NFL Week 6 Takeaways: Only DeAndre Hopkins Can Save the Kyler-Kingsbury Era

Without a doubt, New York football is back. In Week 6, the New York Giants and New York Jets beat teams that some NFL analysts listed as potential division winners for the 2022 season.

Gang Green showed some dominance on the road while Big Blue pulled out another close victory, thanks in large part to their defense.

On the other side of the Jets’ statement win, the Green Bay Packers have to clean up messes in all three phases of the game, but they won’t have a bye to address their shortcomings until December. What’s wrong with the reigning NFC North champions?

The Packers aren’t the only playoff-caliber NFC team with major issues. In a loss, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored only 18 points against an injury-riddled Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Amid their struggles, quarterback Tom Brady made his voice heard on the sideline.

Lastly, we may have a quarterback controversy brewing, but this isn’t about Cooper Rush, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. The New England Patriots should stick with the hot hand under center after consecutive victories.

After scoring just nine points in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals offense needs a spark, and help is on the way.

Let’s break down all the action from Sunday’s games with updates throughout the day.

The Arizona Cardinals offense failed to reach the end zone against the Seattle Seahawks, who field one of the league’s worst defenses.

Kyler Murray threw for 222 yards and an interception; he made his biggest plays on foot with 100 rushing yards, including a 42-yard run. The dual-threat signal-caller relied heavily on Zach Ertz (seven catches for 70 yards), Marquise Brown (five receptions for 68 yards) and Rondale Moore (six catches for 49 yards), but the Cardinals' pass-catching group underwhelmed against a unit that ranked 26th in yards allowed and gave up nine touchdowns through the air before Sunday’s matchup.

Through six games, the Cardinals have a middling offensive attack; it listed 18th and 15th in scoring and total yards, respectively, going into Week 6. Murray has thrown for multiple touchdowns in two out of six outings.

Kliff Kingsbury, an offensive-minded head coach, and Murray must do a lot better, or else the team may have to look for a new lead skipper who can get the most out of a quarterback on a new five-year, $230.5 million extension.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, they will welcome back star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who’s slated to return in Week 7 from a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

Thus far this season, Murray has primarily relied on one pass-catcher in Brown, who played with him for one collegiate season at Oklahoma. The fourth-year receiver departed late in Sunday’s game with a leg injury, which potentially increases the importance of Hopkins’ return.

Brown was spotted in a walking boot after the game, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

In the short term, Hopkins should elevate Arizona’s passing attack, and he may also get Kingsbury out of hot water.

Keep in mind that the Cardinals' record improved in each of Kingsbury's first three seasons, but they’ve yet to win a playoff game on his watch.

The New York Jets went into Lambeau Field and thumped the Green Bay Packers 27-10. Unlike their last two wins, Gang Green beat a team that didn’t insert a rookie signal-caller into the game. In fact, the Jets had such a convincing win that Green Bay pulled quarterback Aaron Rodgers in its final offensive possession.

The Jets outplayed the Packers in all three phases of the game.

New York’s offense outpaced Green Bay’s unit in yards per play (5.2 to 4.0), blocked a field goal and a punt and sacked Rodgers four times.

After both teams slugged through the first half and went into halftime tied at three, the Jets took over in the second half.

Once again, Gang Green’s young playmakers made a huge difference in the outcome. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams recorded two sacks and rookie second-round running back Breece Hall logged 20 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown. Rookie fourth-round defensive end Micheal Clemons blocked the punt that safety Will Parks returned for a score.

Head coach Robert Saleh might as well print those receipts—here come the Jets.

Last week, the New York Giants beat the Green Bay Packers 27-22 in London, but as we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks, the NFC North club has major issues on both sides of the ball.

This week, Big Blue beat one of the league’s best teams in the Baltimore Ravens, who came into Sunday’s game with the fourth-highest-scoring offense. The Giants limited the Ravens to 20 points and forced turnovers on Baltimore’s last two possessions. New York scored off one takeaway, and running back Saquon Barkley stopped short of a touchdown to milk the clock for the victory after edge-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux forced a fumble (Leonard Williams recovered it).

Coming into Week 6, the Giants gained momentum, earning victories over struggling or average-to-below-average squads. Now, with a win over Baltimore, they’ve proved they have a legitimate shot to make a push for a postseason spot. At 5-1, the Giants are among the four teams in the NFC with winning records.

Though New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick may not want to discuss hypotheticals with the media, rookie fourth-round quarterback Bailey Zappe has played well enough to keep Mac Jones on the sideline for now.

At the end of a Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Jones suffered a high ankle sprain. In the following outing, against the Green Bay Packers, Brian Hoyer replaced him but left early with a concussion and is currently on injured reserve. As the third-string signal-caller, Zappe has played well.

In all three of his outings, Zappe has a passer rating of 100 or better. He’s helped lead the Patriots to back-to-back blowout victories. On Sunday, against the Cleveland Browns, the first-year quarterback threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns.

Remember, we last saw Jones throw for 321 scoreless yards and three interceptions in a loss to the Ravens.

Of course, Zappe has help from a strong defense that’s forced eight turnovers over the past three games, but he’s thrown for 596 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception in that span. Jones has thrown for 786 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions in his three contests.

You’re going to hear pundits compare this quarterback situation to the turn of events with Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady in 2001. However, unlike Bledsoe, Jones isn’t an established veteran, which creates a probable pathway for Zappe to start for the foreseeable future.

Before Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers hadn't won a game when star edge-rusher T.J. Watt missed the entire contest because of injury. They accomplished that feat with two of their starting cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon and Cameron Sutton out because of hamstring injuries and star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee) sidelined as well.

Heading into Week 6, the Steelers gave up 11 touchdowns through the air and allowed the third-most passing yards. Yet Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and his offense struggled mightily in Pittsburgh.

Brady threw only one touchdown pass against a depleted Steelers secondary, and Tampa Bay moved the ball 4.5 yards per play compared to Pittsburgh’s 4.4 yards-per-play rate with rookie Kenny Pickett, who exited early with a concussion, and Mitch Trubisky under center.

Brady couldn’t take advantage of a soft get-right matchup for the offense, and he had spirited words for his offensive line during the game:

This season, the Buccaneers have scored more than 21 points once, and that happened in a lopsided loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4.

With the Atlanta Falcons on Tampa Bay’s heels in the NFC South, the Buccaneers must figure out how to spark their offense.

Coming into Week 6, the Green Packers had some glaring offensive issues. Despite racking up the ninth-most yards, they listed 22nd in scoring before Sunday’s matchup with the New York Jets.

In a 27-10 loss to Gang Green, the Packers may have hit rock bottom.

Green Bay finished with its second-lowest point total of the season, its special teams unit allowed a blocked field goal and a blocked punt that the Jets returned for a touchdown and the defense gave up 125-plus rushing yards for the third straight week.

Clearly, the Packers need more consistency from their pass-catching group, though tight end Robert Tonyan (10 catches for 90 yards) and wideout Allen Lazard (four receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown) had a solid outing against the Jets. Green Bay’s one-two punch in the backfield, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, registered just 19 carries for 60 yards combined, though.

To make the Packers’ offensive matters worse, wideout Randall Cobb exited the game with an ankle injury, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is dealing with a thumb injury.

Green Bay selected two defenders in the first round of the 2022 draft in linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, but they haven’t provided a significant tangible boost on that side of the ball.

Back in February, the Packers fired special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton and hired Rich Bisaccia to replace him after a disastrous 2021 campaign for the unit, but Gang Green clearly outplayed Green Bay in that phase of the game, too.

While most analysts will point to the Packers’ passing attack as a major problem in the post-Davante Adams era, their ground attack has been inconsistent. Meanwhile, the defense has fallen apart in each of the last three contests.

Unfortunately for the Packers, they don’t have an early bye week to address all of their shortcomings. Instead, the team must fix its problems on the fly with an upcoming three-week road trip.

In a quarterback-driven league, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen owned the spotlight in the storylines for this matchup. Many expected the Chiefs and Bills to put on an offensive firework show similar to their AFC divisional round battle in the 2021 playoffs.

While this game matched the hype from a competitive standpoint, the Bills beat the Chiefs 24-20 in a much lower-scoring contest compared to the previous overtime meeting (42-36).

Furthermore, two of the Bills’ acquisitions on the defensive side of the ball made big plays to swing the momentum in Buffalo’s favor.

In the first half, rookie first-round cornerback Kaiir Elam picked off Mahomes’ pass to wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the end zone. Buffalo kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive. On the Chiefs’ penultimate offensive drive, edge-rusher Von Miller played the closer role and sacked Mahomes on third down to force a punt on fourth down.

Lastly, Taron Johnson, who’s served as a reliable slot cornerback in Buffalo, picked off Mahomes on the Chiefs’ final possession to seal the victory.

Offensively, the Chiefs and Bills are equals. They went into Sunday’s contest ranked first and second, respectively, in scoring, but Buffalo had the No. 1 scoring defense with 11 takeaways to complement its offense.

In the end, the Bills held the Chiefs to their second-lowest scoring total of the 2022 campaign. Kansas City has lost both games in which it scored fewer than 21 points.

Coming into Week 6, the Chiefs had the 24th-ranked scoring defense, so they’re going to struggle if the offense turns the ball over multiple times. As for the Bills, they can beat opponents with their offensive firepower and slow down opponents with a stout defense.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.