Sunday’s Week 7 NFL action started with a thriller in London before most people out west woke from their slumbers. It ended with the Carolina Panthers remaining undefeated.
In between those two games, a whole heck of a lot happened.
The New England Patriots held off a vastly improved New York Jets team to also find themselves undefeated heading into Week 8.
Meanwhile, both the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans embarrassed themselves in an AFC South that might be one of the worst divisions in recent NFL history.
Out west, the Oakland Raiders laid the hammer down on a struggling San Diego Chargers squad in a game that may change the entire dynamic of the AFC West moving forward this season.
Here are the top 10 takeaways from Sunday’s Week 7 action. And no, we aren’t going to mention Greg Hardy more than this one time here. This is all about football, guys and gals.
The New England Patriots are clear Super Bowl favorites
There was some train of thought that the New York Jets might be able to go into Gillette Stadium and hand the Patriots their first loss since last December. That was thrown out the window in the second half of a game that looked early on like New York might actually win.
Showing their championship mentality against a vastly improved Jets team, Tom Brady and Co. overcame a fourth quarter deficit with two sustained 10-play touchdown-scoring drives to nab a two-score lead with just over a minute remaining.
It wasn’t perfect in any way. With Dion Lewis sitting due to an abdomen injury, the Patriots failed to get anything going on the ground. They went for just 16 yards on nine attempts — one of the main factors in Brady having to put the ball up at least 50 times for the second time this year.
Meanwhile, the Jets put up more first downs and total yards than their AFC East counterparts.
Great teams find a way to take a good team’s best shot and still come out on top. That’s exactly what the Patriots did en route to a perfect 6-0 record. In this, they have to be considered the odds-on favorites to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
Andrew Luck still isn’t right in Indianapolis
#colts Andrew Luck with a Blutarski QB rating. 0.0. 0-of-5, 0 yards, 1 INT.
— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) October 25, 2015
Some came to the conclusion that Luck was back after a three-touchdown performance against the Patriots last week. In reality, those experts engaged in a serious case of box score scouting.
If you watched Luck’s performance in Week 6, it was clear he wasn’t 100 percent — continually air-mailing passes and showing a dramatic regression in mechanics.
This week saw the stat line match up with the ugly tape. Indianapolis was held without a point until the final four minutes of the third quarter, at which point Luck and Co. had put up 139 yards on 34 plays. And while the Colts were able to tally 21 points in garbage time, Luck simply didn’t do anything against a bad New Orleans Saints defense when Indy was still in the game.
Overall, the former No. 1 pick completed 23-of-34 passes for 333 yards with three touchdowns and two picks in the 27-21 home loss. He’s now turned the ball over 12 times in six games and is 1-4 as a starter on the season.
Now well over a month removed from suffering his shoulder injury, the concern has to be that Luck isn’t at 100 percent. Even the best quarterbacks struggle through some difficult stretches. However, there seems to be a bit more to what is happening with Luck in 2015.
In his absence, Tony Romo proven to be one of NFL’s most valuable players
The whole idea that the Dallas Cowboys could find a way to break their three-game losing streak with Matt Cassel under center sounded good. After all, Brandon Weeden simply didn’t give the team a chance to win in his three starts since Romo went down with a collarbone injury in Week 2.
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Romo’s absence from the lineup was magnified even further in the second half of their loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
Cassel threw three interceptions within a five-pass sequence, ending three consecutive Cowboys possessions with a pick. One of those interceptions — a great play by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie — was returned for a touchdown.
Say what you want about Romo, but he’s proven himself to be among the league’s most valuable players while standing in street clothes on the sideline over the past month-plus. Dallas went from a top conference title contender to a last place team in the four games he has missed.
Dallas is now 15-3 in Romo’s last 18 starts. In the six outings he has missed during that span, the Cowboys have lost all six games. This tells us a story of a quarterback being extremely valuable to his team.
Devonta Freeman continues domination in lackluster overall effort by the Atlanta Falcons
The Tennessee Titans entered Sunday’s game losers of 18 of their past 21 games. They held a four-point lead against the Falcons until the 4:30 mark of the third quarter when Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones for an eight-yard touchdown to put Atlanta up for good.
It was a valiant effort from a vastly inferior Titans team. It also showed us that Atlanta might not be as good as its 6-1 record indicates.
With all that said, Falcons running back Devonta Freeman continues to perform at the highest level of any running back in recent league history. With his team struggling on offense, the second-year running back pounded the ball behind an offensive line that was opening up some tremendous holes.
Overall, Freeman went for 116 yards on 19 attempts, 92 of which came before first contact. That illustrates just how dominating the Falcons’ run-blocking was in front of the dynamic young running back. Thus far this season, Freeman has put up 931 total yards on 159 touches for an average of 5.9 yards per touch.
With Atlanta’s passing game likely to pick up as the season progresses, Freeman has an opportunity to help lead this team to a surprising conference title. That was magnified on Sunday when the rest of the Falcons’ offense simply had a down game.
Dan Campbell has his Miami Dolphins playing at a high level
Miami put up a total of 65 points in its first four games. Following Sunday’s 44-26 win over the Houston Texans, this squad has now tallied 82 points in its past two games. The one common difference between these two stretches of games is that the Dolphins replaced Joe Philbin with Dan Campbell as head coach.
And while there’s no real way to tell if he’s the long-term solution, there is little doubt that the Dolphins are a completely different team under the former intern.
Ryan Tannehill completed 18-of-19 passes, including his first 18 passes on Sunday. Add in his seven consecutive completions against the Tennessee Titans in Week 6, and Tannehill broke the NFL record for most consecutive completions (25).
Lamar Miller also went for well over 200 total yards and two scores in the first half alone.
Meanwhile, Miami outgained Houston 275-0 en route to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. Heck, the score stood at 41-0 at the half. Needless to say, it was complete an utter domination in Campbell’s second game as the Dolphins’ head coach.
Now at 3-3 on the season after two consecutive blowout wins, Miami has a golden opportunity to prove that it is for real Thursday night against the Patriots.
These two wins were more than impressive, but Tom Brady and Co. present a completely different level of competition. That game should tell us what we need to know about Miami heading into the second half of the season. But for now, things are looking up in South Beach.
Teddy Bridgewater turns corner in Minnesota Vikings win
After averaging just 205 passing yards and throwing three total touchdowns in Minnesota’s first five games, this second-year quarterback broke out of his shell big time against a hapless Detroit Lions team on Sunday.
Bridgewater ended Sunday’s game with 316 yards and two touchdowns while completing 25-of-35 passes. It may have come against a poor Lions pass defense, but it is a step in the right direction for a quarterback that simply didn’t show the necessary consistency to be counted on in the first five games of the season.
The quarterback’s new-found relationship with rookie Stefon Diggs came in handy big time in the 28-19 win. Diggs hauled in six catches for 109 yards and an amazing touchdown. In the first three games the rookie has been active this season, he has tallied 19 receptions for 325 yards.
If these two are able to keep that up, it will help create balance on an offense that has been dominated by Adrian Peterson.
At 4-2 on the season, Minnesota is actually just one game behind Green Bay in the win column in the NFC North. Continued progression from Bridgewater and the passing game might very well keep the team in contention late into the season. At the very least, the Vikings are now on solid ground in the NFC Playoff race.
Todd Gurley leading the St. Louis Rams into contention in the NFC West
Gurley came into Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns as the talk of the NFL. He was coming off a two-game stretch that saw him put up 305 yards against the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers. Taking on a Browns defense that ranked dead last in the NFL against the run, most expected the rookie first-round pick to have a big game.
After struggling through the first quarter, Gurley went off big time in a 24-6 win over the Browns. He tallied 163 total yards on 22 touches, including touchdown runs of one yard and 16 yards. He did so with Cleveland stacking the box against the run and quarterback Nick Foles putting up yet another marginal performance.
At 3-3 on the season, St. Louis remains in second place in the NFC West. It has already defeated the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. Jeff Fisher and Co. also have a home game against the hapless San Francisco 49ers coming up next week. If Gurley continues this recent tear, there is no reason to believe the Rams can’t contend in the division for the remainder of the regular season. That’s how much of an impact one player can make.
Two AFC West teams trending in different directions
The Oakland Raiders took it to a struggling San Diego Chargers team on the road. When we conclude Jack Del Rio’s squad dominated, we mean complete domination in every possible way. The 37-29 score doesn’t begin to tell the story here. Oakland held a 37-6 lead early in the third quarter — a score that was cut into a great deal during garbage time action.
Jack Del Rio’s squad put up nearly 300 first half yards while intercepting Philip Rivers to end two of San Diego’s first four drives. From that point on, all the talk was either about how great the Raiders looked or how bad the Chargers were performing.
Derek Carr completed 24-of-31 passes for 289 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks — the latest of what has been a season of tremendous performances from the second-year quarterback.
Rookie receiver Amari Cooper added 133 yards and a score on five receptions. No. 2 receiver Michael Crabtree hauled in six of the eight passes thrown in his direction. Add in a solid outing from running back Latavius Murray, and it’s safe to assume this new group of skill-position talent in Oakland has the 3-3 Raiders heading in the right direction.
For the Chargers, it was yet another disheartening performance in a season that seems to be on the verge of being lost. Rivers put the ball up 58 times, bringing his three-game total to 171 pass attempts. That was in large part to a running game that simply couldn’t get going early on.
With the win, Oakland finds itself in second place and just two games behind the Denver Broncos in the win column. For San Diego, it’s now five games behind the Broncos in the loss column and much closer to the last place Kansas City Chiefs than actually being in playoff contention.
The Carolina Panthers are legit
A quarterback playing at a high level. A vastly improved offensive line. A stingy defense. When you have these three aspects of the game working in your advantage, you are primed to have some success. Following a 27-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina finds itself at 6-0 for the first time in franchise history.
Sunday’s performance wasn’t perfect by any measure. Cam Newton threw three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown. And after finding themselves up 21-6 early in the third quarter, the Panthers let a struggling Eagles team right back in the game.
But when it counted the most, Carolina’s top players stepped up. Newton made the throws he needed to and cornerback Josh Norman was in lock down mode. Meanwhile, the tandem of Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis continued to play stellar football at linebacker.
Unlike the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots of the world, the margin for error just isn’t that big in Carolina. It might not be the sexy pick to come out of the NFC. Heck, there are still some major holes on this team.
However, Sunday’s performance told us a story of a squad that’s fully prepared to contend with the big boys when all is said and done.
The Houston Texans fail to compete
We looked at this game from a Miami Dolphins perspective above, but it’s time to focus on the Texans and just how horrible they were on Sunday. By the time Houston had put up five total yards, the Dolphins had scored five touchdowns. They were outgained 275-0 in the first quarter. And when all was said and done in the first half, Bill O’Brien’s squad was down 41-0.
That’s a team not showing up for his head coach — a team in the Texans that is way too talented for this type of embarrassing performance. Heck, Jadeveon Clowney, recording his first NFL sack with his team down 41-0, felt it made sense to do a sack celebration.
We might be able to fall short of calling for O’Brien’s job. After all, he did lead the team to a 9-7 record last season. But something seems off here. You don’t get embarrassed in the fashion Houston was on Sunday without showing a complete lack of effort. And in reality, that’s on the coaching staff — led by the head man.