NFL Week 6 Recap: Biggest Winners And Losers

TAMPA, FLORIDA – OCTOBER 12: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates after a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter in the game at Raymond James Stadium on October 12, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Week 6 of the 2025 NFL Season has wrapped (aside from two Monday night games), and the league is showing that most preseason predictions don’t matter. The Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers are at the top of the AFC like it’s 2007, and Super Bowl favorites like the Baltimore Ravens are sitting at the bottom of the league.

From the great showings to the not-so-good outings, here are the winners and losers from Week 6.

NFL Week 6 Winners

Baker Mayfield’s MVP Chances

If there were people who didn’t believe Baker Mayfield was a leading MVP candidate through the early portion of the season, maybe Sunday’s performance against the 49ers will make them believers. Mayfield didn’t put up any earth-shaking numbers—256 yards and two touchdowns on 17-of-23 passing—but he helped Tampa get to 5-1 without his top two receivers. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Bucky Irving were already out before the game started, but then Tampa lost rookie Emeka Egbuka to a hamstring injury.

That left Mayfield with Sterling Shepard, Rachaad White, and Kameron Johnson as his top weapons. But it didn’t matter. Mayfield made the plays he needed, including a must-watch 3rd and 14 run late in the third with Tampa up 20-19. Two players later, Mayfield found Tez Johnson for a 45-yard score for the final score of the game.

For the year, Mayfield has 12 touchdowns and one interception to go with his 1,539 yards. He has Tampa not only atop the NFC after six weeks, but tied for the best record in the league.

Drake Maye

If New England’s 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills was the coming-out party for Drake Maye, then its 25-19 win over New Orleans was the here-to-stay game. With 261 yards and three touchdowns, Maye continued his impressive sophomore season for the Patriots, becoming just the fourth player under the age of 24 to have 200+ passing yards and a 100+ passer rating in five straight games.

Maye has been able to protect the football and continues to make throws that suggest there’s a higher ceiling for the 2024 third-overall pick. He’s not going to be an MVP candidate this year—maybe?—but he has the Patriots in contention for the AFC East crown for the first time since 2019.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

When the Seahawks dealt DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh, the first question that came up for many is whether Jaxon Smith-Njigba was ready to make that leap as a true number one receiver. Six games into the season, and it’s clear that Seattle has a star receiver on its hands. Against the Jaguars on Sunday, Smith-Njiba caught eight passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. That score was a picture-perfect 61-yard strike from Sam Darnold as the Seahawks won to pull into a tie with the San Francisco 49ers for first in the NFC West.

Through six games, Smith-Njigba has 46 for 696 yards and three touchdowns. He’s currently averaging 16.6 yards per catch and is on pace for 159 catches and 1,972 yards. If he can even remotely keep up that pace, Seattle is going to be a team near the top of the NFC by the end of the season.

This is why you make that trade.

Rico Dowdle And The Carolina Panthers At Home

Is there any team better than the Carolina Panthers…at home? While they aren’t going to put fear into anyone just yet, Carolina’s now 3-0 at home this year. That puts them as one of just six teams heading into Monday’s games unbeaten on home field. The Panthers’ success over the last couple of games can largely be attributed to the play of running back Rico Dowdle. The former Dallas Cowboy followed up a 206-yard game against Miami with a 183-yard day against his former team. He became the first running back in Panthers history to rush for 180 or more yards in back-to-back games.

It’ll be interesting to see how long this run goes because after next week’s game on the road against the Jets, the next home game for Carolina is against the Buffalo Bills. Oh, and the Bills will be coming off a bye, where head coach Sean McDermott is 7-0.

NFL Week 6 Losers

Dallas Cowboys Defense

The Dallas Cowboys entered Week 6 with the 32nd-ranked defense and proved to the world why they are ranked as low as they are. Against the aforementioned Carolina Panthers, Dallas’ defense had the lead three different times, but failed to make the plays needed to hang on.

The Panthers only went 3-of-8 on third down, but they only faced three third downs on nine drives. On Carolina’s three touchdown drives, they only faced one third down. The Cowboys gave up 26 first downs and 6.4 yards per play as they fell to 2-3-1 on the season.

Dallas is the only team in the league to give up over 400 yards per game. With games against the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals over the next three weeks, maybe the Cowboys can start to turn things around. If not, Jerry Jones is likely to skip more of his post-game press conferences.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins almost pulled off the win against the Los Angeles Chargers, but falling to 1-5 isn’t why they are losers this week. Instead, it’s what happened after the game that shows that major changes are needed in South Beach. During his post-game press conference, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa spoke about the accountability, or lack thereof, on the team.

“I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” Tagovailoa told reporters. “We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that?

“We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late, guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that.”

There’s a clear disconnect within the locker room in Miami, and it doesn’t seem like head coach Mike McDaniel can do anything about it. Is it finally time for a change after these damning comments?

Justin Fields

You could easily put the entire New York Jets team back in the loser column as they continue to be the only winless team in the league, but the focus needs to go on Justin Fields here. Fields’ performance in London on Sunday was one of the worst quarterback performances since watching Derek Anderson go 2-of-17 for 23 yards and an interception back in 2009. The only difference was that his team, somehow, found a way to win. Fields had just nine completions for 45 yards. When counting the nine sacks he took, New York had -10 net passing yards.

At what point to the Jets turn to Tyrod Taylor as the starter? What else is there to lose?