The sixth week of the NFL season was one for the highlight reel. It brought career-high yardage totals for three stars: the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski (162 receiving yards), the Lions’ Golden Tate (165 receiving yards), and the Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. (222 receiving yards).
Kicking off the week on Thursday, the Chargers fought off a comeback from the Broncos to beat Denver, 21-13. Sunday saw another loss for the Browns who, at 0-6, just can’t seem to catch a break. San Francisco watched Colin Kaepernick’s audition for Blaine Gabbert’s starting job at quarterback not go as well as it or its coach Chip Kelly might’ve hoped. Running back LeSean McCoy also showed his former coach from the Eagles what he was missing (with three TDs), when the 49ers were blown out by the Bills in the second half.
Given their talented rosters, Sunday delivered losses to four teams—the Steelers, Panthers, Packers, and Colts—that arguably had a leg up on their opponents. (Indianapolis fell to Houston on Sunday night in overtime on a 52-yard field goal by Nick Novak.) On the flip side, several teams—the Lions, Giants, Titans, Saints, and Jaguars—secured wins just before the playoffs slipped completely out of their grasp.
Monday night brought another crushing loss to the New York Jets (now 1-5) against the Arizona Cardinals. Running back David Johnson led the Cardinals to their win with 111 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Carson Palmer (213 passing yards, one touchdown) lit up his plethora of backfield options in John Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Jaron Brown, Michael Floyd. Arizona’s defense picked off passes from two Jets quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick (Geno Smith replaced starter Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter). Ensuring the loss, New York’s running game was almost nonexistent with just 33 team rushing yards.
Week Seven kicks off in Green Bay with the Packers looking to get their confidence back against the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. Below, take a look at that aforementioned highlight reel.
