Biggest Plays of Week 6

One play can change a game; one game can change a season. That's just as true in Week 5 as it is in Week 18, so there's no reason to only start caring about close wins and losses at the end of the year. It's October now, and the haves are beginning to separate from the have-nots – and sometimes, the difference between one and the other is just a play or two.

The best-looking game of Week 6 was the color v. color, throwback v. throwback Seahawks-Broncos game on Thursday Night Football. Heck, that might be the single best possible combination of uniforms at the moment. It was a thing of beauty – and in a week which featured some ugly football, we'll take things of beauty where we can get them.

This week's biggest plays often ended up not deciding the game, either because the offense failed to capitalize on a big defensive play or a coach made some bizarre strategic decisions. It's not enough to get a big turnover or a huge first down – you've gotta convert it into something actual, or you're just farting away free win probability. Such is life in the middle of the playoff race, one supposes.

So which Week 6 play might come back to haunt/help people when all is said and done? Let's look back.

Denver Broncos 17, Seattle Seahawks 14

JSN Remains the Entire Seahawks Offense

Jaxon Smith-Njigba has opened a massive gap on every other wideout this year. This is true both in counting stats (717 yards to Chris Olave's 580) and in DYAR (235 to Olave's 146), so no matter your flavor of stat-watching, JSN has been amazing. The last receiver to lead the league in receiving yards in back-to-back years was Calvin Johnson; JSN could easily pull that double off this year.

This particular catch put the Broncos into long game-tying field goal range. It'd be a shame if something happened to them.

Abrams-Draine calls game...surely?

Three plays after JSN's big catch, facing a third and 1 at the very edges of field goal range...Sam Darnold threw the game away. Kris Abrams-Draine undercuts Tory Horton and snags the pick which should have ended the game.

This one has to go on Darnold's ledger. Cooper Kupp is open on the right; Darnold doesn't pull the trigger. He then takes too long to come back to the field and find Horton, and by then, Abrams-Draine reads him and it's an easy pick.

A competent offense ends the game here.

Wait, the Punting Unit?

The Broncos managed to run 28 seconds off the clock, gaining two yards on three plays. That means they had to punt back to Seattle, where Rashid Shaheed bailed them out, bringing the ball essentially back to midfield. Shaheed has been a weapon in the return game since he arrived in Seattle, and this set up the game-tying field goal. Overtime!

Wil "Triple" Lutz Ends It

Another Sam Darnold INT in overtime gave the Broncos a short field, allowing Wil Lutz to kick the 53-yarder for the win.

Flip the result, and your 3-3 Broncos are sitting outside the playoff picture looking in, while the 4-2 Seahawks are a game up on the rest of the wildcard chase, keeping pace with the 49ers in the division. Instead, it's Denver in playoff position and Seattle beginning to have concerns. It's an interconference game, so it's not as big as it could be, but this was very winnable for both sides, and Seattle is going to wish they had this one back.

Pittsburgh Steelers 26, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19

Jamel Dean Surely Ends the Game

This play, right here, should have ended the Steelers-Buccaneers game. Jalon Daniels kind of fell apart in the second half, and this Jamel Dean interception, after the two minute warning, should have led into either a Steelers touchdown or a field goal with less than a minute left on the clock. Any other result is coaching malpractice.

Mike McCarthy, Master of Time

Right, so we're not just talking about the Tampa field goal here. We're talking about how we got to this situation.

The Dean interception gave the Steelers the ball with 1:38 left on the Tampa three. Tampa Bay had two time-outs left. What do the Steelers call? Two passing plays and one running play, meaning that Tampa got to save a time-out and only seventeen seconds came off of the clock and they didn't even score a touchdown. So that's not great.

With the time-out in hand, Tampa was able to use the entire field as they tried to match. Jalen Daniels gets sacked on second down by Nate Herbig with 51 seconds left; does Tampa get back to the line in time to run another play, pick up the first down, spike it, and then try a field goal? I'm certainly not counting on it; not with the way Daniels had played late in the game. The time-out let them regroup, and Daniels hit a 13-yard pass with 40 seconds left, giving them the chance for a fire drill field goal.

McCarthy had options here. He could have called a time-out immediately, thus giving the Steelers 30 seconds or so for a response drive with a time-out still in hand. Or, he could have let the clock run, challenging Tampa to get set for the field goal in time and forcing them to kick the regular game ball, not the K-ball – and at 53-yards out, the less-friendly ball might have impacted the actual kick. McCarthy chose the worst of both worlds, calling a time-out with 12 seconds left. The Buccaneers caught their breath, the good ball was brought in, and they nailed the kick, and Pittsburgh ended up kneeling out the half anyway. McCarthy is fortunate the Steelers won in overtime; there would have been massive questions about his game management had the Steelers blown this one.

Houston Texans 34, Jacksonville Jaguars 31

Two-Way Star Fools Cameraman

Did Travis Hunter have the best two-way day in modern NFL history? That's a very specific category, but Hunter certainly has a case. Not only did he find significant room to work as a situational player on offense, but this end-zone interception could have easily iced the game for Jacksonville. Hunter got burned a couple of times in coverage in London – a surprise, considering how good he's been defensively this year – but he was all over this C.J. Stroud throw, even if the camera wasn't. Had Houston scored here, a 10-point lead with four minutes to go would have essentially wrapped it up. Hunter gave the Jags life, and they responded with a tieing field goal. Pretty good!

The Texans Stay Alive

If you can have a must-win game in October, this is it. A 1-5 Houston team with two divisional losses already would more or less be dead. Instead, Houston goes into London, steals one from the then-second-in-DVOA Jaguars, and are all of a sudden very frightening. They 'deserve' another win or two based on how they've been playing, and now they're lurking at the back of the playoff pack, with the defense warming up and Tank Dell coming back. The road to being the second 0-4 team to recover and make the postseason remains intact...

Cleveland Browns 13, Baltimore Ravens 10

Your...first place Cleveland Browns?

It may have been against the Ravens' backup quarterback, but the Browns came up with another divisional win. 4-2 with two wins in the division is a very solid resume through a third of the season, and the Browns are in first place in the AFC North – the latest they've managed that since 2014. This Jerry Jeudy catch more-or-less clinched it; Cleveland only gained six more yards before kicking the game-winning field goal. I still think the Browns fall out of the running sooner rather than later, but banking wins now is very important...

San Francisco 49ers 23, Washington Commanders 17

Failed Miracle

After the 49ers blew the doors off of Washington in the first half, the offense had trouble staying on the field in the second half. That, plus some big defensive plays by Washington, turned a blowout into a strangely competitive game late. The Commander's best chance to win, though, fell incomplete. Treylon Burks nearly made one of the catches of the season, but he couldn't keep control under Malik Mustafa's coverage. San Francisco holds on, and is your first 6-0 team this year.