Rookie quarterbacks Brandon Weeden, Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III and Ryan Tannehill all notched W’s in front of their home crowds on Sunday, while veterans like Tom Brady and Michael Vick (pictured chasing another loose ball) coughed up games in the final moments of games their teams led for most of the way. The Falcons remained undefeated, the Texans certainly did not, and the Chiefs continued their epic free fall with an unbelievable loss in Tampa Bay. That’s just scratching the surface. Here are my 10 Takeaways from Week 6.

— Peter Schrager

It’s considered blasphemy for a mere mortal sports writer to question Bill Belichick at this point, but I’m putting Sunday’s loss on the three-time Super Bowl champion head coach (far left). New England came away with just one touchdown in six trips inside Seattle's 20 in Sunday’s inexplicable 24-23 loss to the Seahawks. The worst of the Pats’ red zone trips came at the end of the first half when Belichick opted to throw with six seconds remaining instead of kicking the field goal from the Seattle 3. Brady was flagged for intentional grounding and the ensuing time runoff ended the half. New England’s inability to punch it into the end zone cost them a Week 2 game against the Cardinals and it cost them in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday. If you’re up 13 points and give up 14 points in the final 7-plus minutes, you don’t deserve to win.
 

And it only took 19-1/2 quarters! Just imagine how good Detroit could be if it played close to its full potential every week. For whatever reason, Jim Schwartz’s team spent the first five weeks of the season and the first three quarters of Sunday’s game against the Eagles asleep at the wheel. The Lions showed no spark, no fire and no real urgency in three consecutive losses to end the month of September. Down 23-13 with less than four minutes remaining on Sunday, however, something happened — the Lions awoke. Matt Stafford (pictured) led his team to 17 points in the last 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime, while the Lions’ D-line gave Michael Vick fits when it mattered most. The 26-23 overtime victory may have been a season-saver for the Lions. The Lions are now 2-3, with both wins coming in the final seconds.
 

The Ravens haven’t played a complete game all season, and yet we’re six weeks in and they’re 5-1 and atop the AFC North with a two-game cushion on the Bengals. Baltimore found a way — again — to come out on top in a sloppy, ugly win over the Cowboys on Sunday. The tackling was atrocious, the pass coverage was poor and the special teams left a lot to be desired. Guess what? None of that shows up in the standings. Baltimore might not look the part, but it’s tough to beat at home (15 straight wins including the postseason) and the Ravens are becoming quite experienced at pulling close games out at the end. But that’s not to say the weekend was a total success: Lardarius Webb and Ray Lewis both went down with injuries on Sunday, and their severities remain to be seen.

How bad was Kansas City’s passing offense on Sunday? The Chiefs’ leading receiver was someone named Steve Maneri. Yes, I had to Google that one. Seven days after tackle Eric Winston lashed out on fans in a nine-minute diatribe, the Chiefs lost by four touchdowns to a Buccaneers team that hadn’t won by more than seven points since 2010. Kansas City hasn’t led for a second all season (its lone win coming on a field goal on the final play in overtime) and the wheels appear to be officially off. Kansas City rallied behind Romeo Crennel (pictured) late last season. It may already be too late this time around.
 

You’ve got to be a pretty special kicker to earn a nickname five weeks into your NFL career. Well, the Rams rookie has two. Initially referred to as ‘Greg the Leg’ before the season even began, he was being called ‘Legatron’ after his performance last week versus Arizona. Zuerlein (No. 4) came back down to earth on Sunday, missing three field goals in St. Louis’s 17-14 loss in Miami. Zuerlein’s 66-yard attempt in the final seconds of the game — a boot that would have tied the game and shattered the NFL record — actually had the distance, but went wide.

Smith entered Sunday’s game versus the Giants as the top-rated passer in the NFL. The 49ers had outscored their last two opponents 79-3 and there was no room whatsoever on the San Francisco bandwagon. Naturally, Smith reverted back to his 2007-09 self, throwing three bad interceptions in an awful 26-3 loss — at home! The razzle dazzle that’s been the beauty of the 49ers’ offense all season looked flat and foolish on Sunday. Smith running the read option instead of looking to throw the ball long while down three scores was just weird.

The elephant in the room surrounding all the media hype around the Texans’ fast 5-0 start was that they hadn’t beaten a winning team yet. Against quarterbacks like Blaine Gabbert, Mark Sanchez, Ryan Tannehill and Jake Locker, the Texans looked like world beaters. They looked vulnerable in a close win over Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Week 3. But on Sunday night, they looked downright average against the Packers (and the pass defense looked downright catastrophic against Aaron Rodgers and his SIX touchdowns). It’s about time to pump those brakes on all that Texans Super Bowl talk.

Twitter was awfully quiet during the Jets’ 35-9 blowout of the upstart Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, huh? There were no pithy jokes about Tim Tebow, no Rex Ryan gifs, and no mentions of the Jets’ embarrassing pass rush. Sometimes you just need to shut your critics up. And that’s exactly what the Jets did. Shonn Greene (pictured) rushed for a career-high 161 yards and scored three touchdowns, as the defense stepped up and forced Andrew Luck into two costly interceptions. Hey, the Jets — for all the jokes everyone has — are 3-3 and in the thick of the playoff hunt. A win over the Patriots next week puts them a game up over their nemesis in the AFC East.

Whether it’s Kevin Kolb or John Skelton (No. 19) under center, the Cardinals offense will haunt this team all season. Now 4-2 after their second straight loss, the Cardinals now look like what we feared they were before the season: a great defensive team and a very bad offensive one. The Cardinals went into overtime for the sixth time in their last nine home games and were 5-0 in those games before Sunday. A Skelton interception in overtime finally cost them when it mattered most. Arizona’s quarterbacks went a combined 16 for 36 for only 173 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss.
 

You can’t talk about MVP candidates without at least mentioning Robert Griffin III. Where would the 3-3 Redskins be without their rookie quarterback? In Sunday’s gutsy 38-26 win over the Vikings, Griffin recorded the longest scoring run by a QB in 16 years, a 76-yard game-sealing score late in the fourth quarter. On the day, Griffin threw for 182 yards, ran for another 138 more and accounted for three touchdowns. The Redskins are .500 and in the thick of the NFC playoff mix. That’s all RG3.