NFL Scores Week 5: Top Fantasy Stars, Results and Latest Team Stats

It was a crazy start to Sunday in fantasy football and the NFL as a whole in Week 5. Top scorers emerged from the unlikeliest of places, such as Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. 

Rushing touchdowns also came from unexpected sources, chiefly slow quarterbacks. Joe Flacco scored twice on the ground, and Andy Dalton ran in for one, as did Josh McCown. There were also three overtime games in the early slate, a rare sight in the NFL.

With a week full of heretofore unheralded heroes, fantasy owners on the wrong end of those scores should be especially livid.

Here are the Week 5 results, top fantasy players and key box-score stats from each game. Top players are based on ESPN.com's fantasy football leaderboard. Skill players and defenses are given precedence over quarterbacks when point totals are close or there is a particularly notable result.

Away	Score	Home	Notable Fantasy Player	Key Team Stat
Indianapolis Colts	27-20	Houston Texans	Andre Johnson (IND): 6 REC, 77YDS, 2 TD	Indianapolis plus-two in turnovers; Matt Hasselbeck (IND) 2 TD, no picks in place of Andrew Luck
Buffalo Bills	14-13	Tennessee Titans	Tyrod Taylor (BUF): 10-of-17, 109 YDS, 1 TD; 76 RSH YDS, 1 TD; 1 REC, 4 YDS	Buffalo just 209 yards of total offense; Mariota first game without TD pass
Cleveland Browns	33-30 (OT)	Baltimore Ravens	Josh McCown (CLE): 36-of-51, 457 YDS, 2 TD; 12 RSH YDS, 1 TD	McCown career-high 457 passing yards, no turnovers in game for either team
Chicago Bears	18-17	Kansas City Chiefs	Matt Forte (CHI): 18 CAR, 71 YDS; 5 REC, 38 REC YDS, 1 TD	Cairo Santos (KC): 1/3 FG
Seattle Seahawks	24-27 (OT)	Cincinnati Bengals	Thomas Rawls (SEA): 23 CAR, 169 YDS, 1 TD	Bengals 27 first downs, Seattle 16
St. Louis Rams	10-24	Green Bay Packers	Packers D/ST: 10 pts allowed, 4 INT, 1 pick six, 3 sacks	Green Bay four forced turnovers, 1 defensive TD; St. Louis 5-of-18 on third downs
Jacksonville Jaguars	31-38	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Blake Bortles (JAX): 23-of-33, 303 YDS, 4 TD, 1 INT; 21 RSH YDS	Tampa Bay plus-two in turnovers
New Orleans Saints	17-39	Philadelphia Eagles	DeMarco Murray (PHI): 20 CAR, 83 YDS, 1 TD; 37 REC YDS	Eagles season-high 519 yards on offense
Washington Redskins	19-25 (OT)	Atlanta Falcons	Devonta Freeman (ATL): 27 CAR, 153 YDS, 1 TD; 44 REC YDS	Falcons outgained Washington 418-270 yards on offense
Denver Broncos	16-10	Oakland Raiders	Denver D/ST: 1 INT (pick six), 2 FR, 10 pts allowed, 4 sacks	Denver forced 3 turnovers, Oakland held to two sacks
Arizona Cardinals	42-17	Detroit Lions	Carson Palmer (AZ): 11-of-14, 161 YDS, 3 TD	Arizona plus-six turnovers
New England Patriots	30-6	Dallas Cowboys	Tom Brady (NE): 20-of-27, 275 YDS, 2 TD; 1 RSH TD	Dallas held 264 yards on offense, 4-of-14 on third down
San Francisco 49ers	27-30	New York Giants	Eli Manning (NYG): 41-of-54, 441 YDS, 3 TD, 1 INT	49ers allowed 525 yards of offense

Fantasy Stars from Early Sunday Slate

Doug Martin, RB, Tampa Bay

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Way to go Muscle Ha—I mean, um, Doug Martin.

After two injury-plagued, ineffective seasons, Martin recaptured his 2012 form on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars with 124 rushing yards, 35 more through the air and three scores. He only needed two quarters—116 yards, two TDs in the first half—to top his big game from last week, in which he racked up 106 rushing yards and one touchdown in a loss to Carolina.

The short, stocky back's low center of gravity came in handy on this twirling touchdown run, via the NFL: 

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller saw this coming: 

"

Doug Martin is running so hard this year. Saw it even in the preseason.

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 11, 2015"

Sunday was his first multitouchdown effort since Week 12 in 2012, per ESPN Stats & Info.

With Charles Sims picking up a handful of touches each game—proving particularly effective as a third-down back—and rookie Jameis Winston at quarterback, there hasn't been much reason to get excited about Martin from a fantasy perspective. His best effort in the first three weeks of the season was the 98 all-purpose yards notched in a win over New Orleans, but even that performance was mitigated by a lost fumble.

Now, with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games and his first scores of the season coming in the past two weeks, he's looking like a solid RB2 option in most, if not all, leagues. Martin is still something of a risky option, as this young Tampa Bay team is liable to stall out in any given week.

Remember, Sunday was the Buccaneers' first home win in 11 games. This squad is still very much under construction, and it remains to be seen if Martin can prove to be a reliable foundation moving forward.

Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Sophomore signal-caller Blake Bortles put together the finest game of his young career in a loss to Tampa Bay. The University of Central Florida alum completed 23 of 33 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns with one pick. He also picked up a couple of extra fantasy points on the ground with one nifty 21-yard carry.

Bortles has a fine stable of young receivers surrounding him on offense. Allen Robinson caught two touchdowns, while Allen Hurns topped the 100-yard receiving threshold and added a score of his own. 

NFL Network's James Koh loved the strike to Hurns: 

ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth noted that Bortles came into the game as one of the better QBs in the league under pressure: 

Tight end Julius Thomas made his 2015 debut on Sunday, yet Bortles didn't really need him. Thomas caught just two passes for 20 yards. If the superstar tight end finds his groove in this offense, Bortles could be in for some more fine fantasy afternoons. The future is bright for him, although it's probably too early to consider him a QB1 just yet.


Josh McCown, QB, Cleveland

Gail Burton/Associated Press

What's crazier than a Jags quarterback putting up a top fantasy performance? Well, how about a Browns signal-caller? McCown had a nice day for fantasy football owners. He completed 36 of 51 passes for 457 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. He added to that gaudy total with a slow-QB rushing touchdown.

Part of McCown's success has been the emergence of tight end Gary Barnidge, who followed up an insane, bobbling catch against San Diego with this early catch-of-the-year candidate against Baltimore, via the NFL: 

The Browns caught some flack for re-inserting McCown as starter in Week 3 instead of a winning Johnny Manziel. It turned out to be the right call, as McCown has been uniformly excellent. He now has three straight games of at least 340 yards passing and has thrown six TDs against one pick in that span. 

No Browns quarterback has ever been quite this prolific over a three-week stretch, per ESPN Stats & Info: 

It's not crazy to think about starting McCown in your fantasy league. There's precedence for him as a viable starting quarterback. In taking over for an injured Jay Cutler with Chicago in 2013, McCown threw 13 touchdowns and one interception. The 36-year-old has seemingly taken the Vinny Testaverde route to success, improving with several years of experience under his belt. He's definitely worth picking up as a fill-in play.