Final NFL Week 6 Observations ... With Dolphins Angles
Week 6 of the 2022 NFL season began with another snoozer of a Thursday affair, this one between the Washington Commanders and Chicago Bears, and ended with a not-much-better Monday night battle between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chargers pulled out the 19-16 win after they recovered a muffed punt that followed a FOURTH consecutive three-and-out by the teams in overtime.
With the win, the Chargers find themselves at 4-2, but just don't look like a 4-2 team and the Miami Dolphins' game against them at SoFi Stadium on Dec. 11 doesn't look as daunting now as it did when the 2022 schedule first came out.
The Chargers have a lot of big-name players on their roster, but their OC keeps insisting on a short passing game despite Justin Herbert's obviously throwing ability, the offensive line already has lost its best player (Rashawn Slater) for the season and the second-best (Corey Linsley) has been in and out of the lineup, star defensive end Joey Bosa is on the shelf for several weeks with an injury, and high-priced free agent acquisition J.C. Jackson has been so bad since returning from an ankle injury that he got benched at halftime of the Denver game Monday night.
The Chargers are on track to make the playoffs in 2022, but they're probably not the Super Bowl contenders that many media analysts had projected them to be before the season started.
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STEELERS SHOW SIGNS OF LIFE
Of all the results in Week 6, probably none was more surprising than the Pittsburgh Steelers, who come to Hard Rock Stadium this Sunday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Acrisure Stadium.
And it wasn't just that the Steelers went into the game with a 1-4 record after getting blown out by the Buffalo Bills, they would have to face Tom Brady without not only star linebacker T.J. Watt — without whom they were 0-9 since he arrived as a first-round pick in 2017 — but also without safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (you remember the name, right?) and starting cornerback Cam Sutton.
The Steelers' 20-18 victory was secured after linebacker Devin Bush broke up a Tom Brady pass on a late two-point conversion and quarterback Mitch Trubisky — in the game after rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett sustained a concussion — came up with clutch completions on third-and-15 and third-and-11 to help Pittsburgh kill the final 4:38 off the clock.
Trubisky had a stellar performance in relief of Pickett in the game, going 9-for-12 for 144 yards with a touchdown, no picks and a 142.4 passer rating. His best passer rating while he started the first four games was 81.1.
EVEN MORE FRUSTRATION FOR BRISSETT
The New England Patriots and rookie QB Bailey Zappe got a lot of attention for their 23-point win at Cleveland, but the flip side was another bad day for the Browns — and former Dolphins quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
At the end of the week where QB Deshaun Watson was allowed at the facility for the first time while serving his 11-game NFL suspension, Brissett had season-worst stats in completion percentage (46.7) and passer rating (54.5) and was sacked a season-high four times.
Oh, and Brissett was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak, which rarely happens given his size and ability to keep moving forward.
Brissett will be at quarterback — barring unforeseen circumstances when the Browns come to Hard Rock Stadium in Week 10 after their bye, but who knows what their playoff outlook will be by then considering they're now 2-4 and their next two games are at Baltimore and at home against Cincinnati.
49ERS FEELING SOME PAIN
After their dominating performances on defense against the Rams and Panthers in back-to-back weeks, the 49ers were getting a lot of praise and mentioned as perhaps a team to watch in terms of representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Things look a whole different now — and that's good news for the Dolphins, who own the 49ers' first-round pick in 2023 — after a humbling loss at Atlanta and a continuous rash of injuries.
The loss at Atlanta dropped to 49ers to 3-3 and they'll next face the Kansas City Chiefs, with starting CB Emmanuel Mosley and starting DT Jevon Kinlaw on IR, DE Nick Bosa and DT Arik Armstead as question marks after missing the Atlanta game, and CB Charvarius Ward (groin) and S Talanoa Hufanga (concussion) having left the game with injuries.
QUICK HITTERS
-- Raise your hand if you had the Jets at 4-2 after six games, with a win at Lambeau Field. We suggested more than once before the season that the Jets were going to be much more difficult to handle this season, but who knew all their young players who deliver this big this quickly.
-- There's been nothing as drastic as what happened against the Dolphins in Week 2, but the Baltimore Ravens keep finding ways to blow big leads. It happened again against the Giants on Sunday when they squandered a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead. As great as Lamar Jackson has been in 2022, it was not a good look for him to finish Baltimore's last two drives in that game with an interception and a fumble. The interception was particularly bad because it came with the Ravens leading 20-17 and happened after he let the shotgun snap get by him, retrieved the ball and then fired downfield into traffic.
-- The four teams that began the set of byes for 2022 included two future Dolphins opponents looking to get their season going in the right direction — the 1-4 Detroit Lions and the 1-3-1 Houston Texans.
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