Rebels in the Pros: Week Six went Downtown

Every single NFL game was played as scheduled in Week 6 and the packed early slate provided quite a bit of down-to-the-wire finishes. The Seahawks were on a bye week, so D.K. Metcalf’s reign of terror was put on pause, but another former Nasty Wideout picked up the production in his place and led the charge during a slower week for the former Ole Miss Rebels in the NFL. Here is how they fared:

Offense

• A.J. Brown missed a few weeks early in the season with a knee injury but returned last week and found the end zone. He did not receive any sort of injury designation in Week 6 and was back to full strength. There was no doubt about his health on Sunday as he doubled his performance and found the paint on two instances. The first came in the first quarter and Brown powered his way in.

Had his day ended with five seconds left on the clock, Brown would have finished the day with a respectable 49 yards on four catches with a touchdown and the Titans would have lost. However, Brown has become a certified weapon that quarterback Ryan Tannehill trusts in crunch time and Tennessee wasn’t done yet. Houston’s 5-foot-11, 194-pound cornerback Bradley Roby man-marked Brown in pre-snap coverage and Tannehill slung a jump-ball in his direction. No. 11 went up and hauled in the catch.

“To be honest, I didn’t feel my left foot come down,” Brown said after the game “I was nervous, I thought my shin or knee came down. I made it close, but next time I will most definitely double tap my feet.” Leave no doubt, the replay showed he came down in-bounds and the seven-yard touchdown pass set up the game-tying field goal.

Tennessee won the coin toss in overtime, Derrick Henry ran the ball and boom, Brown and the Titans are 5-0.

• The Giants are so bad, but the Football Team even worse. There was not a single New York receiver with more than three catches or more than 45 yards in the team’s one-point win— it’s first of the season. Tight end Evan Engram was the team’s second leading receiver and had two catches for 30 yards.
• Engram’s state of New York tight end counterpart Dawson Knox was inactive for Buffalo’s Monday night game.
• There wasn’t anything exciting to write about for the Big Uglies this week, but real Gs move in silence. Laremy Tunsil and Bobby Massie both recorded every snap for their respective teams without allowing a sack, and Greg Little continues wait in the wings for Carolina.
• Indianapolis played from behind for most of it’s win over Cincinnati and threw the ball 44 times as a result. That didn’t bode well for hard-nosed runner Jordan Wilkins, who was out-touched by starting running back Jonathan Taylor and pass-catching back Nyheim Hines. He had one carry for a loss of one.

Defense

• C.J. Moore got on the board for the first time this season! He had been battling a calf injury throughout the first few weeks and announced his return with the opening tackle of the game. It’s great to see him back and producing as a valuable special teams player for Detroit. His brother A.J. Moore was left off of the box score again this week, but at least he didn’t get burnt like Roby did against his former teammate.
• After five weeks as the league’s most dominant nickel cornerback, Mike Hilton didn’t get much going from a numbers standpoint. He did continue to be a valuable component on the pass rush and helped the Steelers hold Baker Mayfield to 119 yards on 10 completions with two interceptions. Hilton let the former Heisman Trophy winner hear it on the first.

Pittsburgh went on to beat Cleveland by 31 and Mayfield was benched for Case Keenum late in the game. Unfortunately, Hilton suffered a shoulder injury during the middle stages of the fourth quarter and did not return. He got up under his own power but was dragging to his left side.

The extend of his injury is unclear at this time, but it looked like a dislocated shoulder or a collarbone issue.

• D.J. Jones continued to be a big presence in the middle as the starting nose/defensive tackle for San Francisco. He and Ken Webster both had a tackle for the 49ers and Marquis Haynes did the same for the Panthers.