What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Week 6

By Rhys Knott

Week 6’s Thursday Night Football offering didn’t so much fall into the Knott category as it created its own. That category is “the worst thing to happen in the Mountain time zone since the Battle of Little Bighorn”. Even the purists wanted to set their own eyeballs alight as they watched that nonsense.
 
In an unusual turn of events, the best football was played in London. And in an all too predictable turn of events, the officiating was simply horrible in prime time.

What’s Hot in Football – Week 6

Nobody in the NFL can claim to be as hot as Azeez Al-Shair. The hottest guy in the NFL has taken a stand, and despite the NFL’s attempts to silence him in an Ed Sheeran sort of way, Azeez Al-Shair is happy to pay the fines. And has been every week this season.
 
Paying tribute to innocent Palestinian children who have lost their lives in Gaza should be something everyone does, even if it does upset those in power.
What do Jason Kelce, Joe Marler and arsenic all have in common? They’re all fine in small doses. But Ilona Maher is one of the greatest humans to have ever lived, so we had to squeeze this in just for the mere mention of her name.  
 
Kelce might have drawn some flak after his commentary during the Eagles collapse at the Tottenham Stadium (although the most controversial part was that hat he was wearing), but a 21-stone ex-professional athlete playing rugby with Old Streetonians is very hot.
Before we get to Week 6’s on-field hot list, we first have to go back to Monday Night Football in Week 5 for the best highlight. It might make us terrible people, but nothing could be more hot than officials getting buffaloed by the Bills. No harm, no foul though, right?
There was one good thing about Thursday Night Football: the throwback uniforms. Not because we have any particular emotional connection to Broncos or Seahawks teams of the past, purely because white and orange stands out so well from silver and blue. It’s a rare W for the NFL’s marketing department.
International games are hot too, baby! Well, the 2026 slate has been- the Melbourne game was an outlier (just like Melbourne really), but the game in Brazil had a wild finish; the Commanders game had some great plays and would have been a nail-biter had Marcus Mariota stayed healthy. The Eagles and Jags served up a doozy in Tottenham, and the Wembley game put up historic numbers!
Marriage proposals in the stadium are pretty cheesy and can easily go horribly wrong, but marriage proposals between Texans fans next to Tower Bridge? Now that’s hot.
C.J. Stroud’s coat looked hot too. It wasn’t even that cold, C.J.
To quote Homer Simpson, “hazing the new guy” is hot. Not all rookie pranks are hot, but filling someone’s whip with polystyrene and shrink-wrapping it is a classic of the genre.   Justin Jefferson has had much opportunity to get on the field for the Browns in 2026, but the guys don’t want him to feel left out.
On the field, Kenneth Walker III is hot, not just in Week 6, but pretty much all year. Why the Seahawks thought they should allow the Super Bowl MVP to leave is a great mystery of our time.
Meanwhile, now that he’s away from that sham Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota, J.J. McCarthy is hot again.
Seriously, when Matt Nagy is getting more out of a QB than KOC ever could, you have to question if the Vikings boss deserves the “QB whisperer” tag.
On the topic of youngsters who had rough 2025 seasons, Travis Hunter’s hot too. If he can stay healthy, the much hyped Jag will have a very good season in a not quite as good team.
At the opposite end of the age spectrum, Geno Smith is hot this week at least. Technically, the Jets did lose, but not many quarterbacks can pull this pass off.
While we’re watching quarterbacks show off, how about this from Josh Allen. We’re not sure what to call it, but we are sure that it’s hot!
And, in news that will surprise absolutely nobody, Patrick Mahomes is hot too. You have to be a rare talent to match Tom Brady statiscally.
We can’t give the QB’s all the love, though. The Bears’ offensive line is hot too. Ben Johnson needs them to be too; his Bears offense is a very different prospect when Caleb is on the field.
If you were shocked by J.J. McCarthy’s hotness, then you are probably going to need to sit down for this one. The Cardinals are hot in Week 6! Who would have thunk it?
Kyler Gordon is hot, but not in the way a defensive back is typically hot. Nobody saw him replacing Montez Sweat in the pass rush department!
And everyone’s favourite “Malik of the Week” is back on top. That’s right, with a little help from J.J. McCarthy, Malik Nabers is the best receiver in the league. 165 yards on 12 receptions is 31 yards more than Jaxson Smith-Njigba managed on his 12 receptions, and that’s very hot!
But Malik Mustapha would like to stake a claim for Week 6’s “Malik of the Week” award.
And, finally, it’s hilarious interception club time. There aren’t many this week, but boy, are there a couple of all-timers! Malikk Hooker made a sensational grab to haul this one in after Josh Downs made a right Horlicks of trying to catch it.
And even A’Shawn Robinson isn’t sure how this pass ended up in his hands. At least three people had a chance to grab it!

What's Knott in Football - Week 6

In words that no normal human should ever have to utter, spitting at people is just about as Knott as it gets. C.J. Gardner-Johnson is very Knott in Week 6. You’re C.J. Gardner gone, son.

Punching someone’s helmet became a bit of a trend in 2025, but it seemed to have fizzled out this season, until now. This is very Knott, partly because those things are hard and will break your fingers if you punch them properly!

NFL Network camera work is Knott in Week 6.
Officials getting injured when they’re just trying to restart the game is very Knott. Hopefully Larry Smith is up and about quickly.  
But, back to punching, and injured commentators are very Knott too. Jim won’t be playing golf for a few days after that one. He did get to ice it afterwards. Men, eh, what are we like?

A head coach who doesn’t know if it’s fourth down or not is pretty Knott too. Can someone check in on Dan Quinn please? This is getting quite worrying.

The Kenneth Walker-less Seahawks are very Knott. While Walker is averaging 6.2 yards per carry in 2026 and has scored 4 rushing touchdowns in 4 games, the Seahawks average 3.9 per carry!
 
That’s putting more emphasis on Sam Darnold to generate offense, and he is, once again, incredibly Knott. He may still be recovering from an injury, but the 2026 numbers are scary bad!
That’s not to say Bo Nix was exactly lights out on Thursday night either. These are some very Knott numbers!

And for all the talk about Sean Payton calling the plays, the Broncos are still historically Knott in Week 6!

You know who else is Knott in Week 6? Jim Harbaugh, look away now, Chargers fans.
Matthew Golden put up numbers in Week 6; technically, it was against a depressingly poor Cowboys defense, but Golden is still Knott. By the end of the game, the second-year receiver would drop two touchdowns! This one is an absolute shower from Golden.
Justin Herbert is having a season to forget; he’s probably forgotten everything after this Shining Wizard from L’Jarius Sneed. You’ve just been L’Jarius-kneed, big fella. That’s definitely Knott.
But we rarely manage to go a whole week without having to flag up the officials, and Week 6 is no different. Monday Night Football involved one of the most incompetent officiating displays ever seen.
 
Not only did Adrian Hill’s crew miss three helmet-to-helmet hits, but they actually threw flags for two of them and then picked them up!
How officials can let that sort of thing go when this is being flagged as unnecessary roughness is anyone’s guess. It may have been unnecessary, but this is not “roughness”!
And we’re not the only ones who have noticed how diabolical the zebras have been in 2026. Clever people are all over it too.

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

Rated 5 out of 5
BoyleSports NFL