Mid-season is within outstretched-arms reach, and the NFL fan thinks they have a grasp of what this season is all about. Then Week 6 happened.
The Best
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Julius Thomas
In one of the Week 6 blowouts, the Denver Broncos took out the trash 1-4 New York Jets, making them 1-5. But it’s Thomas who gets the Best Week nod due to an errant microphone picking up his ad-lib of, “It’s so easy!” after a 22-yard catch that put the Broncos up 17-7. The Broncos are the talent, but—as can be the case with Peyton Manning-led teams—often lack personality. When the microphones caught Thomas in a candid moment it proved that, yes, teams actually do like crushing the Jets.
Jay Culter
The Bears smoking-meme had a solid day going 26 of 38 for 381 yards and one touchdown, pushing the Bears back to .500 ball. Still, it must be noted that he also managed to throw the ball off his left hand and hit a referee in the crotch.
Cue Hans Moleman.
J. J. Watt
The 25-year-old defensive end is the biggest defensive star in the league. He is a crossover in ways that are almost unprecedented, and he has the game to back it up. In a 33-28 loss to the Colts (because LOL Ryan Fitzpatrick), Watt pulled the Texans to within one score by recovering a fumble and running it back 45 yards for a touchdown—his third of the year—with a show folks in Texas haven’t seen since Deion Sanders was at peak Prime Time. He also managed seven tackles, four of them solo, two sacks, and four quarterback hits in addition to his score. The Texans are a wreck to watch on offense, while Watt is single-handedly winning them ballgames.
The Worst
Kirk Cousins
The Cousins era is over for DC fans. Sure he got two touchdowns against a pretty decent Arizona Cardinals defense, but he also gave up three interceptions. And two weeks before that? He gave up four INTs against the Giants. His quarterback rating for the 30-20 loss to the Cardinals was 19.7. Only slightly better than that same game against the Giants when his rating was 13.9. Things have gotten so bad for Cousins that fans were calling for Colt McCoy to start. Colt McCoy! We’re still not positive he isn’t just a fictional character.
Cincinnati-Carolina fans
This isn’t a diatribe about ties necessarily, but the OT rules in football are atrocious. When you’re eclipsed by every other sport in terms of rule innovation, you can’t claim to be the best sport in the same breath. Panthers and Bengals fans deserved another run at it, though probably not a full OT period. And poor Mike Nugent, who not only has to share the same name with the worlds most famous rock-n-roll draft-dodging pants-shitter Ted, but missing the would-be winning field goal with two seconds left makes for a rough week.
Victor Cruz
The New York Giants receiver was reaching out for a touchdown before recoiling in pain. Cruz suffered a non-contact injury and his season is over. He left the field on a motorized cart in tears and it was hard not to feel heartbroken for the guy. Except for Philadelphia radio host Mike Misanelli of 97.5 The Fan, who proceeded to tweet, “Hey Giants fans, Victor Cruz is over. Dance to that.” Misanelli backed away from his comments twice, stating he didn’t see the injury, just the dropped pass. However, one of the tweets said he was walking to the subway, the other said he was walking to his car. He’s also from Philly. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
Fighting Impositions FTW
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The Fighting Imps outperformed the best team in the league and put up a whopping 106.46 points. Some old friends on the team decided to show up again with Larry Fitzgerald piling up 96 receiving yards and one touchdown, and LeSean McCoy gaining 149 on the ground and five in the air. Kicker Steven Hauschka got 12 points which softened the blow of the Buffalo defense going -2 in points. The Imps also benefited from having an extra period of Cam Newton at QB where he scored a crazy 35.06 points on 284 pass yards, 107 rushing yards and 2 passing TDs.
What to watch for in Week 7
The Jets at New England on Thursday will make Bill Belichick look like he’s wearing two Vince Lombardi’s on each shoulder. Kansas City at San Diego promises to show all of the passing that’s fit for television, while Carolina at Green Bay will look like a playoff game and Tennessee at Washington will not. It’s still worth watching for the Cousins implosion.
