Scoop City is The Athletic’s daily NFL newsletter. Sign up here to receive it straight to your inbox.

I love the middle part of the NFL season. Here we can separate the contenders from the contenders, debate which impatient owner will fire their coach next, and watch Eagles HC’s Nick Sirianni yell at the local fans.

It’s a tradition like no other (here’s the 2022 version), this time coming after his 3-2 team (narrowly) beat the 1-5 Browns.

In case you missed it, the 4-2 Bears have now scored five offensive touchdowns in back-to-back games for the first time since 1956. This happened against the Panthers and Jaguars, but don’t mention that part in Chicago.

Let’s start with this for the promoted/relegated teams on Sunday:

The trend is increasing

📈 Caleb Williams again. This year’s No. 1 pick finished a 35-16 win in London with a 79.3 completion percentage, four touchdowns and an elite QBR of 88.3 – all career highs. Williams is now two passing touchdowns away from breaking the Bears’ single-season rookie record (🤯). As The athlete Columnist Jon Greenberg writes that a new day is dawning in Chicago.

📈 4-2 ravens. Combine Derrick Henry with the best rushing quarterback in the league and you get an average of 205.3 rushing yards per game. And that’s not all, as Lamar Jackson’s consecutive games with over 320 passing yards prove. After beating the red-hot Commanders 30-23, Jackson is now 22-1 as the starting quarterback against NFC opponents and has a chance to improve that record on Sunday night against another NFC opponent in Tampa Bay.

📈 Trickery in Texas. After TE Sam LaPorta scored a 52-yard touchdown on a flea flicker, the Lions almost made this hook and ladder to 335-pound offensive lineman Penei Sewell:

Yes, they won by 28 points that time. Is there an offensive play-caller who has more fun than Lions OC Ben Johnson? (More on this game below.)

📈 5-1 Texans. While CJ Stroud (192 yards, three TDs) and the offense get the attention, fellow freshman DE Will Anderson Jr. dominated the Patriots’ struggling line (three sacks, three pressures and a deflected pass that resulted in an INT). Houston won easily 41-21, spoiling Drake Mayes’ first start. However …

📈 Hope in New England. “It’s definitely encouraging,” Jerod Mayo said after Maye passed for 243 yards and more touchdowns (three) than Jacoby Brissett in five games (two). Maye also led the team in rushing (oof) but had two interceptions and four sacks in his up-and-down debut. If there is a good game, it is next Sunday against the struggling Jaguars in London.

📈 The NFC North. The four best NFL teams by point difference? All here with Williams improving, the Lions on a roll and the Packers dominating the Cardinals, winning 34-13. Thanks to the bye, the Vikings remained undefeated at the top of the best football league. Could all four make the playoffs? They did it exactly 30 years ago. Winter is coming!

📈 Unfortunately injuries. Aidan Hutchison, Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, Patrick Surtain II, Jerome Ford, Dallas Goedert, Darius Slay Jr. and many, many others – even Jim Harbaugh – were all eliminated at some point on Sunday.

📈 Harbaugh’s offense. Of the players listed above, only the Chargers coach returned – after dealing with an irregular heartbeat – to watch Los Angeles rush for a season-high 350 yards in a 23-16 win over Denver’s stout defense. “2-0 with cardiac arrhythmia,” Harbaugh said after the game. Earlier this week, Chargers beat reporter Daniel Popper explained why help could arrive in the form of Amari Cooper at the trade deadline.

📈 4-2 Buccaneers, second half. After intercepting three passes from Baker Mayfield in the second quarter, the Saints led 27-24 at halftime. But Todd Bowles’ pressure was too much for rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler (four sacks, two interceptions in the second half), and the Buccaneers shut out New Orleans and won 51-27.

📈 Great catches. A week after that incredible catch by Jayden Reed, Courtland Sutton may have had the catch of the year.

Downtrend

📉 Birthday party for Jerry Jones. The Cowboys owner spent his 82nd birthday watching the Lions decimate his team 47-9 (Scorigami!). He will be rested next week as the 3-3 Cowboys have a bye. That should be enough time for Micah Parsons and DaRon Bland to return, although they are still missing DeMarcus Lawrence, Brandin Cooks and Marshawn Kneeland. Nevertheless, it is time to panic.

📉 1-5 Jaguars. After another sloppy loss, the heat for HC Doug Pederson’s seat continues to heat up. After the loss to the Bears, Andre Cisco described the feeling in the locker room after the game: “How can I put this: a lot of giving up.” This is the same team that owner Shahid Khan described as the “best assembled team” in the franchise history. Funny. This made me laugh too:

📉 Will Levis’ career. Only 95 passing yards and a crucial interception in the fourth quarter cost the 1-4 Titans a 20-17 loss to the Colts. Levis has the physical skills of a franchise quarterback, but that’s about it. Only Deshaun Watson has been worse this season. Calvin Ridley, Levi’s No. 1 receiver, finished the game with eight targets, zero catches and this quote: “This is going to be fucking crazy.”

📉 4-1 Lions, despite the overwhelming victory in Dallas. Their star DE Hutchison entered Sunday leading the NFL in sacks (6.5) and posted his highest pressure percentage (24.4) in the first half of the season since 2019. But his day ended with a cart after breaking his tibia . Their depth behind Hutchinson is razor thin.

📉 Kevin Stefanski’s job security can be summed up with this tweet from beat reporter Zac Jackson:

Stefanski asked if the Browns would stick with Deshaun Watson.

“Yes.”

Below we look at Deshaun Watson’s escape plan.

📉 Raiders QB hopes. Aidan O’Connell replaced Gardner Minshew with the aim of limiting mistakes after he had six turnovers. Despite extremely conservative play, Vegas still committed three turnovers in the 32:13 loss to Pittsburgh.

For more information, Zak Keefer shared his insights from Week 6 here. A quick note from Dianna to Doug Pederson:

What Dianna hears: Pederson has his owner’s support — for now

Jaguars owner Shad Khan gave his head coach a vote of confidence before Sunday’s game in London. And according to Pederson, the owner still has his back after the Jaguars’ lopsided loss to the Chicago Bears.

The 1-5 Jaguars remain in London this week to prepare for their Week 7 game against the 1-5 Patriots. If the Jaguars don’t return to the U.S. with a two-game split, Pederson could be the next coach fired this season.

Pederson’s former team, the Eagles, beat the Browns at home, but you can add Nick Sirianni to the list of coaches feeling the heat. Sirianni did little to escape the heated debate with an uninspired victory.

Back to you, Jacob.

Deshaun Watson: When can it end?

I expect heavy boos in Cleveland on Sunday when the Browns play their first home game since Week 3. Their fans are more than ready to end the Deshaun Watson experiment in 2024 as their 1-5 Win Now squad inches ever closer to the first overall pick. Unfortunately, it’s not their fault.

Mike Sando has worked out exit strategies for Cleveland while Watson remains the starter against the Bengals. Three highlights from Mike’s article stood out to me:

• Watson’s EPA (expected points added) per pass play rank 590th of 592 Quarterbacks who have started the first six games of a season since 2000, according to TruMedia.
• Cleveland is the first team in more than 20 years to go through the first six games of a season without totaling 300 yards or exceeding 18 points.
• One executive said of Watson, “You could cut him tomorrow and no one would pick him up. I don’t want that toxicity to have anything to do with the makeup of my team.”

Complicating the situation is the remainder of Watson’s fully guaranteed, $230 million contract. From a huge cap hit to convincing Watson to waive his no-trade clause, Mike examined every option available to the Browns.

Bills Jets

Tonight, The Jeff Ulbrich era in New York begins when the 2-3 Jets host Josh Allen and the 3-2 Bills at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN. It’s a matchup that will determine the top spot in the AFC East. Two things I pay attention to:

• Can Aaron Rodgers and the Jets’ offense, which averages just 18.6 points per game, improve with a new playcaller? I expect we’ll see more of the Rodgers-dominated scheme that he’s no longer good enough to win with.
• Can Buffalo’s receivers get open? If not, they should make a move for a player like Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, Courtland Sutton or Darius Slayton.

Further information can be found here The athleteThe full preview can be found here. Have fun with the game!

📫 Did you enjoy this read? Sign up here to receive The Athletic’s free daily NFL newsletter in your inbox Checkout The athlete‘s other newsletters.

(Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)