Week 6 of the NFL was very strange for many reasons. One of the quirkiness of the slate meant that the two unbeaten teams, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings enjoyed a bye week while their rivals battled on the Grid-Iron. One of the strangest matchup was on Sunday Night Football when the Cincinnati Bengals prevailed in a 17-7 win over the New York Giants. The Giants lost this game despite out-possessing the Bengals 34 to 25 minutes, having four fewer penalties for 57 yards, and converting 3 of 5 on fourth down. In this article, we will discuss the studs and duds from a strange week in the NFL.
Studs
1. King Henry makes the Ravens indefensible- with another dominant performance in week 6, it seems strange that teams were reluctant to sign Derrick Henry as a free agent in the offseason. In a matchup of Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels, Henry proved he was the third-best player on the field on Sunday. Henry tallied 24 catches, 132 yards, and two touchdowns in an impressive performance. Henry now leads the league in rush yards (704) and eight (8) touchdowns. The threat of Lamar Jackson running made the Commanders wonder who was attacking the defense on the ground. The duo leads in the rush yards per carry. It makes the Ravens deadly in the red zone, where they have an efficiency of 75%, tied for the lead with the Texans. Derrick Henry has made the Ravens the top offensive team in the NFL, and contenders wish they could have turned back the clocks to sign the running back in the off-season.
2. Love finds his groove- Jordan Love started the season shaky by losing their opener in Brazil and getting injured. However, the Packers rallied around backup quarterback Malik Willis, which led to back-to-back wins. Then, there was a good comeback against the Vikings that fell short and a narrow win over the Rams. However, in Week 6, Love looked like the quarterback that carried his team to the playoffs last season. Jordan completed 22 of 32 passes, 258 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. Love took advantage of the return of the speedy Christian Watson, who made three catches for 68 yards and one touchdown. Love found his receivers down the field and made an incredible throw off his back foot to Romeo Dubbs in the end zone with a pass rusher in his face. Also, the Packers’ defense was impressed by holding the Cardinals to 3 points in the second half. It is now four consecutive weeks since the unit has held the opposing offense to single-digit points. If the Packers can improve their red zone efficiency, they could be the top team in the NFC North.
3. Caleb Williams is starting to cook- the expectations for the number one draft pick are astronomical at the quarterback position. After his selection in the 2024 draft, many viewed Caleb Williams as the best quarterback in franchise history. Williams started the season with a rough opening win in which he tallied 93 yards. Then, there were back-to-back road struggles against the Texans and Colts in which he tallied only two touchdowns and four interceptions. However, Williams has shown resiliency by bouncing back in the Bears’ three-game winning streak including his demolition of the Jaguars in Week 6. Williams completed 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. A 3-game streak against the Rams, Panthers, and Jaguars is not the toughest test, but an interesting matchup with Jayden Daniels in week 7 will tell us more about who will win the Rookie of the Year Award.
Duds
1. Cowboys get destroyed and clowned at home- the Detroit Lions never forgot about their gut-wrenching loss last year when a successful two-point conversion was ruled out because an offensive lineman failed to report as an eligible receiver. The Lions played with an extra motivation to impose by outrushing their opponent 184-53 yards. The Lions ran the ball without the runner being touched at the line of scrimmage. They got dominated in the air by Jared Goff, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns. On the other hand, Dak Prescott failed to stop the bleeding by completing only 17 of 33 passes, 178 yards, and two interceptions. The Lions then embarrassed Dallas by lining up their offensive linemen as wide receivers in at least three attempts to get them into the end zone. It was a disastrous performance again at home for Dallas, which means they have lost their last four home games. The Cowboys became the first team since at least 2000 to trail by 14 points or more at halftime on their home field in four straight games. In fact, Dallas has trailed by at least 22 in each of those games, and it must be one of the strangest stats for a team that many saw as a championship contender. They must use the bye week to do something to change the trajectory of the season.
2. Nick Sirianni scolds the fans after a close win- the Eagles were a disappointment last season by losing 6 of their last seven games to crash out of the Wild Card round. This season, the Eagles were 2-2 after their bye week and facing a struggling Cleveland team at home. It felt like the perfect opponent to jump-start a team reeling from another shellacking before the bye from the Bucs. Instead, the Eagles had to come from behind in the fourth quarter to sneak out a 20-16 victory thanks to a late DeVontae Smith touchdown. Rather than be happy for the win and seeing this as a stepping-stone, Head Coach Nick Sirianni strangely thought it would be an opportune time to berate the Philly fans for booing his team when they were losing. Sirianni did not make sense when interviewed after the game because fans have the right to boo when they pay their hard-earned money and watch an inept offense on the field. Instead, Sirianni should focus on putting points on the board and rallying one of the best home crowds in the league.
3. Struggles in New York continue-October was supposed to be a beautiful time to be a New York sports fan. In baseball, the Mets and Yankees are in their respective conference championship series and are doing well. However, the football franchises are struggling to win games, especially at home. Both franchises are below .500 in the history of the stadiums. The Giants are 54-63-1 and the Jets are 55-64-0. Both teams were desperate for a primetime win in Week 6 and instead came up short in their attempt. At least the Giants can point to their low expectations because the Jets were expected to challenge this season. The Jets played their best game offensively but were too undisciplined in committing 11 penalties for 110 yards, and their wide receivers had at least four drops in a sloppy performance. The Jets are now 2-4, their owner fired their coach prematurely and now their week 7 matchup seems like a do-or-die against the Steelers.