Millions of folks wager their lunch money every week on NFL proposition bets. And you can bet not a single one correctly picked who would be the fantasy football standout of Week 5.

Say hello to Rico Dowdle, who you might be surprised to learn rushed for 1,079 yards last season in Dallas. Not too shabby, but in no way an indicator of the huge day he had running free through the meager Miami defense.

After 26 touches, Dowdle had 234 total yards and a touchdown. With Chuba Hubbard likely to miss at least another week, Dowdle is a must start this week against Dallas.

Dowdle wasn’t the only candidate for most valuable backup the past couple of weeks. He had company:

Kendrick Bourne (49ers WR) — San Francisco’s healthiest receiver had a banner night last Thursday at SoFi. Ten catches for 142 yards. With Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings still iffy for this week against Tampa Bay, Bourne could have another big game.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne (84) runs in front of Los Angeles Rams linebacker Nate Landman during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

Rachaad White (Buccaneers RB) — The former starter had 18 touches for 72 yards and two touchdowns last Sunday in place of injured Bucky Irving. The latter is pretty banged up, so you can count on White having his old job back for at least another week.

Rachaad White #1 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is tackled by Josh Jobe #29 of the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field on Oct. 05, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

Michael Carter (Cardinals RB) — He led Arizona backs with 23 touches for 73 yards and a TD against Tennessee. And considering backfield mate Emeri Demercado’s epic drop-fail at the goal line, Carter will be getting even more touches in the coming weeks.

Arizona Cardinals running back Michael Carter (22) runs the ball against the Tennessee Titans linebacker Cedric Gray (33) and linebacker Cody Barton (50) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Kenneth Gainwell (Steelers RB) — The former Eagles backup may have taken the Pittsburgh starting job from Jaylen Warren with his Week 4 production: 25 touches for 134 yards and two scores against the Jets.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell (14) scores a touchdown as he flips over Minnesota Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (2) during an NFL football game at Croke Park in Dublin, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Gregory Payan/AP Content Services for the NFL)

Mac Jones (49ers QB) — San Francisco has hardly missed Brock Purdy. Jones has averaged more than 300 yards passing and two touchdowns in his three weeks, proving that almost any QB can thrive in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones (10) runs with the ball during an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Sitting stars

Baltimore’s offense is a mess, so it’s actually possible you might not want to start RB Derrick Henry against the Rams. … You also don’t want to start Jets RB Breece Hall against Denver’s defense. … Neither Bengals RB Chase Brown nor all-pro wideout Ja’Marr Chase will do much against Green Bay, at least until Garbage Time. … Tampa Bay is barely using oft-injured WR Chris Godwin. … And two quarterbacks who will be kept in check this week are Pittsburgh’s Aaron Rodgers versus the Browns and Chicago’s Caleb Williams against Washington.

Derrick Henry #22 of the Baltimore Ravens is tackled as he rushes with the ball during the first quarter against the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium on Oct. 05, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Matchup game

Jacory Croskey-Merritt is now the unchallenged RB1 in Washington, and he’ll run well versus Chicago. … Same goes for Denver RB J.K. Dobbins against the lowly Jets. … Seattle WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba is having an all-pro year, and he gets the Jaguars this week. … Tennessee WR Calvin Ridley woke up last week and will thrive against Las Vegas. … All new Miami tight end Darren Waller does is score touchdowns, and he’ll get another against the Chargers. … But Los Angeles QB Justin Herbert will make up for that by embarrassing the Dolphins’ secondary. … And New England’s hot combo of QB Drake Maye and WR Stefon Diggs will pad their stats against New Orleans.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt #22 of the Washington Commanders scores a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 05, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Injury watch

The big new absence is Chargers rookie RB Omarion Hampton, who will miss at least four weeks due to an ankle injury. That means L.A. is down to Hassan Haskins and Kimani Vidal. Neither too appealing, fantasy-wise. … Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson is still a couple weeks away. … Notables listed as questionable at midweek include two RBs (Eagles’ Saquon Barkley, Giants’ Tyrone Tracy), two WRs (Commanders’ Terry McLaurin, Atlanta’s Darnell Mooney), two TEs (Raiders’ Brock Bowers, Jaguars’ Brenton Strange) and two QBs (Arizona’s Kyler Murray, the Giants’ Jaxson Dart).

Omarion Hampton #8 of the Los Angeles Chargers is tackled during the first quarter against the Washington Commanders at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 05, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Deepest sleeper

Dallas wide receiver Ryan Flournoy more than doubled his career numbers in the Cowboys’ rout of the Jets in New Jersey. The second-year pro had nine catches for 114 yards, helping make up for the absence of injured CeeDee Lamb. The all-pro is expected back in the next two weeks, so it will likely be a brief starring role for the former Redhawk of Southeast Missouri State. But if you have Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison or Nico Collins on a bye this week, you could do worse on the waiver wire.

Dallas Cowboys’ Ryan Flournoy catches a pass in front of New York Jets’ Brandon Stephens during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The Thursday pick

Eagles at Giants (+6½)
Pick: Eagles by 17

Saquon Barkley #26 of the Philadelphia Eagles in action against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 20, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

You can hear Kevin Cusick on Thursdays on Bob Sansevere’s “BS Show” podcast on iTunes. You can follow Kevin on X– @theloopnow. He can be reached at kcusick@pioneerpress.com.

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Today is Wednesday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2025. There are 84 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 8, 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake on the Pakistan-India border killed an estimated 86,000 people.

Also on this date:

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire began; more than 300 people died and more than 17,000 structures were destroyed during the three-day blaze.

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In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

In 1997, scientists reported the Mars Pathfinder had yielded what could be the strongest evidence yet that Mars might once have been hospitable to life.

In 2002, a federal judge approved President George W. Bush’s request to reopen West Coast ports, ending a 10-day labor lockout that was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.

In 2016, Donald Trump vowed to continue his campaign after many Republicans called on him to abandon his presidential bid in the wake of the release of a 2005 video in which he made lewd remarks about women and appeared to condone sexual assault.

In 2020, authorities in Michigan said six men had been charged with conspiring to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in reaction to what they viewed as her “uncontrolled power.”

In 2022, an explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging an important supply artery for the Kremlin’s war effort in southern Ukraine.

In 2024, two pioneers of artificial intelligence — Canadian John Hopfield and American Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way people work and live.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Paul Hogan is 86.
Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 84.
Comedian Chevy Chase is 82.
Author R.L. Stine is 82.
Actor Sigourney Weaver is 76.
Musician Robert “Kool” Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 75.
Producer-director Edward Zwick is 73.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott is 70.
Comedian Darrell Hammond is 70.
Actor Kim Wayans is 64.
Gospel singer CeCe Winans is 61.
Olympic gold medal swimmer Matt Biondi is 60.
Actor Karyn Parsons is 59.
Singer-producer Teddy Riley is 58.
Actor Matt Damon is 55.
Actor-TV host Nick Cannon is 45.
Singer-songwriter Bruno Mars is 40.
Actor Angus T. Jones is 32.
Actor-singer Bella Thorne is 28.

The driver in the west-central Minnesota crash of a fire truck that killed one passenger and severely injured another is suspected of having been under the influence of alcohol, according to a search warrant filed in Yellow Medicine County District Court.

According to the search warrant, first responders found several beer cans in the ditch where the Wood Lake Fire Department truck crashed on Sept. 26 while returning from a local high school homecoming parade.

Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, of Wood Lake, was identified as the passenger who died at the scene of the 6:30 p.m. crash. Reminger was found underneath the truck, according to the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office. He was a retired firefighter, according to the Wood Lake Fire Department.

Authorities believe that Andrew Vanhecke, 37, of Wood Lake, was driving the truck. Vanhecke, a current member of the Wood Lake Fire Department, was hospitalized after the crash, as was his 6-year-old son, Beaux Vanhecke. Authorities obtained a blood sample from Andrew Vanhecke at the Marshall hospital. A blood-alcohol analysis by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is pending.

No criminal charges had been filed as of Tuesday. The search warrants were filed Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. A search warrant request has also been filed in Lyon County, where the fire truck has been impounded, seeking data from the vehicle’s electronic control module.

According to the warrants, the initial investigation determined that the fire truck veered onto the shoulder, struck a mailbox and overcorrected. It rolled on the roadway several times before coming to rest in the ditch on the opposite side of the road.

Reminger was ejected from the fire truck. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, none of the occupants was wearing a seat belt and no airbags deployed. Road conditions were reported as dry.

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DULUTH, Minn. — A massive freeway project to untangle Duluth’s “Can of Worms” interchange is nearing completion.

Gov. Tim Walz and other local, state and federal officials gathered Monday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $435 million reconstruction of the junction of Interstate 35, Interstate 535 and U.S. 53.

The work began in 2020 and required an intricate rerouting of the busy interchange, which connects Superior, Wis., via the Blatnik Bridge.

According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the interchange sees an average daily traffic of 5,320 heavy commercial vehicles.

“Today does mark a major milestone for Duluth and for our region,” Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert said. “After years of construction, we are finally able to reconnect the backbone transportation system of northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. This completion today is not just about a safer, more efficient travel system, but again, a better-connected Twin Ports.”

Safety improvements include the elimination of left exits and blind merges, improved merging sight distance and increased lane continuity.

Funding was provided by MnDOT and federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

The interchange is scheduled to open to traffic on Oct. 24.

Duluth-Superior will have only a brief reprieve from disruptive road construction.

The deteriorating Blatnik Bridge, which spans the St. Louis River, is due for replacement itself starting next year.

The $1.8 billion project, which is expected to wrap up in 2031, is funded by MnDOT, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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