SI:AM | The NFL’s Last Undefeateds Go Down

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m in Dallas right now, where people are definitely feeling the hype about the Rangers.

In today’s SI:AM:

✋ The Browns’ and Jets’ great D

???? Ranking college football’s unbeaten

???? A nail-biter for the Bills

Unbeaten no longer

Just like that, there are no undefeated teams left in the NFL.

The 49ers and Eagles weren’t really on upset alert headed into Sunday, but their losses to the Browns and Jets, respectively, were a reminder that anything can happen every week in the NFL and reinvigorated arguments over who’s the best team in the NFC.

Cleveland’s win was especially shocking. The Browns were without quarterback Deshaun Watson (who missed his second straight game with a rotator cuff injury) and running back Nick Chubb (who’s out for the season after injuring his knee in Week 2) but still outgained the Niners, 334–215, in a 19–17 victory. The Browns racked up 160 yards on the ground, the most rushing yards surrendered by the San Francisco defense since Week 6 of last season.

The biggest factor, though, was the Browns’ defense, which forced Brock Purdy into his worst game as a pro. Purdy completed just 12 of 27 passes for 125 yards. His passer rating, completion percentage and passing yardage were all the lowest of his 11 career starts. San Francisco’s 215 total yards was the team’s lowest output since 2018. But the Niners aren’t the only team to be stymied by Cleveland’s defense this season. As Albert Breer points out, the Browns’ D has been historically good:

Through five weeks, the Browns have allowed just 1,002 yards. That’s the third fewest by any team (behind only the 1971 Colts and ’70 Vikings) through five games since the merger. They’ve held two of their five opponents to a single field goal. In another game, a 26–22 loss to the Steelers in Week 2, Pittsburgh scored twice on defense, and, outside of a 71-yard touchdown pass from Kenny Pickett to George Pickens, the Steelers had just 184 yards and nine first downs. That leaves a 28–3 loss to the Ravens as the lone hiccup. And even in that one, two of the four touchdowns Cleveland allowed were scored on short fields because of the offense’s turnovers, and the Browns still held Baltimore under 300 yards.

It’s natural to watch the Browns’ defense stifle opponents like that and wonder how good the team could be with better quarterback play. Sunday’s starter, PJ Walker, did just enough to keep the Browns in the game, but it’s not as though Cleveland can expect much better if and when Watson is able to return. Watson has struggled in nine starts for the Browns, failing to live up to the giant contract the team gave him, especially in light of the serious allegations against him. (Conor Orr wrote in more detail about the Browns’ quarterback situation and how much easier it would be to root for them if the front office had gone in a different direction.)

The Eagles also fell victim to a team with a stout defense and a questionable quarterback situation. The Jets picked off Jalen Hurts three times (just the second three-interception game of his career) and recovered a D’Andre Swift fumble as they handed Philadelphia its first loss of the season, 20–14. New York’s offense was nothing to write home about (244 total yards and 2-of-11 on third down), but the defense repeatedly set the offense up with short fields, including on the Jets’ lone touchdown of the game. With 1:50 to play in the fourth quarter and the Eagles leading 14–12, Tony Adams picked off a pass from Hurts and returned it 45 yards to the Philadelphia 8-yard line. The Jets needed only one play (a run by Breece Hall) to punch it in the end zone and take the lead.

So, now that every team has lost a game, who’s the best team in the NFC? The Eagles and 49ers can still lay claim to that title. After all, losing one game against an elite defense shouldn’t be a reason to panic. But don’t sleep on the Lions. They easily handled a decent Bucs team yesterday to improve to 5–1. Detroit has already beaten the Chiefs, and its lone loss came in overtime against the Seahawks. It might be time to start talking about the Lions alongside the conference’s elite.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Albert Breer’s Week 6 NFL takeaways include conversations with Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley and Browns quarterback PJ Walker about their teams’ big wins.
• The 49ers and Eagles aren’t the only contenders who looked vulnerable yesterday. The Bills’ offense stagnated in a win over the Giants that was closer than it needed to be, Gilberto Manzano writes.
• Conor Orr argues that yesterday’s win over the Eagles was proof the Jets are finally a functional organization.
• There are still 11 undefeated teams in college football. Pat Forde ranked them all.
• Richard Johnson has a detailed breakdown of Oregon’s three failed fourth-down attempts that sunk the Ducks against Washington on Saturday.
• Bob Harig has some suggestions for what LIV Golf should do after failing in its bid to earn OWGR points.
• The Niners were without running back Christian McCaffrey for much of the second half due to an oblique injury.
• Bills running back Damien Harris was taken from the field in an ambulance after injuring his neck against the Giants.
• The Iowa women’s basketball team attracted more than 50,000 fans to the school’s football stadium for an exhibition game.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Derrick Henry’s long run out of the Wildcat.

4. Joe Burrow’s making sure rookie Andrei Iosivas got the ball from his first touchdown.

3. Titans rookie Tyjae Spears’s vision and patience to pick up 48 yards on a screen pass.

2. Christian McCaffrey’s acceleration to find the end zone for the 15th game in a row.

1. Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh’s intro on Sunday Night Football. (He was signed this week and immediately inserted in the starting lineup.)

SIQ

Aaron Boone hit his famous walk-off home run in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Red Sox on this day 20 years ago. But Boone wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Yankees that night. Who started at third?

• Robin Ventura
• Todd Zeile
• Miguel Cairo
• Enrique Wilson

Friday’s SIQ: The first nighttime World Series game was played Oct. 13 of what year?

• 1965
• 1971
• 1976
• 1981

Answer: 1971. It was Game 4 of the series between the Pirates and Orioles. Pittsburgh won, 4–3, at home. By all accounts, the experiment was a rousing success.

“The first night game in Series history brought out the biggest baseball crowd (51,378) ever in Pittsburgh as well as an estimated 61 million home TV viewers to their sets,” William Leggett wrote in Sports Illustrated at the time. The estimated TV audience represented 30% of the U.S. population.

MLB had decided before the season that it would bring the Fall Classic to prime time, with commissioner Bowie Kuhn announcing during the winter meetings that the NL pennant winner’s second home game of the next World Series would be played at night (unless the Cubs were the NL’s representative in the series, since Wrigley Field didn’t yet have lights). The decision to try playing at night was inspired by the television ratings success of moving the All-Star Game under the lights, according to the Hall of Fame. Since 1988, every World Series game has been played at night.