In Week 6, while many of the games – especially the 1 pm games – were in the bag early, we did have a lot of close games in the primetime and morning slots: The Eagles were down big to the Buccaneers, by as much as 28-7 early in the third quarter, but mounted a comeback to make the game competitive. We had a great moment in gambling history when the Eagles went for, and got, the two point conversion to reduce the deficit to 6 and provide a backdoor cover on a game in which the Bucs were favoured by 7. The Jaguars got off the schneid (H/T Chris Berman) to defeat the Dolphins 23-20 in the game in London on Sunday morning. Miami, which does not own their first round draft pick, are now cratering hard at 1-5, a one point win at Foxborough being their only positive result of the season. The Seahawks and Steelers played a hotly contested affair at Hines Field, with the Seahawks erasing a 14-0 halftime deficit to tie the game 20-20 in the final seconds, only for the Steelers to win the game in overtime. The Monday night game was a hotly contested matchup as the Bills, inside the Titans 5 with under a minute to go, went for it on a fourth-and-inches, only for Josh Allen to be stuffed on a QB sneak by DT Jeffery Simmons. The Titans, now 4-2, have a stranglehold on the awful (apart from them) AFC South, while the Bills still enjoy a comfortable 2 game lead on the Patriots in the equally terrible AFC East.
This week’s top score was 15 points, shared by a number of people. Congrats to everyone who held the honours for this week – as Sam – now tied for 4th place Salvo – also tied for 4th Alessandro – 6th place Joe L – 9th place Darryl – 15th place Darren – tied for 17th Brackens – also tied for 17th
Overall, we have a new leader – Will sets the pace now with 86 points! Paul and Jerome are each just one point back at 85, while Sam and Salvo are tied for fourth with 84. Twelve participants have 80 or more points, while 21 people are within 10 points of the top spot. We have just reached the one-third point in the season, so there is a lot of time still to catch up!
With four teams on bye and two games already in the books, a lighter schedule than usual for Week 6 Sunday – the two big games of the day: Chargers at Ravens at 1 and Cardinals at Browns at 4. Lots of road dogs, so lots of uncertainty in today’s card.
The Week 6 edition of Thursday Night Football takes place at the home of Ben Simmons, Philadelphia, where the 2-3 Eagles host the Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers. Philly is coming off a road win at Carolina, while the 4-1 Bucs just demolished the Dolphins at home.
Talent-wise, this game looks like a mismatch, though the Eagles have been surprisingly strong in the secondary, ranking 3rd-best in yards allowed through the air, at 973 through five games, which includes matchups against the Cowboys and Chiefs. Can they slow down the dominant Bucs offense, while taking advantage of the league’s worst pass defense?
The second of two games at the Spurs home stadium which, up to now, is unsullied by corporate naming rights, again features a matchup of struggling teams as the 1-4 Dolphins face off against the winless Jaguars. While in merry old England, perhaps Urban Meyer can get some tips from esteemed soccer managers like former England manager Sven-Goran Ericsson 🤔.We have our first byes of the season, as Atlanta, New Orleans, the Jets, and San Francisco all have the week off (in some cases mercifully, though for the purposes of the pool, a mixed blessing as confidence picks may be a little harder to come by with the Jets and Falcons both off.
I bet that Seattle-Pittsburgh Sunday night game looked a lot better a month ago than it does now!