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Good, bad and ugly from Week 6
Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys shined against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday, going for 247 yards and three touchdowns has he led the Cowboys to their fifth straight win. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Good, bad and ugly from Week 6

Officials don't want to be known. They just want to do their job. It's what the sports world and fans want too. Once this changes, the entire balance of the sport is forever marred.

This happened Sunday afternoon in Seattle. Seemingly going about their job in an unassuming manner, officials calling the game between two first-place NFC teams might have very well played a role in the playoffs altogether. You read that right. A single game in mid-October could impact the postseason itself. More than that, the officials calling this game had more to do with its outcome than the players.

With the Atlanta Falcons trailing by two and just over a minute remaining, Matt Ryan dropped back to pass. It was 4th-and-10. The game was on the line. A potential first-round bye or home playoff game on the line.

Jones tossed the rock some 50 yards down the field to stud receiver Julio Jones with Seahawks corner Richard Sherman in coverage. Everything we could ask for. Three of the best players on the field involved in a play that will decide the outcome of the game.

Wrong.

The pass ultimately fell incomplete without a pass interference penalty being called on Sherman. A penalty that would have set Atlanta up for the game-winning field goal attempt.

Sherman made contact prior to the ball arriving. He arm-barred Jones. Two penalties for the price of one. But Sherman got away with it. A free pass, one might say.

It's in this that officials helped dictate the outcome of an important inter-conference game between two first-place teams. The players surely had a role. Atlanta blew its opportunity to win going away after putting up three unanswered third quarter touchdowns.

But the fallout here is real. Officiating dictated the outcome of this game, and could have a major role in who receives both a first-round bye and a home wild card game.

And so begins the bad from Week 6 of the NFL season.

"Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."

These word were once muttered by the great Mathatma Gandhi. They've stood the test of time. From the bus lines in Montgomery and the fire hoses in Birmingham to the fight against Apartheid in South Africa, protests against inequality the world over have followed this movement.

Colin Kaepernick. While most definitely not on that level, has raised awareness for the inequality we see on American streets today. He's not taking to violence to prove a point. He's not engaging in activity against the very fabric of our being as Americans. He's standing up for injustices he's seeing in modern day society.

Making his first start of the season in Buffalo on Sunday, Kaepernick was met by supporters and those who oppose his national anthem protest. Such is the nature of the beast in an open society where freedom of speech should ring true.

Said freedom of speech should not include an incitement of violence. Nor, should it be utilized through a glass house as a way to perpetrate further division. Unfortunately, and amid the divisiveness that the 2016 presidential election has brought, this is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon at Orchard Park in Western New York.

And it was ugly.

In response to those who believe his actions are un-American, Kaepernick had something rather simple to say. Something that should be hard to argue against.

One has to wonder how Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi himself would feel about that video. What would come to their minds? How would they respond?

* Speaking of Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers, what happened in the parking lot was not the only ugly sight. While the embattled quarterback played pretty well in the game, the team's defense laid a complete egg against what is now a hot Buffalo Bills team.

We're not too sure how San Francisco's defense has gotten to this point. But here we are. Yet another embarrassing display. Yet another horrendous defensive performance. And yes, yet another 49ers loss.

Overall, San Francisco yielded 491 total yards, 29 first downs and 45 points to the Bills. LeSean McCoy led the rushing attack with 140 of what would end up being 312 yards on the ground.

The 49ers have now given up 981 rushing yards during their five-game losing streak. To put into perspective how far the once mighty have fallen, San Francisco yielded a total of 1,236 rushing yards during the 2011 season.

A lot has been made about Chip Kelly's inability to get the most out of a talent-less offense, but it's San Francisco's defense that has let this cellar-dwelling team down through six games.

And so begins the ugly from NFL Week 6.

"The best defense is a good offense." 

Apparently, the Detroit Lions are starting to realize this. And in reality, it's probably a good thing they've comprehended such a basic truth, because their defense is about as bad as it gets for a 3-3 team.

Detroit allowed Los Angeles Rams quarterback Case Keenum to complete 27-of-32 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns. Overall, the Lions yielded nearly 400 total yards and 23 first downs. They still won 31-28.

Now through the first six games of the season, Detroit is giving up a 73.7 completion percentage, 17 touchdowns, three interceptions and an absurd 119.3 quarterback rating.

We're not too sure if this is good, bad or ugly. Heck, we don't know how to define it. What we do know is that the Lions' offense was clicking on all cylinders in the win. Matthew Stafford completed 23-of-31 passes with four touchdowns. Golden Tate caught 8-of-10 targets for 165 yards. That's good. That's really good. Like, playing Madden on rookie level good.

The ugly here sits directly on the doorstep of one Jeff Fisher. After starting the season 3-1, the Rams have lost their past two games to move to .500 on the season. That seems to pretty much be the story of Fisher's tenure with the Rams. And it was predictable in every possible way.

* Two of the best players of this generation at their respective positions went down with potentially serious injuries on Sunday. Both play in the AFC North. Both are on the back end of their careers. And both may never be the same again. It's a harsh reality of the NFL, something that we've seen far too often on the young season.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a knee injury in the first half of his team's loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. He returned to action in the second half, but didn't look anywhere near 100 percent. Unfortunately, it's now being reported that Big Ben suffered a torn meniscus and will potentially miss substantial action.

While this could have a major impact on Pittsburgh's ability to contend moving forward, one really has to wonder whether the injury might impact Big Ben's ability to play at the level we've seen in the past. He's 34 years old. He's been battered and bruised throughout his career. Further injuries simply aren't going to help him prolong an already tremendous career.

Speaking of surgery and a lengthy rehab, just five games into his return from a torn Achilles he suffered early last season, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs looked to be playing up to the level we had seen in the past. He recorded four sacks in those first five games, again proving himself to be among the best pass rushers in the game.

Then, on Sunday, the injury bug came back big time. Suggs suffered what it is being described as torn biceps in Baltimore's loss to the New York Giants on Sunday. It's an injury that usually leads to months of rehabs and costs players entire seasons. If so, Suggs has yet another lengthy road ahead of himself. At 34 years old, the concern here has to be that he might just decide to call it quits.

In a season that's seen us lose Adrian Peterson, Tony Romo, Keenan Allen and Danny Woodhead, among others, for extensive periods of time, we're reminded just how brutal of a sport football is.

* Fresh off a dominating performance against the hapless Cleveland Browns in his return from suspension last week, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was up to his old tricks again on Sunday.

Brady completed 29-of-35 passes for 376 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks en route to leading New England to a dominating 35-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

How good has Brady been thus far in his young season? Two games has netted him six touchdowns, 782 yards and impressive 135.5 passing rating without a single interception

It sure the heck looks like Brady and company are making the NFL pay for the entire Bountygate scandal. While their anger might be misdirected at opposing teams on the field, it's definitely a scary proposition for the league's 31 other teams.

Now through two games, Brady has led the Pats to scores on 11 of his 20 possessions. On Sunday alone, the team closed out its win over Cincinnati with four consecutive scores to end the game.

* It's interesting. There's some sort of six degrees of Tom Brady taking place in Dallas right now. Taking over for an injured Tony Romo, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott continues to shine. He led the Cowboys to a surprising 30-16 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Pacers at Lambeau Field on Sunday.

For the Cowboys, it represented their fifth consecutive win after an opening-week loss to the New York Giants. And in reality, it was dominating all-around football.

Prescott completed 16-of-24 passes for 247 yards with three touchdowns. And while the rookie fourth-round pick did throw his first interception of the season, it didn't come before he broke a long-standing Tom Brady record.

The Mississippi State product has been downright dominating from a statistical standpoint in his first six NFL starts.

Meanwhile, fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott seems to have found a way to dominate NFL competition in just six games as a professional football player. He ended Sunday's game with 174 total yards on 30 touches, and has now tallied 801 total yards in six games this season. This has Elliott on pace for over 2,100 total yards and firmly in the NFL MVP conversation heading into Week 7.

Back to Prescott for a second. Remember our previous mention of Brady?

The rookie is only doing what we've seen due to an injury Tony Romo suffered during the preseason. In an interesting turn, Romo himself only received an opportunity to start when he replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe back in 2006.

What's the correlation here? Brady's first opportunity to start in the NFL came after Bledsoe himself suffered an injury back in 2001. For Dallas, the hope here is that this turns out similar to the Patriots season some 15 years ago, with a young quarterback hoisting the Lombardi trophy. That would definitely bring this all full circle.

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