Rams, Gurley power ahead to 6-0 start
Things we learned from Week 6 of the NFL season:
1. Who’s the MVP front-runner? Good luck figuring that one out. Drew Brees? Patrick Mahomes? Jared Goff ? Khalil Mack? Move Todd Gurley to the head of the list, for now, after he ran for a careerhigh 208 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s 23-20 win at Denver. Context: Gurley’s 870 yards from scrimmage and
11 TDs pace the NFL.
2. The Rams remained undefeated despite failing to score at least 33 points for the first time. Context: That’s OK, as Gurley showed this can be an all-weather offense.
3. The Jets wore all white (not unusual) and gray face masks (unusual; the club’s third different-colored face mask this season) while replicating the look of the 1968 team’s Super Bowl III victory over the Baltimore Colts. The J-E-T-S beat the Colts (Indianapolis version) again Sunday, when they also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the only squad in franchise history to bring home a championship. Colts QB Andrew Luck even got into the act, toiling like Baltimore’s Earl Morrall in Super Bowl III. Luck threw three interceptions for the ninth time in his career.
4. It’s been a rough year for kickers, but the Jets’ Jason Myers bucked the trend. He made all 10 of his kicks — seven field goals, three PATs — for 24 points, second most for a player in league history who didn’t score a TD (Tennessee K Rob Bironas had 26 in
2007). Context: Myers outscored the Rams and 13 other teams in Week 6.
5. Continuing this theme, new Chargers K Mike Badgley made all six of his tries (5 PATS, 1 FG) in his NFL debut — notable because the Bolts have gotten such spotty production from the position lately.
6. Tom Brady became the first quarterback in the NFL’s 99 years to win 200 regular-season games as he and the Patriots handed the Chiefs their first loss of the 2018 campaign and Mahomes the first of his career as a starter despite four TD passes.
7. Since the NFL added overtime in 1974, this is the first season that has featured at least one game with bonus football each of the first six weeks.
8. Substitute Dolphins QB Brock Osweiler is 4-0 in OT in his career.
9. Shout-out to Dak Prescott, Cole Beasley and the Cowboys passing game, subject of much negative publicity this season, including this space on more than one occasion. Prescott rushed for one TD and hit Beasley (101 yards) for two as a more-balanced Dallas offense took Jalen Ramsey and a supposedly elite Jacksonville defense to the woodshed. Context: It was Prescott’s first three-TD game since Dec. 10, and Beasley’s first two-TD day since Nov. 5.
10. Falcons QB Matt Ryan has at least at least three TD passes in three of his last four games.
11. But Ryan hasn’t thrown one TD pass to Julio Jones in 2018.
12. Jameis Winston has been on the losing end in 10 of his past 11 starts.
13. The Buccaneers almost got Winston into the win column on the final play Sunday in Atlanta, but DeSean Jackson couldn’t cleanly handle the final in a series of laterals — the ball was thrown at his feet at the Falcons 5-yard line — on the final play of a battle Tampa Bay lost 34-29.
14. Ben Roethlisberger should move home. The Lima, Ohio, native — he played his college ball at Miami of Ohio — is 26-4-1 in NFL games played in Cleveland or Cincinnati after Sunday’s comeback win at the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium.
15. Le’Veon Bell is apparently showing up to work this week — the Steelers’ bye ... and bye weeks still mean a paycheck. He might get his wish and not have to play very much once in uniform.
16. Vikings WR Adam Thielen caught 11 passes Sunday. Context: He owns a league-high 58 receptions (most ever through six weeks), putting him on pace for 155 — which would easily surpass Marvin Harrison’s season record (143). Thielen also had 123 receiving yards in Minnesota’s defeat of Arizona, leaving him one shy of Charley Hennigan’s record for most 100-yard games to start a season (1961 Oilers).
17. Oakland WR Amari Cooper was the latest player brutalized by an egregious helmet-to-helmet hit that officials failed to flag. The NFL keeps talking the talk on safety but continues to fail when it’s time to walk the walk, especially as it pertains to non-quarterbacks.
18. Josh Norman ended the week much better than he started it. After being temporarily benched during the Redskins’ “Monday Night Football” loss in Week 5, he rebounded Sunday to victimize Carolina, his former team, with an interception and forced fumble in Washington’s upset.
19. If President Donald Trump really wants to stick it to the NFL, he should start putting tariffs on International Series games. Little chance Britain would continue importing them after the horrendous display of football in London between the Seahawks and Raiders.
20. Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s offense is officially less productive than Manchester City’s. Their three points and 185 yards Sunday were season lows.
21. Context: The Titans look at Gruden with envy. Tennessee was shut out by Baltimore, managing 106 yards and seven first downs while QB Marcus Mariota was sacked 11 times (a Ravens record) on a day he completed 10 passes.
22. How quickly things change in this National Football League. The NFC East suddenly has a club with a winning record (Washington, 3-2), while Dallas and Philadelphia are treading water at 3-3.
23. The AFC South is reverting to its post-Peyton laughingstock days with three clubs tied for first at 3-3 while the free-fall of Indianapolis (1-5) continues.
24. Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky has nine TD passes in his last two games. He had nine in his previous 15 contests.
25. After collecting at least one sack and forced fumble in each of his previous games for Chicago, Mack was shut out Sunday.