Rodgers injury, Giants’ victory, Brady’s record win head Week 6

The 40 things we learned from Week 6 of the NFL season:

1. The worst sight of Sunday came early, as Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was carted to the locker room after suffering a broken clavicle against the Minnesota Vikings. Rodgers was an MVP candidate and repeatedly made up for deficiencies elsewhere on the Green Bay roster. The Packers are about to learn how good they are without him.

2. The early results weren’t great for Green Bay backup Brett Hundley, a fifth-round pick in 2015, who saw the first extended action of his career Sunday. He completed 18-of-33 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown but showed his inexperience by tossing three interceptions.

3. Rodgers’ injury changes the entire complexion of the NFC. The Vikings, even with backup QB Case Keenum supplanting Sam Bradford indefinitely, now look like the best team in the NFC North thanks to that ferocious defense. The rest of the conference is wide open.

4. Injuries happen every year, but this season feels especially brutal. After only six weeks, the league has already lost some of its biggest stars – Rodgers, Houston Texans DE J.J. Watt, New York Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr. and New England Patriots WR Julian Edelman. Losing star power like this can’t help lagging TV ratings.

5. It was hard to argue with the Cleveland Browns’ decision to take DE Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft. But Sunday provided the perfect chance to second guess their decision to trade their other first rounder to the Texans, who used the pick to take Deshaun Watson. He passed for 225 yards and three touchdowns against the Browns on Sunday, while Cleveland’s quarterback situation remains a mess after new starter Kevin Hogan threw three interceptions in a 33-17 defeat.

6. In case you’ve forgotten, since 2014, the Browns picked Johnny Manziel over Derek Carr, traded the pick the Philadelphia Eagles used on Carson Wentz and relinquished the opportunity to take Watson this year, selecting DeShone Kizer in the second round instead.

7. Watson, meanwhile, has thrown 15 touchdown passes this season, more than any rookie in NFL history through his first six games. The Texans threw only 15 touchdown passes in 2016 with Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage.

8. Tom Brady led a second-half comeback to help the New England Patriots beat the New York Jets and reclaim first place in the AFC East. But how confident should we feel about the 4-2 Patriots after another disappointing defensive performance?

9. In leading the Patriots to a 24-17 win over the Jets, Brady passed Peyton Manning and Brett Favre with a record 187th regular-season win. Brady already leads the list of alltime winners thanks to his playoff prowess. With 25 postseason wins en route to five Super Bowl titles, he is the all-time winningest quarterback with 212 victories. The Indianapolis Colts’ Manning retired with 186 regular-season wins and 200 total. The Green Bay Packers’ Favre left with 186 and 199.

10. The Jets have reason to feel like they got jobbed in the 24-17 loss. The officials’ ruling that TE Austin Sefarian-Jenkins fumbled out of the end zone (instead of scoring a touchdown) was as bad of a call as we’ve seen all season.

11. Congrats on your first NFL win, Mitchell Trubisky. The Chicago Bears rookie quarterback completed just eight of 16 passes for 113 yards, but he also threw a touchdown in an overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens.

12. Who says height matters in the NFL? Bears rookie RB Tarik Cohen, who is 5-6, became the shortest player to throw a touchdown since 1934, when Wee Willie Smith did it for the New York Giants.

13. Cohen’s heroics cap what was a stellar weekend for short guys. Houston Astros 2B Jose Altuve, who also stands 5-6, sprinted home for a walkoff score against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series and may be the best player in this postseason.

14. What a wild day in New Orleans, where the Saints and Detroit Lions combined for 90 points in the Saints’ 52-38 win. The over-under was 50½ points, to which the Saints said, “Sure, we can do that.”

15. Eleven different players scored a touchdown in New Orleans on Sunday, including three Saints defensive players: DE Cam Jordan (interception in the end zone), S Kenny Vaccaro (fumble recovery in the end zone), and CB Marshon Lattimore (27-yard interception return). The Lions also got a defensive score, when DT A’Shawn Robinson picked off Drew Brees at the 2-yard line, and a special teams score on a 74-yard punt return by Jamal Agnew.

16. Paying customers at the Superdome sure got their money’s worth. The game lasted three hours and 47 minutes.

17. As if San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan needed more convincing to go after Kirk Cousins in free agency next year. And it wasn’t so much that Cousins played great in the Washington Redskins’ win over Shanahan’s Niners, it was that Shanahan’s bridge quarterback, Brian Hoyer, struggled so much that Shanahan benched him for rookie C.J. Beathard in the first half.

18. Beathard led a comeback and will remain the 49ers starter going forward. But the winless 49ers are setting themselves up for an interesting decision next spring: Shell out perhaps record-setting money for Cousins, or take their pick of what promises to be a loaded quarterback draft.

19. Beathard, by the way, just might have a future in this league. After all, he’s the grandson of Bobby Beathard, who was general manager of the Redskins’ great teams of the 1980s.

20. Are the 49ers the best 0-6 team ever? Each of their last five losses have come by three or fewer points, the first time that type of unlucky streak has happened in NFL history.

21. Heck of a second half for the Miami Dolphins, who scored 20 unanswered points to rally from a 17-0 halftime deficit against the Atlanta Falcons. The Jay Cutler experiment might not be working well for Miami (just 151 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception Sunday), but the Dolphins are once again showing the resiliency that made them a playoff team last year.

22. Maybe Sunday will serve as a reminder to Dolphins head coach Adam Gase to lean more on RB Jay Ajayi and less on Cutler. Ajayi rushed for 130 yards on 26 carries, and he ripped off a pair of 18-yard runs in the fourth quarter.

23. Ajayi’s rushing total in his three previous games? Just 139 yards.

24. It might be time to worry about the Falcons offense. Atlanta has averaged just 17 points in the last two games, both losses. Aside from Sunday’s 40-yard touchdown from Matt Ryan to Marvin Hall, the reigning NFC champs are lacking explosive plays that were the hallmark of the 2016 Falcons under former offensive coordinator Shanahan.

25. Is Ryan back to being Ryan now that his 2016 MVP campaign is starting to look like a career year? He threw 38 TD passes and seven INTs last year, but currently has six and six, respectively in 2017. And after posting a 117.1 QB rating as MVP, fifth-best ever, he’s at 87.3 this year, in line with his career average of 93.4.

26. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at 2-3, are now in last place in the NFC South and have a major concern about QB Jameis Winston’s health after he left Sunday’s game with an injured throwing shoulder. The Bucs’ upcoming stretch is daunting: a road game at Buffalo (with the Bills coming off a bye) followed by a pair of division games against Carolina and New Orleans.

27. Welcome to Arizona, Adrian Peterson. The former MVP had 134 rushing yards and two TDs in his first game for the Cardinals, less than a week after he was traded by the Saints. Peterson had just 81 yards and didn’t score in four games with New Orleans.

28. What do you think the Broncos did over their bye week, besides just looking at the New York Giants growing injury report? After what was another wild day around the league, the Giants’ dominating win at Denver Sunday night might have been the most surprising result. Playing without their top three receivers, among others, the G-Men still set the tone against the Broncos. Maybe letting OC Mike Sullivan calls the plays was a good decision by Ben McAdoo.

29. And now the Broncos, who start a three-game road trip next week at the Los Angeles Chargers, have injury questions of their own. Receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Isaiah McKenzie were carted off the field with injuries, and Demaryius Thomas appeared hobbled; while Siemian returned to the game in the second half after suffering a left shoulder injury.

30. Let no one question Derek Carr’s toughness. The Oakland Raiders quarterback returned Sunday after missing one game with a multiple transverse process fractures in his back. Still, he didn’t seem quite himself (171 yards, TD, 2 INTs) in an upset loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

31. Still, the biggest issue the Raiders face in the midst of a four-game losing streak isn’t Carr’s back, but their inability to be consistently effective on the ground. Oakland’s running backs combined for just 54 yards against the Bolts. Maybe the Raiders should’ve traded for Peterson.

32. Marshawn Lynch had 63 yards Sunday, his second-best output as a Raider. But he needs help. Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington somehow combined to run for minus-9 yards.

33. The Chargers, meanwhile, won their second in a row despite another slow start. Imagine what they could do if they “bolted” out of the gate. Los Angeles has been outscored 50-7 in the first quarter of games this year.

34. You can’t fault Philip Rivers for his giddy dance after the Chargers’ game-winning field goal, not after LA lost two games last month on missed or blocked field goals.

35. The Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars have been two of the most surprisingly entertaining teams this season, so it wasn’t that big a surprise their game featured two 75-yard touchdowns in the first 30 seconds. First, the Rams’ Pharoh Cooper returned the opening kickoff 103 yards, and then Jags rookie RB Leonard Fournette rushed for a 75-yard score on Jacksonville’s opening possession.

36. The Rams special teams later provided further evidence it’s the league’s best, returned a blocked Jacksonville punt for a TD late in the second quarter.

37. After struggling against the Seattle Seahawks defense last week, the Rams found an offensive formula that worked against a similarly stout Jacksonville defense: Just give the ball to Todd Gurley and let quarterback Jared Goff manage the game. Gurley had 23 carries compared to just 21 passing attempts for Goff.

38. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to criticize Andy Reid’s game management, so here goes. What was the Kansas City Chiefs coach thinking going for it on fourth-and-goal rather than attempt a field goal, while down 12-3, early in the fourth quarter? Alex Smith’s pass to Demetrius Lewis was incomplete, and the Chiefs almost surely left three points on the table which they could have dearly used later.

39. The answer to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive issues wasn’t that hard to find: Feed Le’Veon Bell. While the Steelers’ passing game still looks sluggish – save for a wild Antonio Brown TD in the fourth quarter – Bell rushed for 179 yards on 32 carries against the Chiefs. It was only his second game over 100 rushing yards this season.

40. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that it was the Steelers who ended the Chiefs’ bid at a perfect season. Pittsburgh shut down the Chiefs twice last season, including a playoff victory at Arrowhead Stadium.