5 Things we know after Week 5 of the NFL Season

1. Devonta Freeman is a Beast

It was only 5 weeks ago that Tevin Coleman was the surefire starting running back for the Atlanta Falcons. He was recently removed from a junior season in which he terrorized opposing defenses. Altogether, he ran for 2,036 yards and 15 touchdowns, and doing so with a broken foot for all of Big Ten play. That stat does not get highlighted enough, HE RUSHED FOR 2000+ YARDS IN THE BIG TEN WITH A BROKEN FOOT. If it wasn't for Melvin Gordon, Coleman would've been the highest ranked Big Ten running back. Then he was drafted in the third round by the Falcons, and all was set for a TecoRaw breakout party...

Coleman got banged up in week 1 and formerly projected starter Devonta Freeman to regain the majority of backfield touches. And man, it is crazy to think where we are now. Over his last three games, Freeman's stats are as follows:

• Week 3 @ Dallas; 30 att, 141 yards, 3 TD
• Week 4 Houston; 14 att, 68 yards, 3 TD
• Week 5 Washington; 27 att, 153 yards, 1 TD

The guy has been absolutely unreal. It's sort of disappointing because it has taken away a little bit from Julio Jones production, but that is surely to pick up. Freeman is the number one fantasy player at the moment, and will continue to eat up snaps in Atlanta. He has played so well that Coleman's return will essentially be irrelevant. He's also been getting it done against solid defensive fronts in Houston and Washington. Freeman has the chance to keep up the production too, with games against New Orleans and Tennessee over the next 2 weeks.

2. The Bears really missed Jay Cutler

Jimmy Clausen starting for the Bears on the road at Seattle is a gruesome sight to imagine. As one could probably imagine, the Bears were shutdown on offense that game. However, they have looked good over the past two weeks with Jay Cutler returning to the lineup. The big-time comeback win on the road at Kansas City will help revitalize a somber team.

Cutler went for 252 yards, 2 TD, and 0 INT against a very solid chiefs defensive group. He led a final game-winning drive to seal the deal for the Bears. While the team is definitely in full-scale rebuild mode, they should be better once Alshon Jeffrey returns. Look for him to really break out of his shell, as him and Martellus Bennett will get about 70-90% of Cutler's targets. If Forte can stay healthy, the Bears will churn out a solid offense. Its just a problem that they have absolutely no defensive presence to back that up. Give them a year or two for a couple of solid defensive building blocks before the team can truly turn it around again.

3. Detroit is back to its old ways

The Lions have looked absolutely awful this season. It seems that management completely relied on Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson to lead them to winning ways this season. Simply put, Stafford is not the quarterback that Detroit wants him to be. He has an incredibly strong arm, but is way too turnover prone. And the guy just doesn't win games. His whole premise is lobbing it up to Calvin Johnson whenever he is in trouble. He may have a tight end version of him coming in Eric Ebron.

They lost huge defensive pieces in Donkey Kong Suh and Nic Fairley, although they added Haloti Ngata. Ezekial Ansah should have a monster coming out party with additional playing time, and Deandre Levy is a terror on the outside. Kyle Van Noy is very solid as well. Their defensive pieces are solid, but as a unit they haven't played well together. It is in part to their secondary, which is dreadful at best.

4. The AFC goes through Denver, Cincinnati, and New England

The Broncos, Bengals, and Patriots all head into week 6 at 5-0. All three of these teams have looked the most solid out of the first five weeks.

Denver's defense is one of the most thorough I can remember in the last 5 years. The secondary is absolutely stacked with Chris Harris and TJ Ward. The linebacking core is the best in the league with Von Miller, Brandon Marshall, Danny Trevathan, and Von Miller. Absolutely disgusting. Peyton has struggled but they have still been fine. If he can turn it on at some point later on in the season, Denver will be tough to beat.

Andy Dalton has looked like he's finally turned the corner from average to above average. Maybe he can get a little bit of the Flacco magic and win the Bengals a Super Bowl. I don't know how I let myself just say that. Still, the Bengals have looked great and playing in the AFC North will really help them this year, which is weird to say. Big Ben's injury has rattled the Steelers early, and a LeVeon Bell injury would be incredibly back-breaking to them. The Ravens have really struggled defensively without Suggs in the middle and they have no one for Flacco to throw to outside of Steve Smith. And the Browns have Josh McCown at quarterback.

No comment on Patriots.

5. Colts have a tough road ahead of them

A Thursday night win against the Texans is reassuring, but the Colts have a long stretch ahead of them. They face a brutal stretch of New England, New Orleans, @ Carolina, Denver, and @ Atlanta