That kind of playmaking opens up the Vikings offense even more, which should give Murray more deep shots as the season goes on.

What’s more interesting is the run game with Kevin O’Connell this season. In 2025, the Vikings ran 145 gap-running scheme plays, 25th in the NFL. Over five weeks, the team has 58 gap-running plays (duo, trap, counter), the most in the league. More gap-running plays give your running game a better chance to explode. I don’t want to call it boom-or-bust, but it is, in a way. If everything is blocked to perfection, runs can boom for 20 yards down the field. Once this team gets Jordan Mason back, the running game should improve a good amount.

The hard part, though, is that we’ve seen glimpses of everything. Glimpses of Murray scrambling around, glimpses of this gap-running scheme, and glimpses of the receiving core being fully healthy. Minnesota has a bye this week to recover and figure out what they want to excel at. But watching the film, you can see glimpses of what this team can do on offense. If O’Connell can lean on the gap-running game mixed with some creative passing concepts built off those same pulls and shifts in a gap-running scheme. This offense can be hard to prepare for and stop.

Jets have young defensive starts

Texas Tech linebacker David Bailey holds his new jersey after being picked by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2026 NFL, American Football Herren, USA draft at the Draft Theater, outside Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, April 23, 2026. PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUSA PIT20260423901 ARCHIExCARPENTER

New York Jets rookie edge rusher David Bailey has the best game of his young career. Three sacks, nine pressures, and a pass-rush win rate of 17.2 percent helped the Jets beat Cleveland this past weekend. While that’s exciting and this New York defense is doing some fun things with Aaron Glenn at the helm, there’s another young star emerging on this defense.

Second-year defensive back Azareye’h Thomas has started to pop on tape. Thomas has had good reps against Luther Burden III, Denzel Boston, and Christian Watson. One of my favorite reps this week came against Boston, who ran a speed out on Thomas and created separation. Thomas quickly accelerated back to Boston’s back hip, showing the short-area quickness defensive backs need.

The Jets’ passing success rate ranks 12th in the NFL at 46.6%, while their passing EPA per play is +0.01 (ranking 16th overall). On the defensive side, the Jets allow -0.06 EPA per pass play, which ranks 12th best in the league.

The days may be gloomy in New York, but there are multiple signs of the sun coming up real soon.

Rams and Bills madness

September 13, 2026, Houston, Texas, U.S: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen 17 warms up prior to the NFL, American Football Herren, USA regular season game between the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX on September 13, 2026. Buffalo won, 36-31. Houston U.S – ZUMAw137 20260913_aap_w137_144 Copyright: xErikxWilliamsx

This game was absolutely madness, but it showed the two biggest weaknesses for both teams. For the Buffalo Bills, it’s again the pass defense, but this time in the secondary. Last season, Buffalo had one of the league’s worst rushing defenses, and while it hasn’t improved much this season, it’s operating a bit better. The secondary hasn’t been playing well whatsoever, ranking 30th in the NFL in EPA per pass allowed at 0.18.

Watching the tape, new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard doesn’t seem to trust his defensive backs enough to call more complicated looks. It’s been mostly base zone Cover 2, with a boundary corner playing one of the deep-half zones. Coming into the season, I thought Leonhard would lean more on match zone coverage looks, but the trust isn’t there.

In overtime, the Bills came out in a Cover 2 look against the Rams, who came out in a 2×2 set. Towards the right side of the field, Los Angeles ran a simple spot concept (sit and corner route), and the flat defender for the Bills jumped on the sit. It left the corner route to Puka Nacua open, earning a 21-yard gain for the Rams. While the corner in Davison Igbinosun is in cloud coverage, he can still carry the corner route a bit or undercut it to make Stafford throw it to the shorter sit route; they’ll gain five yards. Instead, Igbinosun drives on the sit, and Nacua’s night continued.

The Bills have to start trusting their young corners more, but that’ll come with time. We already know that it’s not sustainable to win a Super Bowl with Josh Allen playing hero ball in January. They’ll need the defense to make the plays when they need to. The one silver lining is the front four. The combination of Deone Walker, Ed Oliver, Greg Rousseau, and Bradley Chubb can get pressure. It’s just about the back end giving them enough time to get home.

Jaguars biggest weakness

JACKSONVILLE, FL – MAY 26: Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence 16 throws a pass during Jacksonville Jaguars OTA on May 26, 2026 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fl. Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire NFL, American Football Herren, USA MAY 26 Jacksonville Jaguars OTA EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260526127635

As much as I love the Jacksonville Jaguars and think this team can win the AFC, the offensive line is scaring me. Now with Anton Harrison going down with an injury, it could get scary for this team. Liam Coen and Anthony Campanile have done a great job leading both sides of the ball.

This Jaguars defense feels fresh every week, with new blitz looks, back-end coverages, and more man coverage, which is a surprise. Watching the offense, you can feel everything connected, and certain motions and formations are building to something. Plus, having playmakers like Parker Washington elevates the offense to a different level. He can take a simple flat route 50 yards for a touchdown.

With all that being said, the offensive line is a big worry for me, especially the injuries it’s sustained. On paper, the team hasn’t allowed worrying pressure numbers, ranking eighth best in the NFL in pressure percentage allowed. You can see the cracks starting to show week by week, especially in the run game.

Against Philadelphia, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter had their way with the Jaguars by routinely blowing up plays. Now you’re not going to be going against those two at all until potentially the Super Bowl, but in the AFC you’ll have to get through tough defensive lines to make a run. Think of Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence II, Houston’s front, Baltimore’s front, and even Milton Williams.

Teams could see this as a weakness and start exploiting it. There were plays where Trevor Lawrence had Jakobi Meyers uncovering for big plays in London, but he dealt with pressure in his face. It’s not a “jump the ship” type of worry, but something that can exploit this team in January.

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