NFL Week 5: What to watch for on Sunday

It’s October. The leaves are falling from the trees. The mercury isn’t reaching quite as high in the thermometer. Jackets are beginning to come out of hiding.

In the NFL, we’re done with the first quarter of the season. The worst teams in the league — we’re looking at you Miami, Cincinnati, Washington and New York — are already thinking about the draft. The best teams — hello Kansas City, New England — are gunning for home-field advantage and pondering little else.

But what about the other three-quarters of the league? Well, damn near all of them are looking at a 2-2 record and hoping to make move over the next month. Here’s what to watch for as we get rolling with October football.

• The AFC South has a chance to see some movement this week. The Indianapolis Colts have the toughest assignment of the week,  having to take on the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium. With the Colts looking at a double-digit spread, the Houston Texans are home to take on the reeling Atlanta Falcons. If Houston loses two consecutive home tilts to teams with losing records, we might need to reevaluate the Texans. Houston has a chance to gain on Indy and perhaps a few others.
• It’s time to make a statement for the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota has been very uneven through the first four weeks of the year, going 2-2. Kirk Cousins has been among the biggest disappointments in the league to this juncture, failing to throw for 1,000 yards while only notching three touchdown passes. With the New York Giants on tap, Cousins and Co. need to get rolling in a big way.
• Can the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make a move? Tampa was able to win impressively over the Los Angeles Rams last weekend, rolling up 55 points in the victory. Now, the Bucs travel to New Orleans for a date with Teddy Bridgewater and the Saints. If Bruce Arians’ team can handle the Saints and move to 3-2, it’ll be 2-0 in the NFC South with both wins coming on the road.
• Finally, can we avoid quarterbacks being injured this week. In Week 1, it was Nick Foles breaking his clavicle. The next week, Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees went down for extended periods of time. Last weekend, Josh Allen was forced to leave a tight game with a concussion. Week 3 saw Kyle Allen replace Cam Newton. It would be terrific to see one week go by without a starting quarterback sidelined.