2021 NFL Week 6 Awards: Overachievers, Underachievers and Bad Beats

Week 6 brought all the drama we've come to expect from the NFL. Three overtime finishes, historic performances and some head-scratching results that might have some teams reconsidering the direction of their franchise.

Here's a quick look at the best and worst of what happened during Sunday's action:

Sharp Football Betting Package
Take 15% off NFL Betting + Props

Overachieving Team: Jacksonville Jaguars

One of just three victorious underdogs on Sunday afternoon, the Jaguars needed some late-game heroics to pick up the first NFL win of Trevor Lawrence's career. The rookie was efficient, ranking in the top 10 of quarterbacks in success rate for Week 6.

Despite the steps forward made by the quarterback, it was kicker Matthew Wright who put together a historic performance. Wright became the first kicker since 1994 to hit game-tying and game-winning field goals over 50 yards in the final four minutes of a game.

The Dolphins' offense moved the ball better with Tua Tagovailoa returning to replace Jacoby Brissett, but a failed run from shotgun on a fourth-and-one situation late in the game set up the 11-yard game-winning drive.

Urban Meyer is still looking for his first NFL win on American soil, but that will have to wait at least a couple weeks as Jacksonville will enjoy its bye next week before heading to Seattle to play the Geno Smith-led Seahawks.

Underachieving Team: Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers jumped out to a 4-1 start this year by riding an offense that ranked fourth in EPA and fifth in third down conversion rate. However, Justin Herbert and company struggled in their 34-6 loss to the Ravens.

Herbert completed just 56.4% of his passes and his -11.9 differential between his completion percentage and expected completion percentage was second-worst among quarterbacks in Week 6, ranking ahead of only Sam Darnold.

One thing Herbert had done well all season was convert third and longs, he ranked fourth in passer rating and fifth in successful play rate in those situations prior to Sunday. However, the Chargers were just 3-12 on third downs against Baltimore and Herbert completed just one pass in third-and-long situations.

The Chargers also struggled on fourth down for the first time all season, going 1-4 after converting seven of eight fourth downs in the first five weeks. Baltimore capitalized on those opportunities, scoring twice and ending the game on the three possessions following those failures.

Los Angeles will also enjoy their bye this week and then host the New England Patriots who just held the Cowboys to three third down conversions on 13 attempts on Sunday afternoon.

Overachieving Player: Colts QB Carson Wentz

Perhaps no player in the NFL has seen their stock rise in the last two weeks more than Carson Wentz, who followed up a career night in a loss to the Ravens last week with a three-touchdown performance in a win over Houston on Sunday.

While Wentz did lead the NFL in air yards per attempt on Sunday, he wasn't exactly a precision passer, posting a completion percentage under what was expected and completing just three of nine pass attempts less than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Wentz's success rate of 43.5% also ranked 17th among 24 quarterbacks who started in Week 6.

In fact, Wentz became the first quarterback since Kyle Orton in 2014 to throw for over 220 yards and zero interceptions on 11 completions or less. He thrived on his deep passes, completing three of four attempts for 131 yards and both touchdowns.

That kind of success on deep throws is something that Wentz has never had in his career, he has never even completed over 40 percent of his deep throws in any of his five full seasons in the NFL.

Despite the slow start, the Colts could be just one game back of first place in the AFC South if the Titans lose to the Bills on Monday Night Football.

Underachieving Player: Panthers QB Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold was bad on Sunday, at least for the first 58 minutes he was. None of Darnold's advanced numbers from Sunday will look great, in fact, he ranks last in expected completion percentage differential and in the bottom five of quarterbacks in success rate.

After three weeks of success, Darnold has turned back into a pumpkin–nay, a Jet–as the Panthers have lost their last three games with Christian McCaffrey out nursing a hamstring injury.

Carolina clearly entered Week 6 with a plan to feed the ball to Robby Anderson. After signing a big contract extension, Anderson hadn't caught more than five passes or gained more than 60 yards all year. But despite earning 11 targets, Anderson caught just three passes for 11 yards, one of which went for the game-tying score.

However, Anderson didn't give his quarterback much help, dropping three passes, including one on a key third down in the fourth quarter.

With D.J. Moore receiving a lot of extra attention from opposing defenses, and dropping three targets of his own on Sunday, and McCaffrey out at least three more weeks, Darnold has to figure out how to spread the ball to his other playmakers. Luckily things do get easier with games against the Giants and Falcons up next on the schedule.

Bad Beat: New England Patriots +3.5

The New England Patriots seemed to have a nice home victory wrapped up after a missed field goal gave them the ball, with a lead, and less than four minutes remaining. Even a pick-six by Trevon Diggs, (his seventh interception of the season), followed by a 75-yard touchdown to Kendrick Bourne left the Patriots with a three-point lead as the two-minute warning hit.

However, a field goal drive in the final two minutes set up overtime and the Patriots were unable to score on the opening possession, stalling out at their own 46-yard-line. Even after all this, the Cowboys kicking a game-winning field goal would save those who were backing the Patriots +3.5.

Dallas even got into field goal range, sitting at the New England 35-yard-line, but instead of getting conservative to set up the game-winning kick, Dak Prescott connected with CeeDee Lamb who beat Jalen Mills on a crossing route for a 35-yard touchdown, earning a victory by a six-point margin.

The Patriots were covering the spread for the entirety of the game, save for 14 plays, all of which came on scoring drives.