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Week 5 gave us a tie, a Thursday night wipeout, and a changing of the guard at the top. MCF takes the Week 5 title outright at 12-2-1 (.833), up from 11-5 the week before. That's 12 wins, 2 losses and a tie – more on the tie in a moment – and there's no one to share the crown with this time.

Right behind, BowlHogs33 and DePickers Dawgs share second place at 11-3-1 (.767), a single game back. BowlHogs33's climb from 10-6 was the bigger leap of the two. Below them sits a five-way tie for fourth at 10-4-1 (.700): T_Money, mosooner, Hatchett, Cletus, and Usato, with mosooner and Usato both improving on a 10-6 week.

Just off the leaders is the week's biggest pile-up: nine players tied at 9-5-1 (.633) – MaxieGirl, The G.O.A.T, Road Warriors, Cruizer, TT12, Gridiron Guru, Sunday Guesser, Coin Flip Casey, and Jadyn. Jadyn's jump from 7-9 and TT12's from 8-8 were the best stories in that crowd. One notch lower, a four-way tie at 8-6-1 (.567): HilRoadKill, Cuba, Cped710, and Professor.

The bottom of the board is where last week's podium went to pieces. 7$come$11, last week's brilliant 14-2 winner, came back down to earth at 7-7-1 (.500), tied for 22nd with Raven Irish and The Cardinal. Worse, clawesomeboy, last week's runner-up at 12-4, finished dead last at 3-11-1 (.233). Just above, Donojjhawk, UpInBuffalo, Amie G, and G-Mann share 6-8-1 (.433), with G-Mann's fall from 11-5 the steepest of that group. Whatever the opposite of a hot streak is, two of the pool's best sheets found it in the same week.

The strangest result of the week came in Washington, where the Giants and Commanders played to a 27-27 tie – the first tie of the PEPF season. Anyone who picked the game, on either side, earned half a win, which is why 12-2 comes out to .833 rather than .857. For everyone who picked it, it was neither a win nor a loss, which made it the quietest result on the board.

Everything else made plenty of noise. On Thursday night, Tampa Bay beat Dallas 24-16, and every player who picked that game had the Cowboys – a 100% consensus that went down in flames, so nobody in the pool cashed the opening game of the week. It wasn't the only result against the room: the Jets beat the Browns 17-12 (76% had Cleveland), Green Bay routed Chicago 31-7 (55% had the Bears), and San Francisco edged Seattle 32-29 against the 59% who picked the Seahawks. Four results went against the majority.

The games that went the room's way were rarely comfortable. Jacksonville edged Philadelphia 19-17, a two-point squeaker for the 72% who took the Jaguars. Baltimore held off Atlanta 30-23 in a 52% coin flip, and on Monday night Buffalo outlasted the Rams 37-34 – the highest-scoring game of the week and another 52% call that landed on the right side. Cincinnati, the week's only unanimous pick that held up, beat Miami 31-24.

The loudest statements came from New England, which put up 45 points in a 45-17 rout of Las Vegas, and Detroit, which scored 45 in a 45-21 win at Arizona. But the standings tell the real story: a nine-way tie, a five-way tie, and a week where last week's two best sheets landed near the bottom. Week 6 kicks off Thursday – and nobody should feel safe.

Five weeks in, T_Money holds first place for the second straight week at 53-25-1 (.677). One game back is MCF at 52-26-1 (.665), who climbed two spots on the back of the Week 5 win, and another game behind is DePickers Dawgs at 51-27-1 (.652). Sunday Guesser and Hatchett are tied for fourth at 50-28-1 (.639). Every step down the top five is exactly one game, which is about as tight as a leaderboard gets.

The cushion behind them is thin. Cletus sits sixth at 39-23-1 (.627), and The G.O.A.T, Road Warriors, and Cuba share seventh at 49-29-1 (.627), a statistical dead heat with the sixth-place spot. HilRoadKill and mosooner tie for tenth at 48-30-1 (.614). Only about six percentage points separate first place from tenth, and a good week is all it takes to rearrange that whole stretch.

Movement at the top-ten line was a two-for-two swap. Cletus jumped from 14th to 6th and mosooner climbed from 15th to a share of 10th, both stepping back into the top ten. Going the other way, Raven Irish and 7$come$11 each fell out of a share of fourth and landed in a six-way tie for 12th at 47-31-1 (.601), one game outside the top ten.

The week's biggest climber was BowlHogs33, who rose nine spots from 21st to the 12th-place tie after an 11-3-1 Week 5. Cletus gained eight, mosooner five, and MaxieGirl, Cruizer, and TT12 each moved up three. The steepest slide belonged to clawesomeboy, down ten spots from 15th to 25th at 41-37-1 (.525). Raven Irish and 7$come$11 each dropped eight, Donojjhawk seven, and HilRoadKill and The Cardinal six apiece.

At the bottom of the table, Cped710 remains 28th at 25-37-1 (.405), but the trend is up: an 8-6-1 Week 5 lifted the season percentage from .354. Coin Flip Casey and UpInBuffalo share 26th at 39-39-1 (.500), with clawesomeboy one rung above them. The percentage format is forgiving at this stage of the season, and nobody here is out of reach.

The season's first tie shows up in the yearly numbers too. Half a win went to everyone who picked Giants-Commanders, which is why so many records now carry that extra “-1.” It's a handy reminder that this contest is decided on percentage, not total wins, and that half a game here and there can decide who sits where.

For a picture of how quickly standings can turn, look at 7$come$11: 18th after Week 3, fourth after Week 4, and back to a share of 12th after Week 5. Last week's co-runners-up also felt the churn, with Cuba sliding from second to seventh and Sunday Guesser dropping from second to a share of fourth. Only T_Money kept the lead.

With six percentage points between first and tenth and a one-game gap at every step of the top five, the championship race is wide open and entering a stretch where it will start to sort itself out. Week 6 kicks off Thursday.