Week 6 saw the end of the NFL’s unbeatens.
Mercury Morris, Bob Griese and the rest of the 1972 Miami Dolphins can rest easy, probably in a large recliner with a bottle of Schlitz nearby. Their status as the only undefeated team in the Super Bowl era will remain intact at least one more year. Both the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers lost as significant road favorites, leaving us a regular season with a bit more intrigue as even the most impressive looking teams of 2023 have proven fallible.
But I’m not here to talk about them. I want to talk about four awesome things that might have flown under the radar. Like how Eric Bieniemy is taking a quarterback who’s roughly as far as you can get from Patrick Mahomes and making him a valuable piece of an efficient offense. Or how Ohio’s NFL teams are punching way above their weight classes defensively when they need it most.
And, you know what, let’s talk a little about wideouts blocking downfield. Hell yeah.
These are the four things I liked most about Week 6.
1
The Cincinnati Bengals' rebuilt secondary and its ahead-of-schedule evolution
The Cincinnati Bengals probably should not have won Sunday afternoon. They were outgained by 167 yards, nine first downs and ran 17 fewer plays than the Seattle Seahawks. Joe Burrow remained mostly stuck in neutral, completing short passes but failing to generate meaningful gains deep.
But they did win, and they can point to coordinator Lou Anarumo’s defense as the deciding factor.
Anarumo was given a new challenge in 2023; rebuild a secondary that would have to operate without three of the starters who closed out the 2022 season. In place of Jessie Bates III, Vonn Bell and Eli Apple came a returning-from-injury Chidobe Awuzie, free agent signee Nick Scott and young draft picks like Dax Hill, Cam Taylor-Britt and DJ Turner II.
Despite the replacement, that unit ranks in the top 10 when it comes to opponent passer rating allowed (82.4) and completion rate (60.1). Some of the credit belongs to a defensive front that’s capable of generating pressure and forcing bad throws. But a big reason why that group had four sacks Sunday and 19 on the season so far is the secondary that’s taking away opposing quarterbacks’ primary read and injecting doubt into a pocket already steeped in chaos.
DJ Reader didn't get credit for this sack (he should have) but he absolutely made it happen by grinding Phil Haynes into the turf and giving Geno Smith absolutely no room to step up in the pocket on fourth and goal. game-saving stuff pic.twitter.com/w5Ozqkx3MO
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 15, 2023
That’s how Cincinnati held strong even as two potential game-winning Seahawks drives ventured into the Bengals red zone only to peter out with back-to-back turnovers on downs. While Anarumo’s defense has been specifically deficient against the run — they came into Week 6 allowing 5.3 yards per carry (30th in the NFL) but held Seattle’s tailbacks to 3.2 — it’s been potent against the pass on the journey back up to .500.
Showing out on his birthday 👏 @CamTaylorBritt_#SEAvsCIN | 📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/WvGZj2E6T9
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 15, 2023
The breakout star of that show is Taylor-Britt, who’d made nine starts as a rookie last fall and has stepped into a prominent role in the backfield. While Mike Hilton has been his typically, high-performance low-recognition self, Awuzie’s backslide in 2023 has left Cincy with a glaring need at cornerback along the sidelines.
Taylor-Britt has been that guy. While he’s been beaten deep a few times this season, he’s emerged with two interceptions and five passes defensed in his last two games to earn his team’s trust and put the rest of the AFC on notice.
On Sunday, the front four showed off a new trick to deliver a win. The Bengals were one of a few teams coming into Week 6 whose blitz rate (33.9) was significantly higher than their pressure rate (22.2). This painted a picture of an ineffective front four — but an injury depleted Seahawks offensive line proved a perfect opportunity to jump start that defensive line and smother pockets without having to sacrifice extra defenders via the blitz.
There goes that man.#SEAvsCIN | 📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/AIRXIWEO1u
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 15, 2023
Whether this is sustainable or just the function of bad Seattle blocking has yet to be seen. The Bengals have the talent up front — DJ Reader and Trey Hendrickson in particular — to continue introducing confusion to the backfield and setting the table for their secondary to feast. That’s wildly valuable in a season where Joe Burrow is clearly not himself. Cincinnati’s offense may not be striking fear into the hearts of opponents, but its defense has reloaded in time to ensure the Bengals can win even when it isn’t.
2
The Cleveland Browns defense is good enough to win no matter how bad their quarterback is
Cleveland was a 9.5-point underdog on their home field when the undefeated San Francisco 49ers came to Ohio. They were facing an opponent who’d just pasted the Dallas Cowboys 42-10 in prime time. They would do so without their starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, whom they’d traded for despite more than 20 accusations of sexual misconduct and what the NFL would later describe as “predatory behavior.” In his place stepped P.J. Walker, a man with XFL bonafides and a 5:11 career NFL touchdown-to-interception ratio.
None of this mattered, because the Browns defense took care of everything.
Cleveland bullied the Niners, forcing MVP candidate Brock Purdy into his worst game as a pro and smothering a depleted San Francisco passing attack.
We'd like to welcome you to Emerson Island, we hope you enjoy your stay 🏝 pic.twitter.com/gs7IxqpdLI
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 15, 2023
Cleveland left little breathing room against an offense who thrives in open space. Purdy’s average pass in 2023 travels 7.7 yards downfield and his average completion springs for 13. San Francisco isn’t just good at delivering the ball downfield, but excels at maintaining space for huge gains after the catch.
The absence of Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, who left the game due to injury, were certainly felt. A couple bad drops from Brandon Aiyuk didn’t help. Even so, Purdy’s 12 completions resulted in an estimated 70 yards after the catch — a 5.8 yard-after-catch average that’s right on pace with the team’s 5.7 yards after catch average. The passing offense operated with typical efficiency with the ball … so the Browns ensured they rarely got it.
Week 6 marked the first start in Purdy’s NFL career in which he completed less than half his passes. Only Aiyuk finished the game with more than 26 receiving yards. Cleveland’s corners were pressed to jump over shallow routes, hoping their pass rush and San Francisco’s penchant for short throws would make the risk of getting torched by a double-move worthwhile. It worked, even in the early stages of the game when the Niners were healthy.
This aggressive approach utilized a wide array of five and six-man pass rushes to assure that, when these deep routes worked, Purdy wouldn’t have the opportunity to comfortably deliver strikes downfield.
This put faith in Grant Delpit and Juan Thornhill at safety and effectively dared the Niners to throw deep. Purdy was absurdly efficient with those throws last week thanks to Aiyuk, but Cleveland’s dare paid out in a big way. San Francisco didn’t complete a single pass that traveled more than 15 yards downfield (zero for five).
Blitzing up the gut also muddied the middle of the field, taking away the short range in which Purdy thrives while applying pressure. It meant a one-catch afternoon for George Kittle. It meant Aiyuk, the only player with at least five targets Sunday, saw his average separation per target slip from 3.9 yards to the closest defender last week — 13th-best among all players — to a middling 2.7 in Ohio.
It also thoroughly discombobulated Purdy. Sometimes pressure got to him and forced a bad miss.
And sometimes he just sorta biffed his opportunities on a rainy day where he struggled to grip the ball and throw with authority.
Either way, it was positive reinforcement for the Browns to keep playing aggressively and lock Purdy up in football hell. When San Francisco needed last-gasp yardage to kick a potential game-winning field goal, Cleveland kept pressing. Greg Newsome II and Denzel Ward stayed glued to the line of scrimmage even though getting beat deep could change the outcome of the game. It mostly worked!
And even though San Francisco moved into range for a potential game-winning field goal, the football gods rewarded their strategy, aggression, and lack of prevent defense by pushing the Niners’ kick wide right. Game over, Cleveland’s D wins.
Again, injuries played a part, but the Browns were able to take the NFL’s second-ranked scoring offense and send it into a time warp back to the salad days of Brian Hoyer and Garrett Celek:
According to TruMedia, the Niners' offense just had their worst single-game offensive success rate since September 17th, 2017.
A quick look at the offensive personnel from that game: pic.twitter.com/FpmAsQy9O5
— Robert Mays (@robertmays) October 16, 2023
The Browns’ ability to swarm to the ball and ruin Brock Purdy’s afternoon on a rainy day bailed them out for a big win. Cleveland has legit playoff hopes, even with a major question mark at quarterback. This team can hang with anyone. Or, more accurately, it can unleash a furious swarm on anyone, then turn and perpetrate a tragedy on par with the ending of My Girl.
3
Sam Howell is doing enough to earn another year of this (and proves Eric Bieniemy deserves a head coaching job)
Amidst a landscape dotted with regrettable quarterback play, a few passers stood out. Tua Tagovailoa kept efficiently doing his thing, riding Tyreek Hill toward another three-touchdown performance. Jared Goff’s renaissance continued as he carved up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And in Atlanta, in a game that could have vital Wild Card implications this winter, Sam Howell turned out to be the quarterback the Falcons hoped they were getting in Desmond Ridder.
PAYDIRT
📺 #WASvsATL: CBS pic.twitter.com/vGLqIDEXFp
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 15, 2023
Howell only threw for 151 yards and an unimpressive 6.6 yards per attempt. His offense gained fewer than 200 yards and was more than doubled up by the Falcons (193 to 402). But he won, because he did something Ridder failed to do; he protected the ball.
Again, let’s be clear. There wasn’t a massive degree of difficulty to Howell’s game. He threw three touchdown passes. Not one of those traveled more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
POINTS OFF TURNOVER: 7
📺 #WASvsATL: CBS pic.twitter.com/YojsFSsv1T
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 15, 2023
This did not matter. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy dialed up a low-impact passing game through which a shaky young quarterback could thrive. Going from designing a playbook for Patrick Mahomes to building around a 2022 fifth-round pick is a massive challenge, and though it’s come with some notable low points — four interceptions in Week 3! — the fact remains that Howell has produced positive expected points added (EPA) in four of his six games this fall.
You know who hasn’t had a positive EPA in the majority of their games this season? Geno Smith. Kirk Cousins. Trevor Lawrence.
Of course, Howell is mostly executing a low-impact passing game but he’s also making his deep shots count. He’s connected on eight of his 20 throws that cover 20-plus yards downfield and 37 of 63 throws that go 10-plus yards downfield for an efficient 58.7 percent completion rate on these difficult tosses. He gets sacked entirely too often, but he’s at least useful while throwing on the run.
This isn’t revolutionary, but it is useful. Paired with decent blocking, a strong veteran defense and a proper run game it can be the backbone to a playoff run. That’s what the Falcons had hoped they could pull off with Ridder, Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson. Instead, they outgained the Commanders handily and still lost because, with the game on the line, Howell kept his composure and Ridder vomited violently down his own center’s pants.
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
FIRST CAREER INT FOR @Benj_Juice AT THE PERFECT TIME
📺 #WASvsATL: CBS pic.twitter.com/qqrQDD7hdT
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 15, 2023
Let this be even more evidence that Bieniemy’s rise to NFL head coach remains long overdue. He’s coaxed MVP play out of generational talent and now competent play from a second-year Day 3 pick who came into 2023 with one start on his resume. The Commanders snapped a three-game losing streak and kept their place in the NFC playoff race while getting mostly outplayed by Atlanta. And they did so because of a great defensive effort and the fact Bieniemy was able to keep his young quarterback churning through all the static.
4
The Lions' unselfish downfield blocking and Amon-Ra St. Brown's continued existence
Oh.
This block by Craig Reynolds on Amon-Ra's touchdown 💪
📺: #DETvsTB on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/B4mQvLOt8O pic.twitter.com/L3fgojgE7P— NFL (@NFL) October 15, 2023
Oh my.
this Craig Reynolds block 👨🍳😘 pic.twitter.com/58C9B5i7dG
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) October 15, 2023
There’s plenty to appreciate here. The first is Jared Goff’s trust in his WR1. It’s third-and-13 and Detroit is at the Buccaneers’ 27-yard-line. That’s the brink of being uncomfortable for a field goal, so not losing yardage here is a priority.
Tampa Bay, equipped with a powerful pass rush, brings five guys. Goff knows exactly who is capable of not only hauling in a short pass but also taking it upfield for a possible first down. That’s Amon-Ra St. Brown, whose immediate risk-reward analysis puts more work on his plate with no guarantee of a payout.
St. Brown isn’t content with eight yards, especially when the worst case alternative is something like six yards and, in either case, a field goal attempt. He turns to the sideline and Reynolds makes his boom-quake block. But so does Josh Reynolds, recognizing he’s got help and letting Ryan Neal go in order to lay a more productive hit on linebacker Lavonte David instead.
Those powers combine to spring St. Brown. A play with a eight-yard pickup floor erupts with a six-point ceiling. It all starts with Goff recognizing pressure and making a quick, correct decision. From there, the Detroit receiving corps works in concert to send its top guy to the end zone.
Beautiful.
