NFL Week 6 preview

Thursday, 8:20 p.m. ET (NFL NETWORK)

A short week brings a matchup of two teams in turmoil in a division where no one is down and out quite yet. If the Eagles win, they could easily find themselves leading the division at 3-3. Conversely, a Giants win would make both teams 2-4, and yet it's very plausible that they could be joined by Dallas with the same record, with Washington very possibly staring at 2-3 by week's end. What I'm saying is: The NFC East isn't very good. Philly lost Jay Ajayi for the year but has actually gotten solid production from Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood. The Eagles' real issue on offense is that Nelson Agholor is somehow averaging only 7.3 yards per reception. The Giants need to find a way to generate a consistent running game, and they need to avoid the bad luck that saw them vanquished by a 63-yard field goal from Carolina's Graham Gano as time expired last week. If you like mayhem and mediocrity, root for a Giants win and for Jacksonville and Carolina to handle their business against the rest of the division.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)

Pittsburgh righted itself, at least for the time being, with an emphatic thumping of the Falcons. It wasn't so much the margin of victory for the Steelers as it was the way their defense played against one of the league's upper-echelon quarterbacks. Led by T.J. Watt's three sacks, the Steelers brought down Matt Ryan six times, including a strip sack that ended in an L.J. Fort touchdown and harassed the Falcons all day long. Andy Dalton might not be Ryan, but his Bengals have been resilient all year long, no more so than when they erased a 17-point deficit by scoring 27 unanswered points, including 24 in the fourth quarter, to beat the Dolphins last Sunday. A Cincy win would give them firm control of the AFC North through six games, but a Pittsburgh victory would put them at 3-2-1, right on Cincy's heels, with Le'Veon Bell apparently due back after the Week 7 bye. One lingering question for the Bengals is whether or not they can focus on football and not collectively lose their minds with the Steelers in town. To that end, Vontaze Burfict will need to be on his best behavior.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

The season is rapidly coming undone for Atlanta, and a loss to Tampa Bay would cause it to completely unravel. Matt Ryan and the offense have been considerably better at home vs. on the road, and they should have their way with a Buccaneers defense last seen getting absolutely shredded by Mitch Trubisky and the Bears. Ryan needs better protection from his offensive line, and the Falcons also need to get their running game going. Everything else should take care of itself if those two conditions are met, and so long as Atlanta puts up a typical home point output, it should be fine. Tampa Bay needs to get a big game from Jameis Winston, now firmly back in control of the quarterback position, to have a chance. What the Bucs could really use, though, is anything resembling a defense. The Bucs rank dead last in points allowed, second-to-last in yards allowed and dead last in pass defense. Opposing quarterbacks are completing 77 percent of their passes against Tampa. Other than that, things are going great.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)

The Browns are a laughingstock no more, and the time for making them a punchline is at an end. Their win over Baltimore ended a bizarre streak that saw them go three years between Sunday wins, and leveled their record at 2-2-1. In the process, Cleveland got great defense and a few huge, timely throws from Baker Mayfield. The Browns lead the league in takeaways and have at least two in every game this season. That's a tough thing to count on, but the Browns have serious playmakers in Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward. Mayfield, for his part, continues to learn on the job, and while his play has been up and down, the good is much more tantalizing than the bad is frustrating. Philip Rivers and the Chargers got a solid win against a Raiders team that was gifted a win over the Browns, but they'll find that unlike Oakland, Cleveland has an honest-to-goodness pass rush. If that rush gets home and finds Rivers with regularity, it's going to be a long afternoon for the Chargers' offense. Conversely, if it doesn't, Mayfield might have to put up a lot of points to win.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

The Seahawks gave it a good try but still fell short against the Rams. One imagines NFL fans in London wishing for better teams than these two, but they'll have to make due. Oakland continues to suffer from the near-complete absence of a pass rush, and Jon Gruden continues to isolate it as a major problem, with the elephant in the room being his trade of Khalil Mack, whose five sacks would look quite good right about now. In any case, that lack of pressure could spell doom for Oakland, especially against a Seahawks offense that has started to find some legitimate balance the last three weeks. Oakland wants to pass the ball, but that's the thing that Seattle is still pretty good at defending. The Raiders, on the other hand, aren't particularly good at defending anything and should probably still be winless. A Seattle win would have them at 3-3 despite going through plenty of ups and downs so far.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

To the surprise of, well, everyone, the Bears are 3-1 and leading the NFC North. But for a spectacular Aaron Rodgers comeback in Week 1, they would be undefeated. Mitch Trubisky threw for six touchdowns against the Bucs, encouraging Bears fans by proving that he has a very high ceiling and is capable of devastating opposing defenses. Chicago's real ace in the hole, though, is a ferocious defense that ranks second in the league in all major categories, as well as first overall against the pass. Even with Trubisky's big game, the Bears' formula is simple: Do enough on offense to win, and let Khalil Mack and Co. wreak havoc on defense. It's a good formula, and against a Dolphins team reeling after it blew a 17-point lead in Cincinnati, it might well be an effective one. If Miami is going to steady itself, it'll need Ryan Tannehill to avoid the killer turnovers that aided Cincy's comeback and also find some semblance of consistent offense. Easier said than done.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

Josh Rosen got himself a victory last week, but Cardinals fans should perhaps hold off on throwing massive parties — the win over San Francisco was more due to the 49ers' inability to protect the football than it was to some huge game by Rosen. Arizona's defense harassed C.J. Beathard into four turnovers, one of which turned into a scoop-and-score touchdown for the Cards. Arizona still barely did anything of consequence offensively, and through five games, the Cardinals have not yet topped 300 yards of total offense. Stranger things have happened, of course, but it's tough to imagine them waltzing into Minnesota and moving the ball up and down the field on the Vikings. Minnesota got a statement win and a small measure of revenge for last year's NFC Championship Game by beating Philadelphia last week. This game and next week's against the Jets provides the Vikes with a good chance at being 4-2-1 before a showdown with the Saints. Adam Thielen vs. the Cardinals' ball-hawking secondary should be a fun battle.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)

The NFL is a hard league to predict, and games like last week's Jets-Broncos clash are why. Denver suffered a severe Patrick Mahomes hangover, and despite having a very good defense, the Broncos got drilled by Sam Darnold and New York. Darnold threw three touchdown passes, but his life was really made easy by the fact that Isaiah Crowell and Bilal Powell combined for a jaw-dropping 318 rushing yards on only 35 combined carries. Crowell in particular went off, notching 219 yards on 15 rushes, including a 77-yard touchdown. Can the Jets do it again against an Indianapolis team that didn't have the firepower to keep up with Tom Brady and the Pats? Unless you think 300-plus yards on the ground is sustainable, probably not. Still, New York should be able to give Andrew Luck some problems, particularly in the turnover department. The Colts are still waiting for a true breakout game from Luck, and if they don't get one here, they'll fall to 1-5 and be toast in the AFC South.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)

Washington was a fly on the windshield in Drew Brees' record-setting Monday night performance. But fear not, Skins fans, the NFC East is a trash fire, and your team is still very much in the thick of things. In fact, as I write this, Washington is technically still in first place, though that could change by the time this game starts. Washington is a Jekyll and Hyde outfit. One week it looks dominant, the next, it's an inexplicably bad performance in a loss. The Skins are due to be good this week, and if that holds true, they'll end up at a passable 3-2. Carolina did everything it could to butcher last week's game against the Giants. The Panthers gave up a late score, mangled the clock late, and yet Graham Gano bailed everyone out with a 63-yard field goal at the gun to stun New York and most likely the vast majority of Panthers fans as well. Carolina has been outgained in three of its four games this year and has relied on turnovers to help balance that out. A road game against a risk-averse Washington team might be a bad situation for the Panthers.

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)

The Texans got a crucial overtime win against Dallas Sunday night, but they need to find a way to keep Deshaun Watson from taking so many brutal hits. One way would be to develop some semblance of a consistent running game, and another would be for his offensive line to play better, which may be asking too much. A date with the Bills and their surprisingly solid defense might mean a low-scoring affair, especially since Buffalo's offense is a work in progress, to put it kindly. To put it less kindly, Buffalo is the worst-scoring team in the league, yet they're somehow 2-3 after finding a way past the Titans last week. This game should be a low-scoring slugfest, but in the world of the NFL, where precious little makes sense, it could also be a game contested in the mid-30s. The Bills have the worst point differential in the league and no serious designs on anything resembling contention this year, while a win would keep the Texans in the thick of things in the increasingly murky AFC South.

Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET (FOX)

The Rams got their first real test against Seattle and still managed to pass despite looking human for the first time all year. Now they get a desperate Broncos team fresh off a humiliation at the hands of the Jets. Denver's main problem is that it doesn't do any one thing particularly well. Yes, the Broncos can get after the passer better than most, but that didn't yield a win against Kansas City and did nothing to help them last week against New York. They're also not equipped to win a shootout, even at home. The recipe here for a Broncos win is similar to what they tried to do with the Chiefs — pressure the quarterback and hope it rattles him enough to disrupt the offense. That worked against Patrick Mahomes for about 50 minutes, and then it didn't. Jared Goff is arguably playing at an even higher level, and even if Brandin Cooks is unable to go, the Rams have plenty of weapons. Denver's best chance is ball control and a pass rush, but Los Angeles' offensive line has been excellent all year. Being 6-0 looks well within their reach.

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)

Dallas' offense is struggling, and there are rumblings that Jason Garrett's seat is getting hot. Ezekiel Elliott is very good, but outside of him there isn't much. Dak Prescott doesn't have a go-to receiver, has not been able to get the ball downfield and has topped 200 yards passing only once this season. Jacksonville offers no respite for him in that regard, and the Jags are good enough to take Elliott away from Dallas and dare Prescott to beat them. The Cowboys' defense has been very good, and playing at home should help them in what could be an extremely low-scoring game. Speaking of quarterbacks, one wonders if Blake Bortles played his own personal Super Bowl earlier this year against New England. Take that game out of the equation, and you've got a QB who has thrown four touchdowns against six interceptions this year. Bortles was terrible last week against a bad Chiefs defense, so what could reasonably be expected of him here? Both teams will try to run the ball, but the Jags don't have Leonard Fournette, making that task much tougher. First team to 20 will win, probably, and Garrett had better hope it is his.

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)

This game pits two teams coming off ugly losses, though Tennessee's looks worse. At least Baltimore lost to Cleveland, a team people are rightfully starting to take more seriously. The Titans' defeat in Buffalo is a head-scratcher, yet also unsurprising, given that inconsistency is one of the Titans' calling cards. The Titans can play some serious defense, however, and they'll have to rely on that against Baltimore. That said, the Ravens are tops in the NFL in points allowed this year. So much like Jacksonville and Dallas, the stage is set for a game contested in the teens. This game may well boil down to which team's quarterback can hit more big plays. Joe Flacco is more likely to throw the downfield bomb, but Marcus Mariota, despite his extremely underwhelming start to the season, can hurt a defense by extending a play and getting receivers into a scramble drill. I don't think it would be unfair to fans of either team to suggest that this one could be for purists only.

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)

Finally, the good stuff. Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady should both fill it up. Mahomes finally looked human against the Jaguars, but Jacksonville's defense has a way of doing that to opposing quarterbacks, and the Chiefs still managed to score 30 points and win comfortably. Bill Belichick doubtless has been scheming, trying to figure out ways to slow down Mahomes despite not having the personnel that Jacksonville does on that side of the ball. By the same token, Andy Reid had a great game plan to throw the Pats off-balance last year and figures to have some tricks up his sleeve yet again. Kansas City can't stop Brady and might be without Justin Houston, which would severely compromise its ability to do anything disruptive on defense. This seems like a classic, "last team with the ball wins," type of affair, and given how underwhelming the late afternoon slate of games is, football fans deserve as much. Here's hoping Mahomes and Brady put on a show. 

Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)

The Niners seem to trust C.J. Beathard enough to let him throw it all over the yard, but he didn't repay that trust with ball security last week. And it was his turnovers that cost San Francisco a win over Arizona, despite some statistical dominance. Now they'll hope that Beathard can be more careful with the football while still scoring plenty of points, which will likely be necessary to down the Packers. Green Bay is smarting after a loss to Detroit, one that saw Aaron Rodgers unable to rally his team from a big halftime deficit. A win would keep the Packers right on Chicago's heels in the NFC North, while San Francisco is functionally done for the year. The best plan for the Niners figures to be a healthy dose of running plays, but Matt Breida's ankle injury has him doubtful. Green Bay has some injury concerns of its own but is still the better team here, and a loss at home would be surprising, if not flat-out shocking.