NFL Today, Week 6

Updated Oct. 18, 2021 12:55 a.m. ET
Associated Press

SCOREBOARD: Monday, Oct. 18, Bills at Titans, 8:15 p.m. EDT.

Buffalo (4-1) has looked like a Super Bowl contender during a four-game winning streak, outscoring its opponents 156-41 and getting a big Sunday night win at Kansas City in a rematch of last year's AFC championship game. The Bills have the NFL's highest-scoring offense and stingiest defense. The injury-plagued Titans (3-2), also a playoff team in 2020, have been uneven but are getting the usual contributions from workhorse Derrick Henry, who leads the NFL with 640 yards rushing while averaging 28.3 carries per game. His stiff-arm of Josh Norman was the signature play of Tennessee's 42-16 rout of Buffalo last season.

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STARS

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Passing

— Dak Prescott, Cowboys, went 36 of 51 for 445 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in Dallas' 35-29 overtime victory over New England.

— Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs, was 32 of 47 for 397 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in Kansas City's 31-13 win over Washington.

— Kirk Cousins, Vikings, went 33 of 48 for 373 yards and three touchdowns in Minnesota's 34-28 overtime victory over Carolina.

— Derek Carr, Raiders, threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns in Las Vegas' 34-24 win over Denver.

— Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins, went 33 of 47 for 329 yards and two touchdowns in Miami's 23-20 loss to Jacksonville in London.

— Joe Burrow, Bengals, threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in Cincinnati's 34-11 win over Detroit.

— Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers, was 29 of 40 for 229 yards and a touchdown in Pittsburgh's 23-20 win over Seattle.

— Geno Smith, Seahawks, starting in place of injured Russell Wilson, completed 23 of 32 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown in his first start in nearly four years as Seattle lost to Pittsburgh in OT 23-20.

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Rushing

— Jonathan Taylor, Colts, had 14 rushes for 145 yards — including an 83-yard scamper — and two touchdowns in Indianapolis' 31-3 win over Houston.

— Dalvin Cook, Vikings, rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries in Minnesota's 34-28 overtime victory over Carolina.

— Damien Harris, Patriots, had 18 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown in New England's 35-29 overtime loss to Dallas.

— Khalil Herbert, Bears, had 19 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown in Chicago's 24-14 loss to Green Bay.

— Joe Mixon, Bengals, had 94 yards rushing on 18 carries and added five receptions for 59 yards — including a 40-yard touchdown — in Cincinnati's 34-11 win over Detroit.

— Alex Collins, Seahawks, ran for 101 yards on 20 carries while filling in for injured starter Chris Carson in Seattle's 23-20 OT loss to Pittsburgh.

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Receiving

— CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys, caught nine passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns, including the 35-yard winner in overtime, as Dallas beat the New England Patriots 35-29.

— Cooper Kupp, Rams, had nine receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns in Los Angeles' 38-11 win over the New York Giants.

— Adam Thielen, Vikings, caught 11 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown in Minnesota's 34-28 overtime victory over Carolina.

— Mike Gesicki, Dolphins, caught eight passes for 115 yards in Miami's 23-20 loss to Jacksonville in London. Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins, had 10 receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Marvin Jones Jr., Jaguars, had seven receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown.

— Donovan Peoples-Jones, Browns, had four receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns in Cleveland's 37-14 loss to Arizona.

— Noah Fant, Broncos, had nine catches for 97 yards and a touchdown in Denver's 34-24 loss to Las Vegas.

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Special Teams

— Matthew Wright, Jaguars, was 3 for 3 on field goals, including a 53-yarder as time expired to give Jacksonville a 23-20 win over Miami in London. Wright also connected from 54 and 40 yards.

— Chris Boswell, Steelers, kicked field goals of 27, 52 and 37 yards, the last in overtime as Pittsburgh beat Seattle 23-20.

— Tress Way, Washington, punted four times for a 58-yard average in his team's 31-13 loss to Kansas City.

— A.J. Cole, Raiders, averaged 57 yards on four punts in Las Vegas' 34-24 win over Denver.

— Jack Fox, Lions, averaged 55.5 yards on six punts in Detroit's 34-11 loss to Cincinnati.

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Defense

— Trevon Diggs, Cowboys, returned a fourth-quarter interception 42 yards for a touchdown — his league-leading seventh pick and second pick-six of the season — as Dallas beat New England 35-29 in overtime.

— T.J. Watt, Steelers, forced Seattle quarterback Geno Smith to fumble deep in Seahawks territory in overtime and collected two of his team’s five sacks as Pittsburgh beat Seattle 23-20.

— Maxx Crosby, Raiders, had three sacks in Las Vegas' 34-24 win over Denver.

— Taylor Rapp, Rams, had two interceptions in Los Angeles' 38-11 win over the New York Giants.

— Xavier McKinney, Giants, had two interceptions in the loss to the Rams.

— Jordan Hicks and Markus Golden, Cardinals, each had two sacks in Arizona's 37-14 win over Cleveland.

— Kenny Clark, Packers, had two sacks in Green Bay's 24-14 win over Chicago.

— Jonathan Greenard, Texans, had two sacks in Houston's 31-3 loss to Indianapolis.

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MILESTONES

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs returned an interception for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots, becoming the first player in the Super Bowl era with seven or more interceptions and two or more pick-sixes in his team's first six games. ... Baltimore's Lamar Jackson won his 35th game as a starting quarterback, passing Dan Marino for the most wins by a starting QB before his 25th birthday. ... The Arizona Cardinals, the league’s only unbeaten team, improved to 6-0 for the first time since 1974. ... Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes had his 29th game with at least 300 passing yards, tying Kurt Warner for the most 300-yard games by a player in his first five seasons.

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STREAKS & STATS

Three games (the Vikings' win over the Panthers, the Cowboys' over the Patriots and Steelers over the Seahawks) went to overtime, bringing the total number of OT games this season to 11 through six weeks of the season. That moves past the 1983 season for the second-most through six weeks, trailing only 1995 (12 games). ... In the Jaguars' win over the Dolphins in London, Trevor Lawrence (age 22) and Tua Tagovailoa (age 23) each exceeded 300 yards passing. It was the second game in NFL history in which two quarterbacks under age 24 each passed for 300 yards or more. The first was last season when Philadelphia's Jalen Hurts and Arizona's Kyler Murray did it. ... In six games, the Rams' Cooper Kupp has 46 catches for 653 yards and seven TDs, joining Marvin Harrison (45 catches for 709 yards and eight touchdown receptions in 1999) as the only players in NFL history with at least 45 catches, 650 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions in their team’s first six games.

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LAMBEAU FIELD SOUTH

Aaron Rodgers turned toward the crowd after running for a touchdown to help secure yet another win for Green Bay over Chicago. Then he yelled, “I still own you! I still own you!” It's hard to argue the point, given that Rodgers improved to 22-5 in a starter against Chicago. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the Packers' 24-14 victory over the Bears, which prevented Chicago from tying Green Bay for the NFC North lead. Rodgers shook off a sluggish start, throwing a 1-yard touchdown to Allen Lazard in the second quarter and a 12-yarder to Aaron Jones in the third.

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MISSING MCCAFFREY

It's no secret that Christian McCaffrey is an important player for the Carolina Panthers, who fell to 0-3 without him on Sunday after starting the season 3-0 with him. The Panthers lost 34-28 in overtime to the Minnesota Vikings, and McCaffrey will miss at least two more games after he was placed on injured reserve Saturday. His absence is allowing defenses to focus on stopping Carolina's best wide receiver, D.J. Moore. “We have to figure out with Christian out, what our identity is,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “People are playing a two-man thing on D.J. to make sure he doesn’t catch the ball.”

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DO YOU COPY?

In his first game as the Las Vegas Raiders' interim coach following the forced resignation of Jon Gruden, longtime special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said the most difficult thing was figuring out the headset, explaining: “Back in the day when I wore a headset set we didn’t have all those buttons.” Not much else went wrong for the Raiders after a difficult week that began with Gruden's ouster over racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails he sent when he was a commentator at ESPN. Las Vegas beat the Denver Broncos 34-24.

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SIDELINED

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will be evaluated after suffering a calf injury on the final play of his team's 35-29 overtime victory over New England — a 35-yard TD pass from Prescott to CeeDee Lamb. ... Seattle linebacker Darrell Taylor left the Seahawks’ game against Pittsburgh late in the fourth quarter on a stretcher with an unspecified injury. Taylor was on the ground for more than 10 minutes while being attended to by medical staff. He was taken to a hospital. NBC reported that Taylor had movement in all of his extremities. ... Wide receiver Kadarius Toney, a rookie first-round pick for the New York Giants, aggravated an ankle injury on his team's first drive in what became a 38-11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Fellow receiver C.J. Board was carted off the field late in the first half with a broken arm. ... Houston safety Terrence Brooks suffered a bruised lung in the Texans' 31-3 loss to the Colts, forcing him to spend the night in Indianapolis. Coach David Culley ruled Brooks out of next week's game. ... Chiefs tight end Jody Fortson was carted off with a torn left Achilles tendon in the third quarter of Kansas City’s 31-13 victory at Washington. Teammate Anthony Hitchens injured his right elbow on a hit in the second period that was flagged for unnecessary roughness. The linebacker is set to have an MRI Monday. ... Packers center Josh Myers was helped off the field after injuring his knee on a running play on the opening possession against Chicago and did not return. Green Bay safety Darnell Savage was evaluated for a concussion after he was hurt making a tackle. ... Panthers receiver Terrace Marshall left in the first half against Minnesota after he took a vicious hit from Vikings safety Xavier Woods, who was flagged on the play. Fellow WR Alex Erickson left with a concussion. ... Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson was helped off the field with a lower-body injury late in the fourth quarter. ... Baltimore Ravens running back Latavius Murray suffered an ankle injury in a win over the Chargers, and center Bradley Bozeman left with a back injury. ... The Broncos lost three linebackers to injury in their loss to the Raiders: Alexander Johnson (chest), Baron Browning (concussion) and Andre Mintze (hamstring). ... Raiders linebacker Nick Kwiatkowski left the game with a foot injury and safety Roderic Teamer injured a shoulder. ... Cardinals tight end Darrell Daniels suffered a hamstring injury in the first half against the Browns and didn't return. Arizona defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence (calf) didn't play in the second half. ... Browns running back Kareem Hunt left the field on a cart with a calf injury in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s loss to Arizona and will undergo further imaging on Monday. Quarterback Baker Mayfield dislocated his left, non-throwing shoulder again but plans to play Thursday night against Denver.

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SPEAKING

“I love playing in Soldier Field,” Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers said after he improved to 22-5 as a starter against the Chicago Bears. “I said this week I have a lot of respect for the fans. I’m sure there’s a little bit of respect coming back my way, not a lot of love I’m sure. Had a lot of great moments on this field, a lot of great battles.”

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“It might be a product of not having a coach out there. I have a little more leeway without him.” — Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray on his freelancing plays in the absence of coach Kliff Kingsbury, who tested positive for COVID-19 and didn't travel with the team to Cleveland.

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