National Football League

What we learned in NFL Week 6: Bill Belichick's clock ticking; Jalen Hurts' pick problem

Updated Oct. 17, 2023 10:55 a.m. ET

FOX Sports NFL Staff

What have we learned thus far in Week 6? FOX Sports' staff of NFL writers joined forces to deliver insight and analysis from around the league.

In this weekly story, we'll tell you what we noticed, what we heard and what to keep an eye on next.

How long can Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick go on like this?

Bill Belichick said after Week 5 that the New England Patriots planned to "start over" — in the middle of the NFL season. It went about as well as you'd expect.

The Patriots looked essentially unchanged in their game against the Las Vegas Raiders, who won 21-17. New England's injuries piled up, which helps explain why the defense is struggling. But of course, the Patriots had it easy, with Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo exiting the game in the second quarter with a back injury. The offense also scored its first touchdown since Week 3. But the Patriots were unable to deliver a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.

It's time for New England to start over. For real. This is the full-on rebuild that Belichick has avoided for years. And it's actually — with hindsight — tough that he didn't do what the Indianapolis Colts did: lose a ton of games in the immediate aftermath of Peyton Manning's departure. Instead, the Patriots have floated along (while slowly sinking) for the past few seasons. And it has led them to 2023, when they are clearly one of the league's worst teams.

They can't bench third-year quarterback Mac Jones because it's 100 percent clear that they don't have anyone more capable. They would be foolish to acquire a better quarterback, because they're out of contention — and, again, it's not 100 percent clear that Kirk Cousins (even if he were to waive his no-trade clause, which is very doubtful) could do much with this offense, devoid of consistency on the offensive line and at the pass-catcher positions.

No, it feels like the Patriots are going to have to suffer through a miserable season. They're going to deal with one humbling loss after another. And then, if Belichick really wants to turn things around, he must abandon that burning desire to win in a way he's never done before. Because Caleb Williams is a prospect worth tanking for — but it won't be easy to get him. With Williams and a big spending spree in free agency, New England could easily find itself relevant in 2024.

How bad can this season get for New England?

If Belichick is to survive a season as a bad as what the Patriots would need to get the No. 1 overall pick, then he's also probably going to get fired — or asked to leave New England.

Unless, in the next few weeks, Kraft and Belichick can reach an understanding that the Patriots need to lose before they win again. And that Kraft can trust Belichick — whose front office has sunk this team since the departure of Tom Brady — to be at the center of the total rebuild. That would require a lot of trust from Kraft. If Belichick isn't up for the job — if he's slipping behind the basic trends of team-building — then the Patriots will have to politely ask him to chase Don Shula's record with another team. (Chargers? Cowboys? Bills?)

It's clear the Patriots are not turning this season around. Nor should they. They need all the draft capital they can get to fix their problems. So the only mystery is: How long can Kraft and Belichick go on like this? Would Kraft remove Belichick during the season? Can Kraft wait until the offseason to let Belichick make a graceful exit? Or — crazy idea — would Kraft give Belichick another year with the reins to put together an aggressive rebuild?

I don't have the answers. But we'll soon see. —Henry McKenna

Amon-Ra St. Brown is a legitimate No. 1 receiver

The Detroit Lions offense is cooking with gas.

They rank in the top 10 for most major offensive categories and not by coincidence, quarterback Jared Goff is one of the best-protected quarterbacks in the league, being sacked on just 4.4% of his dropbacks this season. Against a good Tampa Bay defense, Goff completed 30 of 44 passing attempts for 353 yards, two touchdowns and a 107.5 passer rating. He averages the third-most yards per play at 7.97. His 69.5% completion rate ranks fifth.

You're trying to tell me he's doing all of this without a No. 1 wide receiver?

No, this blurb isn't actually about Goff. It's about Amon-Ra St. Brown. He has 38 receptions this season, which ranks in the top 10, and that's despite missing last week's game against the Panthers. St. Brown has 455 receiving yards, three touchdowns and is averaging a career-high 12 yards per reception. He's a huge part of why the Lions offense keeps humming and why Goff's stats are so good.

St. Brown may be known for lining up in the slot, but the reality is the Lions have moved him all over the line of scrimmage. They have him running all kinds of routes, too. His most common? The ‘Go' route, according to StatsBomb. Most of his catches have come in the underneath zone but the point is, he's everywhere. And it's time we stop thinking of St. Brown as a complementary player and more like a No. 1 receiver. That's the role he plays on one of the league's best offenses. —Carmen Vitali

Daryl Johnston and Adam Amin discuss Detroit's win over Tampa

Amari Cooper keeps showing the Dallas Cowboys what they're missing most

Watching Amari Cooper catch four passes for 108 yards against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday had to be particularly upsetting for the Dallas Cowboys. It's not just that their entire offense gained only 197 yards against the 49ers one week earlier, or that four Cowboys receivers combined for eight catches for 97 yards in that game.

It's that it was yet another reminder of their biggest mistake.

Nineteen months after giving Cooper away to the Cleveland Browns for basically nothing, the Cowboys still haven't replaced him. The biggest hole in their offense remains someone — anyone — to take some of the pressure off CeeDee Lamb in the passing game. They desperately need a second option; a reliable No. 2 to give Dak Prescott somewhere to throw when Lamb is covered.

Meanwhile, in 22 games since the trade, Cooper now has 100 catches for 1,527 yards and 10 touchdowns.

It's not that the Cowboys didn't know what they had in the then-27-year-old Cooper. After the deal, Jerry Jones called him a "top player" and blamed the trade on the size of his contract and the need to use that money (and salary-cap room) in other areas.

The problem is they were so desperate to shed Cooper's five-year, $100 million contract, they gave him away for a fifth-round pick. They were counting on Michael Gallup to replace him last year and signed him to a five-year, $57 million contract of his own, but he clearly wasn't the same coming off an ACL tear the year before (39-424-4). So they traded fifth- and sixth-round picks for Brandin Cooks, who looks like an uneven fit in Mike McCarthy's offense and has just 13 catches for 109 yards and a TD in five games so far.

Cooper now has two 100-yard receiving games in his past three outings, and seven overall since the trade.

The Cowboys sure could use a receiver like that. —Ralph Vacchiano

Take your pick: Eagles' biggest problem might be Jalen Hurts' interception spree

One of the many reasons why Jalen Hurts was an MVP candidate last season was that he only threw six interceptions all season long.

Six games into this season, he's already thrown seven.

Three of them came on Sunday in the Philadelphia Eagles' shocking, 20-16 loss to the New York Jets. It was his second multi-pick game in his last four starts, after having only one game with more than one interception all of last season. He is well on his way to eclipsing his career high of nine, which came in 2021, his first full year of a starter.

So what's going on? Has Hurts suddenly become interception-prone?

Not necessarily. Nick Sirianni made a point of saying only the last of the three interceptions on Sunday were caused by Hurts. The first was deflected out of tight end Dallas Goedert's hands, and the second came when Jets defensive end Jermaine Johnson hit Hurts' arm as he threw.

Hurts said those were "very unfortunate", but he still lamented the "many missed opportunities and so many mistakes that you're kind of giving it away."

"If you're turning the ball over four times," he said, "you shouldn't expect to win."

The Eagles are still 5-1 despite Hurts' seven interceptions, but he's right — that trend isn't likely to continue unless he gets the turnovers under control. —Vacchiano

Should Jalen Hurts, Eagles be concerned about loss to Zach Wilson, Eagles?

Panthers enter bye week as NFL's only winless team

There was the momentary joy of a 14-0 lead on the Dolphins Sunday, but that gave way quickly to 35 straight points allowed and a 42-21 loss that left Carolina at 0-6 entering their bye week.

Two straight weeks of giving up 42 points have the injury-depleted Panthers as the NFL's No. 31 scoring defense, ahead of only the Broncos. But head coach Frank Reich remains optimistic at the chances of turning things around, as the Panthers did last year, going from 1-5 to 7-10.

"We're doing it the right way with the right people, and we've just got to keep fighting and believing," Reich said after Sunday's loss. "So that's what we're going to do. We've got 11 games left. Anything can happen. ‘Anything can happen' just means come back and get better. That's what I think we all know in our room. That's what we all believe. If you commit to getting better and you commit to hanging together, then we can do some damage."

Carolina's offense got touchdowns on two of its first three drives Sunday, then didn't score again the rest of the day. The Panthers went a combined 5-for-18 on third and fourth downs, and 2-for-13 when they needed more than two yards for a first down.

Early Monday, news broke that Reich will reportedly hand over playcalling duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. Coming out of their bye week, the Panthers will face the Texans, pitting rookie QB Bryce Young against C.J. Stroud in a battle of the top two picks in this year's draft. Their next two are winnable games against the Colts and Bears, but Chicago owns Carolina's first-round pick in the upcoming draft, so there's no consolation with each loss.

"We can win football games, and we can win a lot of football games," Reich said Sunday. "So that's what we'll do." —Greg Auman

Detroit Lions vs. Carolina Panthers recap

Not quite a Commanding performance from the Washington defense

Don't be fooled: The Washington Commanders defense is still a problem. But at least this time they came through in crucial moments.

Jack Del Rio's maligned unit was still shredded for 402 yards by the Atlanta Falcons, but it came up with three interceptions in Washington's 24-16 win on Sunday, including two on the final three drives. The Commanders also shut down the Falcons' vaunted running game, holding Atlanta to just 106 yards on the ground.

It was a far better performance than they had 10 days earlier during a disastrous loss in Chicago, when they were shredded for 451 yards by the Bears, including 178 yards on the ground, and gave up four touchdown passes to Bears quarterback Justin Fields. And there were definitely good signs. Corners Kendall Fuller, Benjamin St-Juste and linebacker Jamin Davis all picked off Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder (28 of 47, 307 yards) for the Commanders' first three-interception game since 2019. They sacked him three times, too, though none came from their star-studded starting defensive line.

They got the job done, especially in the fourth quarter, when they picked off Ridder twice. But this is still far from the unit that ranked third in the NFL one year ago. The Commanders are giving up 377 yards per game — way above the 304 they averaged last season. And they struggled to get off the field, allowing the Falcons to sustain six drives of seven plays or longer.

At some point, they're going to need to give impressive young quarterback Sam Howell a little more support than that. —Vacchiano

Saints piled up yards, not points, in 20-13 loss to Texans

Few things are more confounding for an offense than being able to pile up yardage all day without converting those yards into points.

The Saints had 430 yards of total offense Sunday against Houston, but managed only 13 points in dropping to 3-3 on the season. It's a nearly unprecedented display of offensive inefficiency. In the franchise's history, the Saints have only once had so many yards and so few points, with 436 in a 23-13 loss to the Falcons in 2012. League-wide, it's hard to pull that off: Only one team in any game in the past four years has done less with more — Washington had 430 yards in a 24-10 loss to the Packers in 2021.

How do you manage to score so little with only two turnovers? The Saints had five trips inside the Houston 25-yard line, and those yielded a total of six points: field goal, field goal, missed field goal, turnover on downs, fourth-down interception. It's been a problem for Derek Carr before — the Raiders ranked 26th in red-zone efficiency last year, and the Saints are now tied for 27th and converting only 37% of their trips into touchdowns.

"We've got to do a better job of executing our jobs," coach Dennis Allen said generally after the loss. "If we're not executing our jobs, then we need to find somebody else who can execute those jobs. It doesn't matter who you are."

The Saints have a short week before Thursday's home game against the Jaguars, who have bounced back from a 1-2 start to win three straight, including a 37-20 victory over the Colts on Sunday. The Jaguars have forced a league-high 15 turnovers, so limiting those mistakes will be crucial for New Orleans. —Auman

Texans QB C.J. Stroud: "We took off as an offense"

Dolphins' rushing attack was just fine without De'Von Achane

The Miami Dolphins might have gotten a little too silly and a little too creative on a third-and-1 during their second drive of the game. The play looked like a passing attempt, with Tua Tagovailoa throwing the ball backward to Raheem Mostert. But it would have been logged as a rushing attempt if Tagovailoa had actually hit Mostert. Instead, it was a fumble, which Mostert tracked down, recovered and ended up with a one-yard loss.

It was an all-around weird play.

Even when Mike McDaniel called a rushing play, it looked like a passing play. McDaniel is, after all, the playcaller who dialed up the fewest rushing attempts in the NFL last season. He loves to pass. And it seemed like, without rookie De'Von Achane to bring an explosive element to the ground game, Miami might abandon the run — particularly as it went down 14 points in the first quarter.

But after that mishap, McDaniel cut down on the schematic riff-raff.

Mostert justified every run call. They got things going with a 49-yarder up the middle, where Mostert made five guys miss.

After that, the Dolphins made sure to feature his rushing attack in the offense. They finished with 33 carries and 32 passes in their 42-21 win in Week 6.

Mostert was, by far, their most effective runner. He finished with 17 carries for 115 yards and two rushing touchdowns along with three catches for 17 yards and a touchdown. He must have broken around 10 would-be tackles. And — oh yeah — he hurdled the crap out of a Panthers defender.

"It's really cool to watch," McDaniel said of Mostert after the game. "The guy is hungry for every opportunity, and I think you see his will in the way he runs the ball. Down around the goal line, a lot of times the perfect play doesn't exist, and it's a battle of wills, and he's not a guy that a lot of people want to tackle. I'm happy for him, as always. He was a big player for us today and will continue to be such moving forward."

Yes, the Dolphins passing attack is its centerpiece. Tyreek Hill continued to get his: six catches, 163 yards and a touchdown. But Miami is even more dangerous when it generates chunk yardage on the ground. And the Dolphins didn't even need their most explosive weapon in that area (Achane) to do it. –McKenna

It's time for Titans to give Will Levis a look

Ryan Tannehill exited the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to the Baltimore Ravens with an apparent right ankle injury, forcing second-year quarterback Malik Willis to finish the game. And the former third-round pick displayed many of the same issues he faced in replacing an injured Tannehill last year — taking bad sacks, holding the ball too long.

If Tannehill must miss an extended period of time, Tennessee has to seriously consider playing Will Levis, its second-round rookie who has been the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart and inactive every game to this point.

The 2-4 Titans are not the competitive team they hoped to be. They're wildly inconsistent. They have an identity crisis. There's a good chance they could be sellers at the trade deadline, looking to off-load veterans to acquire needed draft capital for 2024 and beyond. Tennessee must start looking to its future and see what it has in Levis. It's better now than later, considering the team has nothing to lose.

And really, if you don't trust Levis to replace Tannehill now, why did you draft him? He was a projected first-round pick. General manager Ran Carthon even acknowledged in the spring that Levis would've been in consideration at No. 11 overall had Peter Skoronski not been there. It's time to let Levis loose. —Ben Arthur

Jags' secondary playing at an elite level

Edge rusher Josh Allen has drawn the most attention of anyone on the Jaguars defense, and for good reason. In a contract year, he's been playing out of his mind — already seven sacks in six games (matching his total in 17 games last year) and tied for a league-high 32 pressures, pending the results of Monday Night Football, according to Next Gen Stats. But as defensive players and coaches love to say, the rush helps the coverage and vice versa.

And at the back end, the Jaguars are playing at an elite level.

Jacksonville's league-high 15 takeaways are in large part due to the secondary. Safety Andre Cisco and cornerback Darious Williams are in an eight-way tie for an NFL-best three picks. Cisco and Rayshawn Jenkins have also been one of the best safety tandems in football so far this year. They're both in the top three of coverage snaps played among all safeties in the league, according to Next Gen Stats. They're also both tied for fourth among safeties with four pass breakups, while Jenkins also has the second-best mark in EPA allowed when targeted as the nearest defender among all safeties who've played at least 160 coverage snaps (-13.7), per NGS.

Let's not forget Tyson Campbell, either. Among all cornerbacks who've played at least 160 coverage snaps, the third-year pro has been targeted the fifth-fewest (26 times), according to Next Gen Stats. He's also allowing the eighth-lowest completion rate (58.6%) and the 12th-best mark in EPA allowed (2.7) when targeted. He's continued to ascend.

Apart from the 37-17 Week 3 loss to the Texans, when every phase of the game collapsed for Jacksonville, the defense has been among the best in the league — and the secondary is a big reason why. —Arthur

Seahawks offense struggles without good line play

Struggles with taking care of the football and scoring in the red zone led to Seattle's inability to secure a road win against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith finished 27-of-41 for 323 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions in Seattle's 17-13 loss to Cincinnati. Smith was sacked four times and posted a 69.5 passer rating, in what could have been his worst performance since taking over for Russell Wilson last season.

The Seahawks finished 1-of-5 in the red zone, including Smith throwing an incompletion on fourth-and-8 from Cincinnati's 9-yard line on Seattle's final offensive play of the game. Seattle made it inside of Cincinnati's 10-yard line four times in the second half but had only three points to show for it.

Seattle had just one turnover entering the Week 6 contest, but Smith has now thrown three interceptions this year. The Seahawks rank No. 20 in the red zone (50%) and No. 30 on third down (31.58%) in the NFL.

Playing behind a makeshift offensive line — with left guard Damien Lewis (ankle) and right tackle Abe Lucas (knee) out due to injury and left tackle Charles Cross returning for his first game after a three-game absence since suffering a toe injury — Smith was under constant pressure from Cincinnati's defensive line. Per Next Gen Stats, he was pressured on 49% of his passing attempts.

"I felt like the guys deserved to win today," Smith said after the game. "Obviously, I didn't do my best job today to get that done. So, those are things that I put on myself. I lay it right at my feet, right on my shoulders, and I look forward to the next opportunity." —Eric D. Williams

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Cardinals sinking due to second-half dips

Not much was expected of the Arizona Cardinals this year. After an offseason when they moved on from cornerstone players like DeAndre Hopkins and J.J. Watt, the Cardinals have one of the most talent-depleted rosters in the NFL.

They are also missing their best player in quarterback Kyler Murray as he recovers from ACL surgery, with no timetable for his return. First-year head coach Jonathan Gannon is working with a green roster rebuilt by general manager Monti Ossenfort as Arizona is squarely focused on developing young talent for the future.

Yet Gannon's Cardinals have been a scrappy bunch, as evidenced by an impressive home win over the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately, that stands as the 1-5 Cardinals' lone victory.

Arizona has struggled to finish games. The Cardinals have led in the second half in four of their six contests this season but have been outscored 98-30 in the second half and 64-7 in the fourth quarter. On Sunday, they were outscored 20-0 in the team's second-half collapse at SoFi Stadium in a 26-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

"We got to do a better job of making sure that we're executing at a high level, that they know exactly what we're trying to get out of the calls," Gannon said. "And when they punch us, we got to punch back a little bit. [The Rams] beat us in the second half, and they made some plays and executed and that was kind of the ballgame."

Cardinals defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter echoed those sentiments, saying he and his teammates must keep fighting.

"It's hard as hell to win an NFL football game," Ledbetter said. "It's just the reality of the business. It doesn't matter, all the hype and everything. You've got to go out on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays and do what you've got to do. I think the younger guys are starting to realize that." –Williams

Kyren Williams adds yet another spark for Rams

Despite the flash associated with the Rams offense under Sean McVay, the playcalling wizard wants to play smash-mouth football at the point of attack. That was apparent in Week 6, when he leaned on Kyren Williams to bloody the nose of the Cardinals defense in the second half of a 26-9 win in Los Angeles.

The second-year pro rushed for 154 of his 158 rushing yards after halftime, exhibiting outstanding vision, balance and body control on a series of downhill runs between the tackles. With the offensive line generating a consistent push that enabled Williams to scoot and skate past the front line untouched, he punished second-level defenders with his forceful runs.

As the Cardinals discovered and others will soon discover, the 5-foot-9, 194-pound Williams packs a bigger punch than his size indicates (97 rushes, 456 yards and six TDs). Given more opportunities to carry the load as a workhorse runner, Williams will force opponents to make hard decisions when crafting plans to slow down the Rams offense.

If defenses utilize light boxes and soft coverage to slow down receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, Williams will continue to churn out 100-yard games. –Bucky Brooks

This story was compiled by:

AFC South reporter Ben Arthur (@benyarthur)
NFC South reporter Greg Auman (@gregauman)
NFL analyst Bucky Brooks (@BuckyBrooks)
AFC East reporter Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis)
NFC West reporter Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams)
NFC East reporter Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano)
NFC North reporter Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV)