There were a lot of big stories to come out of the NFL in Week 6, including another pitiful showing from the NFC East and major questions about the Los Angeles Rams, but everything took a back seat on Monday after the latest development in the Jalen Hurts situation. The Eagles' star quarterback, who was ruled out of Sunday's loss to Carolina and landed on injured reserve due to blood clots, is now out for the season after a further examination revealed blood clots in his lungs.

The good news is that Hurts' condition appears to be treatable with blood thinners, which should allow him to resume his career next season. There are major questions that need to be answered as a result of questionable reporting and limited answers from Philadelphia, which are the lead story in the latest edition of the NFL Skinny.

The Big Skinny: Jalen Hurts' situation raises major questions for the NFL

A lot of the issues surrounding Hurts' injury situation involve the Eagles' trip to London in Week 5, where he played a game after getting cleated in a Week 4 loss to the Rams. Upon his return from London, Hurts was ruled out of Week 6's home game with Carolina after the Eagles revealed a blood clot in his leg had "moved", with the IR designation coming on Saturday afternoon.

The fact that Hurts was allowed to fly to London and play in a game with a blood clot was questionable at best, but the situation got bizarre on Monday afternoon as reports circulated that Hurts was up for 36 straight hours without sleep before that game against Jacksonville. NFL Insider Tom Pelissero was one of many who made the claim, attributing Hurts' decision to play in the game as a sign of his love of football.

How committed is Jalen Hurts to football? After initially being diagnosed with a superficial blood clot in London, doctors told him not to sleep as a precaution, so he had been awake for roughly 36 hours when he started against the Jaguars, throwing for 220 yards and a TD. https://t.co/rAm0xGNHk0

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 19, 2026

The tweet was in poor taste and appeared to attribute the decision of allowing Hurts to play a contact sport with a blood clot as a sign of his toughness and not a reckless medical choice. The most concerning part of the reporting was the idea that doctors had told Hurts that it wasn't safe for him to sleep but did clear him to play quarterback in an NFL game, but that was refuted in the following hours after a joint statement from the Eagles and Hurts' agent Nicole Lynn.

pic.twitter.com/aBfyK55oxd

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 19, 2026

Just spoke to Jalen Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, who clarified that while Hurts was up until early Sunday morning getting evaluated at a hospital, he was able to sleep upon rejoining the team and the Eagles set aside a room for him at the stadium. Videos from the stadium show Hurts… https://t.co/G35Tn1poa4

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 19, 2026

While it is good that doctors didn't tell Hurts to play football without sleeping, the vague nature of the Eagles' statement raised further questions about why Hurts was allowed to play in the game at all. Philadelphia didn't help matters on Monday by sending head coach Nick Sirianni out to the press conference by himself to face media questions, many of which had him deferring to the team's medical staff, which did not have a representative present.

There are obviously medical privacy concerns any time an injury is involved, but if the Eagles and Hurts' agent were able to come together for a joint statement, it appears that the player holds no ill will towards the team for how the situation was handled. Given those circumstances, it is fair to ask why the Eagles didn't make someone from the medical staff or a significant front office figure, such as GM Howie Roseman or owner Jed Lurie, available to address the concerns.

There are obvious ethical questions that need to be answered here, including who signed off on the very risky health decision to not only fly Hurts to London with a blood clot but also have him play in a contact sport with one. We've seen NBA players have to be sidelined with blood clots in the recent past, including San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard in the 2024-25 season, while Chris Bosh's career ended due to recurrent blood clots.

No one is questioning Hurts' determination to play for his team, which is what Pelissero's tweet implied. The bigger concern is whether the process surrounding the Eagles' medical evaluation was a proper one.

Athletes are going to want to play at all costs and it is up to a team's medical staff to protect the athlete from themselves in a circumstance like this. The fact that Hurts played in this game and is now dealing with blood clots in his lungs raises two uncomfortable possibilities: either the Philadelphia medical staff was negligent or faced pressure to clear Hurts to play in a Week 5 game after two straight losses.

Philadelphia isn't helping themselves by sending Sirianni out by himself to answer questions that go above his pay grade. It is a bit surprising that the NFLPA hasn't publicly weighed in on Hurts' situation yet, but this storyline is far from over.

Biggest NFL Risers after Week 6

Kenneth Walker III

No free agent addition has made more of an impact this season that Walker has for the Chiefs, who are 5-0 despite losing a slew of wide receivers to injuries. Walker put together another monster day for Kansas City on Sunday, running 19 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns while adding two more catches for 11 yards in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Chiefs have leaned heavily on Walker, who has already racked up 120 touches in five games, and put him into the early MVP conversation. It is fair to wonder if Walker, who has a lengthy injury history, is equipped to handle the nearly 400-touch pace Kansas City has him on right now but Andy Reid has few reasonable alternatives at the moment.

Houston Texans

Only one NFL team has ever come back from an 0-4 start to make the playoffs but the Texans are putting themselves in an intriguing position to be the second. Sunday's 34-31 win over the Jaguars in London allowed Houston to improve to 2-1 in the AFC South and get a key head-to-head result over Jacksonville, which comes to NRG Stadium on Dec. 20.

The upcoming schedule is also favorable for the Texans, who host the vulnerable Giants this week, go to the Chargers and Browns as well as host the Colts. It's not inconceivable that Houston could win all 4 of those games and reach Thanksgiving weekend at 6-4, which will definitely play as a potential postseason contender.

Green Bay Packers

The boo birds Green Bay drew during a home opening loss to Atlanta in Week 3 appear to be a distant memory as the Packers are absolutely rolling. Jordan Love is locked in right now, forming a beautiful passing attack with Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft as the Packers ripped off a third straight win with a 23-13 victory over Dallas on Sunday night.

Perhaps the most encouraging part of that game was a strong showing from the much-maligned Green Bay defense, which completely bottled up an explosive Cowboys' offense by stuffing the running game and picking off Dak Prescott twice. Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions is a big test to see how far the Packers have come as they still await the return of Micah Parsons from a torn ACL suffered last season.

Biggest NFL Fallers after Week 6

NFC East

History was made in Week 6 as the NFC East became the first division to ever go consecutive weeks without recording a win when all of its teams played a game. We've already gone over Dallas and Philadelphia's issues earlier in this space, but Week 6 also saw the Giants implode at home against a reeling Saints' team and create a new quarterback controversy while Washington coach Dan Quinn appeared to forget what down it was early in Monday night's loss to San Francisco.

“Field goal. Oh, that was 4th down?”

certainly looks like lip readers believe Dan Quinn was completely unaware that it was 4th down and wanted to kick a field goal

💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/yJYuAUmVZX

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 20, 2026

The NFC East should get off the schneid in Week 7 as the Eagles and Cowboys play each other, which should get one of them a win barring another Giants-Commanders style tie. There is also a possibility that the NFL could flex out Week 8's Sunday night matchup between 2-4 Philadelphia and 1-4-1 Washington, which would be a huge embarrassment for one of the league's most prominent divisions.

Los Angeles Rams

We've officially reached five-alarm fire territory with the Rams, who blew a home game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday as 12.5-point favorites. Los Angeles also stacked more injuries onto their already lengthy injury report as Davante Adams is out 6-10 weeks with a hamstring tear while defensive linemen Poona Ford (triceps) and Kobie Turner (groin) are likely joining him on injured reserve, with Ford already expected to miss the remainder of the season.

At 2-4, the Rams are already in a massive hole and have to overcome the worst special teams unit in the league without many of their top players. A forgiving stretch of schedule (at Raiders, Chargers, at Washington, at Arizona) should give them time to stay afloat but we thought they would be able to handle the Cardinals at home on Sunday, so an extended run of disappointment can't be ruled out.

Indianapolis Colts

Sunday's loss to the winless Titans at home proved to be the final straw for GM Chris Ballard, who was let go after the defeat by the Colts on Monday. Despite being in the middle of a winnable AFC South, it feels like Indianapolis is in no-man's land and could trend towards selling off assets like guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner at the trade deadline if the season spirals out of control.

The Colts won't even have the benefit of their own first-round pick as a result of this disaster since they sent it to the New York Jets in the ill-fated Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner trade. Gardner, who is dealing with another calf injury, has seen Indianapolis go just 3-11 since trading for him.

Week 6 Game Balls: More big risers and fallers

MVP: CJ Stroud

It hasn't always been smooth sailing for Stroud the past two years, but he looked tremendous in Sunday morning's victory over Jacksonville. Stroud completed 24-of-34 passes for 312 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, skillfully spreading the ball to an improving group of pass catchers that added Marvin Harrison Jr. to the mix in Week 6. Tank Dell is set to rejoin Houston's lineup on Sunday for the first time since 2024, giving Stroud another playmaker to take advantage of a burnable Giants' secondary.

LVP: Sam Darnold

The lack of a true running game in Seattle right now has exposed Darnold's shortcomings, as he isn't the type of quarterback who can carry an offense to victory by himself. Darnold struggled mightily in Denver on Thursday night, completing just 27-of-51 attempts with two ill-timed interceptions in an overtime loss to the Broncos. Even though the Seahawks have enough weapons to contend, Darnold is demonstrating that he needs the support of a strong running game to be a winner in Seattle.