Top storyline for each Week 6 NFL game

Six teams enter this week with an undefeated record. That’s the most heading into Week 6 in the history of the NFL. It’s a good bet at least one of these teams will drop to an inferior opponent when all is said and done Sunday.

Meanwhile, a whole host of squads are looking to remain viable in the playoff race heading into Week 7. For others, it will be all about salvaging what is quickly becoming a lost season.

Oh. The New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts will square off in rematch of the AFC Championship game from this past January. Something happened prior to that game — a little something we will try to avoid as much as possible here.

As it is, here is your top storyline for each Week 6 NFL game.

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees and Co. looking to salvage their season

If New Orleans falls at home to the Falcons on Thursday, it will head into Week 7 with a five-game deficit in the NFC South. While not insurmountable from a mathematical standpoint, that would pretty much end any hopes that the Saints have of rebounding from their early-season struggles and earning a playoff spot.

The largest issue here is defense. New Orleans has yielded the most yards in the NFL and ranks 29th in scoring defense at nearly 29 points per game. Even if the Saints offense had found a way to put up the numbers we saw during their title runs late last decade, it wouldn’t be enough to overcome what has been an increasingly embarrassing defense.

In terms of Brees and the offense, it’s nowhere near the level we have become accustomed to. In Brees’ four starts this season, the Saints are averaging a hair over 20 points per game.

For his part, the future Hall of Fame quarterback doesn’t seem to be too happy with his team’s struggles this season:

“I mean (I’m) not really happy with the way things are going thus far,” Brees said on Tuesday. “You could say I’m a little bit angry, disappointed, frustrated, chip on the shoulder. I am harnessing that into something positive.”

Those words are fine and dandy, but what we mentioned above all needs to change Thursday night against an undefeated Falcons team if New Orleans is going to salvage its season.

Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills: Tyrod Taylor or EJ Manuel? 

With Tyrod Taylor potentially out, the 3-2 Bills may be forced to turn to former first-round pick EJ Manuel against an undefeated Bengals squad on Sunday.

It would be a less-than-ideal scenario for Rex Ryan and Co., but there is a reason Buffalo opted to retain Manuel over Matt Cassel, who was traded to the Dallas Cowboys last month. The team has faith in him to come in and win a game in a pinch.

At this point, it seems that Taylor will be a game-time decision. This could force the Bengals to prepare for two different offenses, as Taylor is a much larger threat in the run game than Manuel. Though, if Buffalo has to go with the latter here, it could lead to the team falling to 3-3 heading into Week 7.

Denver Broncos at Cleveland Browns: Trap game for the undefeated Broncos?

Denver has won its first five games of the season by an average of less than seven points per outing. It’s now traveling to Cleveland to take on a Browns team that’s riding high after a 33-30 overtime victory against the Baltimore Ravens last week. There are just too many factors leading to a potential upset by the home team in this one.

First off, it’s going to be important for Denver to find some success versus a Browns defense that ranks 31st in the NFL against the run at 150 yards per game. Considering the Broncos rush offense is 30th in the NFL, they might not be able to take advantage of one of Cleveland’s only weaknesses on defense.

Equally as important, the Browns come into this game with the sixth-best passing offense in the NFL. For his part, Josh McCown has thrown for nearly 1,200 yards with six touchdowns and one interception over the past three games. That’s definitely going to test the league’s fifth-best pass defense.

Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford’s status as the Lions’ starter

It was just a couple weeks ago that we brought up the possibility that Stafford may no longer be considered the long-term solution in Detroit. While that may have been a representation of jumping the gun, the former No. 1 overall pick was actually benched by the Lions in last week’s 42-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Interestingly, that benching had everything to do with Stafford’s performance, and nothing really to do with the game being out of hand.

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell did indicate earlier this week that Stafford remains the team’s franchise quarterback:

“He’s never been on a leash,” Caldwell said. “He’s never been on any sort of a leash, and he won’t be in the future.”

That’s fine and dandy, but continued struggles from the former No. 1 overall pick will make this a topic worth monitoring as the 2015 season draws on and the Lions prepare for the future. Simply put, Stafford has done very little to help Detroit become a viable contender in the NFC. And with a rapid regression from the club thus far this season, there will be legitimate questions about his future with the franchise. A loss against Jay Cutler and the Bears would only magnify this.

Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles’ continued progression

You wouldn’t know it by Jacksonville’s 1-4 start to the season, but the team’s second-year quarterback is playing tremendous football right now. Despite dealing with an injured throwing shoulder last week, Bortles completed 23-of-33 passes for 303 yards with four touchdowns and one pick in a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The former first-round pick finds himself on pace to throw for over 4,100 yards with 32 touchdowns and 13 interceptions this season. That would represent a major statistical progression for the sophomore signal caller.

At this point, Jacksonville’s main concern will be to continue building continuity between Bortles and fellow second-year player Allen Robinson. After putting up just one catch in Week 1, Robinson has tallied 21 receptions for 375 yards and four touchdowns over the course of the past four games.

Without any real hope on defense, this is where Gus Bradley and Co. are going to want to see continued improvement over the remaining 11 games.

Kansas City Chiefs at Minnesota Vikings: Chiefs looking to save season without Jamaal Charles

Losers of four consecutive games, Kansas City will now have to find a way to pull itself out of the AFC West basement without its Pro Bowl running back. As you already know, Charles suffered a torn ACL against the Chicago Bears last week and will miss the remainder of the season. It’s a major blow for a team that relies more on its running back than any other squad in the conference.

It seems the Chiefs are higher on Charcandrick West than Knile Davis as it relates to taking over for Charles as the team’s primary ball-carrier. If that’s the case, Andy Reid and Co. would be wise to see what they have in the second-year undrafted free agent from Abilene Christian.

With Alex Smith likely to remain the starter for the foreseeable future due to a contract that isn’t necessarily team friendly, other areas of the team need to step up in order for Kansas City to find something to build on. Can its offensive line, “led by” former No. 1 overall pick Eric Fisher, step up? Is Travis Kelce an elite tight end? What about the Smith to Jeremy Maclin connection? These are all big questions moving forward this season.

Miami Dolphins at Tennessee Titans: Dan Campbell’s first game as Miami’s head coach

After losing three of its first four games, Miami made the obvious choice to fire head coach Joe Philbin heading into its bye last week. Replacing him is a 39-year-old assistant that was an intern for the team just five years ago. Campbell, a former NFL tight end, now takes over a squad that has an opportunity to get back in the playoff race with a couple relatively easy games prior to taking on the New England Patriots in Week 8.

Going up against a Titans squad that also has one win on the season, Miami has a prime opportunity to move on from early-season struggles and start Campbell’s regime with a clean slate. For the Dolphins, it’s going to be all about finding a way to get Lamar Miller going on offense and improving a defense that is playing nowhere near up to its capability.

Miller may be averaging only 3.5 yards per attempt this season, but it’s not like the Dolphins have given him an opportunity to get into some sort of rhythm. He’s carried the ball just 37 times in four games — something that needs to change if the team is going to give Ryan Tannehill some balance on offense.

Defensively, the Dolphins are yielding an average of over 25 points and about 400 yards per game. With Pro Bowl caliber players at all level, including defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, this just isn’t acceptable. Miami has an opportunity to get back into the playoff hunt, but all these areas need to drastically improve if that’s going to happen. It starts this Sunday against the Titans.

Washington Redskins at New York Jets: Can the Jets keep pace with the New England Patriots?

Yes, that’s actually a real question. The Jets find themselves just one game behind the undefeated Patriots in the AFC East. While no one expects Todd Bowles to contend for a division championship in his first season as the team’s head coach, this is a real sign of progression for the Jets.

At 3-1 on the season, the Jets are coming off a bye that helped Chris Ivory fully recover from a quad injury that saw him miss the team’s Week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — its only loss of the season. In his last game prior to the bye, Ivory recorded 166 yards and a touchdown on 29 attempts against the Miami Dolphins.

With Ivory slated to take on a tough Washington run defense that’s allowing less than 100 yards on the ground per game, the onus will be on Ryan Fitzpatrick to continue his stellar play. Outside of a three-interception performance against Philadelphia, the journeyman quarterback has played well this season. If that continues, the Jets could very well be looking at a 4-1 record heading into Week 7.

Arizona Cardinals at Pittsburgh Steelers: Bruce Arians going up against his old team

Arians enjoyed a great eight-year career as an assistant for Pittsburgh — first as the team’s wide receivers coach, then as its offensive coordinator from 2007-2011. In fact, he earned two Super Bowl rings, one of which came against Arizona. It now comes full circle as his Cardinals look to continue what has been a torrid early-season performance.

Arizona has a chance to at least maintain a two-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West. Though, it’s going to be difficult heading into Pittsburgh against a Steelers squad that’s riding high following a late-game win over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night. A win in a hostile environment could go a long way in cementing the Cardinals’ status as one of the teams to beat in the NFL.

Carolina Panthers at Seattle Seahawks: Pete Carroll and Co. looking to rebound

With Arizona playing tremendous football ahead of them, the Seahawks face the real possibility of falling three games behind the Cardinals in the NFC West. That was unimaginable just a few short weeks ago.

There are three major issues Seattle needs to address if it wants to avoid a 2-4 start to the season. Russell Wilson is on pace to be sacked more than any other quarterback in the history of the league. He’s also facing pressure 46 percent of the time he drops back to pass this season.

Even against a shoddy pass rush from Carolina’s defensive line, there is a reasonable expectation that protection will break down in front of Wilson. If that happens, he needs to find a way to break contain.

Speaking of Wilson, many figured he would find a natural relationship with star tight end Jimmy Graham after the latter was acquired from New Orleans in March. Through five games, that simply hasn’t happened. Graham has been targeted less than six times per game and is on pace for the worst statistical season since he was a rookie.

Speaking up about this issue, a defensive-minded head coach in Pete Carroll seems oblivious to what is actually leading to Graham’s lack of production:

“We’d love to get more,” Carroll on Tuesday, via ESPN. “We’d love to get more from everybody. I’d love to get the ball in his hands more. He did well in this game, but we could use more. We only completed 15 passes in this game, so we need to get more activity out of him, just like we need to get more out of the other guys too. But he’s working hard at it.”

That’s the issue here. Seattle keeps waiting for Graham to involve himself in the team’s current offensive scheme. Considering he’s among the worst in-line blocking tight ends in the NFL, that’s simply unreasonable to expect in a run-heavy scheme.

Instead, Seattle needs to set him up with certain packages and let him roam around in the defensive secondary. If that doesn’t happen, there are going to be continued issues here.

One last thing. The Legion of Boom has actually blown the second-most fourth quarter leads in the NFL since the start of the 2012 campaign. This season alone, Seattle has blown three leads in the final stanza, including a 17-point advantage against Cincinnati last week.

If the Seahawks are unable to fix these all-important areas on Sunday, they could very well fall to 2-4 on the season. And with a short week before heading south to take on the San Francisco 49ers, things could very well turn bleak for the two-time defending NFC champs within the next week or so.

Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers: Two-most disappointing teams match up 

Wasn’t it just a few short years ago that these two teams played in the Super Bowl? So much has happened within both organizations since then that it seems like ages ago.

Both squads are coming off late-game losses. Baltimore fell to Cleveland in overtime after losing pretty much its entire skill-position group. Meanwhile, San Francisco succumbed to a last-minute rally against the New York Giants in a game that saw Colin Kaepernick break out of his shell for the first time in three weeks.

With the potential return of Steve Smith from injury, Baltimore has a golden opportunity to put up some points against a lackluster San Francisco secondary.

In this, head coach John Harbaugh decided to focus more on the coaching than the production of what he explains are unproven players on the roster:

“When the team has so many unproven players in those critical situations, it’s our responsibility to get them playing consistently.”

Even with Smith potentially returning, the likes of Kamar Aiken and even Buck Allen will have to produce in order for the Ravens to overcome a shoddy defense. That’s where the trust factor comes into play.

On the other hand, Kaepernick may be able to pick up where he left off last week. Baltimore’s defense has yielded 350-plus passing yards in three of the past four games, including a 457-yard performance from Josh McCown last week.

The winner of this game won’t necessarily find itself in the playoff race heading into Week 7. Though, the loser could pretty much call it a season should it fall here. That’s what is at stake between to surprising last-place teams.

San Diego Chargers at Green Bay Packers: Near must-win for the Chargers

San Diego actually finds itself tied with the Oakland Raiders for second place in the AFC West, two games behind the Denver Broncos. This isn’t a scenario most people had envisioned heading into the year.

And following a disheartening late-game loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, San Diego finds itself in a must-win situation against an undefeated Packers team at Lambeau Field.

One of the primary issues for the Chargers up to this point has been an inability to stop running backs. San Diego ranks 29th in the NFL in run defense and is yielding the most yards per rush (5.1) through five games. Going up against a Packers offense that is going to be hellbent on getting Eddie Lacy involved after Aaron Rodgers turned it over three times last week, this is going to be key for the Chargers’ hopes of getting back to .500.

New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts: AFC Championship game rematch 

I could just type “Deflategate” 100 times here and you would still get the gist. As it is, we all know what this game means for both squads. There is no real reason to get into the scandal that rocked the NFL world during the spring and the summer. Instead, let’s focus on the game at hand. Sound good?

New England’s offense ranks second in the NFL in points per game at over 37 a pop. It’s also No. 1 in the league at 423.8 yards per game. Those may be some amazing numbers, but what makes the Patriots’ early-season success so amazing is how often they score on offensive possessions.

Over the course of their past three games, the Patriots have scored on 23-of-32 possessions that didn’t end a half or a game. That’s utterly insane. That also makes them heavy favorites to earn a second consecutive AFC title.

For the Colts, it’s all about getting back on track with Andrew Luck under center. Winners of two consecutive games while the franchise signal caller was sidelined with a shoulder injury, it would do a lot for the psyche of the team if he’s able to rebound from early-season struggles in his first game back.

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles: Battle for first place

Yes, Philadelphia is actually playing for first place after what looked to be a team mired in its own drama early in the season. Apparently, a game against the hapless New Orleans Saints was just the tonic that Chip Kelly and Co. needed.

Meanwhile, New York is coming off a hard-fought victory over San Francisco and has won three consecutive games. The primary reason for this is what has to be considered stellar play from Eli Manning thus far this year.

Through five games, Manning is completing what would be a career-best 66.5 percent of his passes for over 1,417 yards with 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions. This is coming off a 2014 campaign that saw him put up the best statistical numbers of his career.

If Manning can continue this outstanding play, the Giants may in fact run away with the NFC East. Monday night’s matchup will be telling in this regard.