This Week's Player Results

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.