2024 NFL Season, Week 6: What We Learned from Sunday's games

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• READ: No. 1 pick Williams throws four TDs in international debut

Jeremy Bergman's takeaways:

1. Caleb making his own OROY case. Caleb Williams' second national-window game went much better than his first. Four weeks removed from a Sunday Night Football stinker in Houston, Williams lit up London with one of the most special performances in Bears QB history. The No. 1 overall pick continued his hot run of play through the air and on the ground, throwing four touchdowns to Keenan Allen and part-time long snapper Cole Kmet (two apiece) in leading Chicago to its third straight win. Williams played headstrong in and out of structure, showing confidence on tight-window throws and creativity out of the pocket. In addition to his 226 passing yards, Williams moved the chains with 56 yards on four scrambles, displaying a veteran's knack for knowing when to seek and avoid contact. He proved resilient, too, bouncing back from an awful interception with an 85-yard TD drive. Bears fans have not seen this before -- through six weeks, Williams already has the most TD passes of any Chicago rookie QB (nine, tied with Jim McMahon) -- but they better get used to it. Williams is for real and making a run at the leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, and the Bears' next opponent in Week 8: Commanders QB Jayden Daniels.
2. Jags left in limbo in London. Mere hours after Jacksonville owner Shad Khan gave his latest vote of confidence to Doug Pederson and Co., they betrayed it with another listless letdown. Look at the box score, and you might be encouraged by the Jags' offensive performance; Evan Engram and Gabe Davis returned to the fold with a vengeance, and Trevor Lawrence was relatively efficient. But the tape tells a different story. Jacksonville continues to blow opportunities -- it started Sunday with an opening-possession field goal after an eight-minute march and continued with drive-killing drops and turnovers. The run game, paced in Week 5 by Tank Bigsby, was D.O.A. away from Duval and lost Travis Etienne midway to a hamstring injury. The pass rush that broke out with Travon Walker last week was nowhere to be found against the elusive Williams, letting the Bears run free and extend drives. Worst of all, the Jaguars will have to sort through their fifth loss of the year away from home; Jacksonville is staying in London for another week ahead of its clash with New England at Wembley Stadium. That likely means no major personnel changes for at least another game. But best believe, if the Jags fall to one of the AFC's worst in Week 7, heads will roll in England.
3. Another beatdown for Bears defense. A slow start gave way to another solid showing from these modern Monsters of the Midway. Chicago entered Week 6 averaging 17.0 PPG allowed, its best mark since its Super Bowl season in 2006. After holding Jacksonville to a mere 16 overseas, the Bears proved again that they are to be feared by upcoming offenses. Disregard the state of their opponents for a moment -- Chicago's four wins are against teams with a combined 4-16 record. After years of wallowing in mediocrity, the Bears are laying waste to weaker sides, with sacks (five players with at least 0.5 versus Jacksonville), passes defensed (six players with at least one) and takeaways playing a big factor. Chicago added two turnovers on Sunday, the most critical a T.J. Edwards forced fumble of Engram on the very first play of the second half. The punch-out immediately nullified a long completion and led directly to a TD that put Chicago up by 18. The Bears boast 13 takeaways on the season, with only the division rival Packers (17) and Vikings (13) in their ballpark. The NFC North is no joke this season, and after back-to-back laughers, the Bears defense has Chicago right in the thick of it.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Jaguars-Bears (via NFL Pro): Jaylon Johnson allowed just one reception for 5 yards on two targets across 38 coverage snaps against the Jags. The Bears CB has allowed fewer than half of his targets to be completed this season, translating into a league-leading 20.8 passer rating allowed in coverage (min. 15 targets).

NFL Research: Caleb Williams is the first player in NFL history with at least three passing touchdowns and 50 rushing yards in an international game.

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• RE-WATCH: Commanders-Ravens on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Lamar runs past Cam for second all time in QB rushing yards

Kevin Patra's takeaways:

1. Lamar, Ravens offense continue to roll. There isn't an offense in the NFL that is more dangerous than that of the Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore band. The Ravens can torture defenses in every way imaginable. Sunday it was Zay Flowers dominating Washington on short and intermediate passes. The wideout generated nine catches for 132 yards in the first half. He didn't see a target for the rest of the game, and the Ravens still rolled. Jackson and Co. gobbled up 484 yards and 28 first downs. A wide ball that was tipped and picked off and a three-and-out in the first quarter were the only things that slowed Baltimore. Its final six possessions went touchdown, TD, field goal, TD, FG, iced game. The Ravens can pummel you with the ground game or pick you apart through the air. Derrick Henry was slowed early between the 20s but hammered home two TDs and ground down Washington late. The 2024 Ravens are the first team since John Madden's 1971 Raiders with 150-plus rushing yards and at least one rushing TD in each of their first six games of the season. They gobbled up 176 rushing yards on a day in which the reigning MVP threw for 323 yards. When Jackson is right, this is the truest pick-your-poison offense in the NFL. 
2. Daniels still shining but can't keep pace with Jackson. Jayden Daniels played well against a defense that can discombobulate young signal-callers. The rookie QB continued to show excellent anticipation, calm pocket movement and picture-perfect accuracy. On a day when the ground game was absent, Daniels' arm kept the Commanders in the contest. He threw beautiful timing routes and hit Terry McLaurin on two perfect TD balls, including a fourth-quarter fourth down that kept Washington in the game. In a battle of heavyweights, Daniels proved he has the mettle to keep pace. The Commanders sorely missed Brian Robinson's presence on Sunday. Washington generated 52 total rushing yards, with just 30 from running backs, and struggled in short-yardage situations where Robinson usually dominates.
3. Ravens D gets back on track. Questions about the Ravens defense early in the season prompted coordinator Zach Orr to bring in Dean Pees as an advisor, but Baltimore looked more like the stingy group we'd come to expect. Daniels still connected on some plays, but the Ravens rarely gave up anything easy. The Baltimore front did a brilliant job not giving Daniels clear lanes to escape on scrambles and generated three sacks. Additionally, the Ravens controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing just 2.9 yards per carry. The defensive backfield made some big hits, and rookie corner Nate Wiggins made some nice plays on the ball to break up plays.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Commanders-Ravens (via NFL Pro): Zay Flowers reeled in all nine of his targets for 132 yards, generating a career-high plus-41 yards after catch over expected. Flowers' plus-72 receiving yards over expected is the fourth-most generated by any wide receiver this season.

NFL Research: This was Derrick Henry's 20th career game with 100-plus rushing yards and multiple rushing TDs -- joining HOFer Jim Brown (25), HOFer LaDainian Tomlinson (25) and HOFer Emmitt Smith (20) as the only players since 1950 with 20 or more such games in their careers.

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• RE-WATCH: Cardinals-Packers on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Doubs back to 'regular self' in two-TD return from team ban

Eric Edholm's takeaways:

1. Love flying again for the Packers in strong showing. Jordan Love returned from his knee injury in Week 4 to throw three interceptions against the Vikings, but he’s shown since then that there’s no question he’s back to health after Sunday. Love threw for four touchdowns and diced up the Cardinals’ secondary, hitting nine different receivers along the way to an easy victory. Two of those TDs went to Romeo Doubs following his team suspension and one went to the reemerging Christian Watson, which added a few cherries on top of the win. Love was cooking early, throwing for 194 yards and three scores in the first half. Even his second-quarter interception probably can be blamed on Bo Melton slipping on the route after rain drizzled early in the game. Love’s patience was on display as he routinely took what Arizona gave him, but his trademark off-script skill couldn’t be completely contained all game. After the Cardinals had crept back into the game, Love dropped back amid heavy pressure and connected with Doubs on a wild lob for a score. 
2. Cardinals shot themselves in the foot with turnovers, penalties. The Cardinals punted on their first four offensive possessions. On defense, they allowed three scoring drives in their first four series, fueled by four defensive penalties. They added two more in that span on special teams, including one that wiped out a fumble Arizona recovered on a punt return. Before they knew it, the Cardinals were down, 24-0. The Cardinals seemed to turn the tide a bit late in the first half, with a TD drive and an interception, but that’s when the offensive miscues kicked in -- including a lot of pre-snap penalties. A false start on Kelvin Beachum killed any chance of making it a 24-14 game at the half. They committed two more offensive flags on the field-goal drive that made it 24-13, but the Cardinals finished the game with lost fumbles on each of their final three possessions of the game. By that point, Arizona’s defense had been gashed enough to have not mattered, and the team lost Bilal Nichols, Kyzir White and Marvin Harrison Jr. to injury in the game, further hurting their chances to come back. But it was undoubtedly a sloppy performance all around and a big step back after last week’s dramatic comeback against the 49ers. 
3. Packers defense turning opponents over at terrific rate. In the 2023 season, the Packers forced 18 turnovers -- seven interceptions and 11 fumbles lost. Through six games this season, the Packers have nearly matched that number. Their takeaway total sits at 17 now, thanks to three fumbles forced in the second half to close down the Cardinals. You could argue that a few of those came in garbage time, and that’s fine. Green Bay was up, 31-13, when Karl Brooks forced the first one on James Conner, but the point stands because two of them came deep in Packers territory. The second fumble came when one of the most underrated contributors to this year’s team, Evan Williams, punched the ball out from Greg Dortch at the Green Bay 22-yard line, and the third fumble -- Kenny Clark knocking it loose from Kyler Murray's grasp -- also came at the 22. The Packers sought to be more of a big-play defense under coordinator Jeff Hafley, and it appears they’ve done just that. The Packers now have multiple takeaways in each of the first six games, which the team hasn’t done since the 2002 season, per NFL Research. 

Next Gen Stats Insight for Cardinals-Packers (via NFL Pro): Jordan Love was most productive as a passer on dropbacks over 2.5 seconds, finishing 11 of 17 for 174 yards and three touchdowns (+2.0% CPOE). Love was not sacked on any of his 12 pressures. He was successful on 60% of his dropbacks and generated 19.3 EPA on dropbacks, his highest success rate in a game of his career. Three of Love’s four touchdowns targeted a receiver outside the numbers to the right side of the field.

NFL Research: Jordan Love has multiple passing touchdowns in 10 consecutive games played, including playoffs, joining Aaron Rodgers (14) and Brett Favre (11) as the only Packers QBs since at least 1970 to have 10 or more consecutive games with multiple passing TDs. He is the 10th NFL QB since 1970 to have multiple passing scores in 10 straight games, including playoffs. It’s tied for the longest such streak since Tom Brady (13 straight games in 2020-21).

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• RE-WATCH: Texans-Patriots on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Mayo: Maye's first start 'encouraging,' but 'we let him down' in loss
• READ: NFL milestones: Pats’ Maye makes history in debut

Eric Edholm's takeaways:

1. Mixon’s return spurs Texans to big road win. With a healthy Joe Mixon in Week 1, the Texans rolled to 213 rushing yards as a team, with Mixon supplying 159 of those. In the four games since then, all of them with Mixon out with an ankle injury, Houston averaged only 77 yards on the ground per game. His return Sunday at New England showed how much he adds to this offense. Mixon ran for 103 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries, adding a TD reception as well. His first eight rushing attempts all went for four yards or fewer, but Mixon busted out a 59-yarder that showed he’s doing pretty well on the ankle. He later had a run and a catch of 20 yards apiece. On a day when Nico Collins (hamstring) was out, the Texans needed all the other offensive sources to step up. Tank Dell did just that with his best game of the season, and Dameon Pierce spelled Mixon late with a 54-yard TD to put the game away. But Mixon was the early engine to get this run game back on track and keep the offense humming.
2. Maye did some good things in first start, but turnovers, pass protection was a problem. Drake Maye didn’t solve the Patriots’ offensive issues completely, but he at least offered some hope of improvement Sunday in his first NFL start, throwing for 243 yards and three TDs -- even with some obvious missteps. He stepped into a tough spot, throwing one pass before the Patriots found themselves down 14-zip, and Maye didn’t help his chances with an overthrown interception on his second drive. He rallied from the slow start to lead an impressive 84-yard TD drive just before halftime, hitting Kayshon Boutte on a pretty 40-yard score for each of their first career NFL touchdowns. But the second half started similarly to how the game did, with Houston pressure. Maye took a blindside sack and lost a fumble, which led to another Texans TD and a 21-7 lead. A Patriots offensive line that has started six different groups in six games had little chance of slowing down the Texans’ rush. New England started a center, Ben Brown, who arrived via the Raiders’ practice squad a few days ago, and they had to make a change at left tackle mid-game, with Zach Thomas replacing Vederian Lowe after he’d been knocked out with an ankle injury on the Patriots’ sixth offensive play. But the Patriots had two TDs in five games entering Sunday and failed to cross the 20-point mark. At least Maye gave them a spark, even if the turnovers and sacks hurt the Patriots’ chances of losing.
3. Bullock coming on for Texans. The Texans have boasted one of the statistically best pass defenses in the NFL this season, and they’ve relied quite a bit on two rookies. The first is cornerback Kamari Lassiter, who started the first five games but missed Sunday with a scapula injury. The second is safety Calen Bullock, who has seen his role increase each week, starting the past three games. Bullock intercepted his second pass of the season Sunday on a Drake Maye overthrow in Patriots territory and later added a fumble recovery early in the third quarter that led to a Houston touchdown. The Texans had some hiccups in coverage against Maye that were covered up by a relentless pass rush that overwhelmed the rookie QB, led by Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. But that shouldn’t downplay the role Bullock played in a shorthanded secondary, helping the Texans take care of business with an easy road victory. They were minus-three in turnover differential entering the game but plus-three on Sunday.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Texans-Patriots (via NFL Pro): Drake Maye's first career touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte (40-yard TD) traveled 51.7 yards in the air, the longest completion by a Patriots quarterback over the last three seasons. The last Patriots quarterback to throw a longer completion was Mac Jones to Kendrick Bourne in Week 7, 2021 against the Jets (52.2 air distance).

NFL Research: Of the previous 2024 first-round rookie QBs to debut this season -- CHI's Caleb Williams, WAS's Jayden Daniels and DEN's Bo Nix -- none of them had a touchdown pass in their first start. NE's Drake Maye had three. The Patriots' previous starting QB this season, Jacoby Brissett, had just two TD passes in five starts.

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• RE-WATCH: Buccaneers-Saints on NFL+ Premium

Nick Shook's takeaways:

1. Buccaneers fully stocked with fireworks. Most who watched this game will likely be searching for a postgame nap, because it was that thrilling (and exhausting). Let's start with the raw numbers: Tampa Bay finished with 594 yards of total offense, converted 6 of 10 third downs, averaged 8.3 yards per play, won the time of possession battle by more than eight minutes -- and still needed all four quarters to pull away from divisional rival New Orleans. Baker Mayfield threw for 325 yards and four touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions (although only one was truly his fault). Tampa Bay experienced the highs and lows of football in the first 21 minutes of this game and had plenty of reason to collapse, yet when the Bucs found themselves trailing, 27-24, at halftime -- after blowing a 17-0 lead in quick fashion -- they got right back to work, rattling off 27 unanswered points to cruise to victory. Chris Godwin went off, catching 11 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Sean Tucker had a fantastic day, accounting for 192 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, and the Buccaneers didn't seem to miss the injured Rachaad White at all, finishing with an incredible 277 rushing yards. This is what the Bucs can be at their peak offensively, and if they cut down on the turnovers, watch out.
2. Rattler gives glimpses of potential. Spencer Rattler, the rookie from South Carolina, received the start in place of an injured Derek Carr and impressed in the first half, appearing poised and confident while completing 10 of his first 13 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown across the Saints' first six drives of the game. That was the peak for Rattler, though, as Bucs coach Todd Bowles got tired of watching a rookie carve up his defense and decided to dial up the pressure in the second half, unsettling Rattler and forcing an 11-of-23, two-interception passing line in the final two quarters. The first half was enough to drum up some hype for Rattler in some circles of Saints fandom, but the total product wasn't quite good enough. Having said that, the first-half results were likely good enough to convince coach Dennis Allen to stick with the rookie in Carr's absence.
3. Have a day, Tykee. The Buccaneers' secondary is filled with promising youngsters, but none had a better day than the rookie from Georgia, Tykee Smith. Smith forced a fumble with an excellent wrap-around tackle in which he punched the ball out of Chris Olave's grasp, which fellow safety Antoine Winfield Jr. returned for a touchdown. He finished with five tackles, nearly forced another fumble that was overturned upon review, and capped his day by picking off Rattler at the end of the runaway win. It might be a minor note to some, especially in a game filled with so much scoring and general chaos, but performances like these tend to be harbingers of future success. Keep an eye on him.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Buccaneers-Saints (via NFL Pro): Chris Godwin gained 105 of his 125 receiving yards after the catch across 11 receptions (and two touchdowns) against the Saints, his most YAC in a game since Week 8, 2021 (also against the Saints, 105).

NFL Research: 594 total offensive yards is a Buccaneers franchise record and the fourth-most by any NFL team in a game in the last five seasons.

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• RE-WATCH: Browns-Eagles on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Sirianni addresses interaction with booing Eagles fans

Nick Shook's takeaways:

1. What can Brown do for you? For the Eagles, A.J. Brown can do a lot. His return to the lineup provided Jalen Hurts with the trusted target he so desperately needed in recent weeks, finishing with six catches for 116 yards and a touchdown caught against tight coverage (0.3 yards of separation, per Next Gen Stats) midway through the second quarter. The Eagles were clearly better with Brown and DeVonta Smith (three catches, 64 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown) back on the field, and when Hurts and the Eagles were aiming to seal the win, the QB turned to Brown for an incredible over-the-shoulder catch for a 40-yard gain. Philadelphia's offense still isn't an entirely smooth operation, but Sunday once again proved how important a top receiver (or two) can be, especially for a struggling operation.
2. Browns still bogged down by bad offense. In terms of scoring, Cleveland owns the worst offense in the NFL and Sunday was no different. The Browns failed to score an offensive touchdown, settled for four field goals (making three), and when given the chance to tie the game in the final five minutes of regulation, Cleveland moved within three yards of the end zone before two false starts backed it up to Philadelphia's 13. Knowing his offense's extreme limitations, Kevin Stefanski settled for a field goal to make it 20-16 and never saw the ball again. Deshaun Watson wasn't quite as lost as he was a week earlier, but his ceiling remains incredibly low, and Sunday certainly didn't support the case to keep him in the lineup. It's a bad operation, and as long as Stefanski continues to stick with Watson, there's little reason to believe it will improve.
3. Hurts takes a small step forward. Jalen Hurts checked off a few important boxes in Sunday's win: zero turnovers, a couple of touchdown passes and a rekindling of his connections with Brown and Smith. The latter elements were sorely missing from this offense in recent weeks, a stretch in which Hurts was left to linger in the pocket and hold on to the ball too long far too often to help the offense establish a rhythm. He managed to move closer to the intended goal Sunday by getting the ball out a little quicker (2.94 seconds average time to throw, more than a 10th of a second below his season average of 3.07), only took one sack and expertly executed on key third downs with the chance to seal the victory, even turning to a speed option (and a nice fake pitch) to get the job done. The Eagles are still not an explosive bunch, but Week 6 was the ideal time to see a solid performance from Hurts.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Browns-Eagles (via NFL Pro): Four of A.J. Brown's six catches had less than 1.5 yards of separation at the time of catch, averaging 1.3 yards of separation, tied for the second-lowest separation in a game by Brown since joining the Eagles in 2022.

NFL Research: After failing to convert a third down via the pass on 19 straight attempts, Deshaun Watson managed to convert three third downs through the air on Sunday.

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• RE-WATCH: Colts-Titans on NFL+ Premium
• READ: ‘Toughest guy’ Pittman comes in clutch for Colts
• READ: WR Ridley 'sucked' but wants ball ‘earlier’ after goose egg

Kevin Patra's takeaways:

1. Pittman makes big plays to propel Colts to a road win. Michael Pittman's back injury was expected to sideline him multiple weeks. Not only did the veteran receiver play, he came up massive for Indy. His box score (three catches for 35 yards and a touchdown) tells very little of the story. With the Colts trailing deep into the fourth quarter, Pittman boxed out L'Jarius Sneed in the end zone for the go-ahead score. Then, just ahead of the two-minute warning, with the Colts desperately needing a first down after two straight three-and-outs, Pittman corralled a contested catch to move the chains, allowing Indy to salt away most of the clock. On a day in which the Joe Flacco-led offense went through ebbs and flows, with the veteran QB missing some throws and the ground game slowed sans Jonathan Taylor, Pittman’s big plays secured the Colts a much-needed division win.
2. Levis continues to struggle. The Titans stuck with second-year signal-caller Will Levis following the bye week. His performance will lead to more questions for head coach Brian Callahan moving forward. Levis struggled with accuracy all game, missing a host of throws and rarely looking in rhythm. He completed 16 of 27 passes for 95 yards, 3.5 yards per attempt, with a TD and another interception on a deep prayer that came up unanswered. The Titans ground game looked good, with Tony Pollard gashing the Colts for 93 yards on 17 carries, including a 23-yard gallop for a touchdown on a third-and-long draw. However, Tennessee’s passing attack under Levis never found any rhythm. An offense with DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd shouldn’t have such problems through the air. Ridley caught zero of eight targets on Sunday. It’s his third career game without a catch. In a winnable game, Callahan will have to wonder whether his club could have eked out the W with Mason Rudolph under center.
3. Gus Bradley’s D makes plays late. The maligned Colts defense made enough plays late to escape with the victory. Indy continued to struggle against the run, getting gashed by the Titans' shifty backs. Allowing Pollard to score on a play the Titans were essentially giving up was inexcusable. However, Bradley’s D made the plays late. With the offense unable to keep drives alive, Indy’s defense in the fourth quarter forced two three-and-outs, earned a pick and allowed just two first downs on five drives. Sunday’s 241 yards allowed marked the first time all seasons that Indy’s defense gave up fewer than 383 yards. Bradley’s crew will need to improve against more potent offenses, but Sunday was a building-block game it badly needed.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Colts-Titans (via NFL Pro): Tony Pollard rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries with a rush success rate of 58.8% (10 of 17 rushes), the fifth-highest mark of his career (min. 10 carries). Pollard also forced five missed tackles on 20 touches (25.0%) on the day.

NFL Research: Joe Flacco’s eighth straight game with multiple passing touchdowns is tied for the longest active streak in the NFL.

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• RE-WATCH: Chargers-Broncos on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Harbaugh briefly left Sunday's win over Broncos due to irregular heartbeat

Kevin Patra's takeaways:

1. Justin Herbert starts fast as Chargers outlast Broncos in Denver. After back-to-back losses, Jim Harbaugh's club came off the bye week putting the ball in their quarterback's hand. Herbert came out of the gate firing, getting all his targets involved, dicing up a Denver defense that came in smothering opponents. Herbert was sharp and dropped a dime on a wheel route to rookie running back Kimani Vidal for a 38-yard touchdown to go up double digits. L.A. scored on its first four possessions to open a 20-0 halftime lead. The QB generated 237 passing yards with a TD, the first time this season he's gone over the 180-yard passing mark. Herbert was particularly good on third downs, with the Chargers converting 11 of 15 on the pivotal down through three quarters. The offense bogged down in the second half, but getting the QB in a groove early proved enough for L.A.
2. Broncos offense got it going too late. It took three full quarters for Bo Nix and crew to do pretty much anything. On its first seven possessions, Denver punted five times and turned it over twice while generating five total first downs. Entering the fourth quarter, Nix had more rushing yards (33) than passing yards (27). Denver made things interesting in the final quarter with back-to-back TD drives and a field goal to pull within a score before a failed onside kick. Early, Nix missed a bevy of throws and was never comfortable in the pocket. He did well to escape sacks and make things happen with his legs, but the Broncos offense was a disjointed mess for three quarters. Credit Nix and the Broncos for battling back late -- thanks in part to a few lackadaisical plays from L.A.'s D. But you can't go through three quarters with 88 total yards and expect to win games. 
3. Chargers defense swarms early. L.A.'s defensive front, even without Joey Bosa, dominated a short-handed Denver offensive line for much of the contest. The Chargers shut down the Broncos' ground game and flew after Nix. For the game, L.A. generated 25 QB pressures, per Next Gen Stats, led by Khalil Mack's game-high six. Mack also added a forced fumble. When the Chargers' defensive line can dominate, everything falls into place for coordinator Jesse Minter's unit. Things got a little wonky late, but the early discombobulation was enough to get off the schneid. Eventually getting Bosa back on the field will make L.A.'s defense even more potent, particularly down the stretch in games when the opponents are in pass mode. 

Next Gen Stats Insight for Chargers-Broncos (via NFL Pro):  Against the Broncos' man and blitz-heavy defense, Justin Herbert was most effective through the air against zone coverage, finishing 12 of 14 for 114 yards (+22.4% CPOE). The Broncos’ 52.6% man coverage rate in Week 6 was the unit’s highest mark in a game over the last three seasons. Denver lost Patrick Surtain II on the Broncos’ first defensive play due to a concussion.

NFL Research: Bo Nix was 4 for 14 for 27 pass yards, one interception and a 9.8 passer rating through three quarters, but finished with respectable numbers due to a frenzied fourth quarter. He had the second-most completions (15), pass yards (189) and pass TD (2, tied) of any player in a fourth quarter so far this season, and a 143.2 passer rating in the fourth quarter boosted his game rating to 84.9, up from that single digit figure.

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• RE-WATCH: Steelers-Raiders on NFL+ Premium

Nick Shook's takeaways:

1. Steelers defense pounces once again. Pittsburgh has long been known for having one of the NFL's most opportunistic defenses, and Sunday was no different. The Steelers forced three turnovers (plus a blocked punt) and turned all but one of those takeaways into points. T.J. Watt remains the NFL's top game-wrecker, forcing two fumbles Sunday, and the defense made most everything difficult for second-year quarterback Aidan O'Connell, who finished with a passing line that looks better on paper than it was on the tape. Patrick Queen was everywhere, recording 13 tackles, and the Steelers defense seemed to have the Raiders behind schedule on second and third down all afternoon. Because of their effectiveness, two of the Steelers' touchdown drives required them to cover just 30 yards or fewer thanks to the short fields provided by the defense. The Pittsburgh offense still isn't great, but you don't have to be when your defense plays this well.
2. Raiders self-destruct. Las Vegas put together a solid 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter, then imploded from there. They went three-and-out on their next two possessions, fumbled away possession at their own 30, turned it over on downs at their own 48, had a punt blocked, fumbled on the Pittsburgh 1 and watched their chances melt away from there. In between, their defense played well enough to keep the game within reach, but couldn't stop committing back-breaking penalties on third downs in which they'd earned stops, twice being flagged for roughing the passer penalties that extended Steelers drives. Las Vegas' vaunted defense, by the way, isn't what it was made out to be. Sunday marked the third game in which the Raiders allowed an opposing team to set a new season high in points scored, and they're struggling mightily against opposing rushing attacks, allowing +231 rushing yards over expected, 55 more than the next closest team in the NFL. O'Connell wasn't any better than Gardner Minshew, and the team played poorly all the way down to the minor details that produced major issues. After they travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams next week, they host the Chiefs before heading to Cincinnati for a date with the Bengals. They better correct their mistakes quickly.
3. Harris grinds out a great day. It's a contract year for Najee Harris, and through five weeks, he hadn't really broken through with a statement performance that could influence the Steelers to keep him beyond 2024. If only for one day, that changed, as the hard-running Harris played with an increased sense of urgency and determination, bulling his way through shoddy Raiders tackling for extra yards, racking up four runs of 10-plus yards and finishing with 106 yards and a touchdown. Harris capped his performance emphatically with a 36-yard run around the left end that required Harris to knife his way through a mass of silver-and-black-clad humanity toward daylight down the sideline, finishing the run by diving from the 5-yard line and extending the ball across the goal line for one of the more impressive touchdown runs you'll see in 2024. Las Vegas has notoriously given up chunks to running backs throughout this season, entering Sunday ranked 22nd in rushing yards allowed per game, so there's no guarantee Harris has suddenly discovered another gear. But for one day, it was nice to see a Steelers running back establish the ground game, take some pressure off Justin Fields and play a key part in a win.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Steelers-Raiders (via NFL Pro): Of Najee Harris' 106 rushing yards, +63 were rushing yards over expected, the highest single-game RYOE total of Harris' NFL career.

NFL Research: The Steelers recorded their third win earned despite finishing with fewer than 300 total yards of offense, the most such wins by any team in the NFL in 2024.

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• RE-WATCH: Falcons-Panthers on NFL+ Premium

Coral Smith's takeaways:

1. Falcons pull away late for big win. Atlanta maintained its lead in the NFC South with Sunday’s victory, its third divisional win in the last three weeks. With this win over the Panthers, the Falcons also bucked their recent trend of close games, winning by multiple scores after having earned each of their first three wins with a fourth-quarter or overtime score and never leading by more than a touchdown. The Falcons were unable to shake the Panthers for a good portion of the game, having to settle for field goals at the end of long third-quarter drives twice while maintaining a one-score lead. But then with the Panthers driving toward a possibly game-tying score at the beginning of the final period, cornerback A.J. Terrell pulled in a key interception to stop the drive in its tracks. Atlanta put together a long series of its own capped by a Tyler Allgeier rushing touchdown, going up by two scores and putting the game almost out of reach. The offense added on a field goal for good measure while the defense got a stop on downs and another interception, and the Falcons earned themselves their most dominant win of the season to go to 4-2.
2. Atlanta ground game gets on track. Last week’s overtime win featured 550 yards of offense, but only 73 rushing yards, indicative of the Falcons’ early reliance on the pass game with the run game not productive. But against the Panthers’ struggling and shorthanded defensive unit, the dynamic duo of Bijan Robinson and Allgeier finally exploded, putting together Atlanta’s best rushing performance of the season. The team’s highest rush-yard total before Sunday was in Week 2, recording 152 yards, but the Falcons had fewer than 90 yards in their other four contests. Robinson and Allgeier each individually passed that 90-yard mark, finishing with 95 and 105 yards, respectively, and combining to average over six yards per carry. Robinson had two first-half touchdown runs to give the Falcons the lead, his first career game with multiple rushing touchdowns, while Allgeier’s fourth-quarter TD was the go-ahead score. This was the first time since Week 1 of 2009 that Atlanta had two players rush for more than 90 yards and a touchdown in a game. The Falcons will hope this effort can awaken this part of the offense going forward to complement the already potent pass. 
3. Panthers D continues to struggle. Andy Dalton and the pass game looked relatively strong -- other than the costly interception -- and Chuba Hubbard had his fourth-straight game eclipsing 90 rushing yards, but the solid, if not showy offensive effort was for naught due to the defense’s struggles, a familiar story for this club in 2024. Ranked last in the league in points allowed coming into this week (33.0), it was more of the same this Sunday. After a three-and-out on their first series, the Falcons didn’t punt again for the rest of the game. The Panthers got one turnover, a fumble recovery which the offense converted into a field goal drive, but the Falcons scored on seven drives, including all four of their non-garbage time second-half possessions. The unit has been depleted by the absence of some key injured defenders, but nevertheless it marked yet another game put out of reach by an inability to get stops.

Next Gen Stats Insight from Falcons-Panthers (via NFL Pro): The Falcons defense, which came into the game ranked 31st in the league in quarterback pressure rate (14.4%), generated pressure on 30.0% of Andy Dalton’s dropbacks, their highest percentage of the season. However, they did not register a sack for the second time this year.

NFL Research: The Falcons moved to 4-2 with Sunday’s win for the first time since the 2016 season. Atlanta finished that year 11-5 and advanced to Super Bowl LI.

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• RE-WATCH: Lions-Cowboys on NFL+ Premium
• READ: Battista: Cowboys suffer worst home L in Jerry Jones era
• READ: Hutchinson expected to miss rest of season following leg surgery

Eric Edholm's takeaways:

1. Lions offense has regained its 2023 form. For the first three games of the season, the Lions offense didn’t look quite right. It was far from broken, but the 5-for-13 red-zone efficiency was a big reason why Detroit barely averaged 20 points per game. The past two games, the Lions have looked a lot like last year’s model -- and in some ways, perhaps better. In a thorough thrashing of the Cowboys, the Lions rolled to 47 points and 486 yards in a showcase performance in Dallas, breaking out trick plays but hardly breaking a sweat. They scored on all five possessions in the first half, not counting the kneel-down, and then scored on four straight series in the second half, finally failing with a turnover on downs with Hendon Hooker at QB in the final minutes. The usual suspects got involved early, with the newly extended David Montgomery returning the favor with two first-half TD runs. But the emerging story is wide receiver Tim Patrick, who has seen his role grow with each week. He’s only been in Detroit about a month, but he’s stacked back-to-back big-play games, adding catches of 42 and 18 yards and being stopped inches shy of what would have been his first touchdown catch since Week 15 of the 2021 season. Six Lions players had 52 or more yards from scrimmage, and Amon-Ra St. Brown wasn’t one of them. If Patrick can add this type of threat every week, the Lions are a very, very dangerous offense.
2. Dreadful all-around performance stopped the Cowboys' momentum in its tracks. The Cowboys seemingly kept their season afloat with their thrilling win in Pittsburgh last week, but Sunday saw them crash with a thud. Not the way Jerry Jones hoped to spend his 82nd birthday. The Lions turned a tight game into a halftime laugher and never looked back, forcing five Dallas turnovers. The Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb connection issues resurfaced, with Prescott underthrowing Lamb in the end zone for an early pick. The run-game progress from Pittsburgh was stalled. The defense, even missing several key contributors, was embarrassed. The tackling and effort were both sorely lacking. It was so desperate early that Mike McCarthy went for it on fourth down from his own 38-yard line with nearly three minutes left in the first half, down 20-3. The Lions stopped them (even if there might have been defensive contact on the play) and scored a few plays later to keep the rout going. McCarthy's decision to kick a field goal down 28 points was all but waving the white flag. What happened to home-field advantage? After winning 16 straight there over the previous two seasons, the Cowboys are now 0-3 at home this season. In fact, they’ve lost four straight at AT&T Stadium counting last season's wild-card loss to the Packers, outscored by a combined 82 points in those games. 
3. Lions defense will miss Aidan Hutchinson tremendously. This was shaping up to be one of the best all-around performances in the Dan Campbell era, but Sunday’s game was marred by a gruesome injury to Hutchinson in the third quarter. Hutchinson sacked Prescott and appeared to accidentally whip his left leg into teammate Alim McNeill and suffer what looked like an extremely serious injury. Cornerback Carlton Davis also left the field a few plays later after being kicked in the head by friendly fire. Those were about the only two negatives on what was a dominant showing by Detroit’s defense, spurred by the return of safety Brian Branch, who had been out since Week 3. Branch came up with a key early interception in the end zone, undercutting Prescott’s fade pass, and added a second pick in garbage time. He also had a strong blitz to force an incompletion and forced a fumble late in the third quarter. The Hutchinson injury is going to hurt tremendously -- he’s arguably irreplaceable -- but the Lions defense played inspired ball, with and without him Sunday.  

Next Gen Stats Insight for Lions-Cowboys (via NFL Pro): Dallas’ KaVontae Turpin reached a top speed of 21.64 mph on his 79-yard kickoff return, the fourth-fastest speed by a ball carrier this season and the fastest on any kickoff return over the last three seasons.

NFL Research: Week 6 marked the Cowboys’ second home loss of 25-plus points in the 2024 season (also Week 2 vs. New Orleans). That ties the franchise mark for most such home losses in a Cowboys season during the Super Bowl era.

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• RE-WATCH: Bengals-Giants on NFL+ Premium

Grant Gordon's takeaways:

1. Beleaguered Bengals defense has best showing in prime-time win. Lou Anarumo’s defense came into Sunday night ranked 31st in points allowed. It ended the evening having held New York to seven points, which snapped the franchise’s 75-game streak of allowing double-digit scores. The streak was the longest in the NFL currently and the sixth-longest in league history, per NFL Research. Though that extends beyond the Bengals’ recent defensive woes, Sunday night’s showing came at an opportune time. It was made possible by myriad excellent performances, such as Trey Hendrickson (two sacks), B.J. Hill (seven tackles, two pass breakups) and Germaine Pratt (seven tackles, interception). With the Bengals offense unable to get going, the defense really stepped up for the first time this season. The road to the playoffs is still uphill, but there is a far better chance at 2-4 than 1-5, a hole of which only three of 123 teams have dug out to make the postseason since 1990. If Cincinnati is to make a run back to relevance, it will need more performances such as this to do so -- and it’ll have to be against offenses with more firepower than the Giants.
2. Sexy Dexy, Spider-Man keep Giants in ballgame. On a night in which the Giants offense sputtered horribly and kicker Greg Joseph missed both of his field goal tries, New York’s defense, particularly its pass rush, stood tall. Despite losing Kayvon Thibodeaux to injured reserve this week, edge Brian Burns and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence were tremendous. Burns piled up eight tackles, a sack and three QB pressures, while Lawrence had three tackles and one massive sack in the third quarter in which he forced the Bengals to settle for a field goal. Azeez Ojulari (two sacks) also came up big for a Giants unit that held the Bengals to 13 first downs, 304 yards of offense and 17 points. It was an extraordinary defensive effort that wasn’t complemented by a Daniel Jones-led offense that could only muster 309 yards itself.
3. Big-play Burrow does just enough. In a defensive showcase and a relative offensive slog, Joe Burrow made the game’s biggest play and then came through in the clutch late to help his squad get its second win of the season. Owner of one of the quickest releases in the game, Burrow wasted zero time in taking off for a 47-yard sprint to six to open the game’s scoring. His underrated athleticism was spotlighted, but even more was his awareness as he saw the Giants’ coverage roll left in a tidal wave of opportunity that he cashed in. Fast forward to the fourth and Burrow’s TD run still stood as the Bengals’ only trip to the end zone at that point. Looking to salt away a W, Burrow hit Andrei Iosivas on third-and-12 with 2:12 to go for a 29-yard gain along the sideline. A subsequent Chase Brown fumble fortunately went out of bounds and Brown followed with a 30-yard TD to put the game to bed. Burrow came in with a league-high 12 touchdown passes, playing spectacular ball in three straight losses. On Sunday, he faced more pressure than any game this year, but he made big plays with his legs and arm, willing his squad to an ugly -- and much-needed -- victory.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Bengals-Giants (via NFL Pro): Joe Burrow had been pressured on an NFL-low 21.5% of his dropbacks before Sunday night. Led by Azeez Ojulari’s six QB pressures, the Giants pressured Burrow at a season-high 47.1 rate.

NFL Research: Joe Burrow’s 47-yard touchdown run was more than double his previous career long of 23 yards and tied his previous career-high rushing yards in a game. It was the second-longest QB run this season (Cardinals’ Kyler Murray 50-yard run vs. 49ers in Week 5) and the longest TD run by a QB in Cincinnati history.