Sunday’s NFL Week 6 action was absolutely insane. It started in London with the Baltimore Ravens’ defense stepping up big time in a win over the Tennessee Titans.
Speaking of defenses, the Cleveland Browns came to play in handing the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season. San Francisco put up a mistake-filled performance in that game, too.
As for other top teams, Tyreek Hill absolutely dominated for the Miami Dolphins as they came back from a 14-0 deficit to blow out the Carolina Panthers.
These are among the winners and losers from Sunday’s NFL Week 6 action.
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Winner: Tyreek Hill dominates for Miami Dolphins
Human highlight reel. That’s the best way to describe what we’ve seen from Hill thus far this season. NFL Week 6 action was no different. That included one of the best touchdown celebrations of the year.
Hill caught six passes for 163 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown late in the second quarter to give Miami a 21-14 lead after it fell down by two touchdowns to open things up. In the end, the Fins scored 42 points to double up Carolina. Meanwhile, Hill is now on pace to break the single-season yardage mark with 2,306. The dude has just been insane.
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Loser: Gardner Minshew comes up small for the Indianapolis Colts
Replacing an injured Anthony Richardson under center for Indianapolis, there was some confidence in Gardner Minshew to do his thing. The veteran has played exceedingly well throughout his career, rarely making mistakes (15 interceptions in 1,016 career attempts heading into Sunday’s action). About that?
Yeah, accuracy was a major issues for Minshew throughout. The veteran threw three interceptions in what ended up being an ugly 37-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. This wasn’t the type of performance the Colts were looking for with the team battling for first place in the AFC South. And with Richardson out for the foreseeable future, Indianapolis is stuck with Minshew under center.
Winner: Detroit Lions looking like legit Super Bowl contenders
Detroit now finds itself at 5-1 for the first time since 2011 and just the third time over the past three-plus decades. The Lions’ most-recent win came against a previously 3-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers team on the road.
While Jared Goff and Detroit’s offense has received most of the praise over the course of the first six weeks, it was the other side of the ball that did damage in the 20-6 win. Detroit held Baker Mayfield to 19-of-37 passing with zero touchdowns and an interception. Meanwhile, the Bucs gained a mere 46 rushing yards on 16 attempts.
It’s not like Detroit’s offense struggled, either. Goff completed 30-of-44 passes for 353 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 12-of-15 targets for 124 yards in the win. Dan Campbell’s squad is a well-oiled machine. It has Detroit looking like a legit Super Bowl contender.
Loser: New England Patriots remain an utter disaster
There were some reports heading into Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders that quarterback Mac Jones could ride the bench early should he struggle out of the gate. After all, he had been benched in each of the Pats past two games with the team being outscored by a margin of 72-3 during that span.
While Jones did not find himself benched, he played a role in the Patriots’ most-recent defeat. With New England down 19-17 late in the fourth quarter, Jones took a safety after a Maxx Crosby sack. This pretty much ended the game with head coach Bill Belichick displaying a ton of frustration.
New England now finds itself at 1-5 for the first time since 1995. Jones has accounted for five touchdowns and nine giveaways. Belichick is firmly on the hot seat. Yeah, nothing is going right for these Pats following Sunday’s 21-17 loss to Vegas.
Winner: Cleveland Browns defense flexes its muscle
Cleveland’s defense knew that it had to step up against the San Francisco 49ers with P.J. Walker starting for the injured Deshaun Watson. This unit was taking on a dominant 49ers defense that headed into Sunday’s game giving up less than 14 points per game.
Boy, did Myles Garrett and Co. come to play in this one. Cleveland held the 49ers to 15 first downs and 215 total yards of offense in the 19-17 win. It got to Brock Purdy for nine hits and three sacks while recording the first interception of the quarterback this season. It was a much-needed performance as Cleveland was able to move to 3-2 and remain in the AFC North race despite the injuries on offense.
Loser: Geno Smith struggles as Seattle Seahawks blow opportunity
Seattle had a golden opportunity on the road coming off their bye to move to 4-1 on the season. The team opened up a 7-0 lead after a 75-yard touchdown drive on its first possession. After that, it was complete and utter disaster for the Seahawks’ offense. That included Geno Smith throwing two ugly interceptions.
Down 17-13 in the fourth quarter, Seattle drove inside the Bengals 10-yard line twice within the final two-plus minutes. Each one ended in a turnover on downs with Smith being sacked on fourth down on the first of those two drives and misssing DK Metcalf on another fourth down to conclude the game. With the San Francisco 49ers having lost their first game of the season, the Seahawks had a real opportunity here. Instead, they blew it in a big way.
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Winner: Houston Texans looking like legitimate division title contenders
What a rebound performance from the young Texans after last week’s late-game loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Taking on a New Orleans Saints team that was coming off a 34-0 win over the New England Patriots, DeMeco Ryans’ squad wanted to get back on track and even their record at 3-3.
Despite rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud throwing his first interception of the season, the youngster came to play big time. That included two touchdown strikes. Defensively, the Texans put up a huge stand late in the fourth quarter with veteran Steven Nelson recording an interception of Derek Carr with the game on the line to secure the 20-13 win and a 3-3 record on the season.
Loser: San Francisco 49ers’ 15 game winning streak comes to an end
One week after dismantling the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, San Francisco took on a Cleveland Browns team that was without quarterback Deshaun Watson and star running back Nick Chubb. Most figured Kyle Shanahan’s squad would win going away.
It looked like that early with Christian McCaffrey catching a touchdown pass from Brock Purdy to give the 49ers a 7-0 lead. Nothing the 49ers did after that worked with the team making mistake after mistake in what was a 19-17 loss.
Despite leading the 49ers down the field for a potential game-winning field goal, Purdy put up the worst performance of his career. He completed a mere 12-of-27 passes with a touchdown and an interception. He was inaccurate throughout the afternoon. Meanwhile, a usually disciplined 49ers team committed a whopping 12 penalties.
Even the final drive, which culminated in a Jake Moody missed field goal, had mistakes embedded within it. That included Kyle Shanahan opting to spike the ball on second down and kick the field goal on third down rather than move the ball closer for his rookie kicker.
Oh, and the 49ers lost two star players in that of Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel to injury in the game. Just a disastrous NFL Week 6 in Ohio for the 49ers.
Winner: Baltimore Ravens defense comes up big in London
Lamar Jackson did his thing for the Ravens in London, going for nearly 300 total yards as Baltimore defeated the Tennessee Titans by the score of 24-16. However, it was the defense that came to play big time as the Ravens moved their record to 4-2 on the season.
Jadeveon Clowney and Justin Madubuike each recorded two sacks. With Baltimore up just 18-13 in the second quarter, Geno Stone picked off Ryan Tannehill on a deep pass to give Baltimore the ball.
It would then take an eight-point lead on a Justin Tucker field goal to pretty much put this one on ice. The Ravens needed a performance like this on defense given some of their struggles on the other side of the ball. They came up big time.
Loser: Chicago Bears disaster class at Soldier Field
Chicago was looking to pull off a second consecutive win after ending its 14-game losing streak last week in a blowout win over the Washington Commanders. They were taking on a one-win Minnesota Vikings team at home. Meanwhile, Justin Fields was coming off his best two-game run in the quarterbacks career.
What followed was a disasterous afternoon in Chicago. Fields completed 6-of-10 passes for 50 yards with an interception before exiting in the third quarter with a right hand injury. He did not return to the game. While X-rays were negative, Fields will get an MRI on Monday. There is some concern about the severity of the injury.
Even with Chicago’s defense holding the Vikings to 12 points, the other side of the ball failed to step up. Undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent threw an interception and had a fumble returned for a touchdown in a 19-13 Bears loss. The Bears turned the ball over three times, resulting in 14 Vikings points. That was pretty much all she wrote.