We are six weeks down in the NFL season and there's a lot to look at. Two teams, the Falcons and Giants, finally got of the slide and actually won a game, while the Packers unbeaten season has come to a close. That leaves Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Seattle as the only unbeaten clubs left, while the Jets are the only team in the league still without a win. We had one running back go completely wild on Sunday and a defense that snuffed out a former unbeaten club this weekend. All in all, there's a lot to take in. With that said, here's a look at the best and worst of the week that was in the NFL.
Best: Derrick Henry, Running Back Tennessee Titans
He went off last year in the playoffs, leading the Titans to an improbable AFC title game. Now this week, in the Titans 42-36 overtime win over Houston, Henry was back at it again. twenty two carries for 212 yards and a couple of touchdowns in the thriller of a game. He also had two catches for 52 yards. One of his scores was the game winner in overtime. Henry has good size and speed to burn. He was a huge reason the Titans had the deep playoff run and showed another flash of that this week with the win.
Worst: Adam Gase, Head Coach New York Jets
To call this team a dumpster fire would be an insult to dumpster fires. The Jets were shut out 24-0 by Miami and a lot of this falls on Adam Gase. He hasn't been very good at play calling or decision making. Not only are the Jets the only winless team in the league, but they did it against a team that hasn't pitched a shutout in six years. Derrick Henry had one more yard of offense by himself then the Jets did as an entire team. Adam Gase has now lost 40 games as a head coach, and including this game against Miami, 31 of those losses have come by at least two scores or more.
Best: Jimmy Garoppolo, Quarterback San Francisco 49ers
It had seemed like Jimmy G had been out of whack as of late under center for the 49ers. But leave it to a game against the Rams to get going again. San Francisco came away with a 24-16 win over LA and Garoppolo had seemed to find his stroke again. Jimmy went 23 of 33 for 268 yards and three scores. The Rams never got much pressure on Jimmy and that was because of his line actually giving him the time he needs to throw. It was a lot of dink and dunk, not very pretty football, but it worked. This was Garoppolo's way of shutting up his critics who were calling for his benching.
Worst: Baker Mayfield, Quarterback Cleveland Browns
You knew it was going to be a tough game for the Browns going to Pittsburgh and facing a tough defenseive team. Pittsburgh walked away with a 38-7 win, and a lot of fault falls on the offensive line. They allowed the Steelers defense to stifle the Browns run game and get nothing going. There is some blame in this that should fall on Baker Mayfield. Mayfield, who was already banged up going into the ball game, ended up getting pulled in the fourth quarter. He threw for 119 yards a touchdown and two picks. His tendancy for turning the ball over way too much showed up again. That's not good for a Browns team that looked like it was starting to turn the corner and become a threat. They seem like they're right there in Cleveland, and Mayfield can take them to the next level if he can get it together.
Best: Jon Brown, Kicker Jacksonville Jaguars
Again I know its weird putting a team with a losing effort on the best list, but this is another case of it fits. Sure the Jags lost 34-16 to Detroit on Sunday. The story here is about Jags kicker Jon Brown. Jacksonville has gone through five different kickers. FIVE. Josh Lambo (hurt), Brandon Wright (hurt), Aldrick Rosas (hurt), and Stephen Hauschka (poor performance), all haven't worked out year. So Jacksonville turned to Brown, who had never kicked a for football at any level. He stepped on the field and made his first field goal on his first kick. Talk about an awesome story. I really hope for his sake, it works out and he can stay on the field for the Jags.
Worst: Mike Zimmer, Head Coach Minnesota Vikings
After signing a three year deal to take over as head coach in Minnesota, there's a chance that Zimmer could already be on the hot seat. Minnesota is now 1-5 following a 40-23 blowout loss to Atlanta. This was a Falcons team that hadn't gotten a win to that point and had just fired their head coach. Matt Ryan found his groove and went off against what was thought to be a good Vikings defense. It was just a rough game to watch form a Minnesota perspective and if this keeps up the way it had been going, then Zimmer might not even last one season in Minnesota
Best: Blake Martinez, Linebacker New York Giants
This should go down as a double win from Sunday. New York got off the slide, beating Washington 20-19. This was the first win for the Giants since they beat Washington before last Christmas. Blake Martinez was a big reason for that, finishing the day with 14 tackles and eight of those were solo. He's been one of the best defenders in all of football. He's lead the NFL in tackles for the last two years and he's been a huge find for the Giants. If they have any hope, they need to get better support on the defensive side for him.
Worst: Buffalo Bills
Buffalo had been hot to start the year, but now it seems that they're coming back down to earth a little bit. They lost their last two games. First to the Titans two weeks ago and now a 26-17 loss to the defending champions in Kansas City. Look I get it, this last loss was to the defending world champions. But if the Bills want to prove that they're really a contender in the AFC< they've got to put better efforts out there against the better teams in not only the AFC but the NFC as well
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