Allen had been starting as a tackle in the nickel package, usually playing alongside Matt Ioannidis. The two had been giving Washington what it needed: players who can drive offensive linemen back and collapse the pocket.

Allen only had one sack, but he had a number of strong rushes to help set up others — or prevent the quarterback from escaping. Those two, plus the outside linebackers, enabled Washington to often send just four rushers and focus on coverage.

On Monday, head coach Jay Gruden said Allen was playing the position “like a veteran, really.”

“He has got great fundamentals,” Gruden said. “He’s got a great idea of run/pass, how to get off blocks. He has got strong hands and he was getting a pretty consistent pass-rush push. He doesn’t have a lot of sacks obviously, but he was getting push in the pocket which was critical for the interior guys so the edge guys can get home. Just all around, he has played well.”

Allen had fallen in the draft in part because of concerns about his shoulders. The Redskins did not share those concerns and were ecstatic that he fell to them. He provided them with versatility, too; Allen also played end in their 3-4 base front and could line up at different spots. He also occasionally rushed from a standing position behind a nose guard, picking his spot where to rush.

Second-year player Anthony Lanier II will replace Allen in the lineup. The Redskins like his length and the fact the 6-foot-6 Lanier he bulked up to 286 pounds; Gruden said Lanier is much stronger than he was as a rookie. He can play tackle in their nickel package and end in their base. He’s also considered a good athlete, but more raw than Allen.

Washington’s defense is allowing just 88 rushing yards per game, the eight-best total in the NFL. Philadelphia’s offense is fifth with 132.5 rushing yards per game.

Saints players were loving the news of Peterson’s performance in Arizona, while also happy about what they still have at running back. This could be the kind of thing that works out well for everyone, if Peterson helps rescue the Cardinals and the Saints’ backs blossom in their opportunities. Hey, the NFC is wide-open, folks. Go run through that hole.

Some other stuff we learned in Week 6:

All is still not well with the Steelers, but it’s getting there

The truth on the Martavis Bryant story, regardless of what the player is saying publicly, is that Bryant and his agent have expressed unhappiness with the way he’s being used in the offense and, some weeks ago, told the Steelers that Bryant would prefer to be traded if his current role is all they have in mind. Multiple sources say Bryant’s agent has spoken with Steelers management since the season began to express these sentiments, and that Bryant himself spoke with coaches during the week leading up to Pittsburgh’s Week 5 game to ask about being a bigger part of the offense. That has not materialized, though Bryant isn’t exactly being ignored. He has played 71 percent of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps, second among Steelers wide receivers to only the incredible Antonio Brown (93 percent) and slightly ahead of rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster (66 percent), though Smith-Schuster saw the field more in Week 6. Bryant has been targeted 34 times, which is third on the team behind Brown (74) and superstar running back Le’Veon Bell (39). Smith-Schuster has 24 targets.

I can see the reason for Bryant’s frustration. He views himself as a difference-making player whose size/speed combination is unique and who, if given the opportunity, can do serious damage downfield or in the red zone. He has worked extremely hard to come back clean, healthy and in better shape than ever following his one-year drug suspension. By all accounts, he looks incredible in practice. On a representative number of current NFL teams, he’d have a claim on the title of No. 1 wide receiver.

Bottom line, the Steelers aren’t going to trade Bryant, who still has more value to them as a member of their team than he does in trade. As brilliantly talented as he might be, he has yet to establish himself as an NFL dominator, and until he does, the Steelers aren’t likely to get a team to offer them sufficient return for his still-latent potential. There’s still likely a breakout coming, and when it does, the Steelers want to benefit from that with points and wins.

A victory Sunday over previously unbeaten Kansas City has the Steelers feeling better. And the production and opportunity Brown and Bell are getting has those guys placated for the moment at least. Bryant’s day will come, and while it’s easy to understand his impatience, the Steelers have no reason to act on it.

Ben McAdoo did some coaching this week

In this space last week, I laid out the case for the New York Giants moving on from Jerry Reese after this season. He has been general manager for 11 seasons and will have made the playoffs in only four of them — two of which were in his first two seasons. This is a large sample size.

But I also made the point that changing GMs doesn’t automatically mean changing coaches, and that two years on McAdoo would be too small a sample size. Week 6 proved my point. McAdoo was taking a lot of heat this time last week, and it got worse as the week went on because of the Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie discipline issue. But the proof is in the pudding, and the display the Giants put on Sunday night in dominating the Broncos in Denver shows that McAdoo pulled off an NFL head coach’s No. 1 job. He had his team completely ready to play in Sunday night’s upset at Denver.

The discipline of Rodgers-Cromartie was, Giants coaches believed, necessary to send a message that turning your back on teammates won’t be tolerated. The decision to hand over playcalling to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan was a case of a head coach swallowing his pride and realizing his attention was needed for the bigger picture. Smart, responsible moves that paid off. At 1-5, this Giants season isn’t salvageable, but McAdoo will rightly be judged on how he navigates it now that it’s lost. The final score Sunday night indicates he’s on the right track.

But … did Vance Joseph?

There was a lot of focus on how surprisingly great a night that was for the Giants, but wasn’t it also just an inexcusably terrible loss for the Broncos? At home, coming off a bye against an 0-5 team that was down its top three wide receivers, its starting center, its best pass-rusher and one of its top two cornerbacks? And your top two division rivals had already lost, like, an hour before? How do you come out flat in a game like that? Should be a wake-up call for a Broncos team that has mainly played angry after missing the playoffs in 2016.

Mike McCarthy is betting on himself, and it could pay off

There’s no way Hundley has Rodgers’ gifts for accuracy, for manipulating the pocket, for game-winning throws on the run — no one does. But Hundley, who is signed on a cheap deal through 2018, has some talent, and McCarthy now gets more than half a season to figure out how to maximize that talent and minimize his weaknesses. If he succeeds, the Packers could have one of next offseason’s more compelling trade chips on their hands.

A fantasy note on the Cowboys’ running backs

This isn’t a “What We Learned” from this week, because the Cowboys were off, but I have spoken with people close to the situation about what the Cowboys would do at running back if they had to play without Ezekiel Elliott for a long period of time. And with Elliott apparently re-suspended for the next six games, it’s worth mentioning.

They do like McFadden better than Morris in some areas, however, including the passing game. So if they know they’re going to be without Elliott, expect a change in the way the Cowboys’ offensive coaches make a game plan and a lean toward a system in which Morris and McFadden (and maybe Rod Smith) split duties and carries in some way. That’s what I’ve been told to expect by folks in the know there, which is unfortunate for fantasy players who might have been hoping that Morris or McFadden would simply slide into Elliott’s spot and get his workload. Sorry to be the bearer of bad fantasy tidings.

Philadelphia Eagles: Safety Malcolm Jenkins continued demonstrating for social justice by raising his first above his head during the national anthem prior to Thursday night’s game at Carolina. Safety Rodney McLeod joined him by raising a fist. Defensive end Chris Long placed an arm around Jenkins as a sign of support, a gesture he has made since white nationalists held demonstrations in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, this summer. — Tim McManus