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Caleb Williams, rookie QBs under scrutiny

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Caleb Williams, rookie QBs under scrutiny

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The 32 things we learned from Week 6 of the 2024 NFL season:

0. The number of interim head coaches who have led a team to the Super Bowl. Good luck to Jeff Ulbrich and the New York Jets, who play their first game without scapegoat Robert Saleh on Monday night.

0. Home wins for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2024 calendar year, which can be traced back to their significant defeat against the Green Bay Packers in the wild card round of the playoffs. On Sunday, it was the Detroit Lions, the last team to lose at AT&T Stadium on Dec. 30 – and under dubious circumstances, no less – who beat America's Team with a 47-9 victory, Dallas' worst home loss since Jerry Jones led the franchise bought in 1989. The Cowboys are 0-4 in “Jerry World” since January and have dropped a total of 82 points. (And by the way, Sunday was Jones' 82nd birthday.)

1. The number of winning rookie quarterbacks on Sunday, although the highest early-season total was five. That would be Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears, the top pick of the 2024 draft, who caught a career-best four touchdown passes in a 35-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

2. Williams was the first quarterback ever drafted No. 1 and won four of his first six NFL starts.

3. The Bears have rattled off nine straight wins “at home,” the most in the league… considering they were technically hosting Sunday's game at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

3a. Williams' four touchdown passes were a record in this building.

4. Elsewhere, New Orleans Saints rookie QB Spencer Rattler and New England Patriots rookie QB Drake Maye earned the L in their first starts.

5. Rattler faced fellow former Oklahoma Sooner Baker Mayfield in a contest that turned into a good old Big 12 Shootout. Mayfield's Tampa Bay Buccaneers won 51-27 in a game that featured nearly 900 yards of total offense.

6. The Bucs' 594 yards of offense were the most ever in a game for a franchise in its 49th season. They became the fifth NFL team to pass for at least 300 yards and rush for 275 yards in the same game.

7. A good portion came from Tampa Bay's virtually unknown third-street RB Sean Tucker, who racked up 255 all-purpose yards while reaching the end zone twice.

8. Rattler joined Ian Book as the only rookie quarterbacks to start for New Orleans in the 21st century. Neither of them won.

9. Do your statistics lie? According to NFL Media, Maye became the first quarterback since at least 1950 to score at least three touchdowns in his first NFL start while leading his team in rushing. He ran for 38 yards and his throws for scoring played little role in the 41-21 loss to the Houston Texans. Still, perhaps a bit of renewed optimism for the tormented people of Foxborough.

10. How much do your statistics lie? San Francisco 49ers DE Nick Bosa had an NFL-high 14 pressures in Thursday night's 36-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. A quick look at the box score reveals that Bosa had no sacks, which is hardly an indication of his impact on a specific game.

11. One of the beneficiaries of Mayes' home debut was Texans DE Will Anderson Jr., the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, who earned a career-best No. 3 pick three times.

12. Back to this year's rookies: Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix and Washington Commanders' Jayden Daniels both ended their winning streaks (three and four, respectively) on Sunday.

13. Daniels accounted for a respectable 291 yards and two touchdowns (both passes), but Washington scored its fewest points (23) since Week 2, a loss to the Beltway's upstart team, the Baltimore Ravens.

14. Overall, Sunday's 12 combined TD passes were the most by a rookie quarterback in a week in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), notwithstanding the strikeout 1987 season.

15. Baltimore RB Derrick Henry ran for 132 yards and two scores and led the league with 704 yards – he now has 1,995 yards in 17 games.

16. The Ravens became the second team in the last 18 seasons to rush for 1,200 total yards in six games… joining the Ravens in 2019.

17. The Ravens also became the second team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to rush for at least 150 yards and a touchdown in its first six games, joining the Oakland Raiders in 1971.

18. As for Henry? He is the first player since Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 to score a touchdown in his team's first six games. LT totaled a league-record 31 touchdowns that year – plus a record 28 on the ground – and was named league MVP. I'm just saying it.

18a. Henry now ranks fourth all-time after recording his 20th game with at least 100 yards and two touchdowns. He trails three HOFers: Jim Brown (25 games), Tomlinson (25) and Emmitt Smith (21).

19. It took six games before Packers S' Xavier McKinney failed to make an interception for his new club.

20. That didn't matter much as Green Bay defeated the Arizona Cardinals 34-13. And even though McKinney didn't make a single contribution, the Pack has recorded multiple takeaways in every game this season – their total is now a league-high 20.

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21. Is there any doubt that the NFC North has become the best division in the league? It is the only team where all teams are over .500 and – if the season ended today – three would advance to the playoffs.

22. According to OptaSTATS, the 17-5 (.773) record marks the first time in league history that a division has had at least a .750 winning percentage through Week 6 or later of a given season.

23. Since division realignment in 2002, the NFC North is the first to have all of its members with at least four wins through Week 6.

23a. Although the undefeated Minnesota Vikings had a bye, the rest of the division swept Sunday, with the Bears, Lions and Packers winning by an average of 26 points. Once play within the divisions picks up steam, things are likely to get heated, as only the Pack and Vikes have met so far.

24. And how good was Lions quarterback Jared Goff? On Sunday, he became just the second signal caller, joining Drew Brees, to post a passer rating above 150.0 in consecutive starts.

25. Unfortunately, after Detroit DE Aidan Hutchinson's broken tibia, which increased his league-leading sack total to 7½, the NFC North will lose much of its luster in the play that will almost certainly end his 2024 season… and perhaps dramatically his team's hopes change to the Super Bowl.

26. The more you can do… and then look no further than Bears TE Cole Kmet. He caught two touchdowns in Chicago's win and deftly switched to long snaps after Scott Daly suffered a knee injury. “Definitely not a position I ever envisioned myself playing in the NFL,” said Kmet, who had just five PATs and one field goal attempt but no punts. “My biggest worry before the game.”

27. In Sunday's 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was sacked five more times and is now sacked a league-high 31 times.

28. Watson is on pace to be sacked 88 times, which would break the league single-season record (76 by David Carr).

29. And while Cleveland kept the score close, it's worth noting that Watson did little to move an offense that generated just 244 yards — although, astonishingly, that's the team's second-highest total this season.

30. The Browns' only touchdown on Sunday came on a blocked field goal by superstar Myles Garrett, which was then returned 50 yards for the ball.

31. It looks like the Atlanta Falcons have an all-weather offense. After rushing for a team record 509 yards and four touchdowns in Week 5, QB Kirk Cousins ​​rushed for 198 yards in the Carolina Panthers' 38-20 win on Sunday in Charlotte.

32. Unified Note of the Week: Desperate to return to the Super Bowl, the Jets will wear throwbacks on Monday that honor the only team in franchise history to play on Super Sunday: Joe Namath's legendary 1968 JETS. Perhaps Aaron Rodgers should have accepted the offer to borrow Namath's retired number 12 jersey.

32a. Second uniform note of the week: There's certainly a faction of enthusiasts – including JJ Watt – who believe the rebounds the Seahawks got on Thursday night are the best in the league. But that didn't help them avoid a three-game elimination…perhaps because the 49ers were wearing their stylish throwback jerseys most associated with their last championship run in 1994.

32b. Third uniform note of the week: Maye may not have won, but he can proudly remember his first NFL start.

32c. Fourth uniform note of the week: Did you know that for the first time the Panthers appeared with a combination in which their “Process Blue” played a prominent role?

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.

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