After six weeks, the NFL has already sorted itself into a familiar mess: a few teams out in front, a pile of mediocrity in the middle, and a whole lot left to be decided. The Texans just made sure they’re no longer buried in the wreckage.
Houston’s 34-31 win over the Jaguars in London came down to the last kick, a 49-yard field goal from Ka’imi Fairbairn as time expired. That was enough to give the Texans a second straight divisional victory after last week’s win over the winless Titans in Nashville, and it flipped the mood around a team that looked finished two weeks ago at 0-4.
That’s the part that matters most here: the Texans were staring at a dead end, with a defense that had been tagged by a pair of 30-point outings from the offense and a record that looked hard to escape. Now they’re 2-4 and, at least for the moment, back in the AFC South conversation.
The defense still isn’t fixed, but C.J. Stroud looks like himself again after a rough stretch that included five interceptions in the 2025 postseason.
So far in ’26, he’s thrown for 300 yards three times and has nine touchdown passes against one interception.
The supporting cast is helping, too. Nico Collins is healthy, Marvin Harrison Jr. is in the mix, and the Texans have a stretch coming up that could keep this thing moving in the right direction: the Giants, Chargers, Browns and Colts over the next month. Houston still has a lot to prove, but it also still has a path, which is more than it had a couple of weeks ago.
The math is brutal, though. The Texans are 2-4 in a deep AFC, and the Jaguars remain two games ahead in the South at 4-2.
Houston also has a strange piece of history working against it: last year, the Texans were the only team under the expanded playoff format to start 0-3 and still make the postseason. If they manage to do something similar from 0-4 this season, they’d join the 1992 Chargers as the only teams ever to pull it off.
Before any of that gets too far ahead of itself, Houston has to handle the games in front of it. The Texans host the Giants next, then go on bye, and they’ve at least done the essential work by beating Jacksonville in London. That was the assignment, and they got it done.
Elsewhere, the league’s middle is crowded, and the ugly parts are getting harder to ignore. The NFC East, in particular, is becoming a study in dysfunction.
The Eagles are 2-3 with Jalen Hurts on injured reserve because of a blood clot in his calf and a pile of other injuries around him. The Giants sit atop the division at 3-1-1, but they’re being led by Jameis Winston, with Jaxson Dart done for the year after a knee injury in Week 2.
Washington is 1-3-1 and, as the source of this chaos goes, does not understand the concept of time. The Cowboys are 2-3 after losing to the previously winless Buccaneers.
The trade deadline is still a few weeks away, so there’s time for the division to shift. New York could try to build something around Winston.
Jerry Jones could decide to make a move and try to fix a defense that ranks 31st, with first-round rookies Malachi Lawrence and Caleb Downs already in the mix. For now, though, the NFC East looks like one of the league’s messiest races, which is saying something.
Denver, meanwhile, is sitting at 4-2 and has survived a brutal opening run against the Chiefs, 49ers, Rams, Jaguars and Seahawks. That record would normally buy a team plenty of confidence. Instead, the Broncos have a real problem on offense.
They paid a steep price to bring in receiver Jaylen Waddle, sending three draft picks to do it, but the attack has gone backward. Bo Nix has thrown for 1,049 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions, but he’s averaging just 5.6 yards per attempt, and the results are ugly: Denver ranks 31st in yards per game, ahead of only the winless Titans, and 26th in points.
Waddle has barely made a dent outside of his 138-yard game in Week 2 against Jacksonville. He has 14 catches for 90 yards in the other games.
Cortland Sutton hasn’t helped much either, with 13 catches on 29 targets for 123 yards. The Broncos are still in the AFC playoff hunt, but not in any comfortable way.
They get the Cardinals in Week 7, then a rematch with the Chiefs, who beat them 31-10 in the season opener at Arrowhead Stadium. Another loss to Kansas City would probably push Denver into wild-card territory.
Right now, the defense and record are keeping the Broncos afloat, but the offense is becoming impossible to ignore. Davis Webb and Sean Payton have called plays that have gone nowhere.
Sutton and Waddle have done next to nothing. If Nix doesn’t lift the whole operation, the rest of it won’t matter.
In Other News...
Jalen Hurts Backlash Just Added Another Layer To Eagles Concern
Jalen Hurts absence already landed hard in Philadelphia because of the medical seriousness behind it, and now the discussion around his injury has spilled into another layer of noise. The Eagles quarterback is sidelined after doctors found a blood clot that had moved, a development serious enough to keep him out at least against the Panthers, and the team has had to absorb the uncertainty without one of its defining players.
Former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson only made the backdrop noisier when he questioned the injury circumstances on NFL Network, drawing a sharp public response from Robert Griffin III. Griffin pushed back on Robinsons remarks while also praising Drake Mayes recent play for New England, but for the Eagles, the larger issue remains the one they cannot shortcut: Hurts health and the wait to see how long this situation will keep him off the field. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Just Sent A Complicated Signal On Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts being sidelined indefinitely has put the Eagles in an awkward spot, even as the team tries to keep its quarterback available for as long as possible. The injury, a superficial blood clot in his calf, is serious enough to pause his on-field work, but Philadelphia is not taking the next step that would lock him into a longer absence.
What makes the situation more complicated is the timing. The issue was already known by Week 4, and while medical experts believe Hurts could miss more than a month, the Eagles are leaving the door open rather than shutting it completely. For a team trying to navigate the next stretch without its starter, that means the focus shifts from a clean timeline to an uncertain wait that could stretch toward late October or early November. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Hurts Drew Serious Backlash Over How His Health Was Discussed
Jalen Hurts health became the center of an ugly and unnecessary debate this week after an NFL Network analyst floated the idea that the Eagles quarterback could be using a blood clot to dodge blame for the teams offensive struggles. Michael Robinson later acknowledged he is not a medical expert, but his remarks still minimized the seriousness of a condition that has kept Hurts status in the spotlight and added another layer of noise around a season already under a microscope.
The reaction was swift, with former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III publicly pushing back and stressing that this is not the kind of issue that should be handled casually. For Philadelphia, the episode was another reminder of how quickly concerns about Hurts can spill beyond the field, especially when the conversation turns from football to health and the line between criticism and irresponsibility starts to blur. [Read more 🡒]