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The NFL Wrap: LA Rams train keeps on rolling as Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady duel it out

AP
AP

Week 6 in the NFL saw the first of this season's International Series games arrive in London, but there was still plenty to talk about stateside...


Will the Steelers learn to juggle?

If reports are to be believed, then Le'Veon Bell's absence from the Pittsburgh Steelers may be about to end. The star running back has effectively been on strike since the off-season as part of a contract dispute, costing himself more than $5million in game cheques, but indicated that he would return to the franchise during its week seven bye.

If Bell does indeed return fit and focused, now or in the weeks to come, there is little doubt he will play - this is the best running back in the game, after all.

The irony is that, in Bell's absence, the Steelers have found the answer to one of the problems that sparked it in the first place. Bell played on more than 85 per cent of the Steelers' offensive snaps last season. No other running back featured on more than 77 per cent. That kind of workload is one of the reasons why Bell believes he is worth the big bucks.

But Bell's deputy, James Conner, has seven rushing touchdowns through six weeks and is in the top five for rushing yards in the entire league. In other words, he's earned game time.

It's a potentially awkward situation, but one that, if managed well, could prove a game changer. Remember that the Eagles' decision to split the running workload between Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement took them all the way to the Super Bowl last year.


Brady still Mr Miyagi… just

At half-time in this shoot-out between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, it looked like the new kid on the block had come unstuck against the old master.

Mahomes had thrown as many interceptions in the first two quarters as he had in the first five games and the Kansas City Chiefs had only three field goals on the board, trailing 24-9 to the New England Patriots.

That the Patriots eventually saw out the win, ending the Chiefs’ unbeaten start, was no surprise – Brady football teams simply do not lose from in front at the half, at home.

But that the game finished 43-40, was. Far from crumbling, Mahomes threw four second half TD passes and finished with a season-high 352 passing yards, to add resilience to the list of qualities he’s already displayed through the first six weeks of his NFL career.


The 6-0 Rams are out alone

That Patriots win left the LA Rams as the only undefeated team in the league, and they just keep on finding ways to get the job done.

Last week, Jared Goff lost Brandin Cooks mid-game; this week it was Cooper Kupp - the kind of losses which would blunt pretty much any offense in the league, but not this one.

(AP)
(AP)

Robert Woods stepped up with his third 100+ yard receiving game of the season but it helps if you have Todd Gurley, last season’s Offensive Player of the Year, making up those lost passing yards in the run game.

In the 23-20 win over the Denver Broncos, Gurley rushed for a career-best 208 yards and added two touchdowns, his eighth and ninth of the season, and it’s hard to see how anyone stops Sean McVay’s side right now.


Glorious Wembley spectacle, not-so-glorious game

Just shy of 85,000 pitched up at Wembley on Sunday to watch the Seattle Seahawks beat the Oakland Raiders 27-3 in yet another one-sided blowout on these shores. You can read all about another great spectacle, how the players love being in London, and the growing possibility of a permanent franchise, but it's worth noting that, once again, the game itself wasn't actually very good.

The last five UK NFL matches have seen the victorious sides rack up a total of 157 points while conceding just 26, including two shutout wins.

Interest, and indeed knowledge of the game, on this side of the Atlantic has developed enough that plenty inside Wembley would have appreciated the intricacies of the Seahawks' superb defensive showing (and probably found a different kind of appreciation for the Raiders' hapless offense too).

But for the seasoned fan and NFL newcomer alike, a high-scoring offensive shoot-out in one of the two London games still to come would hardly go amiss.


The last bastion falls

And perhaps we may get it, though from an unlikely source. The purists have been raging for some time that the art of defending is fast becoming a lost one in the NFL, but of all the high-scoring games to have irked them so far, none will have been quite so surprising as this.

(AP)
(AP)

The Jacksonville Jaguars, the best defensive unit in the league, were absolutely routed 40-7 by a Dallas Cowboys offense that was supposed to be one-dimensional, over-reliant on the running powers of Ezekiel Elliott.

In two weeks’ time the Jaguars come to London, and on this porous form may struggle to contain Carson Wentz’s Philadelphia Eagles, who produced their best performance of the season to beat the New York Giants 34-13 on Thursday night.