Week 6 on the NFL schedule offered some electric finishes and a few changes in the NFL standings. Let’s take a look at the latest in the AFC and NFC to determine which players and teams are on the rise. For analysis of what players saw their stock rise and fall, scroll down below the complete list of standings.
NFL Standings Week 6 | AFC
AFC East
Buffalo Bills (5-1)
New York Jets (4-2)
Miami Dolphins (3-3)
New England Patriots (3-3)
AFC North
Baltimore Ravens (3-3)
Cincinnati Bengals (3-3)
Cleveland Browns (2-4)
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4)
AFC South
Tennessee Titans (3-2)
Indianapolis Colts (3-2-1)
Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4)
Houston Texans (1-3-1)
AFC West
Kansas City Chiefs (4-2)
Los Angeles Chargers (4-2)
Denver Broncos (2-4)
Las Vegas Raiders (1-4)
NFL Standings Week 6 | NFC
NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles (6-0)
New York Giants (5-1)
Dallas Cowboys (4-2)
Washington Commanders (1-4)
NFC North
Minnesota Vikings (5-1)
Green Bay Packers (3-3)
Chicago Bears (2-4)
Detroit Lions (1-4)
NFC South
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3)
Atlanta Falcons (3-3)
New Orleans Saints (2-4)
Carolina Panthers (1-5)
NFC West
San Francisco 49ers (3-3)
Los Angeles Rams (3-3)
Seattle Seahawks (3-3)
Arizona Cardinals (2-4)
Stock Up, Stock Down | Early Slate
Stock Up | Falcons QB Marcus Mariota
Don’t look now, but the Falcons are 3-3 and in the NFC South race. Atlanta has been competitive all season, but their 28-14 win over the 49ers might have been their most impressive victory yet.
Marcus Mariota was extremely efficient, completing 13 of 14 attempts for 129 yards and two touchdowns, including one to Kyle Pitts (fantasy managers everywhere rejoiced). But it was Mariota and the Falcons’ efforts on the ground that sealed their Week 6 win.
Atlanta rushed for 168 yards in total. Caleb Huntley, Tyler Allgeier, and Mariota all posted at least 50 yards, with the latter punching one in the end zone. Mariota was dynamite on zone reads, and the Falcons’ offensive line dominated a depleted 49ers front.
While Atlanta’s ground-and-pound strategy might not hold up all season, it’s keeping them in games for now.
Stock Down | Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
The Packers put up the same amount of total yards (278) as the Jets, and Green Bay limited New York to 1-11 on third downs. And yet, they still lost 27-10 in one of the lowest points of Aaron Rodgers’ tenure in green and gold.
MORE: Packers in S-T-R-E-S-S After Loss to Jets
Green Bay has to figure out a way to get Aaron Jones more involved on offense. The veteran running back is the Packers’ best skill position player, but AJ Dillon got one more rushing attempt, and Jones only managed three receptions in the passing game.
The Packers’ defense had high hopes coming into 2022, but they’ve looked totally lost through six weeks. Today wasn’t their worst performance (and Green Bay’s offensive special teams coughed up a TD via a blocked kick), but the Packers are still giving up too many explosive plays.
Stock Up | Patriots QB Bailey Zappe
We’re not saying there will be a quarterback competition when Mac Jones returns for the Patriots, but Bailey Zappe has been incredible in his first two starts.
The fourth-round rookie threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-15 win over the Browns in Week 6. Making the leap from Western Kentucky shouldn’t be this simple, but Zappe is making it look easy.
Zappe exuded poise in the pocket, and he never looked frenetic or out of rhythm — all tendencies that might be expected of a mid-round rookie. He’s likely already locked in a career as a longtime backup, but Zappe could potentially be more than that.
Stock Down | Tom Brady and the Buccaneers
It’s hard to pin down which aged quarterback’s team played worse on Sunday: Rodgers and the Packers or Brady and the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay was a 10-point favorite against the Steelers in Week 6, and Pittsburgh was without its top three cornerbacks and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Despite that, Brady only posted 243 yards and one touchdown in the passing game, and he couldn’t hit anything deep.
MORE: NFL Insider Notebook 6.0
The Steelers were forced to turn back to Mitchell Trubisky after Kenny Pickett left with a concussion, but that didn’t help the Bucs either. Trubisky went 9 of 12 for 67 yards and a score in relief of the first-round rookie, helping to ice the 20-18 win.
On paper, this was a game Brady and the Buccaneers should have dominated. Their offense is not in sync, and it’s unclear if fixes are coming.
Stock Up | The Matt Ryan-to-Michael Pittman Jr. connection
Have a day, Matt Ryan! The veteran quarterback had struggled in nearly every one of his games as a Colts thus far, but Week 6 was a different story altogether.
In a critical game against the AFC South rival Jaguars, Ryan completed 42 of his 58 attempts for 389 yards and three touchdowns. Down by one point with 17 seconds left in the game, Ryan threw a 32-yard dart to rookie Alec Pierce for the score. A two-point conversion gave the Colts the 34-27 win.
Pierce was impressive, but Pittman was the star of the receiving show. He consistently came up with catches on critical third downs, and he finished the day with 13 catches for 134 yards, both season highs.
We’d be remiss not to mention running back Deon Jackson, who put up 42 yards and a score on the ground while catching 10 passes for 79 yards. Jackson, who left the game late with a quad injury, truly stepped up in the absence of Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines.
Stock Up | Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase
The Bengals had been searching for explosive plays, and Ja’Marr Chase found some on Sunday. With Saints corner Marshon Lattimore out with injury, and fellow Cincinnati WR Tee Higgins banged up, Chase was set up for a big day — and he delivered.
Chase went 7-132-2 against the Saints, but that stat line almost doesn’t do his performance justice. After Cincinnati got the ball back down four points with 1:57 left in the game, Joe Burrow (who donned an LSU Chase jersey before the contest) hit Chase for a 60-yard TD, giving the Bengals the lead.
Cincinnati put up a season-high 30 points, and it’s no coincidence that that effort coincided with Chase’s best game of the year.
Stock Down | Ravens QB Lamar Jackson
The Giants are improbably 5-1 after defeating the Ravens 24-20 on Sunday, but Lamar Jackson essentially gave the game away.
Up 20-17 with roughly three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Jackson fumbled, recovered, and then threw an interception in a devastating turn of events. The Giants scored three plays later to take a four-point lead.
Jackson had a chance at a game-winning drive after the ensuing kickoff, but he was strip-sacked by Kayvon Thibodeaux with 1:40 left. New York ran out the clock to take home the win. Jackson is one of the most dynamic players in the NFL, but his carelessness with the ball dearly cost the Ravens on Sunday.
Stock Up, Stock Down | Late Slate
Stock Up | The Buffalo Bills
The Bills got their revenge for last season’s devastating playoff loss to the Chiefs, and they look the catbird’s seat in the AFC in the process.
Down 20-17, Josh Allen and the Bills got the ball back with 5:31 left in the fourth quarter. Allen led a 12-play, 76-yard drive that included a fourth-down conversion and an 18-yard pass to Stefon Diggs. On 2nd-and-12 from KC’s 14-yard line, Allen hit Dawson Knox for a touchdown to take the lead.
Buffalo left 1:04 on the clock for Patrick Mahomes. The Bills fanbase held its collective breath, fully aware of what Mahomes and the Chiefs offense did in January’s Divisional Round game.
But on the second play of the drive, Mahomes was pressured and threw an interception to Bills slot corner Taron Johnson. Buffalo took over and ran out the clock for the victory.
The Bills are now the only five-win team in the AFC. It’s only October, and there is plenty of time for the Chiefs and other teams in the conference to overtake Buffalo. But the Bills absolutely look like the best team in football, and they now hold an all-important tiebreaker over their fiercest AFC foe.
Stock Down | Panthers WR Robbie Anderson
It’d be difficult for an NFL player to have a worse day than Anderson did on Sunday.
The veteran receiver, who wasn’t targeted in the Panthers’ loss to the Rams, got in the face of Carolina WRs coach Joe Dailey late in the first half. After halftime, Anderson didn’t sit by the rest of Carolina’s offense on the sideline and then appeared to say something else to Dailey.
At that point, interim head coach Steve Wilks told Anderson to leave the field. While he’s been viewed as a potential trade candidate, Anderson is now in danger of being released. It’s hard to imagine another team giving up anything of value for Anderson and his contract, and Carolina may not want to keep a malcontent on their roster.
Stock Up | Rams WR Allen Robinson
The Rams signed Robinson to a three-year, $46.5 million contract with the hope he’d become a reliable No. 2 receiver behind Cooper Kupp. He’d been incredibly disappointing through five weeks, but Robinson posted his best game of the season on Sunday.
The 29-year-old was targeted six times, hauling in five for 63 yards and a touchdown on an end zone fade. It wasn’t a world-beating effort, but Robinson set season highs in both receptions and yardage.
Los Angeles has a ton of issues on offense, and they suffered more offensive line injuries against the Panthers. But if Robinson’s solid game is indicative of future production, the Rams could begin to turn things around.
Stock Up | The Seahawks’ defense
In Seattle’s first five games, the team’s defense gave up an average of 30.8 points and 430 yards per game. The Seahawks had managed a 2-3 on the back of their explosive offense, but they couldn’t stop anyone on the other side of the ball.
That all changed against the Cardinals. Seattle held Arizona to 310 yards and just nine points, but that doesn’t even tell the entire story. The Seahawks stopped the Cardinals on downs three times, caused two turnovers, and held Arizona to 4-of-15 on third downs.
The Cardinals’ only touchdown didn’t even come against the Seahawks’ defense. Arizona got six points when Chris Banjo recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown. Other than that, the Cards only managed a field goal against a Seattle defense that had been gashed by nearly all of its opponents.
Rookie corners Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant look like real players through six weeks. Bryant forced a fumble that Woolen recovered, and Woolen also picked off his fourth interception of the season.
Stock Down | Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals clearly viewed themselves as contenders over the offseason. They re-signed veterans like James Conner and Zach Ertz and send a first-round pick to the Ravens for wideout Marquise Brown.
Yet, not much is working through six weeks. On Sunday, Kyler Murray threw for 222 yards and rushed for 100 more, but Arizona’s offense still managed just three points (with six coming from the aforementioned punt block TD).
The Cards’ defense played pretty well, holding an explosive Seattle offense to 19 points. But Arizona’s stale offense couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. We’ll see if DeAndre Hopkins’ impending return helps matters in Week 7, but this Cardinals team is now 2-4 and in last place in the NFC West.
