NFL Week 6 Takeaways
1. The Eagles are Super Bowl contenders. That is something I did not anticipate writing when the season began. For Philadelphia, it all starts in the trenches and that is where Fletcher Cox, the Eagles mammoth defensive tackle, is proving to be worth every penny of the $103 million that the Eagles signed him to last offseason. It also might not be all that controversial to say that Carson Wentz is emerging as perhaps the best young quarterback in football. Their performance Thursday night on the road against Cam Newton and the Panthers, a legitimate NFC foe, illustrated just how potent the Birds can be.
2. The Packers season is over. With the season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers, the Packers went from arguably the NFC favorites to a mere after-thought. That is how vital Rodgers is to the Packers. He is the straw that stirs the drink. Without him, Green Bay is just a mediocre assortment of (if you want to call it) talent. It will be interesting to see if the Packers stand pat with backup Brett Hundley or pursue options outside the building. Dare I say, Tony Romo?
3. The Ravens are absolutely maddening. If there is a more inconsistent team in the NFL I sure haven’t seen it. Baltimore laid a dud on Sunday against a Bears team led by a rookie quarterback making just his second career start. John Harbaugh’s squad sits at 3-3 with dominant wins over the Bengals, Browns, and Raiders, but have been dismantled by the Jaguars, Steelers, and the Bears. I have questioned Joe Flacco recently, but I am not so sure he is the only culprit. Something just seems off kilter in Baltimore.
4. Drew Brees and the Saints are back. After an all too familiar 0-2 start, New Orleans offense seems to have found its stride. At home against an impressive Lions team on Sunday, the Saints laid the wood, deposing Matthew Stafford and company 52-38. Sitting at 3-2 with games looming against an Aaron Rodger-less Packers team and the Bears, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Saints find themselves at 5-2 and atop the NFC South come the end of October.
5. The Falcons had yet another collapse. After leading 17-0 late in the third quarter to a Dolphins team that has been inept offensively for much of the season, Atlanta surrendered 20 unanswered points as they fell to 3-2 on the season. Was it as heartbreaking as their Super Bowl defeat? Obviously not, but it hurt. Matt Ryan hasn’t looked as polished this season as he did last. If the Falcons want any opportunity to obtain the same level of success they had last year, they are going to need for their offense to start clicking. Soon.
6. Adrian Peterson has been revived. On Tuesday, the Saints dealt the seven-time Pro-Bowler to the Cardinals and it did not take Peterson long to introduce himself to the Phoenix community as he scampered for a 27-yard touchdown on the team’s opening drive. His day did not end there though, as AP ran for 134 yards and two score. Oh yeah, and Mark Ingram, the back who Peterson was splitting carries with in New Orleans had 114 yards on the ground and a pair of scores in his first game as the lone back for Drew Brees. I think it is safe to say that both parties benefitted from Peterson’s departure.
7. I was right when I said before the season began that Leonard Fournette was going to have an Ezekiel Elliot-like rookie campaign. Six games into his NFL career, Fournette has been just as sensational as the Cowboys rookie tailback was last season. Thus far, Fournette has accounted for 596 yards on the ground and a total of seven touchdowns. On Sunday, on the very first play from scrimmage, Fournette took it 75 yards to the house. It’s not debatable: Leonard Fournette is an absolute freak. He has the ability to carry Jacksonville deep into January.
8. It’s time to panic in Tampa Bay. In what was supposed to be a breakout year for Jameis Winston, the Buccaneers find themselves at 2-3 and in the cellar of the ultra-competitive NFC South. On Sunday, not only did the Bucs get eviscerated by the Cardinals, but they lost Jameis Winston to a shoulder injury in the process. Tampa Bay is simply too talented to be in the position that they currently find themselves. The only positive I can garner from their first five games is that they have yet to play a divisional opponent, meaning that they can still gain ground on the three teams ahead of them in their head-to-head matchups. With that being said, I just don’t see a scenario in which Tampa Bay finishes with more than eight wins.
9. The Steelers responded. After an abysmal performance one week ago at home to the Jaguars, Pittsburgh responded at Arrowhead, handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season. It wasn’t all that pretty, but ultimately they got the job done. Le’Veon Bell had over 150 yards on the ground while Antonio Brown had over 150 yards through the air. Perhaps more impressive was the Steelers defense that held the Chiefs to just six yards in the first half.
10. The Giants had the upset of the weekend. Who would have thought that at 0-5 and without their top three wide receivers that Eli Manning and company would travel to Denver and not just beat, but thoroughly dominate the Broncos? I would guess nobody. This is the same Broncos team that just a couple of weeks ago annihilated the Cowboys. I thought the Broncos were a serious threat to the AFC crown, and they still may be, but their performance in primetime would say otherwise.
