NFL Week Six Takeaways.

NFL Week Six Takeaways

The Rams, Chargers, and Colts All Avoid Upset Bids in Week Six. I Expected The Rams to Both Play Down To Ravens' Level and Blow Baltimore Out In The End. Los Angeles Landed Somewhere In The Middle Of Those Expectations. The Rams' Defense Gave Up 296 Yards, 179 On The Ground, But Only Gave Up Three Points as Los Angeles Forced Three Baltimore Turnovers. The Rams Converted One Of The Ravens' Fumbles That Gave The Rams a Short Field Into A second-half touchdown. Matthew Stafford And The Offense Produce Enough Points To Take Down The Ravens and Drop Baltimore To 1-5. Not A Great Game From Stafford, Who Lost Pula Nacua for a Stretch, But His Placement Looked Erratic all Evening. But, According To Next Gen stats, the Ravens forced Stafford off the Platform.

And Out Of The Pocket on 21.4% Of His Dropbacks. The Chargers End Their Three-Game Skid After One Game Winning Field Goal In Last Frames Of Sunday’s Showdown With the Dolphins. MIA’s Defense Deserve censure Again, As Quarterback Tua Threw Three Interceptions But Shook Off The Bad Plays To Put The Dolphins In Position To lead With A Late Touchdown Drive That Put MIA Up 27-26 With 46 Seconds Left In The Game. The Dolphin Defense Gave Up 403 Yards To The Chargers, Including 124 To Fourth-String Running Back Kimani Vidal, But No Greater Than The 42 Yard Catch and Run Pass Play Connection To Ladd McConkey. If you’re the Dolphins, How Do You Let That Happen With Less Than A Minute To Go? McConkey, Whose Had A Down Year Compared To what He Accomplished In His Rookie Season, Forced A Missed Tackle And Ran The Chargers Into Field Goal Range Late In The Game. The Chargers secured a critical 29-27 victory, which is especially significant given the comeback of the Chiefs. This win not only bolsters the Chargers’ standing but also sends a clear message to the rest of the AFC as they prepare for the remaining season. A Very Dolphin-Like Game where The Highs Of The Thrill Ride Only Lead To a Steep Drop. If any Team Needs To Tear Down Their Roster Before The Trade Deadline, the Dolphins stand out as A Top Candidate. Daniels jones Had One Of Those Daniel Jones Moments In The Second Quarter On A Roll. Cardinals Linebacker Mack Wilson Runs With Jones Stride For Stride Playing The Passing Lane To The Colts' Tight End Mo Alie-Cox. Jones Determines To Throw The Ball Right Into Wilson’s Hands, the worst play He Could’ve Made In The Moment, and maybe Jones doesn’t Understand The Physics Of air Resistance and Throwing Against a Moving Object. Cardinals Backup Jacoby Brissett, A Former Starter For Multiple Teams, including the Colts, Stepped In For An Injured Kyler Murray and passed for 320 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, and One Pick. The Colts rallied late on the Strength Of an excellent Jonathan Taylor in the Second Half. Taylor Put Up 42 Yards and One Score in the fourth to Help Give Indy A 31-27 Win. If Brissett can maintain success passing the ball, depending on how long Kyler Murray misses time, he can make the conversation about Kyler Murray as a full-time starter interesting. The Chiefs Defeated The Lions 30-17 On Sunday Night Football To Rise To 3-3 On The Season. Patrick Mahomes Registered Four Touchdowns, One On The Ground and Three Through The Air, But The Chiefs' Defense Kept The Lions in Check, not allowing A Rushing Score or Over 100 Yards To The Lions' Backfield. Jared Goff Stayed Efficient 23/29, 203 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 79.3% completion, But Only Connected Four Passes Of 10 Air Yards Or Better And Nothing Over 20 Yards Downfield.

Buccaneers Vs 49ers

For The 4th or 5th Time, The Buccaneers Feature In The Must Watch, Fireworks Expected Game Of The Week, and The Team Has Lived Up to The Attention. Baker Mayfield played “pristine” Against The Seahawks, And Every Play, every yard looks earned. He’s Playing Like He’s Still A walk-on at TEXAS tech. Baker’s Game Tying Touchdown Steeling Shepard Didn’t Get The Hype I felt The Pass deserved Because He Threaded Two Defenders With all Mustard He Could Muster and Baker Nets The Bucs A Win.

Mac Jones Has Played mostly Clean In His Spot Starts For Brock Purdy, But His Redemption Tour Almost Hit a Block Against The Buccaneers Defense. Jones played “Up and Down” 27/39 for 347 Passing, 75.5 Passer Rating, But Threw Two Picks, Suffered Six Sacks, and had No Touchdowns.

The San Francisco First Offensive Drive Jones Throws An Interception On An Out Route Miscommunication That Set Up The Buccaneers Up In The Red zone Capped Off By a Rushing Touchdown. Jones Responded, Connecting With his Favorite Receiver, Kendrick Bourne, for 46 Yards To Set Up A Field Goal. In The Second Quarter, Mac Jones Suffers A Sack Fumble That The Niners recover. Jones Recovers and Again Looks Kendrick Bourne's Way This Time For A 56 Yard Connection. The Niners Offense Works Their Way Down To Goal Aline and Christian McCaffrey Cashes In A One-Yard Touchdown. The Niners, still dealing With A Rash Of injuries, Still Have A Strong Blocking Scheme up Front Despite A Low Run block Win Rate. The Niners Gifted the Bucs Their First Touchdown. Baker Mayfield Had To Shake Off An Up and Down To Get The Bucs the other two touchdowns of The First Half. Despite Missing Some Open receivers, Mayfeild Connected With Emeka Egbuka for 17 Yards and Tight end Cade Otten for 23 Yards, and these plays helped set A Nine Yard Sean Tucker Run that Gave The Bucs a 14-10 lead. After A Niners Field Goal, the Bucs Drive From Their Own 37 In Five Plays, Baker Mayfield going 3/4 for 63 Yards And A Big 34 Yard pass to second-year receiver Kameron Johnson To Finish Off A five-play 72 Yard Drive. The Niners Lost Linebacker Fre Warner To Injury, and The Defense Struggled With Blown Coverages That Mayfield and offensive Coordinator Josh Gizzard Started Exploiting Those Miscues. Mac Jones threw for 200 Yards In The First Half, and the Bucs had a Tough Time Covering Kendrick Bourne Downfield. He’s Practically The Only Niners’ Receiver Opposing Defenses Need To Cover Consistently, With Most Of San Francisco’s Weapons Missing. Bourne Finished The Game With Another Big Outing, five Catches For 142 Receiving Yards, and Other NFL Teams Should Start Making Calls about Brandon Aiyuk's Availability.

The Niners Settle for Another Field Goal after Racking Up A lot of Yardage. The Bucs Lost Star Rookie Receiver Emeka Egbuka to a Hamstring Injury In The Second half. Baker Mayfield Decides To put the Team On His Back. On the Bucs' First Drive Of The Second, Baker Mayfield faced a Third and 14 with the Bucs Still In Their Own Territory. Mayfield Takes Off, evades pressure, avoids a Tackler downfield, and stretches out To Gain The First Down and A 15 Yard Run. Two Plays Later, he connects with Rookie Tez Johnson for 45 Yards and a touchdown. Mayfield and the Bucs Settle The Score 30-19, Marking Mayfield’s First Win Over The Niners In His Career. How Would Mayfield Respond To Losing All His Top Targets This Season and Follow Up His Big Performance From Week Five? Baker Racked Up 17/23 For 256 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, No Picks, and A 139 Passer Rating. The Blown Coverages Help Mayfield Knock Down Passes To Open Receivers Crossing Over The Middle Of The Field. Both Of Mayfield’s Touchdowns Traveled Over 20 Air Yards. The loss Drops The Niners to 4-2, But They Still Hold The Lead In The NFC West. But If They Continue To Lose Talent Like Fred Warner, Who They Lost For The Season, the Niners Might Fall Out Of The Running.

Panthers Vs Cowboys

The Rico Dowdle Express Took On His old Team, the Cowboys, and If You Believe Last Week Against The Dolphins happened By Fluke, the double-up pulling Off Upsets Versus “Superior” Teams. In Week Six, the Cowboys were dropped 30-27 by the Panthers. Despite Three Touchdowns From Dak Prescott and 168 Yards From George Pickens, the Panthers’ defense forced a Field Goal And A Punt From The Cowboys' Offense In The Fourth quarter. Bryce Young, Rico Dowdle, and the Panthers Offense exhausted 15 Plays For 71 Yards To Lead The Panthers Into Field Goal Range and Deliver The Victory. Bryce Young didn’t “Wow,” But He knows How To Handle Bad Defenses. The Former Number One Overall Pick Threw Three Touchdowns on 17/25 Passing. Rico Dowdle Knew The Assignment: 30 Carries For 183 Yards On The Ground, 239 Yards From Scrimmage, and His Runs set up multiple goal-line Opportunities For The Panthers. Rookie Tet McMilan Caught his First Two Touchdowns Of His Career. The Panthers Have Three Wins, And While A long Season Remains In front Of Them, The Offense Has Shown Promise Over The Past 6 of 8 Quarters. The Panthers Have One Of The Best fourth-quarter offenses in the League, 0.232 EPA/play In The Final 15 minutes Of Action, usually Because They Play from behind. However, when Caught In Tight Games Late, the Panthers Will Usually have a Stronger Advantage In executing 2 two-minute offenses Compared To Other Teams that haven’t Conditioned Themselves To High play. The Cowboys Needed This “Easy” Game To Help Fill In Their Loss Column. Instead, they took the “L” Because Of The Defense. The Cowboys' Run Game Didn’t Show Up, and For The Second Week, the Panthers forced an Offense To Play One Dimensionally. Dak Prescott passed up several opportunities late in the game by opting for check-down passes instead of playing aggressively to keep the Cowboys' final drive alive. Instead of taking charge, the Cowboys played as if they were hoping the Panthers would simply give up in the closing moments.

Jaguars Vs Seahawks

No Quarterback Entered Week Six Hotter Than Sam Darnold. He’s Surpassed The Expectations Of His Breakout Season With Minnesota, But He Faced His Toughest Test Of The Season Against These Jags, forcing A Negative or Unsuccessful Pass Play on 53.4% of the attempts they’ve Faced This Season. Two Unmovable Forces Met, But Darnold Won Out against The Jags After A Slow Start.

The Battle To Prove Which Team’s Early Success Looks For Real Goes To The Seahawks 20-12. Darnold finished 16/27 for 295 Passing yards, Two Touchdowns, Three Explosive Passes Of Over 20 Air Yards, and A 121.7 Passer Rating.

Another Monster's Performance From Jaxson Smith-Njigba 8 Catches For 162 Yards One Touchdown. Darnold didn’t Produce The Otherworldly success Rate Of Games Prior, and the Seahawks suffered A Couple of failed drives. The Offense made Plays When They Needed. The Defense Kept The Jags' Offense From Getting Back Into The Game after a Promising Start.

On The Other Hand, The Seahawks' Defense Got Exposed In Week Five Downfield By Jacksonville’s Florida Native, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Liam Ceon Called Plays For Tampa Last Season, and His Protege, Josh Gizzard, took over when Ceon Moved North. Coen Understood how To Beat The Seahawks Over The Too Down Field. Could His Quarterback Master The Deep Pass Craft? Lawrence entered the Game Most Effective In The Medium Range (10-19 yards), generating 0.218 EPA per attempt. Lawrence Got The Jags on The Board first, Three Drives Into The Game For The Jaguars. Lawrence Connects With His Top Receiver, Brian Thomas Jr., for a 21 Yard Touchdown. Lawrence Connected On Four Passes Of 10 Plus yards, Three Straight Connections To Close The Drive With the Touchdown For the Jags. Jacksonville Had Momentum To Start The game, Forcing Two 3 three-outs and A Field Goal On The Seahawks' First Three Drives. Lawrence Finished 27/42 For 258 Passing, Two Touchdowns, and a 97.1 Passer Rating. Wide Receiver Brian Thomas Jr. had 8 Catches For 90 Receiving Yards, but couldn’t get Much Going with His Other Receiving Option. After the Jags' Touchdown Drive late in the First Quarter, That Imbued The Offense With Confidence after moving The Ball Effectively.

Sam Darnold Only Needed One Play, One Pass To Flip the Momentum, Hitting His Top Receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba For a 61 Yard Touchdown In The Second Quarter, Three Drives Later. The Seahawks' Second Touchdown Of The Game, An 11-yard pass from Darnold to Cooper Kupp, Put The Seahawks up 20-6 In The Third quarter. Darnold Accounted For 56 of 77 Yards On The Seahawks' second Touchdown. The Seahawks' Defensive Line Cracked The Code On The Jags’s Offensive Line That Protected Lawrence At A Top Five Rate This Season. The Seahawks' Pass Rush Sacked Lawrence Seven Times and pressured him at His Highest Rate All Season. Neither the Jags' Heralded Offensive Line nor their Pass defense Held Up Throughout The Game, and I think we Knew The Pass Defense Could Get Exposed, But The offensive Line Struggled.

Giants Vs Eagles

Both The Giants And The Eagles Enter Week Six on Thursday After Suffering Upset Losses In Week Five, But Obviously, Only One Of These Team Have Super Bowl Aspirations. The Eagles couldn’t Tush Push Their Way Into Fourth Quarter Offense Against The Broncos In The Fourth Quarter, and The Passing Attack Lags Far Behind Any Other Team In The Same Bracket As The Eagles. A lot Of Jokes Have Circulated on the Internet about how Inept The Eagles offense Looks Without, And Sometimes With, the Tush Push. While The Eagles Won Their First Four Games and Wins Would Look Good On Any Strength of Victory, No One Questioned The Offense. The Giants Stun Philly On Thursday, 34-17. If the Eagles' Offense Couldn’t Bounce Back From A Dour Loss To The Broncos, Assuming The defense, Top Ten In Passing Defense, But Bottom Ten In Rushing Defense, Could Force The Giants, Starting A Rookie Quarterback Without The Team’s Top Option Outside, Into Some Disadvantageous Situation Where The Eagles Could Capitalize. After All, The Giants' Offense “Gifted” The Saints Five Extra Positions In The Form Of Turnovers, Including One Score. The Eagles don’t Turn The Giants Over. Instead, The Eagles -13.30 In Total EPA Lost On Two Fourth Quarter Turnovers, and The Giants' Offense Responds To Their Turnover Outing With Five Touchdowns. Pass Defense For New York Gets The Best Of, hurts forcing A late-game sealing Interception. The Eagles Pass defense gave 0.20 EPA A play to Jaxson Dart Through The Air. Dart Finished 17/25 For 195 Passing Yards and A Touchdown. The Rookie Sensation For The Giants Also Hurt Philly On The Ground. Dart Register New York’s First Two Touchdowns and one of the Offense's Four Rushing Touchdowns, With a 20 Yard Scramble Touchdown. Later In The First Quarter, Dart Hooks Up With Receiver Wan’Dale Robinson For A 35-yard, 23-yard after-the-catch Catch To Give The Giants A 13-3 lead In The First Quarter. The Eagles' run Game Continues To struggle, Even Pitted against This Lackluster Giants Run Defense. Saquon Barkley had 12 Carries For 58 Yards, and Jalen Hurts Scored On A Tush Push But Rushed Seven Times For 13 Yards On The Ground. The Eagles Activated The Air Game For If Not To Beat The Giants Then To At least Not Have the Following Weeks Headlines Dominated By Trade Rumors And AJ Brown Tweet Interpretations. Hurts Passed For A Season High 283 Passing Yards On 24/33, 72.7% Completion, -0.01 EPA Per Drop Back, and One Touchdown. AJ Brown picks up 80 Yards. The Eagles Took The Lead In The Second Quarter, following back-to-back touchdown Drives In the second Quarter, 17-13. After Midway Through The Second Quarter, The Eagles Didn’t Score Another Point. Right now, the Eagles Rank last in Second Half Scoring, and Without A Run, the Eagles can’t Pad The Time Of possession in the Second Half To Limit. Last Season, the Eagles dominated second-half time Of Possession, 55.25% of the Second half fell Under The Eagles' Control First. According to Team Ranking, this season, the Eagles ranked second-to-last in The Same Category. I Assumed Hope The Giants Would Defeat Themselves. Instead, Cam Skattebo, The Giants' Rookie Running Back Who Fumbled Against The Saints, Bammed His Way Through The Eagles' Front For a Second Half Touchdown. A Fourth Round Pick Cam Won Over NFL Draft Audiences With Hard, Hard-Hitting Style Of Running. The Eagles Ranked 22nd In Run Stop Win Rate With Star Defensive Tackle Jalen Carter In The Lineup. Carter’s Absence Ok, The Window Up The Gut For The Giants' Run Game To Take Advantage of Up The Middle. Skattebo Nabs Three Touchdowns In The Second Half, The Giants Go 3-3 In The Red Zone, all Runs, 14 Rushing First Downs, and Cam Skattebo Finished With 19 Carries For 98 Rushing Yards as the Giants offense went 11/16 On Third Down. The Giants ran 39 Rushing Plays For A Total Of 172 Yards, Five Scrambles, and 8 Quarterback runs. The Quarterback's Effectiveness In The Run Game Adds A Layer The Giants Lacked Before Starting Dart. The Eagles' Offense Finished just 1/9 and 2/2 On The Fourth. Hurts Scrambled Just Twice, For 12 Yards. He Faced Pressure Nine Times But Took Three Sacks. Hurts And The Eagles' Offense May Need To Scramble and Design a Run Game More To Keep The Offense Moving Without An Elite Pass Game To Lean On. The Eagles' Pass Game Has To Take Over and Run More Than “Go” routes, Slants, and Stick Concepts. I Think the Giants Have Legitimate Credibility Competitively. Yeah, They Drop The Ball Against New Orleans, But They Played headstrong and Took Advantage Of the Eagles' Vulnerability and Hubris In This Game. The Giants Have One Of The Hardest schedules in Football, But They Have several Upset Opportunities Upcoming.

Patriots vs Saints

Optimistic Patriots Fans Like Me Wanted Drake Maye To Make Strides Between This Season and Last Season. The Patriots made A few Acquisitions In The Offseason, But The Days Of Tom Brady Attracting top-shelf veterans have passed, So The Patriots settled for The Guys In The

Middle and Fans Expected A Middle Team. This Season, Drake Maye Pushed Himself Away From The Oscillating and Amorphous Talent From Last Season Into A Top Ten Quarterback. Maye Passes For Two Touchdowns For The Patriots In The First Quarter, That Gave The Patriots An Early 14-6 Lead. One Of Maye’s Passes Went For 53 Yards Downfield. The Other Touchdown Pass, 25 Yards To Wide Receiver Kayshon Boutte in The Back Of The End zone. Maye And The Patriots Nearly Put The Saints Away Early, But New Orleans and Spencer Rattler Crawled Back Into The Game. The Offense Started Hot With a 53 Yard Pass Play From Rattler To Olave That Set Up A Saints Field Goal. The Saints score On Their First Four Drives Of The Game, Three Field Goals and One Touchdown. Taysom Hill Runs In a Quick Touchdown that Capped Off An 11 Play 60 Yard Drive. Drake Maye Finishes The First Half With Another Touchdown To Boutte For 29 Yards. Maye Finished The First Half 11/13 For 185, 14.3 Per Pass, Three Touchdowns, 158.3 Passer Rating. All Of Maye’s Touchdown Passes Traveled Over 25 Air Yards. Spencer Rattler’s Good Start 12/14 129 Passing Yards 105.1 Passer Rating Looked Underwhelming Compared To Maye. The Saints Continued To Fight In This Contest. Entering The Fourth Quarter, The Patriots Held A 6 Point Lead On The Saints Late In The Fourth. The Saints' defense Slowed Down Drake Maye Considerably In The Second Half. Maye Finished The Game 18/26 for 261 Passing Yards, Three Touchdowns. Thats 7/13 For 76 Yards In The Second, No Touchdowns. Tight End Juwan Johnson’s Fumble In The Fourth Quarter All But Doomed The Saints' Upset Efforts. Kayshon Boutte Finished With Five Catches For 93 Receiving Yards As Another Emerging Offensive Option. The Patriots Fumbled Twice But Didn’t Lose A Fumble On The Game.

Jets vs. Broncos

The Jets/Broncos Game Started In A Way Only These Two Teams Would: Three Drives, Three Field Goals In London. Both Offenses Have Struggled To Get Started Early In Games. The Broncos rank among the NFL's worst first-quarter offenses, standing 28th in EPA during that period, before evolving into the fifth-best fourth-quarter offense in terms of EPA. The Jets start The Game A Little Better At 26th in EPA Per Play In The First, Before Dropping To 31st In The Second, Before Rising and taking To The Skies As The Number One Fourth Quarter Offense In The League. The teams share several Similarities, Including Two “Scramblers” At Quarterback, But The Defense separates the Outcomes. At One Point, Way Through The First Half, the Broncos' Offense Generated 175 Yards Of offense compared To One Yard By The Jets, -12 Yards Passing Due To Sacks, but Denver Only Held A four-point game. I Like That Sean Payton Went Aggressive, Going For It On Fourth Down On The Teams 9 Play, 69 Yard Quarter Touchdown Drive.

The Jets gained favorable field position due to special teams and the defense forcing a fumble, marking the first turnover of the year for the Jets' defense. However, they had to settle for field goals twice on their first two possessions. The Jets, Seeking Their First Win, Struggled On Third Down against This Tough Broncos Defense, Not Converting On Third Down Early In The Game. Justin Field Struggled Navigating This Broncos Pass Rush That Ranks Top Five in The League in Pressures and sacks, and they Nabbed Fields In The First Half On The Same Drive. The Jets got some Yardage and A First Down To End The Half, but the Offense Played Poorly. Garrett Wilson didn’t get a Catch Until Late In The First Half, and So Often The Jets don’t Have Many Options If Fields can’t Get Anything Going On The Ground. The Jets got the First Down Before The Half On A Fake Punt, but didn't do Much Else With The Ball After The Conversion Before The Half ended. The Jets' Blocking Looked Inexperienced and couldn’t Execute Much Of The Blocking Scheme. Yet, After A field Goal To Start The Third, the Jets' Defense forced a Safety On A holding Penalty In The End Zone, And The Jets took an 11-10 Lead In The Third Despite Averaging 2.2 Yards Per Play. Penalties by the Broncos and special teams for the Jets kept the Jets alive in a game that looked one-sided for much of the afternoon.

Bo Nic didn’t produce any Passing yards In The Second Half until The Fourth Quarter. The Jets' Defense Kept Everything In Front Of Them against the Broncos' Passing Offense, but They Got a fourth-quarter field Goal, and that was All The Team needed for a 13-11 Win. The Defense Registered Nine Sacks, Including the Game-Sealing Sack On Justin Field on 4th and 8 to go With Less Than Two Minutes On The Clock. The Jets Fall To 0-6, Generate Just 82 Total Yardage, 1.4 yards Per Play, and that’s Not All On Justin Fields, but the Jets Have To Try Something Or Someone Else To Get This Offense. Neither Team Could Run The Ball, But The Jets Came Away With 92 Rushing Yards and The Broncos 78 Rushing Yards. Fields 45 Yards Passing On Nine Completions, the Jets Don’t Have Enough Weapons to Support A Functional Offense. Bo Nix didn’t play World Breaking Ball 19/30 for 174 and One Touchdown. He Played With Moxie, Got The Broncos' nine First Downs Through The Air and One On The Ground To Keep The Broncos away from an Upset.