Here are 32 key takeaways from Week 6 of the 2024 NFL season:

0. No interim head coach has ever taken a team to the Super Bowl. Best wishes to Jeff Ulbrich and the New York Jets as they play their first game Monday night after the firing of Robert Saleh.

0. Dallas Cowboys still have not secured a home win in 2024, dating back to their humiliating playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers. This past Sunday, they faced the Detroit Lions, who scored a staggering 47-9 victory, marking Dallas’ worst home loss since Jerry Jones took over in 1989. The Cowboys are now 0-4 at home since January, collectively losing by 82 points. Coincidentally, Sunday was also Jerry Jones’ 82nd birthday.

1. Out of five rookie quarterbacks who started on Sunday, only one emerged victorious: Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears. The first overall pick of the 2024 draft threw a career-high four touchdown passes in a 35-16 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

2. This victory made Williams the first quarterback taken first overall to win four of his first six NFL starts.

3. Remarkably, the Bears have won nine consecutive “home” games, which includes their game held at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this past week.

3a. Williams’ four touchdown passes set a record for that stadium.

4. In other games, rookie quarterbacks Spencer Rattler of the New Orleans Saints and Drake Maye of the New England Patriots both lost in their first starts.

5. During a matchup where Rattler faced off against former Oklahoma teammate Baker Mayfield, the game turned into a typical Big 12 high-scoring affair, with Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning 51-27 in a clash that saw nearly 900 total yards of offense.

6. The Buccaneers amassed 594 yards of offense, a franchise record in its 49-year history. They became the fifth NFL team to achieve both 300 passing yards and 275 rushing yards in the same game.

7. A significant contribution came from Tampa Bay’s little-known third-string running back Sean Tucker, who racked up 255 all-purpose yards and scored two touchdowns.

8. Rattler joined Ian Book as the only rookie quarterbacks to make a start for New Orleans in this century, and unfortunately, neither of them secured a victory.

9. Surprisingly, stats can be misleading. According to NFL Media, Maye became the first quarterback since at least 1950 to throw for at least three touchdowns while also leading his team in rushing during his first start. He rushed for 38 yards, but his touchdowns weren’t enough to prevent a 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans. Nonetheless, there’s some renewed hope for fans in Foxborough.

10. Speaking of misleading stats, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa recorded an NFL-high 14 pressures in the 36-24 win against the Seattle Seahawks but did not achieve a single sack, which doesn’t fully illustrate his impact on the game.

11. On the receiving end of some of Maye’s struggles was Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr., the current Defensive Rookie of the Year, who managed to sack the No. 3 pick of the 2024 draft three times, marking a career high for him.

12.Returning to the year’s rookie class, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels saw their respective winning streaks of three and four come to an end on Sunday.

13.Daniels threw for a respectable 291 yards and two touchdowns but the Commanders could only manage 23 points against the hot Baltimore Ravens, marking their lowest score since Week 2.

14.In total, the 12 touchdown passes thrown by rookie quarterbacks on Sunday set a record for the most in a single week during the Super Bowl era (since 1966), with the exception of the 1987 strike season.

15. Baltimore running back Derrick Henry took control of the league’s rushing lead with 132 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his total to 704 yards this season, putting him on track for 1,995 yards over 17 games.

16. The Ravens made history by being the second team in the last 18 seasons to rush for over 1,200 yards in the first six games, joining the 2019 Ravens.

17. They also became only the second team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to rush for at least 150 yards and score a touchdown in each of their first six games, following the footsteps of the 1971 Oakland Raiders.

18. Regarding Henry, he’s the first player since Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 to score a rushing touchdown in his team’s first six games. Tomlinson had a record-breaking year, with 31 total touchdowns and 28 rushing touchdowns, also winning the MVP award. Just noting.

18a. Henry’s impressive performance has earned him a place among the all-time greats, ranking fourth with his 20th game of rushing over 100 yards and two touchdowns. He trails legends Jim Brown, Tomlinson, and Emmitt Smith.

19. It took until game six for Packers safety Xavier McKinney to not record an interception for his new team.

20. However, it didn’t affect the outcome, as Green Bay defeated the Arizona Cardinals 34-13. Despite McKinney’s lack of interception, the Packers have managed multiple takeaways in each game this season, totaling a league-best 20.

21. There’s no doubt now that the NFC North stands out as the best division in the league. All its teams boast winning records, and if the season concluded today, three of them would qualify for the playoffs.

22. According to OptaSTATS, the team’s astonishing 17-5 (.773) record signifies the first instance in league history where a division achieved a winning percentage of .750 or higher by Week 6 or later in a season.

23. Following the divisional restructuring in 2002, the NFC North stands out as the first division to have all its teams with at least four victories by Week 6.

24. How impressive has Lions quarterback Jared Goff been? On Sunday, he became just the second quarterback, after Drew Brees, to achieve a passer rating over 150.0 in back-to-back games.

25. Unfortunately, the NFC North’s reputation may take a hit due to the broken tibia injury sustained by Detroit defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. He raised his league-leading sack total to 7½ before the injury, which will almost certainly end his 2024 season and could significantly impact his team’s Super Bowl aspirations.

26. Flexibility is key, as demonstrated by Bears tight end Cole Kmet. He scored two touchdowns during Chicago’s victory and smoothly transitioned to long-snapping duties after Scott Daly’s knee injury. “It wasn’t exactly a position I imagined playing in the NFL – ever,” Kmet admitted. He only snapped once for five extra points and one field goal, but did not have to handle any punts. “That was my biggest concern heading into the game.”

27. After being sacked five additional times in the 20-16 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson now leads the league with 31 sacks against him.

28. If things continue as they are, Watson is on track to be sacked 88 times this season, which would smash the previous single-season record of 76 set by David Carr.

29. Even though Cleveland kept the game close, it should be noted that Watson struggled to propel an offense that managed to gain only 244 yards – which curiously is the team’s second-highest output of the season.

30. The Browns’ sole touchdown on Sunday came from a blocked field goal that was returned 50 yards for a score.

31. It appears that the Atlanta Falcons have developed a versatile offense. After quarterback Kirk Cousins set a team record with a 509-yard, four-touchdown performance indoors in Week 5, they managed 198 rushing yards outdoors in their 38-20 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.

32. Uniform update of the week: In a bid to return to the Super Bowl, the Jets will don retro uniforms on Monday to pay tribute to the only team in franchise history that played in a Super Bowl, Joe Namath’s iconic 1968 J-E-T-S. Maybe Aaron Rodgers should have agreed to wear Namath’s retired No. 12 jersey.

32a. Additional uniform note of the week: There are certainly fans – including J.J. Watt – who believe the throwback uniforms the Seahawks wore on Thursday night are the best in the league. However, this didn’t prevent them from falling into a three-game losing streak … possibly because the 49ers were also sporting their stylish retro uniforms, renowned for their last championship pursuit in 1994.

32b. Third uniform note of the week: Even though Maye didn’t come out on top, he can take pride in commemorating his first NFL start.

32c. Fourth uniform note of the week: Did you know the Panthers showcased a first-time uniform combination that prominently featured their “Process Blue” color?

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