NFL Week 7 Review

Greg Landon,

Correspondent (Sport)

 

Week seven of the season is now in the books and the huge gaps in quality between certain teams are only getting wider. Here is our review of the weekend’s action, from the soaring 7-0 Chiefs to the lowly 0-7 Jaguars and everything in between.

Thursday night’s matchup predictably saw the Seahawks win an NFC West showdown with Cardinals, largely thanks to Russell Wilson’s three touchdown throws. In the early Sunday games, Falcons QB Matt Ryan also threw for three scores as his team got a much needed victory over the still winless Buccaneers. The Rams suffered a double blow as they lost to Carolina, as well as losing QB Sam Bradford for the year. In Detroit, Mike Nugent’s last second field goal gave Cincinnati the win, while Jets kicker Nick Folk decided their divisional game with the Patriots in overtime. In the other AFC East matchup, Buffalo’s Mario Williams was a constant thorn in Ryan Tannehill’s side, as the Bills edged a tight win. San Diego and Dallas both enjoyed comfortable road wins over the Jaguars and Eagles respectively, as did San Francisco over Tennessee. Green Bay strolled against Cleveland and Kansas City are now the only undefeated team in the league, following a tight victory over Houston. Finally, in the highest scorer of the weekend, the Redskins beat the Bears 45-41, in a match that had no fewer than eight lead changes.

Later on Sunday, the Steelers secured a last second victory over the Ravens in a very tough grudge match. The game on Monday night lacked similar intensity, with the previously winless Giants cruising against the very average looking Vikings.

Game of the Week: It may seem harsh for this not to be 86 point epic between the Redskins and Bears but Denver’s clash with Indianapolis had so much more significance. Colts legend Peyton Manning was warmly welcomed back by fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, and he started well, throwing a touchdown on his first drive. His successor, Andrew Luck, responding brilliantly though, and built up a 39-30 lead by the fourth quarter. Ironically then, in a shootout between two brilliant number one drafted quarterbacks, it was running back Ronnie Hillman’s fumble that decided the game late on. Coughing up the ball at the goal line with just three minutes left ended Denver’s chances, and consigned them to their first regular season loss in 17 outings.

Performance of the Week: Mario Williams had two sacks, as well as forcing the crucial late fumble in Buffalo’s win. The former first overall draft pick alread.y has 10 sacks on the year, and is playing some of the best football of his career.

Controversy of the Week: In the Jets-Patriots game, Nick Folk originally had to kick a 56 yard field goal for the win – a kick that he missed. However, the Patriots were called for a 15 yard penalty because one of their lineman pushed his teammate from behind in an attempt to help him block the kick. This kind of manoeuvre was made illegal this season, and after the kick was moved 15 yards closer, Folk nailed his second attempt. The controversy arises because New England did the exact same move last week against the Saints and it went unpunished, while the Ravens also used against Miami in Week 5. The NFL has now admitted both of those previous decisions were incorrect, but it did decide the outcome of the Dolphins-Ravens clash. With teams trying to gain any advantage possible on game winning field goals, this may well feature again this year.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Neal D)