13 things we learned: Week Six

6 weeks into the 2026 regular season and while some teams’ campaigns are going as tremendously or tumultuously as expected, there have been plenty of curveballs thrown up as well. Many pundits have narrowed down their list of true contenders to as little as 3 or 4 teams. Others think this year’s Super Bowl is anyone’s to win. And certain fanbases have already started taking in a heavy dose of college football to prepare for their team’s first pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

There was a lot to take out of Week 6’s action, and Preme Football have broken down the major storylines and talking points from each of the past weekend’s games into 13 simple paragraphs, so here are the main takeaways from the sixth week of the regular season.

1) Both of the league’s most disappointing teams so far come from LA

During the preseason, we all would have simply pointed and laughed at anyone who tried to claim that after 6 weeks, the Rams and Chargers would have combined for just 2 wins. The additions of Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie had the Rams as the clearest Super Bowl favourite going into a season in recent memory, but after an embarrassing home defeat at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, and now sitting 4 games adrift of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West, they could not look any less likely to be there come playoff time. As for the Chargers, their struggles have now reached crisis levels after falling to 0-6. Despite the hiring of Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator, Justin Herbert and the offense have gone backwards from recent years, and they still have one of the most difficult remaining schedules league-wide. Lovers of the city of Los Angeles may have even dared to dream about these teams meeting in a Super Bowl this season, but their Week 8 matchup is as close as we’ll get.

2) The Bills’ defense still raises concerns

There’s no doubt that on what we have seen so far, Buffalo have every right to be right near the top of any list of contenders, but their profile doesn’t quite resemble that of recent Super Bowl winners. Just 6 games into the season, they have already conceded 29+ points on 5 occassions. While Josh Allen and the Joe Brady-led offense have been firing on all cylinders to be 4-1 in such games, it remains to be seen whether that will be sustainable in the playoffs. The 2025 Seattle Seahawks, 2024 Philadelphia Eagles, and even 2023 Kansas City Chiefs were built on a strong defensive profile and saved their best offensive production for the games that mattered most – a trend that simply does not favour the Bills of 2026. The team’s last 5 season-ending elimination games have seen them concede a combined 161 points, and this year’s defense needs to take a step up if they are to truly convince most of their credentials.

3) JJ McCarthy deserves a consistent shot at a starting job

While some of it has been self-inflicted, it has been very easy to criticise McCarthy throughout his short career thus far. After missing his debut season in Minnesota with a torn meniscus, which opened the door for Sam Darnold to have a breakout season, it felt almost as though he wasn’t given a true chance to succeed in 2025, with Vikings fans making their mind up as soon as the team decided to let Darnold go. While McCarthy’s struggles were obvious throughout his 10 starts for Minnesota, he is still a 10th overall pick in just his second full season now. Coming off the bench in the fourth quarter on Sunday, his talent was on full display as he threw for 243 passing yards and a touchdown in just 11 minutes of game time, nearly orchestrating the most unlikely of comebacks. With Jaxson Dart ruled out for the season and Jameis Winston playing typically unpredictably, McCarthy is the man to take the reigns at quarterback and potentially lead the Giants to an NFC East title.

4) The Jets nailed their first-round selections in 2026

With 3 first-round picks in this year’s draft, New York had a opportunity to finally accelerate their rebuild and bring some high-end talent onto the roster. Their 2nd overall selection yielded David Bailey, who has emerged with Defensive Rookie of the Year favouritism among a strong field and taken no time to form a dangerous pass-rushing duo with Will McDonald IV. Pick 16, Kenyon Sadiq, has found the end zone a couple of times early in the season and already has a 100-yard receiving game to his name. And finally, Omar Cooper Jr., who played just his second career game on Sunday in New England after suffering a Week 1 injury, posted 103 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Patriots. Early in their careers, this new wave of young Jets players are starting to show the foundations of their next contending team, and while it hasn’t resulted in a sudden surge up the AFC standings the way New England’s rebuild did last season, they may not be too far away.

5) MVP chants are going to follow Bryce Young all season

It would be nothing short of inhumane for someone to not be enjoying Young’s performance this season and the rightful praise that has accomodated it. He had things his way against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, throwing for 281 passing yards and 2 touchdowns as his Carolina Panthers improved to 3-2, so much so that despite being on the road, the travelling Panthers fans made their presence felt by singing their praises. As a former number 1 pick, it would have been easy for the fourth year star to turn his toes up amidst his early-career struggles, but they only made him work even harder, and he’s now reaping the rewards. Carolina are the team to beat in the NFC South once again this season, and while Josh Allen and Brock Purdy have emerged as the 2 lead contenders for the NFL’s most prestigious individual award, Young must not be far behind.

6) Tennessee may ruin their chances of getting Jeremiah Smith

Trailing 13-0 at halftime in Indianapolis on Sunday, Titans fans would have all but considered themselves another week closer to their second number 1 pick in 3 years. But an improbable turnaround on offense, defense and special teams saw them score 26 second-half points to defeat the Colts, leaving just 2 winless teams in the NFL through Week 6. Optimistic Titans fans will contend that this win and the confidence it will give Cam Ward and their young team is more important than the position of next year’s draft picks, but it has been clear to see that this team is still a long way off even competing with anyone better than their miserable opposition from the weekend. At home to the Cleveland Browns this week, back-to-back wins would be nothing short of a disaster.

7) The return of Josh Jacobs makes the Packers a scary prospect

Jacobs was removed from the Commissioner’s Exempt List a week ago, since which, Green Bay cruised past Dallas for a dominant victory to improve to 23-13. Working with makeshift backfield options, the Packers’ run game has been among the league’s worst, yet Jordan Love and their receiving core have looked a well-oiled machine. Love threw for another 276 yards on primetime to add to his 3rd-ranked tally league-wide, 168 of which went to Matthew Golden and Christian Watson, who became the first teammates to both surpass 500 scrimmage yards on the season. Jacobs is questionable to return in Detroit in Week 7. Adding one of the league’s perenial workhorse running backs will give the offense another dimension and should give Green Bay every chance to top the highly-competitive NFC North, with the team already sitting at 4-2 despite Jacobs’ absence.

8) Sam Darnold’s struggles are a major issue

The Seattle Seahawks’ talented roster in 2025 meant that Darnold playing the role as a ‘game manager’ was sufficient to get the best out of his team en route to a championship. While the team’s defense has played at a similar level so far this year, the loss of last year’s Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, and injuries to both Zach Charbonnet and Jadarian Price have left Seattle without a reliable run game, leaving Darnold to bear more offensive responsibility. In successive weeks, he has failed to meet the moment with the game on the line, throwing a pair of costly interceptions in Thursday night’s loss to the Denver Broncos as the Seahawks fell to 3-3. An injury to Darnold early in Week 1 saw Drew Lock take over the duties under centre, who had a tremendous outing in Arizona, but Mike Macdonald’s starter has been unable to take his game to a new level so far in 2026.

9) Cleveland are Derrick Henry’s bogey team

The Browns defended their home territory once again in an intra-divisional game against the Baltimore Ravens, and with Lamar Jackson out, they had a clear plan from the beginning to not be beaten by Henry. They held him to a season-low 58 rushing yards (17 in the final 3 quarters) on 17 carries, including a lost fumble in the final quarter to alter the momentum of the game. But it’s not the first time that Cleveland have kept him quiet. In 10 career outings against the Browns, Henry has managed just 57.9 rushing yards per game, almost 28 fewer than his career average. It’s been no secret in recent years that a lack of offensive talent has caused Cleveland to become a team built in the trenches, which has given them plenty of potential to cause an upset on any given Sunday, and a 5-2 record is up for grabs if they can defeat the hapless Tennessee Titans this weekend.

10) The Falcons’ 2 weeks of dominance were an illusion

The New Orleans Saints scored 91 points in their first 2 games of 2024 to begin 2-0 before finishing with a record of 5-12. Atlanta appear to have done their own recreation of that in Weeks 3 and 4 of this season, where a couple of 21-point wins headlined by the rampant return of Michael Penix Jr. from a torn ACL. Unfortunately on Sunday, they looked all too similar to the teams of years gone by that have overseen a decade-long playoff drought. Penix Jr. and the offense managed just 131 total yards through 3 quarters, and while they gained some scoreboard respectability in the final term, they left it too late to mount a genuine comeback. With the Carolina Panthers positioning themselves as the team to beat in the NFC South and the Falcons facing the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers this Sunday, any hopes of ending the playoff drought suddenly look scarce.

11) CJ Stroud’s 4th year looks like what his 2nd should’ve

2026 was heavily-documented as a make-or-break year for Stroud after a bizarre start to his NFL career. Almost the polar opposite of the quarterback taken a pick before him in 2023, Bryce Young, Stroud’s rookie season was blistering and saw him win the Offensive Rookie of the Year, however, his sophomore and third seasons were a complete regression. The Houston Texans’ defense was dominant enough in both those years to help the team to a Divisional Round berth, but Stroud’s poor play ultimately proved too much to overcome. But although the Texans have started 2026 at 2-4, their franchise quarterback has not been to blame, throwing for the league’s 2nd most passing yards thus far, while throwing just 1 interception through 6 weeks. Houston are looking to become the first team in 34 years to make the playoffs after starting 0-4, but with a favourable schedule and Stroud performing at a high level, there is a renewed sense of optimism about this team.

12) Offensive injuries are unavoidable in Washington

With Jayden Daniels seemingly healthy coming into 2026 and having added Stefon Diggs, the Commanders looked to have every possible chance to recapture the form that led them to an NFC Championship Game appearance in Daniels’ rookie season. So far, Daniels re-aggravated his elbow injury and was forced to miss a couple of weeks, Jacory Croskey-Merritt has picked up a groin injury, and on Monday night, Terry McLaurin suffered a season-ending knee injury. Having returned from his injury over the past fortnight, Daniels has put up 2 strong individual performances, but neither resulted in a win for the Commanders, who have just 2 in their last 18 games as Dan Quinn remains on the hot seat.

13) Tampa Bay’s next franchise quarterback isn’t on their current roster

With hopes of returning to the playoffs in 2026, the Buccaneers signed Baker Mayfield to a 3-year, $165 million extension on the eve of the season, which hasn’t gone as planned so far. The 31-year-old isn’t getting any younger and is now contracted through the 2029 season, but the team have experienced a significant decline this season, sitting at 1-5. A thumb injury to Mayfield in Week 3 has given undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels the opportunity to start the past 3 games, and although he did contribute to their sole win against the Dallas Cowboys, he has failed to throw for over 200 yards in any of those games, while also turning the ball over 5 times in a suggestion that he is not the long-term answer. It appears that Mayfield has taken this team as far as he possibly could under Todd Bowles, but the regrettable contract extension makes it hard to imagine him attracting much interest on the trade block. Some big decisions are set to be made by the Buccaneers’ front office.

What was your biggest takeaway from the sixth week of regular season play?