The NFL Sunday Review: Week 6

Well… none of that made sense, right? Week 6 Sunday was one for the books in that Vegas took everyone’s money and barely any of the teams who were supposed to win actually did. You could well call it “The Day of the Underdog,” but we have to start with the biggest game of the season so far, which looks like it might still be an AFC Championship preview.

Mahomes And Allen Continue To Enthrall, Bills Win

Josh Allen vs Patrick Mahomes is going to go down as one of, if not the greatest, QB rivalry in NFL history. These two mavericks continue to play at a level that feels like it’s above everyone else in the league, with all due respect to Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, and others who might fancy themselves as MVP candidates. And yet, this time, it was Mahomes who made the fatal mistake that gave Buffalo the victory.

I kind of didn’t really believe it had happened when Mahomes was picked off on the last drive of the game, as those sorts of things just don’t happen to him. I was watching, saying to myself “I can’t believe the Chiefs have won this game,” when they’d just gotten the ball back, down 4, but with a minute left. This is not meant to sound disrespectful to the Bills – whose defense is INCREDIBLE – but I had zero doubt Mahomes was driving down and winning the game. And then, Superman’s cape slipped! The pick! Skyy Moore couldn’t grasp it and Taron Johnson jumped in front of the rookie to ice the game.

Mahomes was visibly gutted with the ending, clearly expecting to go and win the game, but the Chiefs won’t sweat this too much. It could cost them in so far as home field advantage for the Playoffs, but we all know when they lights are brightest that Kelce, Mahomes & whichever receiver and running back Patrick wants to make a star that day will all show up and be successful.

Buffalo had come from behind, having led most of the way, before Harrison Butker’s 2nd successful Field Goal of the day had given Kansas City the lead with a shade under 10 minutes to play. The game-winning TD was caught by Dawson Knox, who capped off the Josh Allen masterclass of 329yds passing, 3TD passes, and 32 yards rushing to defeat the Bills nemesis.

Allen is a true phenom. He’s unflappable; capable of running through you, throwing around you, or HURDLING over you, as we saw late on, in what became the game-winning drive. You don’t want to jinx it, but everything is pointing to Josh Allen really putting his foot down in the back half of this season, winning the AFC East, winning the MVP, and making the deeeeeeeeeeeeep playoff run that Buffalo craves.

After the heartbreak of last season’s AFC Divisional Round defeat, the Bills could celebrate a modicum of retribution, though it is worth noting that Buffalo have now won at Arrowhead in back to back regular season games. They’re clearly not intimidated, and they can beat the Chiefs, but have just fallen short on multiple occasions in the Playoffs when it really counts. With Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis looking as good as they do, and the defense reinforced by the arrival of the sparkplug Von Miller, you have to feel this could well be Buffalo’s year… finally.

What’s weird about this rivalry is that – sure – it’s super competitive and physical, but the respect between both sets of players only reinforces how good each team is. It’s like they’re the real life embodiment of that Spiderman meme, where they’re pointing at each other. These two teams are juggernauts, who you feel can only be stopped by each other, officiating, or genuine acts of god level miracles.

I’d be happy watching these two teams play every single week. I’d never get bored. Remember when the Cavs and Warriors played each other in the NBA Finals EVERY year for like half a decade? Yeah, I hated that by the end. But with these two?! Give me Chiefs – Bills in the AFC Title game every year until 2035 and I’ll be a happy bunny. Thank you to both teams for being so god damn enjoyable to watch. You suffer through Thursday Nights to enjoy games like these on Sundays…

Eagles Go 6-0 As Rush Runs Out Of Magic

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

The battle for the top spot in the NFC East was one I spent most of Sunday looking forward to. The lone remaining undefeated team in the league – the Philadelphia Eagles – reigniting hostilities with the surprisingly 4-1 Dallas Cowboys? Sign me up. This one took a little while to get going, but in the end did not disappoint as a nightcap to another hectic NFL Sunday.

The Cooper Rush magic was always going to have to end at some point, and this game was just a bridge too far for the red-headed wonder to mastermind another Cowboys win. The Eagles burst into life in the 2nd quarter and the score jumped from 0-0 to 20-0 in the space of what felt like thirty seconds. Jalen Hurts’ relationship with both AJ Brown and Devonta Smith continues to pay dividends for Philly, as that trio remains extremely deadly – and both WRs found the endzone last night.

That said, give credit where it’s due to Dallas; they hung in. The Cowboys could easily have folded down 3 scores, but scored 17 straight points to at least make the home fans a little restless midway through the 4th quarter. CJ Gardner-Johnson came up with two big INTs, taking the game away from Dallas and allowing Hurts and his merry-go-round of annoyingly unusable Fantasy RBs to grind out the clock.

But all of this should be of no concern to the average Cowboys fan. Sure, you hate losing to a rival, especially Philly, but if I’d offered Cowboys Nation a 4-2 record and Dak back within 5 weeks after that Buccaneers game in Week 1, they would’ve been burning their own Cowboy hats to see that dream become reality. Cooper Rush has kept the ship very much afloat, and whilst the Cowboys currently sit 3rd in the NFC East, you have to feel good knowing their franchise QB is back next week vs Detroit, and entering a run of winnable games that can keep the Cowboys very much in playoff contention.

But it would be remiss of me not to give HUGE amounts of credit to Nick Sirianni and this Eagles team for starting the season 6-0, heading into their Bye week. The league is very much on notice. I laughed off pre-season suggestions that the Eagles could be headed towards #1 seed in the NFC status, and yet the Buccaneers, Packers and entire NFC West are all faltering, and the Eagles are the clear and obvious favourite to represent their conference in the SuperBowl as things stand. Jalen Hurts goes from strength to strength, tonight using his legs only sparingly, and still being able to throw his guys open and get the ball efficiently into the hands of his talented playmakers.

After the Bye, Philly get Pittsburgh, Houston, Washington & Indianapolis, before they face Green Bay in the final week of November… Is this team going to be 10-0?! It’s certainly a real possibility, and the ‘72 Miami Dolphins are starting to sweat juuuuuust a little bit. The Eagles continue to fly.

The Day Of The Underdog

There were so many worthy contenders for the “3rd game” slot in this article, that I felt I could only really show adequate respect to the plucky underdogs who upset the NFL’s collective apple cart with their performances on Sunday if I mentioned all of them together. What on earth happened on Sunday?!

I don’t know the exact odds, but if you’d bet $5 on the Jets to beat the Packers, Giants to beat the Ravens, Steelers to beat the Buccaneers & the Falcons to beat the Niners… I’m convinced you’d have ended the day as a millionaire. Unbelievable. All four of those upsets have to make us sit up straight and re-evaluate BOTH teams involved in each game. All four teams that were upset have had legitimate claims to being a SuperBowl contender over the last year or two. After this slate of results, that may no longer be the case for some. 

For example, as impressive as the New York Jets have been over the last few weeks… I really have to take a step back and examine who the Green Bay Packers are right now. Have I been too high on the Packers, due to the assumption that Aaron Rodgers is just “too good to fail?” After yesterday… the answer might be yes. Give Gang Green some credit, they played one hell of a game, and Breece Hall continues to show he is everything he was advertised to be and so much more.

However, the real story is a double-edged sword between how good the Jets’ defense looks, and how pedestrian the Packers’ offense is. Aaron Jones was a non-factor, AJ Dillon held under wraps, and Romeo Doubs didn’t provide any explosive breakout plays that Packer fans were hoping would continue after his showing against the Bucs a few weeks ago. Sauce Gardner was fantastic, and his decision to wear the CheeseHead as he exited the Lambeau pitch was *chef’s kiss* beautiful shithousery. Credit to the Jets, but there are serious concerns about the Pack now.

Similarly… what in the hell happened to the Steelers over the last week? From getting shellacked by the Bills (no shame in that, in truth), to upsetting Tom Brady and the Bucs in just 7 days?! All whilst Kenny Pickett exited the game in the 3rd with a concussion, and the responsibility fell back into Mitch Trubisky’s lap to steer the ship home? AND he actually did it?! Mike Tomlin really is a genius of a coach.

Again, as with the Jets, I feel this says more about Tampa than it does Pittsburgh, who got a lead and were able to play solid defense and run the clock to sneak out their second win of the season. Tampa, on the other hand, are 3-3. They’ve looked abject offensively in 5 out of 6 games, and are extremely fortunate that the rest of the NFC South is so weak that they might effectively make the playoffs just by default. I am unimpressed so far.  

Furthemore, the Atlanta Falcons are so freaking frisky. What a showing they had yesterday. Marcus Mariota showing Jimmy G how to be a game manager?! Inject that right into my veins. The FraudtyNiners continue to flatter to deceive, as they win games they should lose, and lose ones they should win by 30. The Falcons have a bottom 5 roster, and are somehow getting top 5 effort out of it.

Arthur Smith has found something special to unite these guys and is making the rest of the league pay. If that egregious “roughing the passer” call last week hadn’t happened… might the Falcons be 4-2 and in 1st place in the NFC South!? This whole thing is so confusing. Anyway, back to the drawing board for Shanahan and San Fran who still can’t find any rhythm, or put a full-game good performance on both sides of the ball together. I just can’t trust San Fran, and will continue not to do so.

Lastly, perhaps the one upset that REALLY made me think I may have misjudged a team… was the New York Giants beating the Baltimore Ravens. Are… are… are the Giants just actually good?! I’ve been saying for weeks the Brian Daboll’s special sauce would run out, and I thought it had following the Monday night loss to the Cowboys. The Giants have responded by beating the Packers in London and then becoming the first NFC team EVER to beat Lamar Jackson (no, seriously!). What on earth!?! Is Daboll the next Belichick?!

I was convinced Daniel Jones couldn’t be the guy, and he has barely any WRs around him (though welcome to the league, Wan’Dale Robinson, great to see you), but with Saquon back running hard and the G-Men’s defense stifling Lamar, I have to sit back and acknowledge this Giants team are proving a lot of doubters wrong. What a couple of weeks for New York football teams! The Big Apple is jumping right now I’m sure. So, in conclusion, all these upsets proved that NONE OF US know what’s going to happen every Sunday, no matter how sure we are that we do. All four of these games made zero sense, and yet here we are with the Jets at 4-2, the Giants at 5-1 and the Falcons at 3-3. What is this bizarre world we live in?

Thursday Night Throwback

Hey, remember when we thought Colts vs Broncos was the worst game we’d ever seen? Yeah, that lasted all of exactly… 7 days. Jeff Bezos is frantically looking for the receipt for the Thursday Night Football package, and wondering if he can order Touchdowns on Amazon.

All this game really proved is that both these teams are a disappointment to the NFL’s global brand, and in all honesty should be relegated to the NCAA and replaced with Tennessee and Georgia for entertainment value alone. Justin Fields and Carson Wentz may both not have starting QB positions in the NFL after this season.

The Bears need to rebuild their entire team (aside from their RBs), and the Commanders appear to be treading water waiting for something… though I have no idea what that thing is. Dan Snyder to finally be ousted? Might be another half century if we’re honest. The less said about this game the better. Washington won in a war of attrition and mistakes. Shout out Brian Robinson for his miraculous recovery from gunshot wounds.

Quick Hits

Pats Pulpit
  • Is… erm… Is Bailey Zappe better than Mac Jones?! Some are asking… Zappe became the first rookie since (Hall of Famer) Sonny Jurgensen to win both of his first 2 starts and have a passer rating of 100 or more in both games. If you’re wondering why you don’t know who Jurgensen is, it’s because he did it in 1957. Is this the start of Bledsoe/Brady 2.0 in New England? No, probably not, but Zappe is doing way more than expected, and all of a sudden the Patriots are back to .500. I still don’t feel they have enough to be a playoff team, but Zappe (and their impressive defense) is giving their fans some hope.
  • The Browns are now 2-4, and have to be absolutely kicking themselves for a couple of those terrible losses. The Ravens and Bengals appear to be a class above this Browns team (and the Steelers) in the AFC North, even if nobody has really found a proper level of consistency yet. Jacoby Brissett is still not able to be a starting calibre Quarterback of any repute.
  • Why oh why did Tua have to suffer that/those concussion/s? Sad face. I genuinely wonder how different things would be had he not taken those two hits. Do I really believe the Dolphins would be 6-0? No… Do I feel certain they’d be better than the 3-3 they are now? Absofreakinglutely. 
  • Kirk Cousins still sucks. You can’t convince me otherwise. Credit Dalvin Cook for icing this one for Minnesota, who are somehow 5-1… (#FraudWatch on Twitter on Tuesday)
  • Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase repeated their Bayou magic and led the Bengals get a big win, back at the site of their LSU National Championship triumph. Cincy have found life after a very poor start and are now tied atop the AFC North with the inconsistent Ravens. I do also feel bad for the Saints, who haven’t got a single break all season, and seem doomed to a very average season based on the injury bug alone. Rough for Dennis Allen in his first season at the helm.
  • Maybe it wasn’t just Matt Rhule? Maybe Baker wasn’t getting much help around him either? The Panthers started brightly – actually getting CMC involved in the game plan – but the Rams had too much for Carolina in the 2nd half, as their defense began to show up. The Rams are a weird one right now, with Cam Akers seemingly being forced out the door, and the team playing well below expectations, and yet sitting at 3-3 and in a 3 way tie for the lead in the NFC West. This division continues to be downright weird year in, year out. 
  • Geno Smith comes right back down to earth and yet the Seahawks win AGAIN?! This could have been in the above “upset” section, but the Cardinals are so confusing right now it can hardly be called a true shocker. Arizona are foaming at the mouth to get Deandre Hopkins back next week, and will be praying that James Conner is healthy, and Hollywood Brown’s injury isn’t too bad either. This is a roster more than capable of winning the NFC West, but they need to start acting (and playing like it). They could be 4-2, yet instead they’re 2-4 and are one freaky Fumble-6 not happening away from being 1-5… yeeeeesh. Fix it Kliff!
  • Matty Ice! Back from the dead! With Halloween just around the corner, Matt Ryan rolled back the clock, dug the Colts out of a grave, and showed the league that MAYBE he’s got just enough magic left in his body to be a threat to the Playoff race. The Colts take advantage of the Titans’ Bye week, and vault themselves right back into contention for the AFC South, with a weird 3-2-1 record. Colts vs Titans next week should be a good game! Jacksonville, you’re still a couple of years away. Sorry.

MNF Prediction: (Season Record: 4-2)

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

When will the pain stop? When will we stop having to watch the Denver Broncos in PrimeTime? Thankfully, I can confirm we get a week off next week! The Broncos in the late afternoon slot in Week 7 before they head to London in the “just about early enough in the morning that you can ignore it” slot stateside. But, if there’s one silver lining to Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett’s very public comedy of errors continuing to be broadcast, is that this week, we at least get to see one of the true young superstars of the league face off against them. 

It’s an AFC West showdown, as the aforementioned Denver Broncos travel to SoFi stadium to take on Justin Herbert, Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams, and the Los Angeles Chargers. Those three names should be enough to reassure you that you WILL see some points in this game, even if Russ and the Broncos don’t help contribute to the total. The Chargers are the off-season darlings of many people (myself included), and I actually love Brandon Staley’s willingness to trust analytics and do the unorthodox thing based on feel, playing to win, and the moment itself.

Obviously, there will be moments when it bites you, but I stand firm in believing it’ll help you more than it hinders you in the long run. In this game itself, I think it’ll come down to how well the Broncos talented defense can stand up to the Chargers offense. It looks like Keenan Allen is going to miss his 5th straight game, but the rest of that squad can more than pick up the slack. The Broncos have shown me nothing to suggest I should believe in them, therefore I’m confident in saying that the Chargers will win.

Week 7 Preview

So we head to Week 7 and THANK THE LORD we have a good game on Thursday Night, which is also pretty much “must win” for both teams. The 2-4 Saints face the 2-4 Cardinals in a game which will SURELY have more than the miserly 19 we were treated to by Chicago and Washington this week. Then, Sunday’s early slate is headlined by Ravens vs Browns, Titans vs Colts, and Dak Prescott’s return vs the Lions.

The late window’s biggest game is without doubt the SuperBowl rematch between the Chiefs and 49ers, as KC look to rebound from the loss to the Bills. Sunday Night we get Tua Tagovailoa returning as the Dolphins host Pickett/Trubisky and the Steelers, before Monday Night gives us … oh GOD. Bears vs Patriots. Yuck. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this article. I’m @CallumJDSquires on Twitter & Instagram. Come say hey. Hope you all have a great week. Cheers.

Callum Squires

NFL/CFB Analyst

CALLUM IS FROM LONDON, BUT PLAYED COLLEGE SOCCER AT TRINITY UNIVERSITY IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, WHERE HE LEARNED NEVER TO CHEER FOR THE COWBOYS. CALLUM IS A LONG-SUFFERING DOLPHINS FAN WHO BELIEVES THE TUA HYPE. NOW BACK STATESIDE, HIT HIM UP ON TWITTER @CALLUMJDSQUIRES!

5/5

Feature Image Credit: SI.com