Week Five Recap

Results

TeamScore
Texans1
Colts3

As has been the trend for this season, teams have been putting up points faster than Lavar Ball can think of something new to say. Apparently, this week, the Colts and Texans didn’t get the memo. In what was the first true defensive battle of the year, the Colts were one play away from pitching a shut-out and left the Texans with yet another loss.

After a historic performance by Omar Khamissa, the Texans had difficulty moving the ball down the field, let alone scoring it. QB Salim Ladha, an otherwise accurate QB, ended the game with a 44.7% completion percentage and two interceptions. The receivers didn’t do their QB too many favors, as there were plenty of missed opportunities for the Texans’ pass-catchers. While the offense had nothing to hang their hat on in this one, there are grounds for a moral victory as they kept the highest-scoring team in the league to simply three touchdowns. Khaleel Kassam displayed amazing awareness, reading QB Kumail Meghani’s eyes with a spectacular sliding interception. In their first game with seven players, the Texans showed the league that they could do some damage and move up the standings if the attendance keeps up.

When you score two plays and >50 seconds into the game, you would expect to be able to put up loads of points… Didn’t exactly translate over for the Colts. While two of their touchdowns were scored (by Muzammil Rizvi and Farhan Ratansi) in what seemed like a blink of an eye, the offense couldn’t take advantage of plenty of opportunities. But ask any Colts player and they’ll be proud of their defensive effort. Mohammed Railey was able to grab his first interception of the year, while Farhan Ratansi hauled in a beauty of an interception, literally stealing away a would-be touchdown. The Colts will need to be clicking on all cylinders for their next game though, as they take on the second-hottest team in the league, the Vikings.

Results

TeamScore
Vikings9
Patriots8

At this point, the Patriots must be tired of it. In what was their third loss of the season after holding a 2+ score lead (two games to the Vikings, one to the Colts), the team was left to reassess what can be done to cure the dry spell. Meanwhile, the Vikings were able to continue their non-losing streak (they haven’t lost since Week 1) and maintain on their collision course to battling the #1 Colts.

Although they were missing a large piece in Ahmed Goralwalla and introducing key players to their team (Shabbir Rizvi and Qumber Ali), the Patriots were able to adjust on the fly and kept up with the Vikings throughout. Captain Muhammad Ali and Asghar Molu carved up the Vikings’ secondary, grabbing 18 catches and 7 touchdowns. Shabbir Rizvi was able to ingratiate himself with his new team quite quickly, as he hauled in an beauty of a deep ball thrown by QB Taleb Zaidi. While the red zone offense was clicking, the Patriots dug their own graves with two turnovers and an inability to keep up on defense. However, don’t discount these Patriots just yet. Playing the newly-energized Texans in Week 6 should show the team’s true colours, regardless of the result.

After a terrible start, that had QB Hisham Ali tossing two interceptions early, the Vikings were able to turn it around as they kept up with the high-powered Patriots offense. As has been their M.O. for the season, QB Hisham Ali was able to spread the ball around, giving six different receivers a chance to celebrate in the end zone, including three to Ali Haroon. Captain Mujtaba Abidi, who battled through injury, showed out with what might be his most complete game of the year with 4 catches, 7 flag grabs, a touchdown, and an interception. However, the difference in this game was Shoaib Mamdani, who some may call the X-Factor of this team. If he performs well, the team has a high chance of coming out as victors. And perform he did, with 8 catches, 2 touchdowns and a great “tip drill” interception that showed off his awareness.

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