Sports

Jake Moody's Bears debut was a memorable one.

The Bears summoned the kicker from the practice squad on Monday because Cairo Santos was going to miss their game in Washington with a thigh injury and they called on him to try five field goals over the course of the night. Moody had one of those kicks blocked early in the fourth quarter, which led many to recall the struggles that got him released by the 49ers after the first week of the season, but he got a chance at redemption.

A fumble recovery with 3:07 left to play gave the Bears the ball near midfield and they drove to the Washington 20-yard line to set up Moody's game-winning field goal at the whistle. Teammates who haven't spent much time with Moody carried him off the field and many referenced his rocky time with the 49ers while talking about the significance of his Bears debut.

"Being able to hear about his story when he got here, being able to see him work and being able to see him have this moment — I know he's been in some tough moments," quarterback Caleb Williams said, via the team's website. "So having this moment for him I know is important. It's important for us. It's a big moment for him to be able to go out there and come through. Kudos to him and we love him for that."

Moody said it felt "amazing" to come through for his new team and that he "can't wait to formally meet everybody else at some point." Santos' health will likely determine if he gets another chance in Week 7, but coming through in the clutch should help his chances of getting another shot at a long-term job when the kicking carousel spins around the league.

The Bills and Ravens have very different records after the first six weeks of the season, but the two preseason contenders are heading into their Week 7 byes with similar plans.

Baltimore is hoping to get healthy enough to make a run at the playoffs despite a 1-5 start to the season. The Bills are 4-2, but those two losses have come in the last two weeks and head coach Sean McDermott was talking about a rebirth as well after Monday night's loss to the Falcons.

McDermott said that his team is "not good enough" after their defense gave up 443 yards and their protection for quarterback Josh Allen consistently broke down in the passing game. Allen was sacked four times and he threw a pair of interceptions in a 24-14 loss that could have been even worse if Falcons wide receiver Drake London had not stepped out of bounds just before scoring on the final play of the first half.

In his postgame press conference, McDermott was asked how important the bye week will be. McDermott said he hoped to get some injured players back, but made it clear that won't be enough to turn the tide for the Bills.

“Figure out things on offense, defense and special teams," McDermott said. "We've got to start over and start from ground zero and figure this thing out and work our tails off to do it."

The Patriots and Bills are both 4-2, but New England won their game in Week 5 and that gives them first place in the division after six weeks. It's been a while since the Bills had serious competition in the AFC East and that will make it even more important that they make the right tweaks in the coming days.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson had another big game in Monday night's win over the Bills, and he's on pace to have one of the biggest seasons in NFL history.

With 170 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards on Monday, Robinson now has 484 rushing yards and 338 receiving yards this season. That total of 822 yards from scrimmage leads the NFL, even though the Falcons have only played five games and most teams have played six.

If he keeps up his current pace of 164 scrimmage yards per game, Robinson would finish the season with 2,795 yards from scrimmage this season. The current record of 2,509 yards was set by Titans running back Chris Johnson in 2009. Johnson broke the record in a 16-game season, and Robinson is actually on pace to break Johnson's record in the 16th game of this season.

Robinson is on pace to run for 1,647 yards and add 1,149 receiving yards. He's on pace to join Roger Craig in 1985, Marshall Faulk in 1999 and Christian McCaffrey in 2019 as the only players to top 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving in a season.