Week 6 of the 2026 NFL season didn’t just move the standings around - it shook up the direction of several franchises.
A few clubs are still early enough in the year to talk themselves into patience. Others are already at the point where one loss, one injury, or one front office move can change the whole script. That was the case this week for the New York Giants, Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles, four teams facing very different kinds of pressure after a wild slate.
The biggest individual spark came from JJ McCarthy, who turned his most extensive run with the Giants into a reminder that there may be more upside there than the Vikings believed. After replacing a struggling Jameis Winston against the New Orleans Saints, McCarthy opened with a rough 1-of-4 stretch and an interception, but he settled in fast and took over the game in the fourth quarter.
He finished with 243 passing yards, averaging more than 11 yards per completion, and nearly dragged New York all the way back from a 34-10 hole. The final throw, a shot to Isaiah Likely, fell incomplete, but the performance still landed with weight.
The Giants are 3-2-1, the NFC East is wide open, and if McCarthy can keep playing anywhere near that level, New York suddenly has real upside at quarterback.
The Rams, meanwhile, are dealing with the kind of week that seems to keep getting worse by the hour. After cutting Harrison Mevis following his disastrous Monday night outing against the Buffalo Bills, they brought in Blake Grupe - only for him to get hurt while trying to make a tackle against the Arizona Cardinals.
The loss on the field stung too, and it dropped Los Angeles to 2-4. Then came the injury hits: Davante Adams suffered a ruptured hamstring and is expected to miss 6-10 weeks, Poona Ford has a ruptured triceps and will be out for significant time, Grupe’s stint was essentially over before it began, and Kobie Turner is sidelined for at least a month with a groin injury.
The Rams still have the Ty Simpson card in their back pocket if they choose to use it, and with the losses piling up, it’s fair to wonder whether they start shifting attention toward the future.
Indianapolis took the hardest organizational swing of the week. After the Colts lost to the Tennessee Titans, they fired general manager Chris Ballard.
That kind of move before the trade deadline usually signals movement, and the Colts may be headed toward exactly that. With no first-round pick in 2027 because of the Sauce Gardner trade, they could be motivated to recoup draft capital, and that could mean the end is near for players like DeForest Buckner, Quenton Nelson, and possibly even Jonathan Taylor.
It could also be a step toward a bigger reset, including the possibility of Shane Steichen being out at season’s end and the Colts rebuilding their leadership structure around a new GM, coach, and quarterback plan. There have also been plenty of rumblings that Steichen would be wanted back by the Philadelphia Eagles as their OC, maybe even their head coach beyond this season.
Then came the most alarming health update of the week: Jalen Hurts. The report first described a superficial blood clot in his calf, but it was later discovered that he also has blood clots in both lungs.
The Eagles likely won’t have him back this season, even if they reach the playoffs, though the expectation is that he will eventually make a full recovery. That’s the important part.
Still, the football fallout is significant. Philadelphia will turn to Tanner McKee at quarterback, and the offense already had problems beyond Hurts’ health.
Lane Johnson retired unexpectedly. Cam Jurgens was traded.
Saquon Barkley has not been able to play, and the run game has been non-existent. With the offense in rough shape, there’s at least a chance the Eagles consider some surprise selling as they look ahead to 2027.
In Other News...
Rams Just Wasted A Defensive Effort Fans Deserved Better Than This
The Rams had more than enough on defense to put themselves in position to win Sunday, but they could not get the offense to meet them halfway in an 18-16 loss to the Cardinals. Los Angeles never found the end zone, and Matthew Stafford did not get over 100 passing yards until the fourth quarter, a glaring sign of how long the offense spent searching for anything that resembled rhythm.
Meanwhile, the defense kept doing its part, coming up with an interception and tightening up inside the red zone to keep Arizona from pulling away. Even with that effort, the game still came down to the final kick, and the Cardinals walked it off as time expired, leaving the Rams with the kind of loss that feels especially frustrating because the work on one side of the ball deserved a better finish. [Read more 🡒]
Colts Pressure On Shane Steichen Just Raised One Huge Question
The Colts rocky start has only added to the noise around Shane Steichens future, with Indianapolis sitting at 2-4 through Week 6 and the scrutiny around the head coach growing louder by the week. Co-owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon has reportedly already put Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard on notice about the standard the franchise expects to meet in 2026, a clear sign that the organization is looking beyond just the current slide.
For a team trying to steady itself before the season drifts any further, the conversation is no longer just about fixing the offense or getting back on track. It is also about what happens if the results do not change, and the list of possible replacements is already part of the backdrop around Steichens tenure, which makes every week from here carry a little more weight. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Hurts Rams Aftermath Now Carries Much Bigger Questions
Jalen Hurts health situation has now shifted far beyond the usual late-season injury chatter, with the Eagles ruling him out for the rest of the year after diagnosing him with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli. The team laid out a detailed timeline of how the blood clot issues were discovered, how he was treated and evaluated, and how travel factored into the process before medical experts were consulted and the decision was made to place him on injured reserve.
For the Rams, who have had plenty of recent history with Hurts on the other side of the field, the immediate football angle is only part of the story now. What matters most is that one of the leagues most prominent quarterbacks is dealing with a serious medical issue that leaves the Eagles without their starter and raises much bigger questions than anything tied to the standings. [Read more 🡒]