Week 6 on the NFL schedule is almost in the books (we still have Monday Night Football to go) and the best performances deserve to be recognized by our MMQB staff. Even if you’re feeling down because your team didn’t win, maybe one of your favorite players or coaches gets awarded a game ball by our staff. Let’s go!
Mitch Goldich: Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. The Bengals’ follow-up to their Super Bowl run got off to an 0–2 start, which happens, but for the world to truly believe deep playoff runs are “the new normal” in Cincinnati, the team has to be able to bounce back and win the games it should throughout the season. That’s what it did in Weeks 3 and 4 before falling to the Ravens last week. So Sunday’s game against the Saints felt like one the team really needed, or else we would have been in for a typical media cycle of “What’s wrong with the Bengals?” Perhaps a trip to the Superdome was good for the psyche. Burrow walked into the building where he and Chase won the national title wearing his receiver’s LSU jersey. The stat sheet looks very clean (Burrow: 28-of-37, 300 yards, three TDs, no turnovers; Chase: seven catches, 132 yards, two TDs), but this game was no breeze. The Bengals trailed by two scores in the second half, and needed 10 points in the final four minutes to put things away. The stars connected on the play of the day—a 60-yard catch-and-run for the final score. Cincinnati now has a stretch of winnable games to reenter the top of the AFC playoff picture. Banking wins like this are necessary before late-season games with the Chiefs and Bills.
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John Pluym: Bailey Zappe, QB, Patriots. If you’re a football fan, you know the Tom Brady–Drew Bledsoe story. Bledsoe gets injured, Brady replaces him as the Patriots’ starter and the rest is history with New England winning six Super Bowls. Now we have Zappe replacing Mac Jones, the Patriots’ No. 1 draft pick in 2021 who is out with a high ankle sprain. Zappe was selected by New England in the fourth round of April’s draft. He played three seasons at FCS Houston Baptist, then transferred to Western Kentucky last season and proceeded to throw for 5,967 yards and 62 TDs—both single-season FBS records. Volume was a big reason for his elite season (686 attempts), but so was efficiency (69% completion rate and 78.6 QBR). I’m not saying Zappe is going to be the next Brady. But after throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns against the Browns, plus almost taking down Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field a few weeks ago, Patriots coach Bill Belichick could have an interesting decision on his hands choosing between Zappe and Jones as his starting quarterback.
Conor Orr: Robert Saleh, coach, Jets. The Jets are over a significant metaphorical hump, defeating a quality opponent and a legacy quarterback on the road while receiving key contributions from their homegrown talent. These are extraordinarily important benchmark moments for a team that has struggled with the optics of a floundering professional football outpost for almost a decade now.
Gary Gramling: Mitchell Trubisky, QB, Steelers. Being the first quarterback selected in any draft is no fun. You’re likely joining a less-than-competent organization, and the scenario of someone from the field proving themselves a superior player—and early in your career—is more likely than not. (It’s precisely why I fax a sternly written letter to all 32 NFL teams every spring requesting that they not make me the draft’s first quarterback selected. And they’ve listened—so far.) Trubisky will be in the NFL for a long time, but the Joe Montana Football Life he might have envisioned for his career in the spring of 2017 will never come to fruition. After the Bears moved on from him, and the Steelers brought him in as a bridge guy only to move on a month into the regular season, Trubisky is looking at something more of a Chad Henne career arc. There aren’t many highlights left to be had. But one of them is, surely, coming out of the bullpen and throwing the game-winning touchdown in a head-to-head duel with Tom Brady, securing the third-biggest upset of the 2022 season (after Dolphins over Bills and Trubisky-led Steelers over Bengals). Trubisky’s remaining career will be one of small victories, and Sunday was one of them.
Michael Fabiano: Burrow and Chase. They combined to put up bananas numbers together at LSU, and their return to Louisiana as pros was equally as fruitful. Burrow finished with a season-high 32.5 fantasy points in a 30–26 win over the Saints. Chase was dominant as well, posting 32.2 points. It’s the duo’s best statistical output of the season and was reminiscent of some of the huge lines the pair produced together in 2021.
Claire Kuwana: Marcus Brady, OC, Colts. For a while Sunday, it looked like the Jaguars had a better shot at the AFC South title, but the Colts adjusted well from being shut out 24–0 in Week 2, making the right changes on offense to clinch a 34–27 win. Matt Ryan went for shorter, more accurate passes, completing nearly twice as many as Trevor Lawrence (42 to 22) even attempted in Sunday’s game (and breaking the Colts’ franchise record of 40 completions in a game). And it paid off, with a four-yard TD pass just before halftime to break the team’s six-quarter (one being overtime) streak without a touchdown. And the game-winner came with 17 seconds left when Ryan hooked up with Alec Pierce on third-and-13 for a 32-yard touchdown.
