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10 Takeaways From Sunday’s Week 7 NFL Action

Week 7 of the NFL season told us a lot about what to expect moving forward this year. The Dallas Cowboys now boast the best record in the league and are on the verge of accomplishing a feat that the franchise hasn’t seen since the Tom Landry days.

The Seattle Seahawks fell to a last place St. Louis Rams team due to some poor play and one controversial call. Meanwhile, Peyton Manning broke Brett Favre’s record for the most touchdown passes in NFL history.

Yes. This was most definitely an active Sunday around the football world. And as we hit the midway point in the season, it’s once again time to look at 10 takeaways from Sunday’s NFL action.

1. Major Issues in Seattle

Courtesy of Seahawks.com: Carroll and Co. need to right the ship immediately.

Courtesy of Seahawks.com: Carroll and Co. need to right the ship immediately.

Fresh off the entire Percy Harvin drama, Seattle went into St. Louis and laid an egg against a one-win Rams team on Sunday. Falling down 21-3 early on, the Seahawks climbed back into the game in the second half but weren’t able to pull off the comeback. This represents their second consecutive defeat. And by virtue of the Arizona Cardinals win over the Oakland Raiders, Pete Carroll’s squad is now two games out in the NFC West heading into the midway point of the season.

As to where Russell Wilson played some great football, it was Seattle’s defense that struggled once again. While Wilson was busy becoming the first NFL quarterback to tally 300-plus passing yards and 100-plus rushing yards in a single game, the Seahawks defense forced just three Austin Davis’ incompletions throughout the duration of the game. They couldn’t even put up a pass rush against an offensive line that had struggled throughout.

In a vacuum, a 3-3 record isn’t necessarily the end of the world. But when it comes at a time that drama is seemingly flowing through the pores in Seattle, there has to be some questions raised here. Is the locker room united? Was Harvin the only problem in Seattle? And of course, is this team in the midst of a Super Bowl hangover? With four games remaining against Arizona and San Francisco, the Seahawks need to right the ship right now or face the possibility of missing the playoffs altogether. It will also help once they actually get some of their banged-up players back in the mix.

2. Officiating Remains a Major Problem

Sticking with the Seahawks-Rams game for a second here. With the Rams looking to gain a first down and run out the clock up by two late in the fourth quarter, running back Tre Mason fumbled the ball after gaining the necessary distance to end the game. Two Rams players nearly recovered the fumble before there was a scrum on the field. It appeared for a second that a Seahawks player had fallen on it, but there wasn’t necessarily enough evidence to rule it that way.

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Unfortunately, the officials decided against reviewing this play in St. Louis. And while NFL’s head of officiating indicated that it was reviewed in New York City, that’s not a reasonable explanation.

This isn’t to say that Seattle lost because of this one play. The team was down 18 points against an opponent that had one win heading into the game. But it is yet another example of officials involving themselves too much into the outcome of a game. At the very least, they should have stopped the game and made sure they got it right. Instead, the game moved forward at a brisk pace, at which point St. Louis just kneeled down for the win. This is a story that has been repeated over and over again around the NFL this season. And to be honest, it’s an absolute joke.

3. The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t the Same Without A.J. Green

Courtesy of Colts.com: Cincinnati didn't compete without A.J. Green on Sunday.

Courtesy of Colts.com: Cincinnati didn’t compete without A.J. Green on Sunday.

Andy Dalton and Co. failed to score a single point in an embarrassing 27-0 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. They racked up 135 total yards and eight first downs in the loss. For his part, Dalton completed just 18-of-38 passes for 126 yards. Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s receivers combined for a total of four catches on the day.

This doesn’t inspire much confidence in the Bengals being able to overcome what is now a three-game winless streak, especially if Green is going to be out or banged up for a substantial period of time. They just aren’t the same team without him on the field. It really is that simple.

4. The Chicago Bears are a Hot Mess

Courtesy of the Score

Courtesy of the Score

Chicago now sits at 3-4 on the season after a 27-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. For Jay Cutler and Co, that brings their home record to a disastrous 0-3 on the campaign. And even more important than the loss, there seems to be some issues within the locker room.

Reports suggested after the game that there was some yelling between players and that Brandon Marshall called Cutler out. This is not what Chicago had in mind when it started the season with a 2-1 record.

With both Detroit and Green Bay two games ahead of the Bears, they are going to have to run off a few wins in a row in order to get back in the NFC North race. That’s going to be incredibly difficult with road games coming up against the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers.

5. The Cleveland Browns Just Being the Cleveland Browns

Coming off a dominating win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, there weren’t many who thought Cleveland would be challenged by a winless Jacksonville Jaguars team on Sunday. In fact, this game had blowout written all over it. Unfortunately for the Browns, they were indeed involved in the wrong end of a blowout, as Jacksonville notched its first win of the season with a 24-6 victory.

In reality, it was the offense that struggled once again. Brian Hoyer completed 16-of-41 passes and averaged just 5.2 yards per attempt. Cleveland’s ground game compiled 69 yards on 30 rush attempts. That’s just not going to get it done, especially when you take into account the fact that Jacksonville had one of the worst defenses in the NFL heading into the Week.

A week removed from potentially finding themselves in second place, the Browns are one Steelers win away from being in last place. The good news here is that this team has upcoming games against the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers…two games that they have to win.

6. The San Francisco 49ers are Banged up Heading into the Bye

Courtesy of USA Today: In a season full of turmoil, Sunday night was a low point for the 49ers.

Courtesy of USA Today: In a season full of turmoil, Sunday night was a low point for the 49ers.

It was going to be a difficult task for the 49ers to go into Denver and beat the Broncos without so many starters available on the defensive side of the ball. But you would be hard pressed to find anyone that predicted this game would be over before the fourth quarter. A night that started ugly for the 49ers didn’t get much better throughout the game. And when the final whistle blew, Jim Harbaugh’s squad was looking a 42-17 loss right in the face.

Some will make a lot of this loss by concluding that the 49ers weren’t ready to compete. While there is some truth involved in this sentiment, they just didn’t have the necessary personnel available to stop the best quarterback in the NFL from doing what he does best. Peyton Manning collected four touchdown passes in what was a dominating performance. It surely helped that the likes of Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, Aldon Smith, Glenn Dorsey, Jimmie Ward and Chris Culliver were all sidelined for the 49ers.

Now at 4-3 and in second place in the NFC West, the 49ers head into a much-needed bye week. Once they return, most of these stars on the defensive side of the ball should be back. The larger issue might be the leg injury to Daniel Kilgore, who is likely out for the remainder of the season. This means San Francisco will have to turn to a rookie center after the bye. As we have seen with injuries at this position (see Seattle), it could have an impact on the team moving forward. But it’s now all about getting healthy for the 49ers.

7. The Dallas Cowboys Remain NFL’s Best

It might not have been the best performance from the Cowboys, but they were able to pull off a tough divisional win against the New York Giants on Sunday. DeMarco Murray broke a long-standing league record by recording his sixth consecutive 100-yard rushing game. Tony Romo, who might be playing the best football of his career, missed on just six passes and recorded three touchdown passes in the 31-21 victory.

By virtue of San Diego’s loss to Kansas City, the Cowboys now boast the best record in football. And winners of six consecutive, they can match their longest winning streak since 1983 with a victory over the Washington Redskins next week. Through seven weeks, there is absolutely no question that the Cowboys are the best team in football.

8. It’s Peyton Manning’s World, we Just Live in it

Couresy of Associated Press: Manning is just a pleasure to watch.

Couresy of Associated Press: Manning is just a pleasure to watch.

By virtue of throwing four touchdown passes against San Francisco in Sunday night, Manning is now your all-time NFL leader in touchdown passes. In the process, he’s continuing to play the best football that I have ever seen a quarterback play in my lifetime. And that’s saying something considering I have seen Joe Montana and Brett Favre all play in the prime of their careers.

In the heat of the moment, we simply don’t understand how lucky we are to watch these all-time great quarterbacks sling the football around the field. It’s not until after they retire that we look back in complete awe. My one recommendation to you moving forward is to appreciate what Manning is while he’s still on the field playing the game at this historically high level.

9. The Baltimore Ravens are Contenders

It seemed that the Ravens were off to start the season. We already know how the Ray Rice situation may have impacted this team internally, but it didn’t seem that they had much of an identity on either side of the ball. Following a dominating 29-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Baltimore sits at 5-2 on the season and winners of five of its last six games. For his part, Joe Flacco is playing the best football we have seen from him since the team’s Super Bowl run back in 2012. He has thrown 14 touchdowns compared to five interceptions and is leading an offense that has scored an average of 32 points per game over their past four outings.

The one main difference for Ravens from a season ago is that they continue to get production in the running game. The likes of Justin Forsett and Bernard Pierce combined for 116 yards on 31 attempts against Atlanta. Meanwhile, Flacco put the ball up just 25 times. It’s this type of balance that may very well lead Baltimore to the AFC North title a year after missing out on the playoffs completely.

10. The Arizona Cardinals are the Best Team in the NFC West

Courtesy of AZCardinals.com: Raise your hands if you're in first place.

Courtesy of AZCardinals.com: Raise your hands if you’re in first place.

We learned this last week. But by virtue of both Seattle and San Francisco falling on Sunday, the Cardinals now own a 1.5 game lead in the NFC West with a chance to make it a full two games next week against the Philadelphia Eagles. While their performance against a lowly Oakland Raiders team might not have been extremely impressive, the Cardinals just found a way to win.

Carson Palmer continued to play mistake-free football, throwing for 253 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Arizona’s ground game tallied 123 yards on 37 attempts, while Andre Ellington compiled 160 total yards on offense. If this unit can continue to play at a high level, an underrated Cardinals defense should be able to do the rest. It’s now all about taking care of business with tough games coming up against Philadelphia and Dallas.

Photo: USA Today

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