Can Patrick Mahomes impress when facing the Patriots and will the young quarterback outshine one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever grace the field? That’s one of the biggest questions of the week as the Chiefs brace for two back-to-back Sunday Night Football performances, the first of which comes against the New England Patriots tonight.
The NFL’s best games of Week 6 include an actually good ‘Sunday Night Football’ matchup
It’s not every week that “Sunday Night Football” graces us with a great game, but that’s what we expect from Chiefs vs. Patriots.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Week 6 in the NFL is a big one, featuring a number of interesting matchups and the first London game of the year as the Raiders and Seahawks travel across the pond for a battle between teams with a combined 3-7 record. That’s not among our top five games of the week, but the following matchups are.
Chiefs vs. Patriots (8:20 p.m., NBC)
This might just be one of the best games of the season. With a win against Kansas City, Tom Brady will become the first quarterback in NFL history to record 200 regular-season wins. With a win over New England, Mahomes will take another step forward to proving his legitimacy as a top NFL quarterback and will become the sixth quarterback since 1970 to win each of his first seven starts. So, which will it be? Another milestone for Brady or another notch on Mahomes’ belt?
Bill Belichick might not be pumped up for this game, but we certainly are. As two of the AFC’s top contenders, this game could have playoff ramifications (yes, we’re only in Week 6 but that’s still true) and there could even be a playoff matchup between these teams come January. The Chiefs have the worst defense in the league in terms of yards per game, while the Patriots are in the middle of the pack with the 16th-ranked defense. It’s safe to assume both offenses will be looking to score 30+ points.
Since when are the Browns among the best games of the week? Since they started winning and playing exciting football this year! Cleveland actually looks to be a good team and leads the NFL in forced turnovers, while the Chargers have had a shaky start but are an AFC contender, too.
A big reason the Chargers remain relevant is Philip Rivers, who is sneakily putting up huge numbers (70.1 completion percentage, 1,495 yards, 13 touchdowns, two interceptions, 116.4 passer rating). Baker Mayfield is set to start in just his third game and while he’s struggled at times, he’s putting the Browns in a position to win, which isn’t something many Browns quarterbacks from the past decade can say. Today, Mayfield can become the first quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the common draft era (since 1967) to win his first two career home starts.
This is an annually brutal game for these division rivals, but maybe (just maybe) things will change following Ryan Shazier’s scary injury, which occurred the last time these two teams met. Granted, that injury was not due to a dirty hit, but hopefully it provided the message these teams needed that this rivalry needs to get buttoned up.
The Bengals offense has been off to a hot start and the Steelers defense has been nothing special (save for T.J. Watt), so a shootout should be on deck in Cincinnati. Andy Dalton is 3-11 in 14 starts against the Steelers and has never scored more than 21 points against Pittsburgh. Expect a big game from running back Joe Mixon and for James Conner to attempt to match his output for the Steelers. Oh, and two of the NFL’s leading sackers (Watt and Geno Atkins, who have six each) are playing in this game. Expect the defensive lines to be hard at work, too.
After the first few weeks of the season, it was clear the Bears defense was going to dominate this year, but who predicted a six-touchdown performance from Mitchell Trubisky in the Bears’ Week 4 win against the Buccaneers?
Chicago’s offense actually ranks in the top eight of the NFL in several categories.
The defense just ranks in the top eight in even more categories.
Coming off an early bye last week, Chicago should be well rested for this one. Meanwhile, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been dealing with a shoulder injury and is questionable entering the game. Expect him to play through it, but the Bears defense will likely feast and look to get after Tannehill early and often. The Bengals notched three sacks on Tannehill last week, and the Bears rank second in sacks in the NFL (even with having a Week 5 bye), so it’s fair to assume they’ll tally on a few more to their current total of 18.
The Rams received good news on Friday when Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks practiced in full after both suffered concussions in the team’s Week 5 win over the Seahawks. They are expected to play today against a Broncos team that’s on the decline following losses to the Ravens, Chiefs, and Jets. Can Denver rebound following calls for head coach Vance Joseph to be fired?
Case Keenum is hardly the quarterback the Broncos were hoping for as he’s completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 1,365 yards, five touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Jared Goff is having a very different season for the Rams, impressing mightily with a 72.3 completion percentage, 1,727 passing yards (a league high so far this season), 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 119.7 passer rating. Oh, and the Rams are 5-0 and look to be the NFL’s most dominant team.
Something to watch for will be whether Rams running back Todd Gurley can become the fourth player in NFL history with at least 3,500 rushing yards, 1,500 receiving yards and 45 offensive touchdowns through his first 50 career games. Today is Gurley’s 50th NFL game and he enters the matchup with 3,711 rushing yards, 1,533 receiving yards, and 44 total touchdowns. All he needs is one score to achieve something only Chuck Foreman, Marcus Allen, and Arian Foster have accomplished.
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