No undefeated teams left and Bills survive scare: Everything to know about Week 6’s Sunday NFL games
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — The 1972 Miami Dolphins and 2007 New England Patriots are safe for another year.
Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, those two teams were the only ones ever to go undefeated during the regular season. The ’72 Dolphins finished with the NFL’s first and only perfect season, winning Super Bowl VII after going 14-0 in the regular season, but the Tom Brady-led Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII despite going 16-0 in the regular season.
After Week 6 of the 2023 season, the 1972 Dolphins and 2007 Patriots will pop the champagne as their accomplishments remain safe for yet another year after the last two teams who had yet to taste defeat finally did so.
Let’s have a look at everything you need to know from Sunday’s games.
Jets stun Eagles for Philly’s first defeat
The New York Jets had been down on their luck and the Philadelphia Eagles were undefeated and slowly improving after a slow start.
Even history slanted in one direction: the Jets had never beaten the Eagles.
However, in the shock upset of the day, Gang Green handed Philadelphia its first loss of the season, beating last season’s Super Bowl runners-up 20-14 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but a fourth-quarter interception from New York’s Tony Adams was returned 45 yards to set up a short Breece Hall touchdown run which sealed the victory.
The Jets defense turned the screw on the usually-explosive Philadelphia offense, intercepting Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts three times to give its own sputtering offense the chance to claim a famous victory.
And that was despite the team missing a host of its defensive starters – including New York’s two best cornerbacks, Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed – in its first victory over the Eagles in 13 attempts.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh was blunt in his assessment after the game about the impact his defense was having on opposition teams.
“Through these first six weeks, we’ve played a gauntlet of quarterbacks. I know we haven’t gotten all wins, but we’ve embarrassed all of them,” Saleh told reporters afterwards.
The victory was made even more remarkable by the fact that the Jets are being led by back-up quarterback Zach Wilson after original starter Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon on just the fourth snap of the new season.
Wilson has lived through some rocky play during his time in New York, but has shown flashes of promise in his last three starts, indicating that the Jets’ 2023 season might not have come to a premature close with Rodgers’ season-ending injury.
For the Eagles, it was a shock to the system after steady improvement throughout the young season. Also blighted by injuries, Philly couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities it was presented, with Hurts making some uncharacteristic errors.
The team had four turnovers, as well as many other miscues and penalties to stunt any chances the team had of taking the victory.
The Eagles slip to 5-1 on the season, but remain one of the favorites to challenge for the Vince Lombardi Trophy if they can correct some of the errors on display against the Jets. New York improves to 3-3 on the year.
Depleted Browns hand 49ers first loss
The other previously undefeated team, the San Francisco 49ers, were also handed their first defeat of the season at the hands of the Cleveland Browns.
San Francisco’s rookie kicker, Jake Moody, missed a last-second 41-yard field goal to hand the Browns a 19-17 victory and the 49ers their first loss.
Like the Jets, the Browns were led by their dominant defense, which held the previously almost unstoppable 49ers offense to just 215 total yards on the day.
San Francisco had scored more than 30 points in each of its last eight regular season games, but the Browns’ D – between its constant pressure on quarterback Brock Purdy and some excellent coverage in the secondary – limited the team to its lowest offensive output since head coach Kyle Shanahan was hired in 2017.
Myles Garrett and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah led from the front for Cleveland, whose victory was all the more important given who the squad was missing.
Starting quarterback Deshaun Watson and star running back Nick Chubb were both sidelined with injuries, with PJ Walker leading the team – he finished with no touchdown passes and two interceptions; Browns running back Kareem Hunt scored the team’s only touchdown of the game.
For San Francisco, it was an out-of-character performance for a team which had been so slick through the first five games of the season.
Three of the team’s star players – Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams – all suffered injuries over the course of the game as the Niners struggled for offensive efficiency.
After the defeat, Shanahan pointed to the loss of some of their key personnel throughout the afternoon and the impact it had.
“We made way too many mistakes on offense,” Shanahan said. “Just losing a couple guys in the game. We had to switch a couple guys around and we weren’t quite ready for that.”
He added: “It’s more about just getting all the guys ready for it. You have a game plan that has enough stuff in it, so you move some positions around. We just made too many mistakes.”
It wasn’t just the offense which suffered uncharacteristic errors; kicker Moody missed two field goals, including the potential game-winner.
49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said there might be positives to come from the result, despite the outcome.
“It’s easy to stand behind that 5-0 record and just expect to be perfect every time,” Juszczyk told reporters said after the game. “I think we’re all human and we all make mistakes. Making mistakes at some point is good because you learn more from your mistakes than you do successes.”
Bills survive scare
It wasn’t convincing, but the Buffalo Bills maintained their strong start to the season with a narrow 14-9 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday night.
Despite leading for nearly the entirety of the encounter, the Giants could have won it on the final play of the game, with tight end Darren Waller unable to pull in a pass in the endzone under tight coverage from Bills cornerback Taron Johnson.
Buffalo QB Josh Allen threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Quintin Morris and Deonte Hardy, and – following Week 6’s NFL-wide theme – the Bills defense stymied Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor who was starting instead of the injured Daniel Jones.
It was arguably more of a deadlock than many had expected, with the Giants missing Jones and undergoing a torrid year. But the two teams were relatively equal across the board statistically, with the Giants coming within a whisker of going back home with a famous victory.
“It’s an ugly win, but it counts the same as a pretty win,” Bills star Allen told NBC’s Melissa Stark after the game. “Our defense, man, they bailed us out.
“Offensively, we’ve got to be better, so we’ll take the win. We hate that it came down to that last play, but we’ll take the win.”
The Bills move to 4-2, while the Giants’ disappointing season continues as they slip to 1-5.
Full Week 6 Sunday scores
Away vs. home
Baltimore Ravens 24-16 Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders 24-16 Atlanta Falcons
Minnesota Vikings 19-13 Chicago Bears
Seattle Seahawks 13-17 Cincinnati Bengals
San Francisco 49ers 17-19 Cleveland Browns
New Orleans Saints 13-20 Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts 20-37 Jacksonville Jaguars
Carolina Panthers 21-42 Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots 17-21 Las Vegas Raiders
Detroit Lions 20-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Arizona Cardinals 9-26 Los Angeles Rams
Philadelphia Eagles 14-20 New York Jets
New York Giants 9-14 Buffalo Bills
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