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The best, worst and dumbest moments from NFL Week 6:  Classic J.J. and a sassy ref

Remember when the Cardinals kicked six field goals against a team that didn't have a kicker? That was nuts.

Blake Grupe, Los Angeles Rams | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Some of us made it through Sunday of Week 6. The Cleveland Browns are at the top of the AFC North, the Eagles have the worst offense in the NFL and the Raiders are stacking up moral victories. 

Not everyone lives a lifestyle that allows them to sit and watch 15 hours of football on Sundays. Aside from the 10 minutes where I got my Wim Hof on after the Birds game, I watched it all. These are the Week 6 awards for the best, worst and dumbest things from Sunday. 

Who do you think you are?: Blake Grupe

You don’t want to be a kicker for the Los Angeles Rams. It’s a cursed job. Last week, Sean McVay’s gross negligence toward the third team bit him in the face when Harrison Mevis missed a would-be game-winning kick … and was cut the next day.

The obvious move (for McVay) was to sign a kicker that is the polar opposite of the 250-pound “Thiccer Kicker.” He signed the 5-foot-7, 157-pound Blake “The Rake” Grupe … And that lasted all of two kicks. 

On a kickoff after Grupe kicked a 34-yard field goal, he decided to give tackling a shot …

Hey Blake, this isn’t the first time this has happened to you … who do you think you are? Joey Julius? You’re not Joey Julius. There’s only one Joey Julius, and you ain't him.

Bully of the Week: Arizona Cardinals

So Blake Grupe is out of the game, and the Rams' special teams are absolutely terrible … If you’re a divisional opponent and you want to bully them for being a bad team, what do you do? You win the game and score exclusively with field goals … and that’s exactly what the Cardinals did. 

Honestly, it was super messed up for them to do that. For Mike LaFleur to look across the field at the team he used to work for and then flaunt his (special teams) wealth? That’s just a jerk move … and it’s especially mean to do it to the team that’s last place in the division (the Rams are in last place in the NFC West, by the way).

Luckily, L.J. Collier tried to be benevolent. When the Rams went for a two-point conversion after their first touchdown, Josh Sweat strip-sacked Matt Stafford. Collier picked it up and tried to run it back to score points in a non-special teams way … Unfortunately, he’s a big, slow guy, and he got tackled by Jordan Whittington.

To make this whole thing worse, the Rams were in a position to win — they scored a touchdown with 47 seconds left in the game to tie it at 15-15. Would McVay think he had a better chance to get the lead by running a two-point play, or by having his punter kick the extra point? He chose the latter. Miraculously, it worked. Ethan Evans banged in his first-ever place kick to give the Rams a 16-15 lead.

… And the Cardinals moved the ball 40 yards downfield in five plays, just for Chad Ryland to rip a 43-yarder as the clock expired. Cardinals win 18-16 by kicking six field goals.

Man, football is beautiful.

Wrongest guy (ever?): John Hussey

John Hussey is the sassiest ref in the NFL, and it’s not even close. Whenever he makes a call on the field, he emphasizes his words so much that it makes the players (or us) feel like the dumbest people ever.

Well, Sunday gave us a real gem of this ding-dong eating crow. After he decided not to throw an intentional ground flag on Bryce Young, he got on the mic to announce it to the stadium. When he was met with the boos from Philadelphia … HE SAID IT AGAIN.

I’ve never seen anything like that: a referee defending a no-call. And then to say “He was OUTSIDE the POCKET” like he was pleading with the crowd to understand where he was coming from.

The best part? Well, the best part is that he was wrong. The league office radioed into his ear and told him that Young was, indeed, inside the pocket and it was intentional grounding. 

Hussey had to get back on the mic and make the right call, but he’s too self-righteous to apologize to the stadium full of people that he just finished chastising.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Kyle Pitts

Let this serve as a public service announcement: Kyle Pitts had five catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. That’s not something that’s just going to happen every week. If you have him in fantasy, you need to sell him because his value is never going to be better.

Again, this was against the Bears' defense … They stink.

Choo Choo Train: Nakobe Dean

For the last two seasons, Nakobe Dean has cemented himself as one of the premier linebackers in the NFL. He’s not a Fred Warner or a Zack Baun … but he’s right there at the top of the linebacker mountain. 

One thing that makes him great is how much hatred he has in his heart towards anyone who has ever played or thought about playing running back.

He’s never said it, but actions speak louder than words:

On Sunday, he added another highlight to his reel: Josh Allen pitched the ball to James Cook. Dean built a train track, built a train, hopped on and drove it straight through Cook’s face for a TFL. It was sick. 

That’s the kind of hit that hurts your teeth just watching it. Beautiful.

Rule Knower of the Week: Declan Doyle

Every once in a while, you get a coach that can manipulate the game in ways you didn’t think were possible. For a hot minute, it was Bill Belichick; he knew the ins and outs of the rulebook, manipulated the clock, and was the smartest guy in the stadium every single week.

Declan Doyle might be the new guy. On Sunday, he lined his TE3 up at left guard, but off the ball. Then, not only did he run a route, but he also caught a pass for a 29-yard gain.

I think if we’re being honest with ourselves, we’ll all say that we had no idea this was something you could do. Was this a trick play? Kind of, but not really. It was certainly tricky, but it wasn’t tricky tricky … It was just really smart and really slick.

Let’s call it a slick play; that was a slick play.

Jorge Masvidal of the Week: L’Jarius Sneed

A flying knee to the face is a flying knee to the face. Sure, maybe they’re all the same thing, but I still want to see every single one of them because they’re all the coolest things ever. The most famous example is when Jorge Masvidal tossed one in Ben Askren’s face five seconds into a fight:

That’s the Mona Lisa of flying knees; no one can top that … but L’Jarius Sneed sure tried. During the Chiefs/Chargers game, he decided to throw a little stank in Justin Herbert's face.

Listen, I don’t care if Herbert did a bad slide or if Sneed couldn’t do anything to avoid the contact … He threw a dadgum knee to Herbert’s teeth.

2025 Week 1 NFC Offensive Player of the Week: J.J. McCarthy

Remember when J.J. McCarthy won NFC Offensive Player of the Week after the Vikings beat the Bears in Week 1 last year? It was pretty much because of his fourth-quarter performance, where he went 6-of-8 for 87 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 14 yards and another touchdown. It was a very solid fourth quarter.

He came in to replace Jameis Winston as the Giants’ quarterback in the fourth quarter against the Saints. The artist formerly known as ‘Nine’ went 11-of-21 for 243 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and 26 more yards on the ground … IN THE FOURTH QUARTER.

Maybe you like McCarthy, maybe you don’t (you probably don’t); that’s an unbelievable fourth-quarter performance. That’s the most passing yards since Josh Allen’s 246 yards in Week 1 against the Ravens in 2025. If you don’t want to compare him to a generational Josh Allen performance, it’s the most since Dak Prescott’s 254 yards against the Browns in Week 4 of the 2020 season. Still nuts.

Rookie of the Week: Carnell Tate

Last week, I wrote about who might be Offensive Rookie of the Year. It was between Denzel Boston, Jeremiyah Love, and Carnell Tate. In reality, it’s anyone’s game, but Carnell Tate made one hell of an argument during the Titans’ first win of the season. 

His box score isn’t going to blow your mind. He caught six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown … But the catches themselves? Sheesh.

He had a big 19-yarder on a third-and-ten, an 18-yarder on a first down, and then he capped it off with his first-ever touchdown catch to tie the game. 

Omar Cooper Jr. (New York Jets) had a very solid game too, but that offense was relatively effective. Tate did it with the Titans. If you have any success on that offense, you deserve a medal.

Baker Mayfield of the Week: Jalon Daniels

Most of the time, a backup quarterback comes in, and the offensive coordinator has to throw out big chunks of the playbook because the new guy doesn’t have the same skill set as the starter. That might not be the case with the Buccaneers, because Jalon Daniels has a whooooole lot of Baker Mayfield in him.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the talent or anything like that … but the tenacity? Oh baby, that’s there. On a fourth-and-nine in overtime, Daniels didn’t have anything downfield, so he tucked it and called his own number. 

MAN, that’s a Baker play right there. He saw a guy at the line to gain, completely forgot that lowering his shoulder was an option, and just dove straight through him. That’s so sick. That’s how you rally the team.

Baker’s probably going to be back soon, and none of this will matter, but it was still pretty awesome to see from an UDFA with nothing to lose.

I would like to speak for the football-watching society as a whole: Jalon, we might never see you again … and if we don’t, you rocked. Until next time, you rambunctious lunatic. 

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