🐺 Wolf Sports Weekly

ICYMI from yesterday: The Titans fired HC Brian Callahan, making him the first firing of 2025; former Chargers HC Mike McCoy has been named the interim HC.

🏈 Chiefs, Giants, Bucs headline Week 6

Are the Chiefs fully back? Kansas City lost a couple of weeks ago at Jacksonville and are just 3-3, but they’re averaging 31.7 points per game over the past three games after a 30-17 SNF win against the Lions—and now star WR Rashee Rice is back from his six-game suspension. The Chiefs potentially being back was overshadowed some by a post-game fight between Lions DB Brian Branch and Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster—with Branch saying he was angry with KC for getting away with things including a block-in-the-back by JuJu toward the end of the game, but that it was still “childish” of him to act that way after the game and apologized. Branch was suspended one game by the NFL.

To begin Week 6, the Giants stunningly handled the Eagles on TNF, 34-17. Rookie RB Cam Skattebo set the tone and ran for three TDs on Philadelphia’s banged-up defense, and the defending champions also happened to play one of their worst games in a while on both sides of the ball. Eagles WR A.J. Brown denied that he, QB Jalen Hurts, and RB Saquon Barkley had a widely-reported meeting; but the Philly offense remains something to watch moving forward.

The 49ers sadly lost All-Pro LB Fred Warner for the year due to a broken and dislocated ankle in a 30-19 loss to the Bucs. Star rookie WR Emeka Egbuka (hamstring) left the game for Tampa, but fellow rookie WR Tez Johnson came through for one of QB Baker Mayfield’s two TD tosses—making a phenomenal catch on a deep ball and then doing acrobatic celebration in the end zone. Johnson hilariously thought the MVP chants after the play were for him, which he was confused about.

To cap off Week 6, the Bears defeated the Commanders on a FG by Jake Moody as time expired, taking advantage of three Washington turnovers while overcoming some questionable officiating. Chicago has won three straight games since an 0-2 start.

Earlier on MNF, the Falcons handed the Bills their second consecutive loss behind big outings from RB Bijan Robinson (238 total yards, TD) and WR Drake London (10/158/1). Particularly with TE Dalton Kincaid (oblique) out, there wasn’t much separation for Buffalo pass-catchers, and the frustration for Josh Allen was evident throughout the night.

Other Week 6 results:

• Broncos 13, Jets 11: Denver’s defense racked up nine sacks against a Jets passing game that HC Aaron Glenn called “nonexistent”—though the New York defense did a nice job against a stagnant Broncos attack.

• Seahawks 20, Jaguars 12: QB Sam Darnold was throwing dots—including a 61-yard deep ball TD to WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba—as Seattle held down Jacksonville to get to 4-2.

• Rams 17, Ravens 3: The game was sloppy on both sides, but the Rams took care of business in a bounce back victory that included 17 tackles by LB Nate Landman; for Baltimore, at least the ground game got back on track (122 yards on 24 carries for Derrick Henry), so we’ll see if at 1-5 they can go on a run after the bye with QB Lamar Jackson and LB Roquan Smith expected back from hamstring injuries.

• Steelers 23, Browns 9: Cleveland shockingly threw 52 times with rookie QB Dillon Gabriel, while QB Aaron Rodgers played efficiently for Pittsburgh and threw one of his two TDs to WR DK Metcalf.

• Chargers 29, Dolphins 27: Miami can’t find a way to win a close game, and the great play by QB Justin Herbert to hit WR Ladd McConkey to set up a game-winning FG by Cameron Dicker is something that HC Jim Harbaugh says will be burned into his memory “until they throw dirt on top of me.”

• Packers 27, Bengals 18: New Bengals QB Joe Flacco (more on that below) got rid of the ball to frustrate the Packers defense, but RB Josh Jacobs (149 yards, two TDs) was too much as Green Bay got to 3-1-1.

• Panthers 30, Cowboys 27: Panthers RB Rico Dowdle hit over 200 total yards for the second straight week as Carolina won a shoutout over the Cowboys despite another big game from QB Dak Prescott and WR George Pickens.

• Colts 31, Cardinals 27: While Arizona’s offense played well with no Kyler Murray (foot) and despite Marvin Harrison Jr. unfortunately leaving early with a concussion in Indy, the Colts are now 5-1 for the first time since 2009.

• Patriots 25, Saints 19: Since a shaky Week 1, Patriots QB Drake Maye has a QB rating of 100+ in each of his past five games after hitting a bunch of chunk gains at New Orleans.

• Raiders 20, Titans 10: Raiders LB Devin White had a forced fumble on a sack and an INT in a much better effort for the Raiders ahead of Week 7 versus the Chiefs.

🤕 The latest injury news

In addition to Fred Warner going down on Sunday, there were a string of other injuries from Week 6—as a positive, S Malik Mustapha (ACL) made his season debut for SF.

Rams WR Puka Nacua is “uncertain” for Week 7 after spraining his ankle on Sunday—which is frankly a best-case scenario considering how the LA star looked limping off the field in the win over Baltimore. Nacua did end up returning briefly in Week 6, but the Rams play in London this weekend, and the Week 8 bye could be a factor.

Two scary situations for the Colts happened in pre-game warmups last week, as backup QB Anthony Richardson Sr. suffered an orbital fracture doing band work (out at least four games on IR), which sent him to the hospital during the game. For the Indy defense, CB Charvarius Ward was ruled out with a concussion after a collision while warming up.

The Buccaneers have been one of the teams hit most by injuries. In addition to Egbuka’s hamstring injury which “does not seem serious,” HC Todd Bowles has already said RB Bucky Irving (shoulder) and WR Chris Godwin Jr. (ankle) are “not in play” for Monday night’s showdown versus the Lions, but WR Mike Evans (hamstring) will practice this week and is nearing a return.

Eagles DT Jalen Carter (heel) did not play last Thursday night with the MetLife stadium turf said to be a factor, and CB Quinyon Mitchell (hamstring) left early to leave his status in doubt this week versus Minnesota.

Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson is day-to-day with a back injury ahead of Thursday Night Football, but TE Mike Gesicki (pectoral) will be “out for a while,” according to HC Zac Taylor.

After initially being feared to be done for the season, there is some optimism about Lions CB Terrion Arnold (shoulder) returning, but HC Dan Campbell says it’s “no guarantee” he will be back despite the encouraging second opinion.

Prior for Week 6 action, Cowboys RB Miles Sanders (knee/ankle) was placed on season-ending injured reserve, but the team is “fired up” about rookie RB Jaydon Blue; Jaguars TE Brenton Strange (hip) was placed on injured reserve but should return in five weeks; Bills S Damar Hamlin (pectoral) is “up in the air” for the season after being injured in practice.

📰 More NFL news

Trades from last week: The Browns surprisingly traded QB Joe Flacco to the Bengals, which Steelers HC Mike Tomlin questioned strongly—”(Browns GM) Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me”—leading up to a TNF matchup with Cincy; Cleveland also traded CB Greg Newsome II and a sixth to the Jaguars for CB Tyson Campbell and a seventh; and the Chargers acquired OLB Odafe Oweh and a seventh from the Ravens for S Alohi Gilman and a fifth.

Another sudden retirement: Eagles OLB Za’Darius Smith announced his retirement after 11 years and 70.5 career sacks.

Veteran signings: S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (Ravens), LB Germaine Pratt (Colts), RB Nyheim Hines (Chargers). Meanwhile, former Titans first-round WR Treylon Burks worked out for the Broncos.

FA WR Odell Beckham Jr. is suspended six games for violating the NFL’s PED policy, but he says he never knowingly took any PED and plans to play this season.

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says teammates have been late to and skipping players-only meetings, which HC Mike McDaniel says should not have been stated publicly.

Fines: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was fined $250K for giving the finger to Jets fans, and Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon was fined $100K for his sideline interaction with RB Emari Demercado in Week 5.

Other Sports Updates

🦁 Penn State fired HC James Franklin after 12 seasons following a disastrous three-game losing streak capped by a home loss to Northwestern as three-TD favorites. Also, QB Drew Allar is out for the season.

🏈 More college football: No. 7 Indiana got a massive statement win at No. 3 Oregon; Texas beat No. 6 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry; and No. 10 Georgia won at Auburn in a game with very controversial officiating.

⚾️ The ALCS and NLCS began after the Blue Jays, Mariners, Dodgers, and Brewers all advanced. Also, Padres manager Mike Schildt announced his retirement.

🏒 The 2025-2026 NHL season is underway.

🙏 Sister Jean, known in the sports world as the Loyola Chicago superfan, passed away at 106.

🐺 Found on wolfsports.com

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