Raise your hand if, at the beginning of the season, you thought Week 6’s “Beltway Battle” would feature two top candidates for NFL MVP.
Surely, having been voted the league’s Most Valuable Player twice — including last season — Lamar Jackson would have been on the radar, but how about Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels? He’s completing 77.1% (yes, you read that correctly) of his passes through the first five games of the season and is the first player in NFL history with 1,000 passing yards and 250 rushing yards through the first five games of his career.
More importantly for the Commanders, he’s led them to a 4-1 record and now a headline spot against the Ravens, who’ve won three straight games, including an overtime thriller at Cincinnati last week in which Jackson threw 348 yards and four touchdown passes, and Derrick Henry eclipsed the career 10,000-yard rushing mark.
While that matchup gets top billing, the Saints and Buccaneers clash in a huge NFC South matchup, where Tampa Bay could pull two games clear in the division with a win. Also, the 4-1 Texans are in New England as Drake Maye makes his first NFL start for the Patriots against C.J. Stroud and the high-powered Texans offense.
(Byes: Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings)
