The first five weeks of the NFL season are done and in the books. If there is one word to describe them, it would be “bizarre.”

We start in Tampa, Florida where the backup quarterback to the suspended Jameis Winston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, threw for more than 400 yards and four touchdowns with a passer rating of 95.7 in each of his first two starts. “Fitzmagic” is the newly acquired nickname that he picked up over those two weeks. However, he managed to stink it up in week 4 to then lose his job to Jameis Winston. He’s now being called “Fitztragic.”

The New England Patriots started off extremely slow by losing back to back weeks in unlikely fashion. However, in the last two weeks, the Patriots have blown by their opponents, essentially bringing things back to normal.

Special teams has always been an essential factor of winning football games and this was evident during week two. It was almost like kickers in the NFL forgot how to do their job. There were 18 missed field goals/PATs during the Sunday of week two. The Cleveland Browns took the crown though, with having their kicker, Zane Gonzales, miss four kicks, including a possible game winner.

Dillon Fullerton ’19, talked about the kicking epidemic in the NFL and the value of kickers going forward, saying, “I think that kickers are more important now than they ever were. You can make the argument that they are just as important as quarterbacks, seeing that they can either make or break a game.”

The Browns are a notorious team for being bad and losing, but have actually won a couple games this year under the new leadership of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield. Under Mayfield, the Browns look like an entirely new organization. The Browns will be a team to reckon with going forward this season.

The San Francisco 49ers were a promising team going into the 2018 season. Jimmy Garoppolo, the starting quarterback for the 49ers, tore his ACL in week three solidifying he would be out for the season. The Niners aren’t worried though.

Kyle Shanahan, coach of the 49ers, said this, “I’m definitely happy with the guys we got.”

From a fan’s perspective though, things aren’t looking good.