One third of the NFL season has elapsed, and unless you’re the New York Jets, roughly nothing has been settled. At most, Week 6 will end with six one-loss teams. The only division leader with a lead of more than one game is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who at 4-1 stand head and shoulders above the disappointing NFC North. The next 11 weeks should be a wild ride.

Here is what to know:

 

Beware of the Seahawks

One early theme this season is that no truly dominant team has emerged. Don’t be surprised if the Seattle Seahawks eventually stake their claim. The Seahawks beat the Jaguars, 20-12, in Jacksonville to improve to 4-2, and the victory carried the hallmarks of what makes Seattle a potential sleeping giant.

Seattle’s ferocious defensive line can take over any game. Its depth – Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu, Byron Murphy II, Boye Mafe and others – sets it apart. Coach Mike Macdonald’s creative simulated pressures give offensive lines nightmare. The Seahawks hit Trevor Lawrence an absurd 17 times Sunday and registered seven sacks.

No wideout is playing better than Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who leads the NFL with 696 receiving yards. He caught another eight passes for 162 yards and a touchdown against Jacksonville. He has the body type and quickness of a slot receiver, but Smith-Njigba does his damage downfield: He entered Sunday second in the NFL behind Indianapolis’s Alec Pierce in yards per target.

He’s catching passes from Sam Darnold, who seems like a perfect conductor of new coordinator Klint Kubiak’s play-action heavy offense. Since the start of last season, Darnold is 18-5.

In both of Seattle’s losses this year, the Seahawks’ opponent scored go-ahead points with less than two minutes remaining. The Seahawks rarely get mentioned as an elite team, but they are playing like it.

Drake Maye’s breakout continues

One week after Drake Maye beat Josh Allen in Buffalo, he exploded in New Orleans for 261 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 25-19 victory for the New England Patriots. At 4-2, just a half-game behind the Bills in the AFC East, the Patriots have already matched their win total from both 2023 and 2024. The difference between misery and contention has been Maye, the third overall pick last year.

What stands out about Maye is his ability to mix accuracy and playmaking. Maye flicked darts downfield on the run, zipped passes from the pocket and scrambled to find open wideouts and gain yards. He converted a procession of third and longs.

The Saints defense offered little resistance and allowed receivers to roam free, but Maye was still one of the most impressive players of the day. His stat line would have been outrageous if not for two bizarre, suspect offensive pass interference flags that wiped out massive gains. It was a rough day for Adrian Hill’s officiating crew.

Maye entered Week 6 second in completion percentage and fifth in passing yards. His production, playmaking and poise have put him on track to become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, maybe sooner than later.

What’s gotten into Rico Dowdle?

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle’s 200-yard rushing game last week seemed like one of the great random stat lines of the season. After his performance Sunday in a 30-27 walk-off victory against the Dallas Cowboys it doesn’t seem quite as random.

Dowdle exploited his former team’s dismal defense with 183 rushing yards on 30 carries, plus four catches for a team-high 56 receiving yards. In the past two weeks, Dowdle has rushed for 389 yards. In his previous 56 career games, he ran for 1,547.

Dowdle surpassed 1,000 rushing yards last year for the Cowboys, who showed tepid interest in bringing him back. He began the year as a secondary back behind Chuba Hubbard, but Hubbard’s injury opened a path for him. He has taken advantage with two monster games. During the week, Dowdle warned that the Cowboys needed to buckle their chinstraps to play him. Then he went out and ran all over them.

Bo Nix is not making the leap

The Denver Broncos avoided disaster and escaped London with a 13-11 victory over the New York Jets, the NFL’s lone winless team, in a hideous game that may have set back United States-England relations. The Broncos remained clumped among the AFC’s best teams at 4-2, but they head home with diminished reason for confidence that quarterback Bo Nix can be the driving force behind a genuine contender.

As a rookie, Nix exceeded expectations and led Denver to the playoffs. Through six games, though, Nix has not progressed in his second season. Specifically, Nix remains unable to produce explosive plays to an extent that it places a hard ceiling on his ability. Nix’s average completion has sailed 3.6 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, second-lowest in the NFL, just ahead of Aaron Rodgers. Against the Jets, it was only 3.1. Against a defense that has spewed big plays, the Broncos managed one play longer than 17 yards.

Nix entered the league as a 24-year-old rookie after six seasons in college. He may be only in his second season, but he’s closer to being a finished product than most quarterbacks of his NFL experience. With their excellent defense and strong offensive line, the Broncos don’t need Nix to be a pyrotechnic passer. Nix remains first class at avoiding negative plays. But the Broncos need more explosive plays in the passing game to compete against the likes of Buffalo and Kansas City in the AFC.

Kyler Murray’s absence showed his shortcomings

What does it say that the Arizona Cardinals had their best offensive game of the season with Kyler Murray sidelined with a foot injury? That’s a question the Cardinals will have to grapple with after their 31-27 loss against the Indianapolis Colts, which ended with the Cardinals inside the Colts’ 10-yard line, threatening to score a game-winning touchdown inside the final minute.

Backup Jacoby Brissett passed for 320 yards, a total Murray has surpassed four times since 2020. Even with top wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. sidelined for most of the game with a concussion, the Cardinals’ offense functioned better with a journeyman backup at the controls than it has this year with Murray.

It’s not just a statistical comparison. Murray, 28, is an irrepressible playmaker, but his inconsistency managing the offense leads to persistent lulls. His speed and quickness allows him to conjure magic. His lack of height limits what the Cardinals can do in the passing game.

The Cardinals are financially wedded to Murray – his dead cap hit for next season is $57 million. Where does that leave them? Murray still has no playoff victories, and with the Cardinals at 2-4 it seems unlikely his first will come this season. The way the Cardinals played without him Sunday hints at uneasy questions Arizona should be asking itself.