NFL Pick Six: Week 6
Giants Do Little To Stop Patriots Top Defensive Unit
With this game already set to not feature the Giants young trio of Barkley, Shepard and Engram, it was pretty well another game in the books for the New England Patriots. All they had to do was continue to execute as they’ve shown they can in weeks prior. The Patriots proved exactly why their defence/special teams are one of the most elite in the league. New England's defence not only came up with three interceptions but it added a key fumble recovery for a touchdown to seal the deal in the fourth quarter.
Earlier in the game, the Patriots' special teams took momentum when they blocked a punt for a touchdown of their own, giving them a 7-0 lead. While Tom Brady wasn't able to find the endzone through the air, he did surpass Peyton Manning to become 2nd all time in NFL history in passing yards. As Brady leaped his way into second place in the history books, he snuck his way into the endzone twice helping his team to a 35-14 victory.
San Fran Keeps Rolling With Dominant Win Over Rams
Another game where a key star would be missing for one side as Todd Gurley sat this contest out to rest a lingering injury… And boy did the Rams ever show how much they missed his presence and ability. Without Gurley in the lineup, the Rams mustered a mere 157 total yards and didn’t score outside of their first drive of the game.
What this game truly showed was that the Rams have a lot of unanswered questions, while the 49ers have none. Jimmy Garoppolo was able to successfully game-manage behind a stout defence that was relentless with pressure. The 49ers sacked the Rams QB 4 times throughout the contest, while never allowing a 3rd down conversion.
While the 49ers continue to ride the wave of their explosive defence and seemingly never ending winning ways, the Rams are now stuck in the middle of a tough division race and appear to have little solutions going forward...or so I thought.
First You Shake...
In what I had envisioned (and ended up being correct about) to be the first of a few roster shake ups for the Los Angeles Rams, they shipped out electric corner Marcus Peters, for a return of linebacker Kenny Young and an undisclosed draft pick from the Baltimore Ravens.
Dont worry if you had to Google who Kenny Young was in the middle of reading this, you weren't alone. But this trade I believe actually works out well for both teams. The Ravens are dealing with some injury uncertainty at the corner position, and an option like Peters certainly takes a lot of the worry away. Peters still has big play ability and continues to show he can shutdown some of the leagues fastest options.
On the flip side the Rams receive a young, depth linebacker. From what I've researched on Young, he'll be able to fit in nicely as a rotational piece, filling in while Matthews recovers from a broken jaw. To be honest my only knowledge of the player was his destruction of Jags QB Gardner Minshew this season.
Then You Bake
Before all the dust could settle from trading corner Marcus Peters, the LA Rams decided to one up themselves and make the move to bring in another stud corner. Seemingly without hesitation, the Rams gave up a 1st & 4th round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for standout Jalen Ramsey.
It has been known for weeks that both Ramsey and the Jacksonville organization have been on less than desirable terms. With Ramsey avoiding action since week 3, the Jags decided it was time to move on from the merry go round affair and take a very comfortable haul for their once superstar athlete. Of course they won’t know what the return is fully until after they’ve use the acquired draft picks so it's hard to legitimately say the winner and loser. The Jags, however, definitely come away on the positive side of things as it rids them of an unnecessary distraction going forward.
For the Rams on the other hand, I'm not entirely certain what this move does for you. Any time you can obtain a talent such as Jalen Ramsey you absolutely make that move. But realistically it came at the cost of Marcus Peters and two fairly important draft spots. The Rams roll out a middle of the pack defense currently while dealing with substantial injuries to Clay Matthews and now Aqib Talib, who will be shelved for some time. In addition to those injuries, Ramsey hasn't seen a snap since week 3 and is now asked to immediately return to form on a Rams team struggling to keep hopes of returning to a second straight Super Bowl appearance. It was pretty clear the Rams had more questions in their run game and with their quarterbacks ability to win them a game. For me the move to make a changer on the other side of the ball is a bit of a head scratcher.
Brown Is the New Blue
It hasn't even been a half a season before the first alleged report of Odell being unhappy with the current state and execution of the Cleveland Browns offense. So unhappy to the point where allegedly Odell had already requested out. Now although all of these are alleged and the star wideout and organization alike have already come out saying there is no truth to these reports, However, I'm a firm believer that if there’s a story I've heard then it has some truth amongst the sports world.
It’s evident that things are not as easy or as successful as fans and players alike had hoped for coming into the season. Whatever the issue may be, the offence appears to be losing sync when they should be ramping up the pressure. An unfortunate amount of Mayfields interceptions this year (11 INTs heading into their week 7 bye) have bounced off the hands of open receivers and into the hands of the late coming defenders.
The playcalling consistently has Chubb vacated from the backfield in crucial conversion moments in the game. With an O-line that struggles to give routes enough time to develop, and provide the quarterback enough space to operate you would think keeping Chubb in the back for block and release options may help open the field up. But instead Fred Kitchens and the Browns insist on sticking with the same old methods it seems, and is now running the team off course of the hype train they were once on.
With their underwhelming offensive output, and the battle becoming more and more uphill as each week passes, the Browns need to really asses the glaring problems they face. In what should be one of the most exciting and highlight filled offenses in the league, the Browns leave us week to week feeling disappointed and frustrated for ever believing the Odell trade would solve more problems then it created. Let's just hope the kicking net is not in his sights any time soon.
Game/Storyline To Watch
Los Angeles Rams (3-3) vs Atlanta Falcons (1-5)
Continuing on the theme of this week’s article, the LA Rams will be my team and storyline for this week. They head into Atlanta with hopes that Ramsey will be ready to make his debut. If so, his first test will be none other than the freak of an athlete that is Julio Jones. What a welcome to your new team.