It was a somewhat quiet week in the National Football League for former Hawks. We’re now into bye territory so two players didn’t go this week in TJ Hockenson and Sam LaPorta. Tory Taylor’s banana ball was out again in Atlanta. George Kittle found the end zone as the 49ers moved to 6-0. Let’s look back at Week 6!
George Kittle
Kittle was at it again for the 49ers in their 23-17 win over Washington Monday night. Kittle is TE1, but is also probably WR1 as San Francisco’s wide receiver room is decimated by injury. No matter for Kittle, as he pulled in 5 receptions for 69 yards and San Francisco’s opening score, an 11-yarder from Brock Purdy.
This is all pointing toward an all-Pro season for Kittle. He sits at 26 receptions for 337 yards and 5 touchdowns. His 5 touchdowns are currently third in the league, behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba (7) and Christian Watson (6).
On the other sideline, quick shout for Drew Stephens. The rookie kicker knocked a 51-yarder through in the first quarter and also made both extra point attempts. Also quick shoutout to the NFC East going winless in consecutive weeks, the first time a division has done that in NFL history. That included a game played against Washington and New York last week!
Tory Taylor
Taylor is the other notable this week. Our favorite Aussie punter has the banana ball in his locker which he used to devastating effect in Chicago’s 31-23 win in Atlanta. Taylor finished the game with 5 punts for 224 yards. That’s a 44.8 yard average. But the swerve he puts on this punt below led to a fumble by the Falcons, which was recovered by Josh Blackwell.
It’s Taylor’s second victim of the year, as he also forced a fumble in Week 1 against Carolina.
Amani Hooker
The Titans are bad. Really bad. There isn’t a lot to work with at the moment. But they’ve also kept a few games in range, and Sunday they finally got over the hump with a come-from-behind win over the Colts, 26-20. Central to that was Hooker. Hooker logged 13 tackles for the Titans and collected this crucial interception early.
Potpourri
Like I said – kind of a quiet week. Kaleb Johnson had 1 carry for -2 yards in Green Bay’s Sunday night win over Dallas. Lukas Van Ness had 3 tackles and a sack, while Kristian Welch had 1 tackle. On the other sideline, Tyler Goodson had 2 carries for no yardage while also returning 5 kicks for 122 yards and a long of 30.
Kaevon Merriweather had 7 tackles for Jacksonville, but they lost a close one to Houston, 34-31. Cooper DeJean finished with 6 tackles, including 1 for loss, as the Eagles lost to Carolina at home to drop to 2-4. Ever so slight controversy with the Eagles given their handling of Jalen Hurts in London. Lastly, we find Dane Belton now with the Jets. He picked up 9 tackles as the Jets fell to New England, 26-19.
