Does defense finally matter again?
The league saw a whopping 21 teams score 20 points or less (with two teams on a bye and before accounting for MNF). Defenses usually start slower than offenses, but wow, defenses are catching up to offenses more than I would've guessed at this point. The NFL is such a great sport because you just never know who is going to win from week to week, especially in the first half of the season when teams are still finding their identity. I heard a stat that offenses converted the lowest percentage of the red-zone possession into touchdowns in one week since 2017 (MNF game not counted yet). I just love when the NFL is in this kind of state. The Miami Dolphins notwithstanding, no offense really dominated all game long. There were ebbs and flows to games, and the elite defenses kept games close or even flat-out won games for their team. This is how football should be.
Cleveland 19, San Francisco 17
I knew the Niners' game at Cleveland was a trap game all week. I never felt good about it.
The Niners absolutely smoked the Cowboys all over the field last week. They relegated the great Micah Parsons into a virtual non-factor (he's such a one-dimensional player, anyway) and bullied that overrated defense that has preyed on terrible teams to mask their true quality ever since Dan Quinn has been calling the shots there. The Niners' defense smothered the Cowboys' finesse offense and again showed why Dak Prescott continues to get criticized after losing to another good team despite finishing regular seasons with flashy numbers. The Niners were flying high after that win, but then engaged in unnecessary social-media drama with sour grapes who were embarrassed, but somehow thought they had room to talk. I have no doubt that was a distraction for the Niners this past week.
This week, they had to play on the road after a three-game homestand against a physical team coming off a bye week that also plays tough, hard-nosed defense. The Browns' offense is terrible; sure, DeShaun Watson would've improved it, but don't get it twisted, not all that much. Watson is good for one or turnovers a game himself, and the Niners' defense would've been on fire again regardless.
Brock Purdy didn't handle the rain well. He and Brandon Aiyuk were not as in sync as they've been most of the season. Deebo Samuel left the game early (he's done this an alarming amount of times now). Christian McCaffrey left the game early. The Niners' offensive line got blown up over and over, and didn't give Purdy any time to throw the ball all game long...
Until the final drive. Purdy made enough good plays to lead a game-winning drive. But good ol' rookie kicker Jake Moody did the entire NFC a favor by missing the kick by about the width of the goal post.
When they were still trailing, the Browns got the benefit of an incredibly questionable call when the Niners were called for unnecessary roughness that simply wasn't at all a penalty. The penalty extended a drive that was dead in the water for the Browns. Oh, and the Niners' defense also had a touchdown taken off the board on another terrible call that ruled what clearly was a fumble as an incompletion instead.
Still, the Browns deserved to win that game. That defense challenged the Niners' playmakers once SF was shorthanded, and it paid off.
It's one game. Purdy was due for a bad game after playing as well as - and maybe better than - any QB in the league to this point. It took a lot of injuries, bad calls, and a strong opposing defense that all added up to...well, a game the Niners still would've won if the kicker makes the field goal. That's how it goes sometimes.
Upset week
Just when I start talking about the good teams separating, we got more upsets in Week 6. Both New York teams turned in spirited efforts. The NY Jets' defense is up there with the Niners, Browns, and other elite defenses. They have embarrassed every single quarterback they have played this year. Jalen Hurts single-handedly lost that game as the Jets forced him to do things he's not used to: making tough decision in the passing game while under constant duress. AJ Brown tends to erase a lot of Hurts' deficiencies because Hurts can just throw it up to him, but Hurts was coerced into two INTs and had a third INT fall off a tight end's hands after he got wrecked by the defender. Brown did have maybe the sweetest catch I've seen so far this season on the over-the-shoulder deep ball, but the Eagles' offense is, by no means, invincible.
Buffalo 14, NY Giants 9
The Giants were the biggest underdog of any team coming into any game to this point in the season against Buffalo. But they bottled up the Bills' offense the entire first half. Buffalo had a long drive in the third quarter to take a 7-6 lead, but the Giants seemed content to live with that. They can't go big play for big play with the Bills, so they forced the Bills to play patient all night. The Bills' fourth-quarter drive was impressive. They showed they don't need to depend on explosive plays to get points on the board. The go-ahead touchdown throw from Josh Allen was one of the best plays any quarterback has made this year. But the Giants somehow put themselves in position to win before Tyrod Taylor's comeback bid fell just short. Seriously, the Giants had a play at the end of each half to score points. Taylor audibled to a run play with no timeouts at the end of the first half, which got stuffed and ran out the clock. That mishap changed the complexion of the game completely. Then Taylor was just too high on his last-ditch effort on an untimed down intended for Darren Waller as the Bills escaped with a win on the final play.
Miami 42, Carolina 21
The poor, winless Panthers sure looked like they were primed to upset the Dolphins early on by jumping out to a 14-0 lead. But Tyreek Hill and the passing game got hot, then Raheem Mostert made some big plays as Miami stormed back for a huge lead. Coming into this week, the two players I believed were the frontrunners for MVP - not just offensive player of the year - were Christian McCaffrey and Hill. Hill likely will break significant single-season records, and it should be impossible not to call him league MVP (a QB will get the award anyway, because the NFL is stupidly in love with QBs). On the other side of the ball, Adam Thielen had a quiet 11 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown and is quietly one of the better receivers in the league again.
Getting back to Hill, his 814 receiving yards in the first six games of a season is the second-highest total in NFL history. Who had the most receiving yards through the first six games of an NFL season? It was, of course, Don Hutson in the 1940s! He was the first receiver to ever had 1,000 yards in one season and revolutionized the position, paving the way for modern-day receivers.
Cincinnati 17, Seattle 13
The Bengals did the Niners a solid by holding off the Seahawks' comeback attempt in the red zone. Joe Burrow threw an interception and only had 185 passing yards, but he certainly looks like he is finding his footing a little bit. He connected with Ja'Marr Chase for some big plays. The Niners host them in two weeks, and Cincy, who quietly is 3-3 (seems they start slowly every year before getting on a roll) will be coming off a bye week just like Cleveland did this week. Geno Smith, meanwhile, played awful for Seattle. Perhaps he forgot to turn in that write-off for today.
Detroit 20, Tampa Bay 6
The Lions are for real. Their defense is physical and tough. Dan Campbell is an old-school type of coach, and he wants his team to play hard-nosed football. David Montgomery is a tough, physical runner (though he got dinged up today). Oh, and Jared Goff threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay. This team is way out in front in the NFC North. Barring major injuries, they're going to win the division title easily and get a home playoff. I feel sorry for whatever Wild Card team would have to travel there (would likely be Dallas/Philly non-division winner or Seattle), because the Lions will be one of the final eight teams alive in the playoffs. Heck, the Lions may very get home-field advantage if Philly/Dallas and SF stumble, which is quite possible.
Washington 24, Atlanta 16
Falcons' quarterback Desmond Ridder threw two awful interceptions late in the game (and three INTs total). The first one was a terribly underthrown ball in the end zone that led to an easy pick. Ridder had one more chance to lead Atlanta on a potential game-tying drive, but he threw a simple slant pass way behind his receiver that got picked to seal his team's doom. The Falcons seem to believe in Ridder, but I don't see it yet. Having said that, the NFC South division title probably won't be won until the final week of the season; the Saints, Falcons, and Bucs all lost today (as did Carolina).
Injuries suck
Every NFL team deals with injuries, some more than others. But this week saw an inordinate amount of QBs get injured. Jimmy Garoppolo have to leave the stadium and get taken to the hospital for a back injury. Trevor Lawrence seemingly hurt his knee on a rollout near the end of the Jaguars' win over Indy, but he said after the game he felt okay. The Jaguars play Thursday night, so if he did tweak anything, he'll have less time to get healthy. Ryan Tannehill left the Titans' game, and Justin Fields left the Bears' game. Perhaps the QB injuries are an anomaly, but I wonder if there's more to it. For so many years, the league has altered rules to favor offenses, and quarterbacks in particular. Teams will pay QBs insane amounts of money, so officials know to go out of their way to protect them. But defenses have put such an emphasis on bringing down quarterbacks and doing everything they can to disrupt and hit the quarterback. Teams don't value running backs anymore, but maybe they should. Running backs who can block and catch passes out of the backfield can protect quarterbacks in a unique way. Instead, most teams are happy to line up four wideouts on the regular and pass far more often than they run.
Notes:
-I don't have stats to tell me one way or the other, but I felt like kickers mostly have had a better year than normal. But not on this day. Moody missed two for the Niners, including the would-be game winner. Justin Tucker had an extra point blocked. Jake Elliott missed a key field goal for the Eagles. Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed his first two field goals of the season today against the Giants. Just an off week for everyone, it seems.
-CJ Stroud made 191 throws without an interception to start his career before the Saints finally got one off him. But that is an incredible record to set.
-Atlanta's Calais Campbell got a sack of Washington's Sam Howell. It was his 100th sack of his career! That's incredible for a defensive tackle.
-It's fun to see King Derrick Henry score a touchdown in London. But the Ravens got the win.
-The Patriots scored an offensive touchdown for the first time in 39 drives on an Ezekiel Elliot goal-line plunge. They still lost to the Raiders.
-Matthew Stafford only completed 15 passes, but had 226 yards. Cooper Kupp had seven catches for 148 yards. Kupp and Puka Nacua are going to be annoying the rest of the season.
-There are some doozies on next week's schedule. Miami (5-1) plays at Philly (5-1) for the SNF, while Detroit (5-1) travels to Baltimore (4-2). There are even some sneaky good games with Pittsburgh (3-2) playing at the L.A. Rams (3-3), Cleveland (3-2) facing Indy (3-3), and Jacksonville (4-2) traveling to New Orleans (3-3). Heck, I wouldn't even be surprised if the Vikings stunned the Niners in a thriller next week, either.