The classic catchphrase “any given Sunday” did not have any place in the NFL in Week 6. In a league where most of the games are normally close and coming down to the last few minutes, there were seven games decided by 14 or more points, and most of them were never close at any point.
Seeing so many blowouts in one week is a surprise worth examining, especially as the season approaches the midpoint and the playoff picture becomes clearer. Let’s take a quick look at things that we learned, and things we already knew, from each blowout win this week.
Packers 34, Cardinals 13
What we already knew
The Cardinals defense is still in the early stages of a major rebuild. Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has tried just about every style of defense that you can think of and nothing is really seeming to work. According to TruMedia, the Cardinals allowed a success rate (50% of the yards needed on first and second down, 100% on third and fourth down) of 55% this week — firmly in the Very Very Bad tier. This is going to be a long season for the Cardinals defense, but we knew that.
What we learned
This isn’t necessarily a “new” thing to learn from this game, but Jordan Love is playing spectacular football right now. He’s nearly cut his sack rate in half from last season and he’s still a source of big plays for the Packers offense. Their decision to give him a market rate contract despite such a small sample size looks smarter by the week — this guy is already an upper-echelon quarterback.
Buccaneers 51, Saints 27
What we already knew
Uh. This game was so weird it’s hard to even know what to do with it, but we did see a recurring trend of the Saints’ offensive line being unable to consistently open rushing lanes as they struggle with health and depth up front. Alvin Kamara did his best in tough circumstances, but it wasn’t necessarily surprising to see Vita Vea give them the blues a few times.
What we learned
OL. There’s just so much that happened here — and very little of it made any sense. The Saints scored all 27 of their points in the second quarter. They were also winning 27-24 with about four minutes left in the third quarter. Thanks to some truly horrific tackling, and dismal play from an offense starting a rookie quarterback, they allowed FOUR touchdowns in the final 19 minutes of the game. Rookie running backs Bucky Irving (fourth round) and Sean Tucker (undrafted) combined for … 217 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries?
In the second half alone, the Saints allowed a success rate of 64.7% according to TruMedia, which is basically the equivalent of a defensive apocalypse. What’s kind of baffling here is that the Saints defense is just not nearly as bad as they showed in this game. Prior to this game, the Saints ranked 16th in defensive success rate (55.2%) and 12th in expected points allowed per play (0.07). This performance alone dropped them to 24th in defensive success rate (52.4%) and 18th in expected points allowed per play (0.03). That was an uncharacteristic performance for their defense, or really any professional defense, but unfortunately they also showed that this is a possible outcome for them. That’s important to note as they try to dig their way out of a 2-4 hole.
Spencer Rattler made his debut, which was abnormally anticipated for a fifth-round rookie. At one point in his college career, Rattler was seen as a potential No. 1 overall pick. Things didn’t go quite as planned in that regard, but still put up solid tape in his last year at South Carolina. He had a handful of miscues, especially in the second half, but the ability to make difficult throws and give the Saints a boost of athleticism at quarterback at least makes him intriguing moving forward.
There probably isn’t too much to say about the Buccaneers scoring 51 because so much of it was just the Saints being so spectacularly terrible. This is still a good offense, though and Liam Cohen has been great for this team in Year 1 as the offensive coordinator.
Lions 47, Cowboys 9
What we already knew
The Cowboys run defense is just not good enough to hold up against the good rushing teams. They’ve been steamrolled by a healthy Saints offense, the Ravens and now the Lions. Especially without Micah Parsons, the Cowboys defense just can’t hang in the trenches right now. David Montgomery and the Detroit offensive line predictably dished out a lot of punishment the Cowboys couldn’t handle.
What we learned
Detroit had been waiting for this game since they lost a close one due to procedural penalties to Dallas last season. Offensive tackle Dan Skipper was split out wide 11 times in this game and they tried to throw a hook and ladder to PENEI SEWELL. Trampling the Cowboys defense and playing like they had 15 defenders on the field wasn’t enough — they clearly came into this game with a mission to embarrass the Cowboys, which they absolutely did.
This game also made it apparent just how far away Dallas is from a roster perspective in comparison to the top teams in the NFC. They never had a chance in this game and it’s apparent they need to retool some parts of their roster in the offseason.
Bears 35, Jaguars 16
What we already knew
The Jaguars are really bad. Starting safety Andre Cisco claimed they quit against the Bears, so no need to spend too much time on a 1-5 team that doesn’t seem to care.
What we learned
Caleb Williams is developing at a pretty quick rate. Some people may wave off this performance because he played against one of the worst defenses in the league, but Williams is clearly a much-improved player from his Week 1 debacle against the Titans. His play in the pocket has improved each week and now he’s giving himself a chance to show off the playmaking and arm talent that’s made him a coveted NFL prospect since he was a freshman at Oklahoma. These are the matchups a quarterback of his talent level should be taking advantage of and it’s been cool to see it start to come together for him.
Texans 41, Patriots 21
What we already knew
New England is bad. Houston is not bad. This was simply two teams at different stages in their roster growth. C.J. Stroud is also very, very, very, very, very good.
What we learned
Drake Maye made his first career start and did something the Patriots haven’t seen all season — made plays in the passing game. It wasn’t the cleanest game, which is fine for his first start, but he showed big time ability that may manifest itself into a franchise quarterback with enough reps. The pass protection was still poor, but his athleticism gives the Patriots a different dynamic at quarterback that’s helpful for the current supporting cast.
Steelers 32, Raiders 13
What we already knew
The Raiders are COOKED. This is not a well-run team right now and they just need to make it to the end of the season so they can properly reset and go chase a quarterback (and head coach). Just 11 more games to go, Raider Nation.
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What we learned
Not too much to glean here, but it was fun to see Justin Fields and this offense make some explosive plays on the ground. Their running game has just been OK so far, but they were really able to take advantage of the Raiders defense missing Christian Wilkins.
Falcons 38, Panthers 20
What we already knew
The Panthers just stink. The Falcons aren’t a great team by any measure, but they can certainly beat a team that’s in as bad a shape as the Panthers are. Maybe by 2026 they can start looking like a real football team again.
What we learned
As bad as the Panthers are, they’ve been able to get a better look at some of their offensive pieces with Andy Dalton under center for the past few games. They have a more operational offense and players like Chuba Hubbard and Diontae Johnson had nice games against Atlanta. The defense is so bad they will lose almost every single game they play, but at least they can evaluate the offensive supporting cast — that’s an incredibly important goal for them.
On the flip side, the Falcons showed that if they can blow open the rushing lanes up front, they want to be a run-first team. Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier bullied the Panthers for a combined 200 yards and three touchdowns on 33 attempts. That made life easier for Kirk Cousins, who had a clean, efficient game with a bunch of wide open players to throw to.