NFL Week 6 winners and losers: One injury could break NFC contender

• Losing Fred Warner for the season could take an irreparable toll on the 49ers’ defense.
• From Mike McDaniel to Aaron Glenn and Brian Callahan, several embattled coaches had rough outings in Week 6.
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba and George Pickens were among several receivers who showed out on Sunday.

The NFL’s march to midseason – and the trade deadline – is decidedly on.

With one-third of the 2025 campaign complete after Monday night’s twin bill – the Buffalo Bills facing the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Commanders hosting the Chicago Bears – it’s time to put the excuses that abound in the early season to bed. Week 6’s action was often close if not riveting, with six games Sunday decided by one score. But even with the lack of a clear pecking order atop each conference, teams have to face the emerging reality of the season at hand and decide on a path before the cutoff for in-season swaps, which lands on Nov. 4.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from Week 6 in the NFL:

Winners

Rico Dowdle

Regardless of how long the Carolina Panthers running back’s time in the spotlight lasts, Dowdle is unquestionably making the most of it. In stepping in for injured starter Chuba Hubbard once again, the sixth-year ball carrier racked up 183 yards and set the single-game franchise record for yards from scrimmage with 239. Even sweeter: That output came in a 30-27 win against the Dallas Cowboys, for whom Dowdle played for five years before the team opted to look elsewhere for a lead back this offseason. After warning the Cowboys last Sunday they needed to ‘buckle up’ in preparation for him, Dowdle had a message for Dallas that was as blunt as his running style. ‘They wasn’t buckled up,’ he said.

Kansas City Chiefs offense

Here’s your case against writing off any team – or unit – off just a few weeks of work. An extra dose of caution is required when any assessment entails determining the trajectory of the Chiefs, who long have had a gulf between their process and results. In a 30-17 win over the Detroit Lions, an offense that struggled to execute anything within structure in the first three weeks finally looked at ease. Patrick Mahomes tallied four touchdowns and diced up a battered Lions secondary in the quick passing game. Travis Kelce led the way with six catches for 78 yards, but he didn’t have to take on too much for a receiving corps that also got significant contributions from Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster, among others. It might not be the lethally explosive edition of the offense that Mahomes envisioned in the offseason, but it’s more than efficient enough to keep Kansas City squarely in contention. And that’s before Rashee Rice returns next week.

Drake Maye

The biggest star turn of the first six weeks definitively belongs to Maye, who tossed three more touchdowns to power the New England Patriots’ 25-19 win over the New Orleans Saints. His numbers (18-of-26, 261 yards) would look even gaudier if not for a pair of controversial offensive pass interference penalties that wiped out long gains. Maye is managing to keep New England’s offense rolling despite the lack of any consistent presence in the ground game, as he led all rushers with 28 yards. It’s not the best formula to foist on your second-year quarterback, but the Patriots will take any solution that propels them in the AFC playoff race.

NFL trade deadline fire sale?

The teams constituting the league’s bottom tier continue to fall further behind the rest of the pack. Might that prove to be sufficient incentive for a veteran selloff in the next three weeks? Activity is already picking up, with three deals completed last week. And while some teams might be holding off in hopes of a resurgence, it might be time to face reality with a third of the regular season in the books. It’s probably time for the likes of the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans, among others, to see what they can get for notable holdovers as they look to carry out the second phase of their respective resets.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

With Puka Nacua being hampered by an ankle injury suffered Sunday in the Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Baltimore Ravens, Smith-Njigba overtook his NFC West rival for the lead in receiving yards thanks to a 162-yard day in the Seattle Seahawks’ 20-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Somehow, however, the third-year receiver still isn’t getting his proper due. While many saw him as a high-volume possession target when he entered the league, Smith-Njigba has ascended to the role of a go-to weapon, with his 13 targets Sunday constituting nearly half of Seattle’s pass attempts. He’s been nothing short of essential for an offense yet to make good on the promises of installing a hard-charging, efficient rushing attack, as Seattle’s backs combined for just 58 yards on 22 carries against the Jaguars.

Ladd McConkey

His sophomore campaign hasn’t seen the same highs as his spectacular rookie debut, in part due to a more diversified Los Angeles Chargers’ passing attack. On Sunday, however, McConkey served a reminder that he’s still central to the aerial attack. With accusations of ‘Chargering’ starting to stir up online as the Bolts squandered a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, the receiver came up big when Justin Herbert evaded a sack and found him on second down, as McConkey shook rookie safety Dante Trader Jr. and dashed down the left sideline for a 42-yard gain. That set up Cameron Dicker for the go-ahead field goal, and Los Angeles avoided a three-game skid. McConkey finished with seven catches for a season-high 100 yards and a touchdown on a day when every bit of his production was vital.

George Pickens

Acquired by the Cowboys in a post-draft move to lighten the load on CeeDee Lamb in the passing attack, Pickens figured to be a particularly combustible addition given his turbulent run with the Steelers. So far, however, he’s been explosive in all the right ways for Dallas. With Lamb still sidelined by an ankle injury, Pickens routinely victimized Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson on Sunday, tallying season highs of nine catches and 168 yards. His latest score also extended his streak of games with a touchdown to five. It’s fun to envision what this offense is capable of with Lamb likely returning in the near future and Dak Prescott playing at a near-MVP level. But this game highlighted that Dallas might see its chance at remaining relevant down the stretch undone by a defense incapable of generating consistent stops.

Losers

49ers’ hopes of hanging on

No other team has had its resiliency tested quite like the San Francisco 49ers, who have been hit at almost every level imaginable by a broad spectrum of injuries. But Sunday’s expected season-ending loss of four-time All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner to a fractured and dislocated ankle feels distinctly different from the rest. A roving playmaker capable of flying to the ball on deep passes or in the backfield, Warner simply cannot be replaced in the aggregate by defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who previously managed to compensate for Nick Bosa’s torn anterior cruciate ligament by dialing up an array of blitzes. But Warner’s loss also seems bound to be felt in the leadership vacuum his absence creates on defense. Meanwhile, wide receiver Jauan Jennings revealed he’s been playing through five broken ribs and two ankle injuries. At 4-2 with a favorable schedule remaining, San Francisco is hardly out of the NFC playoff race. But threatening for a division title will be exceedingly difficult given that a return to full health – or somewhere close to there – is clearly not on the table.

Ravens’ revival odds

If Baltimore is to save its season after a 1-5 start, it’s going to take a rare blend of accomplishment and help. Since the NFL expanded to a 14-team playoff field five years ago, only one team – Washington in 2020 – has managed to make it to the postseason with the same mark out through the first six contests. And that was only possible thanks to an NFC East race that didn’t produce a single team with a winning record, which seems wildly unlikely to be repeated in this year’s AFC North given the presence of the 4-1 Pittsburgh Steelers atop the division. Getting Lamar Jackson back after the bye should alleviate many woes from an offense that was held without a touchdown for the first time since 2022, and maybe the defense gets an additional boost from the expected return of Roquan Smith. By now, however, it should be evident that there’s no panacea for a team with this many ailments.

Shedeur Sanders

It should probably be considered a win for the fifth-round pick to begin his stint as Dillon Gabriel’s backup, as Sanders is now actually somewhat close to his first action. But it’s hard to shake the thought that the former Colorado standout could actually have seen time this week as benched Baltimore Ravens backup Cooper Rush’s replacement on Sunday had he not instructed the team not to draft him. Maybe it’s a moot point with Lamar Jackson seemingly coming back after the bye, but Cleveland looks poised to exhibit plenty of patience with Gabriel given how widespread the offensive problems are.

Greg Newsome II and Tyson Campbell

The two cornerbacks were exchanged for one another in a somewhat surprising trade last week between the Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars. Each had a rough outing in making a debut with a short turnaround. On his first snap with the Jaguars, Newsome was roasted by Smith-Njigba for a 61-yard touchdown. Campbell fared better at certain points, recording two pass breakups and a forced fumble. But DK Metcalf also got the better of him on several occasions, including on an easy 25-yard touchdown connection with Aaron Rodgers. Better days should be ahead with more experience in their respective schemes, but both defenders might be swimming for a bit as they try to make a pretty significant midseason adjustment.

Embattled coaches

The New York Giants’ statement win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night provided a major dose of relief to Brian Daboll. Beyond that, however, it feels as though hot seats around the league are only getting warmer as fall temperatures dip. Aaron Glenn, Mike McDaniel, Brian Callahan and Jonathan Gannon all lost while facing sizable scrutiny over the directions of their respective franchises. None of the defeats reached blowout territory, and it’s difficult to tell if the first firing of the season is anywhere close. But the season is slipping away for all of these struggling teams, and so too might be the coaches’ chances of saving themselves.

Dolphins in distress

After McDaniel declared following the Week 1 debacle that ‘I don’t see how it could be worse,’ things seemed to settle down for the Dolphins a little bit, even if the results were still largely disappointing. But Miami veered back into dysfunction after the Chargers regrouped in the final minute to push back into the lead after a late collapse. Tua Tagovailoa called out ‘leadership’ and cited attendance in players-only meetings as issues taking a toll on the organization. But that assessment would seem to point back at the quarterback, a captain who should be blazing a trail of accountability for a team that can’t seem to get on the same page. McDaniel said Tagovailoa was ‘sending a message,’ but what’s achieved by players airing out their issues without anyone being specifically put on notice? For a franchise that placed a special focus on rooting out its cultural issues this offseason, Miami sure looks due for another overhaul in the coming months.

Justin Fields

Pin the blame for this performance wherever you want; there’s plenty to go around. But when a quarterback finishes with as many sacks (nine) as completions and his team ends up with -10 net passing yards, it’s clear he also took a pretty hefty L. Fields will have to answer for the processing questions that he brushed aside last week, though New York Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand didn’t provide much help in the form of ways to mitigate the Denver Broncos’ fierce pass rush. At least he has the backing of coach Aaron Glenn, who responded to an inquiry about a potential change behind center by saying, ‘What kind of question is that?’