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    • Eagles and Bengals receive much-needed reinforcements
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    Eagles and Bengals receive much-needed reinforcements

    Seren Anwen Posted on

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    In Week 6 of the NFL, most of the favorites took care of their business.

    And now that a third of the season is over, we have a solid idea of ​​each team, their identities and their fatal flaws.

    And perhaps no team that was considered a contender was a bigger disappointment than the Dallas Cowboys, who suffered their worst home loss in nearly 36 years on Sunday. Dallas is still very much alive in the NFC East, but the Cowboys just don’t seem like a group that can compete with some of the NFL’s top teams. Elsewhere in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers distributed the ball and got significant contributions from several players, although one glaring problem for the offense remains: The team’s execution inside the 20 has been far too inconsistent.

    Here are the winners and losers from Sunday of NFL Week 6.

    WINNER

    It wasn’t pretty, but the Bengals get another one

    Anytime a team that has just one win can get a win on the road to correct the course of its season, it’s hard to find fault with that. Still, the Cincinnati Bengals still need to step up their defense, even though they only allowed seven points to the New York Giants.

    New York was without receiver Malik Nabers, running back Devin Singletary and edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux. The Giants also missed two field goals. Still, the Bengals struggled at times to capitalize on their excellent field position, they needed more from their rushing game (aside from a bailout scramble touchdown by Joe Burrow), and the defense had difficulty holding off the Giants on third and fourth downs . Still, Cincinnati’s offense is much more dangerous now that Tee Higgins (seven catches for 77 yards) is healthy. The Bengals (2-4) are already two games out of first place in the AFC North, so the margin of error is razor-thin.

    Why did the rest of the NFL let the Ravens get Derrick Henry?

    Perhaps no player was a more influential signing this offseason than running back Derrick Henry, who joined the powerhouse Baltimore Ravens. Henry leads the NFL in rushing yards (704) and touchdowns (eight).

    Along with Lamar Jackson, the Ravens have the best ground game in the league, and it’s not even close. Of players with at least 50 attempts, Baltimore has the first and second ranked rushers in yards per carry in Jackson and Henry. This makes the Ravens particularly dangerous in the red zone, where Baltimore (75%) is tied with the Texans as the most efficient team in the NFL. If the Ravens (4-2) can win the fast-paced battle 176-52, as they did in a 30-23 victory over the Washington Commanders (4-2), they will be difficult to stop.

    The Eagles (desperately) needed their star receivers back

    Let’s put aside the craziness of coach Nick Sirianni trolling the home crowd after the Philadelphia Eagles (3-2) beat the one-win Cleveland Browns 20-16 – Sirianni said he “had fun.” Philadelphia’s offense got a huge boost with the return of receivers AJ Brown (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (concussion), both of whom had missed several weeks.

    Each had a reception of at least 40 yards and scored a touchdown, and both combined for 180 receiving yards on nine catches. Brown is one of the league’s strongest receivers, one who often steals jump balls from defenders and has an unparalleled sense of when to slow down and use leverage on underthrown balls. Smith is a smooth route runner. Jalen Hurts (64% completion rate, 264 yards, two touchdowns) had by far his best game so far this season. Still, the offense sputtered at times on third downs and there is a lot to improve on, but at least this was progress.

    The Packers are finding their flow on offense, but one problem remains

    While there are few offenses better than racking up yards, the Green Bay Packers have still been pretty uneven this season, falling into early holes at times. But with a 34-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the Packers (4-2) scored the first 24 points of the game and cruised to victory.

    Nine different Packers caught at least one pass and Jordan Love threw four touchdowns to three different players. Likewise, seven different players recorded a carry as Green Bay racked up 179 rushing yards. However, if there is one glaring area of ​​concern with this offense, it’s what it does inside the 20. The Packers simply don’t finish enough drives with touchdowns. Against the Cardinals, they reached the red zone on two of four goals and kept their conversion rate at 50% this season. That shouldn’t be a problem against Arizona. However, there could be losses against some of the better teams in the NFL.

    LOSER

    The Cowboys need a change

    The Cowboys have certainly won three times, but Sunday’s 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions showed how far this team is from legitimately competing. Detroit absolutely defeated Dallas, almost a month after the New Orleans Saints did the same in a 25-point loss.

    The Cowboys lack physicality, particularly on both offense and defense. They play almost as if they know they can’t beat good opponents. You can’t run the ball. At the end of the third quarter, the leading Cowboy rusher was Rico Dowdle, who had 7 yards on three carries; Dallas (3-3) had 16 total rushing yards on 10 attempts at that point. The 38-point loss is the worst home defeat since Week 11 of 1988, a season before Jerry Jones purchased the franchise. Dallas is winless at home. The problems are cultural and start with the coaching staff. This looks like the tired construction of a team whose best days are over.

    Playing Will Levis (at least for now) is becoming untenable

    Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis is still a young player who, frankly, was probably forced into playing far too early. But Tennessee can’t reasonably start the 25-year-old Levis at this point and expect to be a competitive team.

    Backup Mason Rudolph is almost certainly not a viable option long-term either. But Tennessee (1-4) runs the risk of shattering Levis’ confidence and inadvertently instilling bad habits in him, as seen in his move into double coverage in the fourth quarter, which slashed Tennessee’s chances of beating the Indianapolis Colts to 20: 17 defeat wiped out. Levis leads the NFL with seven interceptions and ranks last among qualified players in QB rating (70.7). Tennessee actually has some weapons at receiver, but Levis hasn’t connected with Calvin Ridley, who had eight targets and not a single catch on Sunday. DeAndre Hopkins – three-time All-Pro – is essentially a non-factor. That makes the team’s decision to trade Malik Willis, a player who never had a real chance, all the more confusing.

    Raiders destroy themselves and bring the season to the brink

    The Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) only committed four penalties on Sunday, which would normally be a really solid day. But against the Pittsburgh Steelers, each of those penalties negated big plays and was emblematic of a team that self-destructed in a 32-13 loss.

    The first came in the second quarter after a roughing the passer penalty that negated an interception; Four plays later, Pittsburgh scored a touchdown. The second score came in the third quarter and negated a big completion by pushing Vegas out of field goal range; his eventual punt was blocked. The third goal came minutes later, an inexplicable rough hit on the passer on third-and-18 that extended the drive; Two plays later, Najee Harris ran for a 36-yard touchdown. The fourth came on the final play of the third quarter, an illegible man downfield that negated a touchdown pass; Two plays later, running back Ameer Abdullah fumbled at the goal line.

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    Seren Anwen
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