Ranking the 5 best NFL games of the 2025 season (so far)

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 (SNF) | Highmark Stadium (Orchard Park, N.Y.)
• FINAL SCORE: Bills 41, Ravens 40 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 1 (Weeks 1-5)

This game was supposed to be a heavyweight fight, and it didn't disappoint. The Ravens scored 40 points in only 25 minutes of possession. Bills quarterback Josh Allen showed why he won last year's MVP award by passing for 394 yards and scoring four total touchdowns. Baltimore actually dominated this contest with Lamar Jackson's passing and the running of Derrick Henry (169 yards and two touchdowns), but a late Henry fumble helped Buffalo rally from a 15-point deficit with a little more than four minutes to go. In the end, Allen put his team in position with timely runs and devastating throws. Since then, the Ravens have slipped into the AFC North cellar, thanks to Jackson's hamstring injury and a couple of blowout losses, and the Bills have hit some bumps during a two-game losing streak that dropped them out of first place in the AFC East for the first time since Week 1 of last season. The fact that this game continues to rule this list anyway speaks volumes about how thrilling it was as a lid-lifting prime-time showcase. 

-- Jeffri Chadiha

• Week 2 | Sunday, Sept. 14 | AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
• FINAL SCORE: Cowboys 40, Giants 37, OT (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 2 (Weeks 2-5)

The teams scored a combined 41 points in the fourth quarter, including an insane 17 points in the final 52 seconds of regulation. Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns, with the 48-yard scoring pass to Malik Nabers with 25 seconds left standing as a beautiful pitch and catch. And Brandon Aubrey nonchalantly booted a 64-yard field goal with several yards to spare to extend the game before hitting the winner in OT. If you like defense, this was probably not the game for you. But the Cowboys and Giants were both desperate to avoid an 0-2 start, and it produced a thriller with one mind-boggling play after another -- a memorable installment in this classic rivalry. The matchup gets bonus points for giving us one more chance to watch Wilson at his best before being replaced by Jaxson Dart, plus a Nabers highlight reel for Giants fans to dream of while the receiver recovers from an ACL tear. 

-- Judy Battista

• Week 5 | Sunday, Oct. 5 | Lumen Field (Seattle)
• FINAL SCORE: Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 3 (Week 5)

If you're a fan of fireworks, replaying Seattle-Tampa Bay is worth your time. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold went toe to toe in a fantastic display of aerial prowess, powering a back-and-forth affair that featured seven straight touchdown-scoring possessions and a combined total of just 10 incompletions between the two former Panthers signal-callers. A timely defensive play and clutch last-second field goal tipped the scales in favor of the Buccaneers in a game that was outrageously entertaining from start to finish.

-- Nick Shook

• Week 3 | Sunday, Sept. 21 | Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
• FINAL SCORE: Eagles 33, Rams 26 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 3 (Weeks 3-4), No. 4 (Week 5)

With their most recent playoff exit top of mind, the Los Angeles Rams completely wrecked the Eagles for two quarters, holding the reigning Super Bowl champions to a putrid 33 total yards. The destruction continued early in the third, with the Los Angeles offense capitalizing on the extremely short field created by a Jared Verse strip-sack of Jalen Hurts to build a 26-7 lead. As my colleague and Rams radio color analyst Maurice Jones-Drew described the scene to me later: "The Linc was shook." Then, little by little, it was like the Eagles remembered they were supposed to be one of the most balanced and talented teams in the NFL. Hurts went on an absolute tear in the second half to obliterate the Rams' 19-point lead. The comeback was cemented with a pair of field-goal blocks, one by Jalen Carter and the second by Jordan Davis, setting up one of the most indelible images of the season: Davis, at 336 pounds, rumbling 61 yards on the return for a touchdown as time expired, punctuating a victory that could have playoff implications -- unless we end up looking back upon it as an early sign of trouble for a Philly squad that has scuffled since.

-- Brooke Cersosimo

• Week 4 | Sunday, Sept. 28 (SNF) | AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
• FINAL SCORE: Packers 40, Cowboys 40, OT (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 4 (Week 4), No. 5 (Week 5)

Who likes a tie? Well, what if the teams involved score a lot of points -- like, the second-most in a tie game in NFL history? What makes ties undeniably unsatisfying is the way they just ... end. But that was also kind of fitting for a night that was highlighted by a touchdown not being scored, with Micah Parsons chasing down Dak Prescott to prevent the QB from making a decisive dash into the end zone halfway through overtime. There was plenty of dramatic juice here leading up to kickoff: Would Parsons show up Jerry Jones under the lights? Would Prescott and Co. prove they could succeed without Parsons (or injured WR CeeDee Lamb)? In the end, "revenge" -- whatever that might have meant -- was denied of all parties. Green Bay's early 13-0 lead was quickly swallowed up by a flurry of explosive plays, with Josh Jacobs steamrolling defenders, Jordan Love spraying darts, Prescott tossing bombs and George Pickens making monster catches until neither side could go any further, subverting our narratively trite ideas about "winners" and "losers."

-- Tom Blair