Cardinals shock Rams at SoFi as Eagles slide to 2-4 in NFL Week Six
In Week six of the NFL on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, the Arizona Cardinals upset the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles suffered another defeat; both the Cardinals and the Eagles now have 2-4 records. The weekend's action also featured Kansas City's continued unbeaten run, a London thriller won by the Houston Texans, and a narrow Browns victory in Cleveland.
Kicker Chad Ryland scored all of Arizona's points in the win over the Rams, leaving the former Super Bowl favourites bottom of the NFC West. The Rams had begun the season regarded as the clearest Super Bowl favourites in nine years but were supplanted at the top of preseason lists by the San Francisco 49ers after last Monday's overtime defeat by the Buffalo Bills. Los Angeles cut kicker Harrison Mevis on Tuesday, signed Blake Grupe from the New York Jets' practice squad, and Grupe opened the scoring against Arizona before injuring his knee while making a tackle on the ensuing kick-off.
The Rams retook the lead with 47 seconds remaining when punter Ethan Evans kicked the extra point after Colby Parkinson's touchdown, but Arizona responded immediately and Chad Ryland's career-high sixth field goal as time expired secured an 18-16 victory. The Cardinals' two wins this season have both come at SoFi Stadium, the other being a Week One win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and Arizona moved above the Rams in a division that also includes the unbeaten 49ers and defending champions the Seattle Seahawks. "We've got to be able to figure it out and it starts with me," said the Rams' head coach Sean McVay.
Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes reached 100 regular-season wins in his 131st start, tying Tom Brady's record, as the Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 22-6. The Chiefs, who added Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Kenneth Walker to their roster in the off-season, saw Walker rush for 128 yards and two touchdowns; he now leads the NFL with 665 rushing yards, a record from a player's first five games with a new team. Kansas City and the Minnesota Vikings are both 5-0, while San Francisco remain the only other unbeaten after five wins and host Washington on Monday night.
The Buffalo Bills held on for a 33-30 victory at the Las Vegas Raiders to move to 5-1, and Caleb Williams returned from a hamstring injury to help the Chicago Bears beat the Atlanta Falcons 31-23. The Eagles' struggles continued after their loss in Tottenham to Jacksonville; Philadelphia revealed that Jalen Hurts played that game with a superficial blood clot in his calf and that a follow-up ultrasound showed it had moved, leading to Hurts being placed on injured reserve and missing at least four weeks. Back-up Tanner McKee will make his third NFL start at home to the Carolina Panthers, who won 25-14 with tight end Tommy Tremble scoring his first two touchdowns of the season, and the Eagles have now lost four straight for the first time since Nick Sirianni became head coach in 2021. Offensive linemen Lane Johnson (retirement) and Cam Jurgens (traded to Baltimore) both left the team two weeks ago, and many Philly fans fear this could be the end of an era.
The Houston Texans concluded this year's London series with a 34-31 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley, the highest-scoring London game since 2015, with Ka'imi Fairbairn's field goal sealing the victory. Jacksonville's Travis Hunter finished with four catches for 59 yards on offence and claimed the Jaguars' only interception on defence, becoming the first player to record a touchdown catch and an interception in the same game since Brian Dawkins in 2002 and the fourth since the 1970 merger; both plays came in the fourth quarter, Hunter's interception setting up a Cam Little field goal to tie the score at 31-31 before Fairbairn clinched Houston's second win and dropped the Jaguars to 4-2.
In Cleveland, Derrick Henry's fourth-quarter fumble allowed Audric Estime to score before Andre Szmyt's game-winning field goal — his second in three weeks — delivered a 13-10 victory for the Browns. Quarterback Deshaun Watson has now led Cleveland to a 4-2 start and the Browns sit atop the AFC North on a tiebreaker; Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Steelers are also 4-2, with the Steelers rallying from 16-3 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-19 in overtime. The Tennessee Titans recorded their first win of the season with a 26-20 comeback over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Kansas City Chiefs will visit the Seattle Seahawks next Sunday, and the Cleveland Browns travel to the Tennessee Titans; the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers remain the only teams without a win, at 0-5 and 0-6 respectively.