What’s hot and what’s Knott in football – Week 6

By Rhys Knott

Well, this week several running backs are hotter than a hot thing’s hot bits and the Jaguars are not so much Knott, it’s deader than a Norwegian Blue.

But for the first time in the 2024 football season, we have unearthed something that is both Hot and Knott. It’s the NFC West, and like a work of modern art, it is many things to many people. 

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For Rams fans, the NFC West is a weekly torture chamber, but for fans of the other three teams, it’s a rollercoaster. And for neutrals, it’s equally entertaining and frustrating. If any of the four protagonists could actually keep players healthy, it would be the best division in football. 

McCaffrey, Kupp, Nacua, Woolen, Byron Murphy, Hufanga, Hargrave, John Johnson III, Trey McBride, and B.J. Ojulari have all suffered injuries in the first five weeks of the season. But even with so many stars missing, the NFC West is still providing plenty of entertainment. While the 49ers should win it, it’s far from a done deal.

What’s hot in Football - Week 6

Some coach’s seats must be feeling hotter than a California wildfire after Week 6 too. But let’s start somewhere unexpected because booming punts have become trendy recently too.

Bears’ rookie punter Tory Taylor (who is absolutely massive) walloped the football 64 yards in Tottenham, and Corey Bojorquez of the Browns (who smoked an 84-yarder in Week 3) matched Taylor’s 64-yard effort. 

Tommy Townsend (who should have played for Shankly’s Liverpool with a name like that) bettered that when he belted one 65 yards! The Raiders’ A.J. Cole (who is almost as massive as Taylor) hit for 66 yards and he’s not even Australian!  

But the diminutive Ryan Stonehouse (who is six inches shorter than and 30 pounds lighter than Taylor and Cole) took the punting biscuit in Week 6. The Titan pulled off a Titanic 75-yarder! It’s the football I feel sorry for.

One of Week 6’s hottest properties, the Seahawks’ Laviska Shenault is the personification of the NFC West. Throughout his relatively young football career, Shenault has actually had enough injuries for an entire division. The 26-year-old only played eight games in 2023. He hasn’t started more than four games since 2021.  

But the former Colorado Buffalo sparked the Seahawks into life on Thursday night. San Francisco led 23-3 after five minutes of the third quarter. Then Shenault’s 97-yard kick-off return woke the Seahawks from their slumber. That was the longest return of the season so far! 

Mike Macdonald’s team then scored 21 points in about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the football back. Seattle conceded 13 in the final two quarters and lost by 12! Macdonald’s Seahawks have now lost three on the spin and, if they don’t fix their run-blocking problem their season could be over by November! 

The 49ers have three defensive backs injured and are still missing Dre Greenlaw, the best coverage linebacker in the league. Add to that Charvarius Ward and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles appearing on the Week 6 injury report and you’d imagine the pass defense would struggle. But their rookie DBs stood up to be counted in the Pacific Northwest. They turned the football over twice.

New defensive coordinator, Nick Sorenson’s guys intercepted two Geno Smith passes. Former Florida State Seminole Renardo Green came up with the first pick. Malik Mustapha hauling in the second. So, after a Malik-less Week 5, it looks like there’s a new “Malik of the Week”. 

The 49ers’ offense was pretty hot too, but not as hot, well heartwarming at least, as the family celebrations that occurred between the Juszczyk’s and Kittle’s after they scored. 

Running backs were so hot in Week 6. Five different backs crossed the 100-yard mark, with Sean Tucker leading the way with 136 yards on just 14 carries! And, the top eight running backs all play for football teams who scored victories this week. That’s great news for the “establish the run” brigade. 

Tucker’s Buccaneer offense was the hottest of the week too, putting up 51 points against the Derek Carr-less Saints. But they weren’t the only unit who racked up some big points. Fellow NFC South combatants the Falcons followed up 36 points in Week 5 with 38 more this time out.

The Texans continued to have their way with AFC East teams as they racked up 41 in Foxborough.

And Dan Campbell’s Lions came back from a bye week to massacre the Cowboys. Detroit’s 47 points was the most they have scored with Goff on the field and it means they have now scored 89 points in their last two outings! 

Even though the Lions are a physical football team who like to run, Jared Goff is one of the hottest players in the league. The 30-year-old threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns in Week 6. The former California Golden Bear has now thrown for 806 yards with seven touchdowns and just one interception in his last three games.

But Goff isn’t the only quarterback who is having a personal renaissance, count Baker Mayfield in too.

Mayfield has racked up 852 passing yards with nine scoring passes and just three interceptions in his last three games! 

And you can’t talk about hot quarterbacks without mentioning Joe Burrow, he’s not just a pretty face you know.

Even though the rest of his Bengals teammates haven’t matched his level in recent weeks the former LSU Tiger has thrown the football for 832 yards in his last three games. He’s also passed for seven touchdowns with just two interceptions. And that’s all despite being sacked seven times in those games. The rest of the team were so average in Week 6 “Joey Franchise” just decided to run in the Bengals touchdown himself.

If the Bengals’ offensive line can liven up Burrow can definitely drag Cinci to the playoffs. 

What’s Knott in Football - Week 6

Accidentally colliding with a teammate and breaking your leg is absolutely Knott! The clip of Aidan Hutchinson’s injury on social media is stomach-churning and reminiscent of some of the more grizzly MMA injuries rather than a football injury.

Losing the early season favourite for DPOTY for the rest of the year is sad, when it is as a result of two defenders throwing themselves into a tackle it’s desperately sad.

The only remotely positive part for Hutchinson is that broken bones are usually more straightforward than soft tissue damage. If Hutchinson has avoided any ligament damage he should be back by the Lions’ 2025 training camp. 

Replay assistance not being able to see a punt returner touching the football because they only have “raw” footage instead of the enhanced pictures the TV audience sees is very much Knott. Imagine selling the broadcast rights to your product but not having access to that broadcast. 

Tackling is definitely Knott too. Jaguars have missed 27, that’s 6.3% of the tackles they have been asked to make. By comparison, the Jaguars’ opponents in London this week, the Patriots have missed 24 and that’s 5.4%.

That might sound bad (and it’s not great), but in terms of the rest of the National Football League, the Jags rank 19th, and Jerod Mayo’s Patriots are 28th! The 5-0 Vikings have missed 8.5% of their tackles! Where you miss those tackled is more important than how many you miss, but it certainly explains why backs are having so much success running the football. 

It’s not just the Jaguars tackling that is Knott though. Their offense became incredibly lacklustre after the opening drive (personally I blame that horrible uniform) and the discipline was diabolical.

Conceding eight penalties in four quarters of football is absolutely Knott, especially when the zebras missed a blatant facemask on Rome Odunze!

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

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