Romeo Doubs, Cole Kmet among Week 6’s Secret Superstars

As the 2024 NFL season rolls merrily along, we start to see trends and tendencies we can rely on to take us through the rest of the campaign. We also see more unheralded players who have seized their opportunities to come out of seemingly nowhere and become major factors for their teams.

There were several such players in Week 6, and here are our Secret Superstars now that the week is over, and we’ve all survived it!

Tampa Bay’s backup running backs

Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen is a pretty smart dude, and coming into Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, he was probably well aware that Dennis Allen’s Saints defense had one fatal flaw – their inability to stop anybody’s run game.

Though the first five weeks of the 2024 season, the Saints ranked 21st in Adjusted Line Yards allowed, 22nd in running back yards allowed, 29th in power success allowed (percentage of runs on third or fourth down, two yards or less to go, that achieve a first down or touchdown), dead last in stuff rate (percentage of runs where the running back is tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage), 18th in second-level run yardage rate (yards which an opponent’s running backs earn between 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage, divided by total running back carries), and 17th in open-field run yardage rate (yards which an opponent’s running backs earn more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, divided by total running back carries).

Per Next Gen Stats, the Saints defense had used dime personnel (six defensive backs) on 23.2% of plays this season, the third-highest rate in the NFL.

In Weeks 1-2, the Saints allowed just 3.8 yards per play in dime personnel, fewest among defenses that used dime on at least 10 plays. In Weeks 3-5, the Saints allowed 8.7 yards per play in dime personnel, fourth-most among defenses that used dime on at least 10 plays.

Coen likely computed all of that, put it in a blender, and then sent his running backs onto the field to put New Orleans’ defense in a blender – which is exactly how it turned out.

The Buccaneers became the first team since the 1962 Green Bay Packers to gain more than 300 passing yards and more than 275 rushing yards in the same road game on the way to a 51-27 thrashing. And they did it without primary running back Rachaad White, who was out with a foot injury.

Sean Tucker, the 2023 undrafted free agent out of Syracuse, who had never gained more than 15 yards in an NFL game, amassed 136 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

And Bucky Irving, the fourth-round rookie from Oregon, put up 81 yards and 14 carries and his own rushing touchdown.

Yes, the Saints were tackling terribly, and once again were overwhelmed physically. But that doesn’t negate what the Bucs’ running backs did.

Romeo Doubs, WR, Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers don’t have a No. 1 receiver, and they don’t seem to care that they don’t. But getting Romeo Doubs back in action against the Arizona Cardinals after Doubs was suspended for the Week 5 game against the Los Angeles Rams for conduct detrimental to the team for missing practices turned out to be a pretty big deal.

Doubs had been a relative non-factor in Green Bay’s offense in the first four games of the season, with 12 catches on 19 targets for 169 yards and no touchdowns. But against the Cardinals’ struggling defense, Doubs came back in a big way with three catches on four targets for 49 yards, and his first two touchdowns of the season.

“It’s huge,” quarterback Jordan Love said of Doubs after Green Bay’s 34-13 win. “Just having Rome back out there on the field was awesome. It was huge and he went out there and made some big-time plays with the two touchdown catches and some more plays before that. But it’s awesome to have Rome back out there.”

Head coach Matt LaFleur also talked about Doubs’ first catch of the day with 6:37 left in the first quarter – a 19-yarder in which Doubs went vertical and then crossed the field.

“Yeah, he made some great plays. Certainly, the first reception he had was a 19-yarder over the middle. That doesn’t happen unless your O-line gives Jordan all day to make that throw. The initial play should be hit a lot wider, but the O-line allowed us to allow that route to develop and go across the field. It was a third window throw, which typically doesn’t happen in this league. It’s a big-time credit to the line. It’s a big-time credit to Rome to keep going on the route, and then Jordan made a good throw.”

It would appear that all is forgiven.

Cole Kmet, TE, Chicago Bears

The Bears have enjoyed the services of tight end Cole Kmet since they selected him in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Notre Dame. But it’s safe to say that nobody in the Windy City expected Kmet to be as effectively versatile as he was on Sunday in a 35-16 takedown of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

Kmet didn’t just catch five passes on five targets for 70 yards and two touchdowns against the Jags, he also served as the team’s emergency long snapper after Scott Daly suffered a knee injury on an early punt.

“Someone found out that I did it in high school,” Kmet said postgame. “These guys know everything about you. They found out I did it in high school. My uncle did it. I remember my dad, just me and my brother would be messing around doing it in the backyard all the time and it was kind of like the more-you-can-do thing. Thinking, like, if you ever needed to make a team, if you’re a guy that’s the 54 or 55 guy, and they are deciding between two guys, that you know, having that ability, they are going to keep you on the roster for those type of things. Obviously, I’m not really in that position right now, but that was kind of the mindset of learning how to do it, I wanted to play in the NFL one day, and that was kind of the thing behind it and paid off today, I guess. So was glad that I could just help out where I could.”

As they say, the more you can do…

In addition, Kmet availed himself as a top-notch blocker on this Caleb Williams 10-yard run in the second quarter.

And Kmet was more than effective when Williams was throwing him the ball.

Kmet was helped by scheme, and some great throws from Williams, but this was his star turn as much as anybody else’s.

“Great play concept,” Kmet said of the double flat route fake. “[Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron] had run it in Seattle before. They presented a good defense for us to run that. We had run a bunch of screens where we’re flying the guy behind and pulling those backers out. So just kind of blocked my guy on the line for a second there and Caleb gave a good fake and then just right up the chute and was able to break a tackle and get into the end zone.”

All of a sudden, the Chicago Bears have an interesting offense, and a dynamic quarterback. Will miracles never cease?

Dominick Puni, OG, San Francisco 49ers

It’s not easy to come into the NFL playing a position you’ve never played before. Left tackle Tyler Guyton and center Cooper Beebe of the Dallas Cowboys are taking that challenge on as rookies, and the results have been mixed in the regular season. Joe Alt of the Los Angeles Chargers was doing alright at right tackle after a Notre Dame career at left tackle before he was upended by a sprained MCL in Week 3. And Taliese Fuaga of the New Orleans Saints has done a credible job at left tackle after playing nothing but right tackle three straight seasons at Oregon State.

And then, there’s right guard Dominink Puni of the San Francisco 49ers, who is taking his adjustment from left tackle, left guard, and occasional inline tight end at Kansas to the pros at right guard with an unexpected level of authority.

Against the Seattle Seahawks last Thursday night in a 36-24 win, Puni was utterly dominant in the run game, and allowed no sacks or quarterback hits in 33 pass-blocking reps. Which is consistent with his season – Puni has shut out all opposing pass-rushers in those two categories through San Francisco’s first six games.

“It’s hard at first, but then, getting a whole training camp definitely helps,” Puni told me postgame regarding the move to right guard. “The more reps you have with it, the more comfortable you can get, and the better you are with it. Obviously, you have Coach [run game coordinator/offensive line Chris] Foerster, who does a really good job. It’s still a transition, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

He’s getting the hang of it enough to impress future Hall of Famer Trent Williams, who expressed some pretty interesting thoughts about the rookie when I brought him up. Williams didn’t even know that Puni had never been a right guard until he was Williams’ teammate.

“It’s amazing. Which is crazy, because he has the makings of a Pro Bowl or All-Pro player at the position. He’s a godsend, man. A really, really good kid. Really professional. He’s gained his teammates’ respect just by the way he carries himself.”

The 49ers’ rookie class has been pretty amazing so far, and Puni has been the best of the lot.

Jarvis Brownlee Jr., CB, Tennessee Titans

In the 2024 offseason, Titans general manager Ran Carthon made it abundantly clear that he wanted his defense to play more press coverage. Not that it would be easy to play less – the 2023 Titans had no cornerbacks playing press on 63% of their snaps, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL.

So, Carthon relieved defensive coordinator Shane Bowen of his duties, replaced Bowen with former Baltimore Ravens defensive backs coach Dennard WIlson, traded for Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, signed Sneed to a massive new contract, signed ex-Cowboys and Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, and selected Louisville cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. in the fifth round of the draft.

So far, it’s worked pretty well. The Titans have had at least one cornerback in press coverage on 70% of their defensive snaps, third-most in the league behind the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they’ve risen up to 10th in Defensive DVOA from 18th in 2023.

In that loss to the Colts (which had mostly to do with Tennessee’s dysfunctional offense), Brownlee was the star of those coverages. The rookie has seen an increase in snaps since Awuzie suffered a groin injury in Week 3, and he shut down Indy’s generally explosive passing game with Joe Flacco when the ball came his way. Brownlee allowed three catches on seven targets for 12 yards, 13 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 50.3. When he was asked to press the Colts’ receivers, Brownlee was just about impossible to beat.

Another member of Tennessee’s defense told me on Monday that he knew Brownlee was going to be a dawg from the moment he walked into the facility. It has certainly seemed to check out.