Menu

NFL Week 7 results

NFL Analysis: Week 7 Recaps

, , , , ,

Peyton Manning’s homecoming falls flat, thanks to a big difference in supporting cast performance. The Jets get a win both lucky and deserved all in one, the Cowboys grab first place, the Bengals win a wild one in Detroit and the improbable Chiefs are the last unbeaten team.  These games lead up TheSportsNotebook’s NFL analysis as we run through all the action of NFL Week 7…

Indianapolis 39 Denver 33: This game was an eye-opener. Once we got past the emotion of Peyton Manning coming home and the unnecessary drama created by Indianapolis owner Robert Irsay what we saw was a display that pitted one very complete football team against one great quarterback. Even in today’s NFL, the complete team still wins.


Indianapolis ran the ball, with 121 yards rushing. They pressured the quarterback with four sacks, plus a Robert Mathis hit on Manning that forced a fumble and ended up as a safety for the Colts. Indianapolis played relatively smart football, letting Denver commit 12 penalties. Andrew Luck’s performance–21/38 for 228 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, was good, although not great. The thing is, when a complete team effort is taking place a quarterback need only be good and mistake-free. Luck was both.

Manning went 29/49 for 386 yards, with three touchdowns of his own against one interception. He didn’t have any help from the run game and was playing from a deep hole most of the second half, as the Colts took a 33-14 lead.

Denver’s problems in every area except quarterback play are not going away. Indianapolis has now beaten the Broncos and 49ers.

NY Jets 30 New England 27 (OT): There’s a lot of media discussion surrounding the atrocious interpretation of an obscure rule about whether defenders can push against each other to create momentum in blocking a field goal. The Patriots were flagged for it, and the Jets were allowed to re-kick the game-winning field goal in overtime. If you reduce the game to strictly this, the Pats got robbed, particularly given they were about to take over the ball on the 46-yard line.

But let it not be overlooked that the Jets played better football. Both quarterbacks were erratic in terms of completion percentage and each threw a pick-six, but I think the Jets will take a wash between Geno Smith and Tom Brady any day they can get it. Furthermore, New York simply pounded the ball on the ground, with Chris Ivory getting 104 yards and New England not able to generate a rush attack.

The Patriots are 5-2 and still atop the AFC East, but the Jets at 4-3 now have to be seen as a legitimate contender.

Dallas 17 Philadelphia 3: Of all the things one didn’t see coming, this outbreak of excellence from the Dallas defense had to top the list. A unit that can be sporadic in any case, was dealing with key injuries. But they chased Nick Foles from the game and shut down LeSean McCoy. The Dallas offense wasn’t all that good, but Tony Romo got hooked up with Dez Bryant enough to generate some yardage and churn out a win. A “battle” of 3-3 teams for first place in the NFC East goes Dallas’ way.

Cincinnati 27 Detroit 24: A 54-yard field goal from Mike Nugent at the gun ends a back-and-forth game at Ford Field. The game, as befitting the result, was evenly played. If we had to pick a difference, Andy Dalton was a little more efficient than Matthew Stafford in the passing game. Each were in the high 300s yardage-wise, but Dalton was 24/34, with Stafford at 28/51. It’s another inter-conference win for the AFC, and you wonder if a couple 8-8 teams are going to make the playoffs out of the NFC.


Kansas City 17 Houston 16: Kansas City is now 7-0 and in the big picture the fact that last year’s disaster is this year’s last undefeated team is the big story. In the short-term, the fact Houston got efficient play from new quarterback Case Keenum (15/25, 271 yards, no interceptions) gives the Texans some renewed hope. In fact, if Houston can just match Kansas City on the ground, an area both teams take justifiable pride in, the Texans sneak out with an upset.

The Chiefs opted to go for it on a fourth-and-goal play in the fourth quarter to effectively go for the throat and get an eight-point lead. I agree with the call–the risk of not stretching the lead to four points is  made up for by pinning the opposition inside the 5-yard line. Although the failure to get the touchdown meant Kansas City didn’t cover the (-6.5) number and probably caused some cursing in Las Vegas casinos.

Washington 45 Chicago 41: RG3 was brilliant, save for one ill-advised throw early that Charles Tillman turned into a pick-6. The Redskins quarterback made outstanding throws on the run, took off in the read option and ran for 84 yards. The threat of his running revitalized Alfred Morris, who had 95 yards on 19 carries.

But those of us who are Redskins fans have to be realistic. We saw our team score 45 points, have Jay Cutler go out with a groin injury (he’s gone for at least four weeks) and still have to win in the final minute at home. This is not what you call sustainable success.


Pittsburgh 19 Baltimore 16: This game was everything the Steelers needed. To begin with, when you’re 1-4, any game that ends up with a victory falls in that category. And it was in the AFC North. And it was against their archrival.

But beyond the obvious, Pittsburgh did offensively what they haven’t done all season and that’s run the football. Le’Veon Bell had 93 yards and the team overall averaged nearly five a pop. That’s the way you slow a pass rush, like the one Baltimore brings with Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil. It was enough for Pittsburgh to win it on a last-play field goal.

Green Bay 31 Cleveland 13: Nice easy day for the Packers. If Eddie Lacy keeps running like this–82 yards–Green Bay will be a serious problem for anyone in the NFC playoffs.

San Francisco 31 Tennessee 17: Colin Kaepernick isn’t spectacular, but his 13/21 for 199 yards was one of his most efficient performances of the last month. The 49ers also ran the ball well, played good defense and only a meaningless late touchdown from the Titans kept this from appearing as the rout that it was.

Seattle 34 Arizona 22: Another game not as close as the score made it look. Seattle got 91 yards from Marshawn Lynch and sacked Carson Palmer seven times, demonstrating complete control of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

Atlanta 31 Tampa Bay 23: Matt Ryan showed why he’s an excellent quarterback, going without Julio Jones and Roddy White and instead simply targeting Harry Douglas for seven catches and 149 yards, part of an almost perfect day for the Atlanta quarterback. But the Falcons need a big winning streak, and 18 rush yards, while allowing 111 is not going to get you there.

Buffalo 23 Miami 21: With Thad Lewis playing quarterback for the Bills and the game in Miami, this has to qualify as the most shocking upset of Week 7. Ryan Tannehill was horrible, at just 19/37 and throwing two interceptions. Just when I was starting to have some confidence in Tannehill, he reminds me why I thought taking him with the ninth overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft was so dumb.

Carolina 30 St. Louis 15: Sam Bradford is lost for the season, although I don’t know that Kellen Clemens can’t do just as mediocre a job as Bradford had been doing in St. Louis. How about Cam Newton though? He was a razor-sharp 15/17 for 204 yards, and this marks two good games in a row for the erratic Carolina quarterback.

San Diego 24 Jacksonville 6: Obviously no one gets any props for beating Jacksonville this year, but I think we should point out that San Diego played very efficiently in spite of this being a clear letdown spot on a short week (they had beaten the Colts on Monday Night) and then factor in the difficulties West Coast teams often have with early kicks on the East. The Bolts got 110 yards rushing from Ryan Mathews, a sharp day from Philip Rivers and moved to 4-3.

NY Giants 23 Minnesota 7: The Giants came in winless, the Vikings had only won once and this game lived up to the “stakes.” No one did anything well, and Josh Freeman’s debut in purple-and-gold saw him go 20-for-53. New York is on the board, but there is nothing to indicate they’ve solved their problems.

NFL Week 7 Recap: Remember The Titans

, , , , , ,

The Tennessee Titans opened the season with a blowout loss to New England, another bad defeat at San Diego and were promptly written off as one of the worst teams in the NFL. Chris Johnson wasn’t running the ball and it looked like a long season in Nashville. Winning games against teams like Detroit a few weeks ago and now Buffalo on Sunday don’t mean you’re a playoff contender. But there’s a lot of evidence that the Titans are coming off the mat to be competitive team and the non-Houston portion of the AFC South might not be as bad as originally thought.

Tennessee rallied to beat Buffalo 35-34 because Johnson has been gradually gathering steam these past few weeks and he came up with a peak performance on Sunday, rushing for 195 yards on 18 carries, giving the Titan offense a dimension Buffalo lacked.

Veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck looks more comfortable each passing week as he fills in for the injured Jake Locker. Hasselbeck was 22/33 for 205 yards and no mistakes on Sunday—exactly the kind of veteran, high-efficiency game that can win for this team when Johnson is running the ball. I know Locker is the team’s future, but as long as Hasselbeck plays well and the Titans remain in playoff contention, I’d stick with the veteran.

Indianapolis’ 17-13 win over Cleveland could be reasonably taken as what you expect when two bad teams get together. But the Colts were able to win the game by running the ball, with Vick Ballard leading a team ground attack that produced 148 yards and were able to win even if Andrew Luck wasn’t quite as proficient as Brandon Weeden.

I think Indy has to feel good that they got a win in which Luck didn’t have to be the focal point of the offense and the team didn’t even play their best game—the Browns got consistent pressure, led by Frostee Rucker, a defensive end who was in the Indy pocket much of the afternoon. And even if you want to pooh-pooh this win—and again, I think that’s reasonable—the Colts’ wins over Minnesota and Green Bay look quite impressive.

It’s not as though the Titans and Colts are ready to challenge 6-1 Houston for the division title. At 3-4 and 3-3 respectively, they are clearly not. But the AFC remains a league in which only three teams are over .500, and both wild-card berths are going to be wide-open. Tennessee appears to ready to assume its preseason expectation of at least being in the mix for one of those. And while I’m still not sold on Indianapolis, you can’t write them off either.

The top of the AFC South looked impressive, with Houston dismantling injury-riddled Baltimore 43-14 behind a well-balanced offense and the Texans’ defense reduced Joe Flacco to complete ineffectiveness. And even the bottom of the AFC South turned in a credible effort—Jacksonville lost in overtime to Oakland, but the Jags led by 10 in the fourth quarter in spite of losing Maurice Jones-Drew early in the game and quarterback Blaine Gabbert midway through.

Now let’s run through the rest of the divisions as we wrap up NFL Week 7…

AFC EAST: I think expectations regarding the Patriots are getting a little out of hand, given that everyone seems to be a panic over a win. Their 29-26 overtime win over the Jets again showed the Pats’ problems with closing—it seems this team imported a local bullpen, that of the Red Sox, to try and close games and the Jets became the latest team to reverse a 10-point deficit into a fourth-quarter lead. This time Tom Brady first rallied the team to a tying field goal and then to an OT win.

But the Pats continue to commit to running the ball, with Stevan Ridley going for 65 yards on 17 carries. I think this a better balanced New England time—not as flashy or stat-sheet stuffing, but better suited to match up with good teams. They just need a secondary that can pitch the ninth inning, so to speak.

AFC NORTH: I trashed this division last week, and it’s difficult to restrain myself this time around. So I’ll start with something nice and it’s that the Steelers found a running game. Jonathan Dwyer ran for 122 yards as they rallied from 14-3 down to beat Cincinnati on the road Sunday night.

Now that nice time is over, the Ravens’ offense looks like a huge disappointment, Andy Dalton is clearly showing he can’t get the job done if Cincy needs him to throw—and when you consider Pittsburgh got no pressure throughout the night, that makes this  a double-dose of AFC North incompetence. And the Browns are still the Browns.

AFC WEST: San Diego, Denver and Kansas City were all off this week. Oakland got the aforementioned win over Jacksonville—an overtime home win over a last-place team that loses its star early in the game isn’t something to get overly excited about.

NFC EAST: As a Redskins fan, I realize I’m biased, but RG3 has to get some consideration for league MVP. He goes 20/28 for 258 yards passing, runs for 89 yards and has everything set for his team to beat the Giants on the road. Then the ‘Skins secondary, leading 23-20 with close to a minute left, inexplicably lets Victor Cruz beat them on a 77-yard touchdown catch. I’d understand if Eli Manning leads them into field goal range and sets up OT, but giving up the lead is inexcusable. Maybe RG3 needs to play defensive back too.

The Redskins ran the ball well with Alfred Morris, while New York’s running game seemed to disappear. They’ll need it back next week when they play Dallas, who got an ugly 19-14 win over Carolina, a battle between two teams trying to show who could manage key game situations worse.

NFC NORTH: I love the way the Vikings are winning—that a team can win games with the quarterback throwing for 58 yards, like Christian Ponder did against Arizona, warms the cockles of my football traditionalist heart. Of course just because I love it doesn’t mean I think it’s sustainable, but it is nice to see you can still win games in the NFL by running the ball, playing defense and attacking on the line of scrimmage—defensive end Brian Robison led a unit that had seven sacks in the 21-14 win.

Minnesota might not be as good as Green Bay or Chicago—the Packers had a nice workmanlike win in St. Louis—but the Vikings are a pleasant contrast to the underachieving Lions. Detroit turned in a hideously ugly performance last night in Chicago, losing 13-7 and not scoring until late in the game when it no longer mattered. They can’t run the ball, nor can they stop the run.

Jim Schwartz and his staff should give thanks the city can be preoccupied with the Tigers for another week and a half before they have to focus on how dysfunctional their football team has again become.

NFC SOUTH: Carolina did the honorable thing after starting 1-5 and blamed it on general manager Marty Hurney, who was shown the door. I’m not necessarily going to plead Hurney’s case—signing running back Mike Tolbert in free agency to join a backfield that was already stacked was hardly brilliant—but he’s given this team better than 1-5 talent.

Speaking of teams better than they’re record, New Orleans is still breathing at 2-4 after rallying to beat Tampa Bay on the road. The bottom of the NFC playoff bracket isn’t as generous as the AFC, but it’s still possible you get a 6-seed at 9-7, and that’s within grasp for the Saints if they got hot, now that second-string head coach Joe Vitti returns to  interim duty the rest of the way.

NFC WEST: San Francisco temporarily restored some order. Their 13-6 win over Seattle was, as the score indicates, as physical and defensive-oriented a game as we expected prior. The difference was that Alex Smith was able to be a little more efficient than Russell Wilson. When the Cardinals were overmatched at the line of scrimmage in Minnesota it also dropped Arizona to 4-3, where they and Seattle are each now a game back of the Niners.