Week 6 of the NFL season featured shocking moments and improbable outcomes.
The Dallas Cowboys—who weren’t supposed to be able to stop anyone on defense, even with 12 defenders on the field—overcame the “12th man” and beat the defending-champion Seahawks at CenturyLink Field, 30-23.
The Cleveland Browns dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-10, beating their longtime AFC North tormentors for just the sixth time in 33 tries since the Dawg Pound was re-opened in 1999.
Aaron Rodgers pulled a Dan Marino in Miami—faking a spike and completing a pass in the closing seconds to cap off the Packers’ game-winning touchdown drive against the Dolphins.
Joe Flacco became the fastest quarterback to throw five touchdowns in a game since the merger, giving the Baltimore Ravens a 35-0 lead at Tampa Bay just 16:03 into the game. The Ravens went on to win, 48-17. At 4-2 they have more wins than any team in the AFC North, but they’re only in second place because the Cincinnati Bengals threw a wrench into the arithmetic by playing to the season’s first tie against the Carolina Panthers. They now hang on to the top spot in the division with a 3-1-1 record.
Given the wacky box scores from last week, who knows what will happen in Week 7? Here are some bold predictions for what may be in store.
The Jets will be involved in another embarrassing play worthy of a nickname in Thursday night’s game
The reeling Jets visit the resurging Patriots on Thursday Night Football. And The Butt Fumble and The Fake Spike will likely have some company after the game concludes.
The Butt Fumble unfolded on the Thursday night stage against the Patriots in 2012. That won’t happen again. But something worthy of a nickname will happen.
The Jets (1-5) have lost five straight, and their one win came against the Raiders. Geno Smith has completed less than half his passes over the past two games and he’s thrown at least one interception in every game this season.
Tom Brady, meanwhile, has thrown for six touchdowns and no interceptions in the last two weeks.
Not only do the Jets have to face Brady and Peyton Manning within a span of five days, but they’ve already lost cornerback Dee Milliner in the process. The No. 9 pick in the 2013 draft tore his Achilles on Sunday and is out for the season. That leaves the Jets with Darrin Walls and Phillip Adams as their starting cornerbacks, according to ESPN.com.
That must excite Brady almost as much as Gisele wearing something from Victoria’s Secret.
Road teams are 2-4 on Thursday night this season, and the average point differential in these games is 25 points. Add in the silliness that can ensue when two teams play each other on three days of rest, and the setting is ripe at Gillette Stadium for another moment in Jets history so embarrassing that it will be immortalized with a name.
The Jaguars will get their first win of the season
The Browns’ 31-10 win over the Steelers in Week 6 is a landmark moment for the franchise. It’s their most convincing victory over their hated rivals in 25 years.
It’s a sign of good things to come for the Browns, but not before they add another bit of infamy to their sorry history with a loss at Jacksonville in Week 7.
The 0-6 Jaguars are shaking the tree, and that first win is about to fall from the branch. After losing by an average margin of 23.5 points in their first four games, they lost 17-9 to the Steelers in Week 5. They came even closer to a win Sunday at Tennessee, but Josh Scobee’s 55-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds was blocked, and the Titans won, 16-14.
Cleveland (3-2) is due for a letdown after such a monumental victory, and injuries will start to take their toll. Center Alex Mack broke his leg Sunday and is probably out for the season, according to Cleveland.com. Defensive end Armonty Bryant, who had replaced the injured Phil Taylor, also went down Sunday and has been placed on season-ending injured reserve. Cornerback Joe Haden and linebacker Paul Kruger both played Sunday, but they’ve been banged up.
The Browns appear to have an easy schedule over the next three weeks. After going to Jacksonville Sunday, they host the Raiders and Buccaneers. But nothing is as easy as it looks in the NFL. The Browns ought to know. Their first four games all were decided by three points or less.
… And it will be the highest scoring game of Week 7
Week 7 is full of juicy quarterback duels. Drew Brees vs. Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan vs. Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton vs. Andrew Luck, and Colin Kaepernick vs. Peyton Manning.
How about Brian Hoyer vs. Blake Bortles?
Hoyer and Bortles will put on a better show than any of those marquee quarterbacks, even if very few people outside the Cleveland and Jacksonville markets see it on TV.
Bortles, the third pick in the 2014 draft, threw for 336 yards in Sunday’s loss at Tennessee. That’s his highest total in a game so far. He’ll go up against the league’s 29th-ranked defense on Sunday.
Hoyer might not put up the numbers that Bortles does, but the Browns will keep the ball moving with their third-ranked rushing attack (146.4 yards per game) against the Jags’ 30th-ranked defense.
Get ready for a shootout in the Florida sun.
The Saints and Lions will combine for less than 30 points
The aforementioned Drew Brees-Matthew Stafford matchup will be a dud.
The Saints are second in the NFL with 442.8 yards of offense per game, but only 13th in points scored with an average of 26.4. They’ll be on the home turf of the league’s top defense. The Lions lead the league with 270.7 yards allowed per game, 13.7 points allowed and 20 sacks.
The problem for the Lions is that Stafford has been sacked 21 times, more than any quarterback in the league. And Calvin Johnson could miss another week with a high-ankle sprain. Without him, they lack a consistent playmaker to stretch opposing defenses.
Derek Carr will throw four touchdowns passes—again—and the Raiders will still lose
Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr had a breakout game Sunday, throwing for four touchdowns in a 31-28 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
If Carr can do that against the league’s fourth-ranked passing defense, he can do it against the league’s worst (allowing 309 ypg) when the Arizona Cardinals take a visit to the Black Hole. Andre Holmes caught two of those touchdown passes Sunday and has emerged as a complement to James Jones, who leads the Raiders with 26 receptions.
Still, Carson Palmer will upstage the rookie and beat his former team at Oakland.
The Cowboys will beat the Giants by more than a touchdown
Why is this such a bold prediction? Because eight of the last 10 games between these NFC East rivals have been decided by a touchdown or less.
The Giants (3-3) lost Victor Cruz for the season and will probably be without running back Rashad Jennings when they visit the Cowboys (5-1). Dallas hasn’t lost a game since Week 1, and the Giants will be playing their second straight division game on the road. The bye week can’t come soon enough for the Giants—they need to lick their wounds and get healthy.
The Cowboys will be 6-1 for the first time since 2007, with home games against the Redskins and Cardinals before they go to London to face the Jaguars. Things are setting up nicely for them.
Peyton Manning will have to wait to tie Brett Favre’s touchdown record
Peyton Manning threw his 506th career touchdown pass in Sunday’s win over the Jets. He’s two away from Brett Favre’s career record of 508.
Not only will Manning not break the record at home against the 49ers on Sunday Night Football, he won’t even tie the record.
He’ll throw just one touchdown pass for the first time since Super Bowl XLVIII.
Will the 49ers actually beat the Broncos? It’s possible. They’ve won three straight and have the defense to contain Manning and the ground game to keep the ball out of his hands.
Statistically, San Francisco has the second-best overall defense in the league and the second-best passing defense. On offense, the 49ers are averaging 135.7 rushing yards per game, seventh in the NFL.
Manning need not worry, though. He’ll have another chance to break Favre’s record on national TV in Week 8 when the Broncos host the Chargers on Thursday Night Football.
The Chiefs will beat the Chargers
This won’t be the biggest upset of the week. The Jaguars will earn that honor. But the visiting Chiefs will pull off a shocker and end the Chargers’ five-game winning streak.
The Chargers needed overtime in Week 17 last year to beat the Chiefs backups in a game they needed to win to make the playoffs.
On Sunday, the Chiefs are coming off a bye. Andy Reid is 13-2 after bye weeks in his career, according to ESPN.com.
Since beating the Seahawks in Week 2, the Chargers have beat up on some weak competition. They won at Buffalo, emerged victorious at home against Jacksonville, blew out the Jets and squeaked out a win at Oakland. They needed a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the winless Raiders.
The rested Chiefs will travel home from San Diego with the win, assuming they play their starters this time.
There will be another tie
A tie in Tic-Tac-Toe is called a “cat’s game.”
So isn’t it fitting that the Panthers and Bengals churned out the first tie of the NFL season on Sunday, 37-37, at Cincinnati.
Since the NFL changed its overtime rules in 2012, there has been one tie per season. Before that, there were just two ties in the previous 12 seasons.
Under the current set-up, a field goal cannot win the game on the first possession of overtime. Unless the team receiving the opening kickoff scores a touchdown or is dropped for a safety, both teams get a chance to touch the ball.
First, Peyton Manning complained about the OT rules when his Broncos lost to the Seahawks after giving up a touchdown on the first possession. Now, there’s an outcry to end ties in the NFL after the Panthers and Bengals played to a stalemate.
But the fact remains that the overtime rules are one of the few improvements the NFL has made since Roger Goodell became commissioner.
The Bengals’ defense will allow 500 (or more) yards for the second time in three weeks
First, the Bengals got crushed by Tom Brady and the Patriots, 43-17. Then they suffered a loss disguised as a 37-37 tie when Mike Nugent missed a 36-yard field goal at the end of overtime against the Panthers.
Now the Bengals go to Indianapolis to face the NFL’s leader in passing yards (1,937) and touchdown passes (17).
That’s just what they need.
Andrew Luck will have plenty of luck against a secondary that includes 36-year-old Terence Newman, 31-year-old Reggie Nelson and 31-year-old Adam Jones. The Bengals do have younger defensive backs, but 2012 first-round pick Dre Kirkpatrick and 2014 first-round pick Darqueze Dennard have combined for 42 snaps on defense this season.
The Bengals yielded 505 yards of offense at New England. On Sunday, the Colts will start their engines in the land of the Indy 500 and past another 500-plus yards on the Bengals defense.
It will be the first time the Bengals have allowed more than 500 yards twice in the same season since 1982. And just think: Three weeks ago, they were looking like the ’85 Bears.