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

By Rhys Knott

Nothing is hotter than cheerleaders communicating through American Sign Language. On the field, the NFC East is a hotbed of exciting quarterbacks (if you’re not excited by Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott, you don’t know ball) and inept defense. 

And in a shocking twist, the tush-push has destroyed the Eagles’ offense. The way to stop the tush-push was to allow it to engulf Philadelphia’s entire identity. And Brian Daboll’s short fuse is hot in a Knott way. 

It goes without saying that injuries are Knott, but when injuries are robbing us of the chance of seeing the 49ers’ best players on the field, something really needs to change. 

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What’s Hot in Football – Week 6

In Week 6, nothing is hotter than Colts cheerleader Morgan McLain chatting with 8-year-old Jonathan Taylor fan Mark Ochoa. Mark is no ordinary JT superfan. Mark and his mum moved to Indy so he could attend the Indiana School for the Deaf. The team gave them field passes when his mom reached out on TikTok, but Morgan was the first person to chat with him on the field.  

Then he got to throw some passes to Drew Ogletree. Riley Leonard’s got some competition.

Mark isn’t the only wee one stealing the show in Week 6; Baker Mayfield’s daughter came closer to sacking her old man than most 49ers’ defenders did!

Baker showed that he’s a classy human as well as an MVP candidate i his postgame presser too.

And Josh Hines-Allen’s son became an honourary captain for the Jaguars. Maybe he can play for them next week?

It’s not just the Colts who can boast a cheerleader who is fluent in ASL, as ESPN’s Jenna Laine points out. Buccaneers’ cheerleader (or member of their stunt team, to be more accurate) Izzy Hageman translates the national anthem into ASL. 

Kristin Dodd of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading squad has also signed the national anthem, and Madeline Salter, another Cowboys cheerleader, has her own series on TikTok called “Salty Signs”. 

Meanwhile, on the field, Mac Jones is the hottest QB on the planet. In the 49ers’ last two games, the former Patriot has completed 68.2% of his passes and thrown for 689 yards! Jacoby Brissett wasn’t far behind Jones with 320 passing yards of his own. But both the 49ers and Cardinals lost!  

You know what that means? Running the ball is hot again. Five backs broke the 100-yard barrier in Week 6, and Cam Skattebo managed 98 yards on the ground. Four of those six guys wound up winning their games! 
 
Rico Dowdle, in particular, is smoking hot! The 27-year-old has racked up 389 yards on the ground in the last two games! He’s added another 84 receiving yards to his total, giving the former Cowboys 473 total yards on 60 touches! 

Dowdle’s 183 rushing yards against the Cowboys are almost six times the number of yards Dallas managed on the ground! Four of the Cowboys’ players combined for a measly 31 yards on the ground! 

But it’s not just running the ball that’s hot, sacking the quarterback is the hottest! 11 players ended their Week 6 games with more than one sack, all 11 of them were on the winning side of the docket! 

Nate Landman didn’t record a sack, but he did rack up 17 total tackles as the Rams beat the Ravens 17-3. 

It’s difficult to know if interceptions are hot or Knott when they are caused by the pass catcher instead of the quarterback. There was a pandemic of offensive players helping out defenders in Week 6. First off, Cor’Dale Flott yoinked this bad boy straight out of Devonta Smith’s hands.  

Tony Jefferson benefited from Jalen Waddle’s generosity.

Donovan Wilson bagged one with a little help from Tet McMillan.

Geno Stone hauled one in after a ricochet, too, but Jordan Love gets all the credit for this one. Romeo Doubs didn’t have a chance to get his fingertips on this one.

But the medal for funniest interception of the year goes to Kindle Vildor! And he did it all on his own.

On a slight tangent, how could we forget Jaxson Dart high-fiving an official?

What’s Knott in Football – Week 6 

Defense wasn’t all it could be in Week 6, though. Missing tackles on quarterbacks became a thing, too. First, that famous high-fiver Jaxson Dart became an escapologist.

Then Baker Mayfield somehow evaded the 49ers’ pass rush.

Justin Herbert was all but sacked here, but he’s the size of an offensive lineman.

Jarvis Brownlee did not miss the quarterback he was trying to tackle. But he must have wished he did!

Elsewhere, this “pass” from Cam Ward is absolutely Knott! Yes Cam did a Baker, and Brian Callahan is in way over his head, and the rookie gets almost no help from his supporting cast, but what is this supposed to be?

Philadelphia is so Knott when Jalen Carter isn’t in the lineup! Nick Sirianni’s team has allowed 673 yards and conceded 54 points in the two games the defensive tackle has missed!  

The Eagles’ play calling is so Knott that it’s almost the Arizona Cardinals! Kevin Patullo began his Thursday night by calling two Saquon Barkley runs that went for 31 yards. That was as good as it got for Kevin. 

Saquon didn’t touch the ball for the next five minutes (maybe he’s nursing an injury), and he only carried the ball another 10 times in the remaining three quarters! The Eagles only ran the ball 37.7% of the time, and that only highlighted how poor Parks Frazier’s passing game is! 

Philadelphia has constructed an offense that prevents the star running back from getting into rhythm early in the game and also prevents the quarterback from getting into rhythm with some quick passes to receivers running slant routes.

The only person who was heavily involved and appeared comfortable in the offense is Dallas Goedert.  

The 30-year-old tight end caught nine of 11 targets for 110 yards, and he hauled in a touchdown. It was an impressive performance by the veteran, but it didn’t do anything to stretch the Giants’ defense. 

In a plot twist for the ages, the worst thing the Eagles’ offense did in New Jersey was the tush-push! After four soporific Jalen Hurts carries (involving another false start by a guard) that led to an Eagles touchdown in the seventh minute of the second quarter, the offense completely lost its way and failed to score another point! 

Just looking at the stats, the Eagles’ offense put up would convince you that it was only the two turnovers that cost them the game. But in reality, it’s like watching an offense called by A.I. There doesn’t seem to be any consideration for how the players are going to grow into the game and build confidence. 

On the other sideline, Brian Daboll losing his mind with the Giants’ medical staff while they were assessing Jaxson Dart. It was such a bad look that the NFL released a statement reminding all teams that player welfare is more important than getting your guys back out on the field. 

It is yet another indication that not only is Daboll feeling the heat in NYC, but that the Giants’ roster is so poorly constructed that only a rookie quarterback can save their head coach. 

On the topic of player welfare, Fred Warner’s career-threatening injury is the most Knott to happen in Week 6, if not the 2025 season! You know it’s serious when the medical staff have put the air-cast on before they leave the field. 

Brian Branch deciding to start a fight instead of shaking Patrick Mahomes’ hand is definitely Knott. The Lions’ safety is looking at a substantial ban after this.

The Jets and Broncos game at the Tottenham Stadium is so unspeakably Knott that we simply won’t even speak about it ever again. If the NFL is going to increase ticket prices exponentially year on year, they’re going to need to improve the on-field product.

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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