Week 6 NFL Preview

NFL ENTERS WEEK 6 WITH MORE EXCITING FOOTBALL AHEAD

Two undefeated teams remain – the KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (5-0) and the LOS ANGELES RAMS (5-0) – as the NFL enters Week 6. Since 1990, when the current 12-team playoff format was adopted, 45 of the previous 51 teams (88.2 percent) to start a season 5-0 advanced to the postseason. The Chiefs began the 2017 with a 5-0 record and won the AFC West.

​​Hope still remains for teams across the league. For the first time since 1990, every team in the NFL has won at least one game through Week 5 and 19 teams are currently in or within one game of first place in their respective divisions.

Week 5 featured close contests across the board, as seven games were decided by eight points or fewer, including four decided by game-winning field goals in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. At least one game has gone to overtime in each of the first five weeks of the 2018 season, marking the first time that a season has featured at least one overtime game in each of its first five weeks. The CLEVELAND BROWNS have played in overtime three times this season, tied with the 2002 Buffalo Bills, 1995 Indianapolis Colts and 1987 Green Bay Packers for the most such games in a team’s first five games of a season since the regular-season overtime rule was instituted in 1974.

Scoring continues to trend at a record pace at the onset of the 2018 season. Through Week 5, there have been 424 total touchdowns and 3,739 total points scored, both the most in NFL history through the first five weeks of a season. Los Angeles Rams running back TODD GURLEY leads the league with nine touchdowns (seven rushing, two receiving), while Kansas City quarterback PATRICK MAHOMES paces the NFL with 14 touchdown passes.

MOST TOUCHDOWNS IN FIRST FIVE WEEKS, NFL HISTORY			MOST TOTAL POINTS IN FIRST FIVE WEEKS, NFL HISTORY
SEASON	TOUCHDOWNS		SEASON	TOTAL POINTS
2018	424		2018	3,739
2015	404		2013	3,566
2011	396		2011	3,566
2014	395		2015	3,562

Veterans and rookies combined to make Week 5 one for the record books. Last week, New Orleans quarterback DREW BREES, who has 72,103 career passing yards, became the NFL’s all-time leading passer and New England quarterback TOM BRADY, who threw his 500th career touchdown pass on Thursday, became the third quarterback in NFL history to reach 500 career touchdown passes. Four rookie quarterbacks – Arizona’s JOSH ROSEN, Buffalo’s JOSH ALLEN, Cleveland’s BAKER MAYFIELD and the New York Jets’ SAM DARNOLD – were victorious in Week 5, marking the first time in the Super Bowl era that rookie quarterbacks went 4-0 or better in a single week.

Quarterbacks combined for 8,126 net passing yards last week, marking the third time the league has eclipsed 8,000 net passing yards in a single week this season. In NFL history, only eight weeks have featured at least 8,000 net passing yards and no other season in league annals has had more than two such weeks.

As the schedule turns to Week 6, the NFL returns to London for the 12th consecutive season as the SEATTLE SEAHAWKS and OAKLAND RAIDERS met at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (1:00 PM ET, FOX). The Raiders, the home team in London for a second time, welcome the Seahawks to Wembley for their first game in London.

The following two weeks, October 21 and 28, two additional teams – the TENNESSEE TITANS and PHILADELPHIA EAGLES –  will make their London debuts as visiting teams. In Week 7, the Titans will face the LOS ANGELES CHARGERS, and in Week 8, the Eagles will face the JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS in a matchup of 2017 playoff teams.

The NFL kicked off its series of regular-season games in London in 2007, when the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium on their way to winning Super Bowl XLII. By the end of the 2018 season, the NFL will have played 24 regular-season games in London, with 29 of 32 teams having participated.

Below are highlights of the Week 6 schedule:

Week 6 kicks off on Thursday Night Football (8:20 PM ET, FOX/NFL Network/Amazon Prime) with the 171st meeting (including the postseason) between the Eagles and the NEW YORK GIANTS. Philadelphia tight end ZACH ERTZ has recorded at least 10 catches and 100 receiving yards in each of his past two games and can become the fifth player in league history to record three consecutive 10-catch, 100-yard games. Giants rookie running back SAQUON BARKLEY has recorded at least 100 scrimmage yards in each of his first five career games and can join Kansas City’s KAREEM HUNT (seven games in 2017) as the only players with 100+ scrimmage yards in each of their six career games.

An AFC North showdown between the PITTSBURGH STEELERS and CINCINNATI BENGALS at Paul Brown Stadium (1:00 PM ET, CBS) highlights Sunday’s early slate of games. Pittsburgh running back JAMES CONNER rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns and had four catches for 75 yards in the Steelers’ Week 5 victory over Atlanta. Conner, who had 135 rushing yards, 57 receiving yards and two rushing touchdowns against Cleveland in Week 1, joined Pro Football Hall of Famer JIM BROWN (1963) as the only players with multiple games with at least 100 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards and two rushing touchdowns in their team’s first five games of a season. Cincinnati defensive tackle GENO ATKINS had two sacks in the Bengals’ Week 5 win and is tied for the NFL lead with six sacks this season. Bengals wide receiver A.J. GREEN ties for second in the NFL with five touchdown receptions in 2018.

Sunday’s schedule concludes with the Chiefs traveling to Gillette Stadium to face the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS on Sunday Night Football (8:20 PM ET, NBC). Since entering the league in 2017, Kansas City running back KAREEM HUNT ranks second in the NFL with 1,703 rushing yards. New England quarterback TOM BRADY has an NFL-record 199 career regular-season victories as a quarterback and can become the first quarterback in NFL history to record 200 career regular-season wins.

NFL WEEK 6 SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 14-15

(All times eastern)

Bye: Detroit, New Orleans

Thursday, October 11	Sunday, October 14 (cont’d)
Philadelphia at New York Giants, 8:20 PM (FOX/NFLN/Amazon)	Indianapolis at New York Jets, 1:00 PM Seattle at Oakland (London), 1:00 PM
	Carolina at Washington, 1:00 PM
Sunday, October 14	Los Angeles Rams at Denver, 4:05 PM
Tampa Bay at Atlanta, 1:00 PM	Jacksonville at Dallas, 4:25 PM
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 1:00 PM	Baltimore at Tennessee, 4:25 PM
Los Angeles Chargers at Cleveland, 1:00 PM	Kansas City at New England, 8:20 PM (NBC)
Buffalo at Houston, 1:00 PM
Chicago at Miami, 1:00 PM	Monday, October 15
Arizona at Minnesota, 1:00 PM	San Francisco at Green Bay, 8:15 PM (ESPN)