The 32 things we learned from Week 6 of the 2024 NFL season:
0. The number of interim head coaches who have guided a team to the Super Bowl. Good luck to Jeff Ulbrich and the New York Jets, who will play their first game Monday night without pink-leafed scapegoat Robert Saleh.
0. Dallas Cowboys home wins in the 2024 calendar year, dating back to their blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the playoffs. On Sunday, it was the Detroit Lions, the last team to lose at AT&T Stadium on December 30 – and under questionable circumstances – who took away America’s Team in a 47-9 triumph, the worst home defeat in Dallas since Jerry Jones purchased the franchise. in 1989. The Cowboys are now 0-4 in “Jerry World” since January, collectively losing 82 points. (And, by the way, Sunday was Jones’ 82nd birthday.)
1. The number of rookie quarterbacks won Sunday, although a season-high five started. That would be the Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams, the top pick in the 2024 draft, who threw a career-high four touchdown passes in a 35-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
2. Williams became the first quarterback drafted No. 1 overall to win four of his first six NFL starts.
3. The Bears have won nine in a row at home… considering they technically hosted Sunday’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
3a. Williams’ four TD passes were a record in that building.
4. Elsewhere, New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler and New England Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye took the L in their first starts.
5. Rattler faced fellow former Oklahoma Sooner Baker Mayfield in a contest that turned into a good old Big 12 shootout, with Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning 51-27 in a game featuring nearly 900 yards total offensives.
6. The Bucs’ 594 offensive yards were the most ever in a single game for a franchise now in its 49th season. They became the fifth NFL team to pass for at least 300 yards and rush for 275 in the same game.
7. Much of it came from Tampa Bay’s virtually unknown third-string RB Sean Tucker, who racked up 255 all-purpose yards while finding the end zone twice.
8. Rattler joined Ian Book as the only rookie quarterbacks to start for New Orleans in the 21st century. Neither won.
9. Are your statistics lying? According to NFL Media, Maye became the first quarterback since at least 1950 to throw a minimum of three touchdowns while leading his team in rushing in his first NFL start. He ran for 38 yards and his scoring throws were largely inconsequential in a 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans. Still, perhaps a little renewed optimism for the tortured people of Foxborough.
10. How much do your stats lie? San Francisco 49ers DE Nick Bosa had an NFL-high 14 pressures in Thursday night’s 36-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. A quick glance at the box score reveals that Bosa had no sacks, which is hardly indicative of his effect on any given game.
11. One of the beneficiaries of Maye’s home debut was Texans DE Will Anderson Jr., the Reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year winning the 2024 No. 3 pick a career-high three times.
12. Back to this year’s rookies, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and Washington Commanders Jayden Daniels both saw their winning streaks, of three and four, respectively, end on Sunday.
13. Daniels had 291 yards and two touchdowns (both passing), but Washington scored its fewest points (23) since Week 2 in losing to the Beltway’s surging Baltimore Ravens.
14. Overall, Sunday’s 12 combined TD passes were the most by a set of rookie quarterbacks in a week in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), despite the 1987 strike season.
15. Baltimore RB Derrick Henry passed for 132 yards and two scores, leading the league with 704 yards – he’s now on track for 1,995 yards in 17 games.
16. The Ravens became the second team in the last 18 seasons to rush for 1,200 yards collectively in six games…joining the 2019 Ravens.
17. The Ravens also became the second team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to rush for at least 150 yards and a touchdown in its first six games, joining the 1971 Oakland Raiders.
18. As for Henry? He is the first player since Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 to score a touchdown in his team’s first six games. LT finished with a league-record 31 total touchdowns that year – plus a record 28 rushing – and was named league MVP. I’m just saying.
6 p.m. Henry now ranks fourth all-time after recording his 20th game with at least 100 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He trails three HOFers: Jim Brown (25 games), Tomlinson (25) and Emmitt Smith (21).
19. It took Packers S Xavier McKinney six games to not throw an interception for his new club.
20. It didn’t matter much as Green Bay beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-13. And even though McKinney hasn’t contributed any, the Pack has several takeaways in every game this season – their total now stands at a league-high 20.
All the latest NFL news on and off the field. Register for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.
21. Is there any doubt that the NFC North has become the best division in the league? It’s the only one with all of its teams above .500 and — if the season ended today — three of them would qualify for the playoffs.
22. According to OptaSTATS, its 17-5 (.773) record marks the first time in league history that a division had at least a .750 winning percentage through Week 6 or later of a given season.
23. Since division realignment in 2002, the NFC North is the first to feature all of its members with at least four wins through Week 6.
23a. Even though the undefeated Minnesota Vikings were bye, the rest of the division cleaned up on Sunday, with the Bears, Lions and Packers winning by an average of 26 points. Things should heat up once intra-division play heats up, considering only the Pack and Vikes have met so far.
24. And how good has Lions QB Jared Goff been? On Sunday, he became only the second signal-caller, along with Drew Brees, to record a passer rating above 150.0 in consecutive starts.
25. Unfortunately, the NFC North will lose much of its luster following the broken tibia suffered by Detroit DE Aidan Hutchinson, who brought his league-leading sack total to 7½ on the play that will almost undoubtedly end its 2024 season… and perhaps drastically. change his team’s Super Bowl hopes.
26. The more you can do…and look no further than Bears TE Cole Kmet. He caught two touchdowns in Chicago’s win and deftly took on long haul duties after Scott Daly went down with a knee injury. “It’s definitely not a position I envisioned playing in the NFL — ever,” said Kmet, who only had to make five PATs and one field goal attempt, but no punts. “My biggest worry before the match.”
27. Sacked five more times in Sunday’s 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has now lost a league-high 31 times.
28. Watson is on pace to be sacked 88 times, which would break the league single-season record (76 by David Carr).
29. And even though Cleveland kept the score close, it should be noted that Watson did little to move an offense that generated just 244 yards — although, surprisingly, that was the second-most total high team of the season.
30. The Browns’ lone touchdown Sunday came via a blocked field goal by superstar Myles Garrett and then returned 50 yards to pay dirt.
31. It appears the Atlanta Falcons have an all-weather offense. After quarterback Kirk Cousins’ team-high 509 yards and four touchdowns inside in Week 5, they rushed for 198 yards outside at Charlotte in the 38-20 sendoff Carolina Panthers Sunday.
32. Uniform rating of the week: Desperate to return to the Super Bowl, the Jets will wear jerseys Monday that pay homage to the only team in franchise history to play on Super Sunday, Joe Namath’s legendary 1968 JETS. Maybe Aaron Rodgers should have taken up the offer to borrow Namath’s retired No. 12 jersey.
32a. Second uniform note of the week: There is certainly a faction of enthusiasts – JJ Watt among them — who believe the Seahawks’ Thursday night comebacks are the best in the league. But that didn’t help them avoid a three-game skid…perhaps because the 49ers were wearing their awesome throwbacks, most famously associated with their last championship run in 1994.
32b. Third uniform note of the week: Maybe Maye didn’t win, but he can proudly commemorate his first NFL start.
32c. Fourth uniform note of the week: Did you know that the Panthers obtained a first suit highlighting their “Process Blue”?
***
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: NFL Week 6 Takeaways: Caleb Williams and the Rookie QBs Put to the Test
