After reaching its competitive peak in a wild week 6, the NFL saw a slew of blowouts and uncompetitive games in week 7. There were some interesting developments and exciting games but there weren’t a lot of nail biters. The main thing about week 7 was that the teams that had been inconsistent all season remained that way. At the same time teams that had been consistently good or bad for most of the season continued that pattern as well.
The unquestioned theme of week 7 was blowouts. There were a number of routs and very few games went down to the wire. Even the more competitive games in week 7 didn’t end up that close on the scoreboard. Of the 14 games in week 7, only 2 were decided by less than a touchdown, and both of those were decided by 3 points, one in overtime. 10 of the 14 games were decided by more than one score, 9 of those by double digits. Half of the games in week 7 were decided by at least 2 touchdowns and 6 of the 14 games were decided by 20 points or more.
But by no means was this a week where the strong picked on the weak and the top teams cruised. There was some of that but there were also some surprises. And the underdogs were doing some of the routing too. Plus a few games that were expected to be very close ended up being one-sided. One fairly remarkable result of week 7 was that in a week where 10 of the 14 games were decided by 9 points, the favorites were only 6-8 against the spread.
The thing that caught everybody’s attention on Sunday and that has dominated the talk since was St. Louis’ stunning blowout of the Dallas Cowboys. After losing in overtime on a blocked punt in Arizona in week 6, the Cowboys went into St. Louis without QB Tony Romo and got their ass handed to them. The Rams were coming off a shocking win at Washington the week before and on Sunday they looked nothing like the team that started the year 0-4. They out-played, out-hit, out-coached, and out-ran Dallas, making the Cowboys look overmatched. To understand how bad a beating this was, you really had to see it with your own eyes. Even then you could have sworn that Scott Linehan’s Rams were dressed up like the Dallas Cowboys and getting their asses kicked by Jim Haslett’s Rams.
The Cowboys are the glamour team of the League and their situation is always overblown and overanalyzed by the media. This year it’s been worse than ever. Like most people, I get way too much Cowboys coverage, but the situation really has become worthy of constant attention lately. Coming into the season Dallas was hyped as the team to beat in the NFC. With 19 starters returning from a 13-3 team--including 13 Pro Bowlers--and the additions of Zach Thomas, Adam “Pac Man” Jones, and 1st round draft picks Felix Jones and Mike Jenkins the Cowboys definitely appeared to have the strongest roster in the NFC. People weren’t even talking about the regular season, all the talk was about the Cowboys recent futility in the playoffs and whether or not Romo and Wade Phillips could get over the hump.
All that has changed in the last month. It started with a loss to Washington at home in week 4 after a 3-0 start to the season. It took only 1 loss for T.O. to start running off at the mouth about not getting the ball enough. At around the same time the secondary took a hit with the injuries to strong safety Roy Williams and top cover corner Terence Newman. A few days after a sloppy win over winless Cincinnati at home Pac Man Jones got himself into trouble again. He just couldn’t control himself. Give the Cowboys credit for trying. The team had provided him with an apartment and placed him under the care of 4 bodyguards. It didn’t matter. In fact, it was one of Pac’s bodyguards that he got into a drunken brawl with in the bathroom of a Dallas hotel. The Cowboys said it was no big deal and declined to punish Jones but you had a feeling the Commish might have a different take. Then came the game at Arizona two weeks ago. It was a disastrous game for the Boys. They trailed for most of the game and looked dead in the water, down 10 with 3 minutes to go, but they rallied late to send the game into overtime. That’s when it turned disastrous. They had already lost kick returner and #2 running back Felix Jones to a partially torn hamstring early in the game. Then after getting the ball first in overtime, Tony Romo was hit hard and broke his pinkie. The Cowboys went 3 and out and had to punt but they couldn’t even do that. Mat McBriar’s leg broke in several places as his punt was blocked and taken into the end zone by the Cardinals for a game winning touchdown. McBriar—one of the better punters in the League—was lost for the season and Romo was announced out for a number of weeks. The heartbreaking loss and the handful of key injuries were tough to take and things didn’t get better in the days to come. That Tuesday, Commissioner Goodell suspended Pac Man Jones indefinitely. It was announced that he would miss a minimum of 4 games. Jones has since checked into rehab. On the same day that Jones was suspended, Jerry Jones pushed the panic button, trading 3 draft picks to Detroit for disgruntled wide receiver Roy Williams. Things got really weird late in the week when “Jeera” began telling the media that Tony Romo might actually play that week, saying that he had gone to practice and played catch with Romo and that his velocity was fine. Things were getting a little silly in Big D.
But Romo wouldn’t end up playing on Sunday. Instead the Cowboys would be led by 17 year veteran Brad Johnson. It was okay; nobody thought Dallas would need Romo against the Rams. Sure, St. Louis had pulled off a stunning upset of Washington on the road the week before for their first win of the season. But that was a fluke. Someone must not have informed the Rams because they sure thought they could beat the Cowboys. Actually, they punked the Cowboys like they were a bunch of scrubs. The 9 point home underdogs fell behind 7-0 just like they had a week before. Once again they would come back but this time it was a little different, as they scored the next 34 points. They scored 3 touchdowns in 6 minutes to take a 21-7 lead in the 1st quarter and they led 24-7 at the half. A 56 yard touchdown run by Steven Jackson midway through the 3rd quarter put the game out of reach and Dallas didn’t score again until after the 2 minute warning in the 4th quarter. Jackson rushed for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns against a Dallas defense that was embarrassed on Sunday. The bewildered Cowboy offense was no better. The first day with Johnson at the helm did not go well. The Rams intercepted Johnson 3 times and sacked him 3 times. He completed just 17 of his 34 pass attempts. T.O. caught just 2 passes for 31 yards and no touchdowns. Roy Williams, the receiver traded for during the week to give the offense a boost, was held without a catch. The other Roy Williams, the strong safety, played his first game since week 3. He was in long enough to get burned a couple of times before breaking his forearm. He’s done for the year.
After the game coach Wade Phillips addressed the media looking like a puppy that had been beating for going on the rug. The tone of his voice was like that of a mentally ill person while under harsh interrogation by police. Jerry Jones has been adamant that Phillips’ job is not in jeopardy and has even said that there is no chance of him not finishing the season as head coach. But Phillips better hope the Cowboys start winning again just to be sure. The trouble is, there are reasons for their 1-3 slide after the 3-0 start. This is a talented team, yes, but there are now some major doubts about whether or not this team has the mental toughness to be successful.
The Cowboys have now lost as many games in the last 4 weeks as they lost all of last season. Dallas started last season 5-0 and didn’t lose their second game until week 15. They were 13-2 before resting all of their starters in a meaningless season finale that they lost to the Redskins, so in reality, the Cowboys only lost 2 games last year that they tried their best to win. But really you do have to go back to last season to find what seems to be the start of the Cowboys slide back down from elite to mediocre. After 4 years under the harsh whip of Bill Parcells, the Cowboys said they were ready for a different approach from the head coach. Some people said Wade Phillips was just what the team needed to get inspired again after Parcells’ discipline had become overkill. It looked like Phillips was a perfect guy to lead the team, as the Cowboys got off to their best start since the days of the Triplets. But there is only so far that a team like the Cowboys can go without someone holding them accountable and keeping them grounded. Through 11 games Dallas had bested every team in their path other than the undefeated New England Patriots. In week 13 they hosted Green Bay in a battle of 10-1 teams that would decide homefield advantage in the NFC. The Cowboys won 37-27 and stood on top of the NFC with 4 games to go until the playoffs. Naturally, the Boys felt good about themselves and with no taskmaster to keep them focused they seemed to get a little complacent. The following week they needed a late comeback to escape with a 1 point win over the Lions. The next game was when things really started to go downhill. With Jessica Simpson in attendance and wearing a hot pink Tony Romo jersey, the Cowboys were held to 6 points and upset at home by the Eagles. They beat the Panthers the next week to wrap up the #1 seed and then lost to the Redskins in the final tune up. While they didn’t need that last game, there was something troubling about their performance. This late season trouble foreshadowed what was to come as they lost to the Giants at home in the divisional playoffs. Since beating the Lions to get to 12-1 last December, the Cowboys are 5-6 (including the playoffs). Take this for what you will, but through the Green Bay game last season the Cowboys had gone 9-3 against the spread on the season, 8-2 against the spread as favorites. Since then they are 2-10 ATS, 2-9 ATS as favorites.
And it isn’t only attitude, focus, and mental toughness issues that are plaguing the Cowboys. They have some major issues in the secondary. With Pac Man gone, Williams out for the season, and Newman still on the shelf they are thin and much weaker in the secondary. The Cowboys play in the NFC East and they have to get this thing turned around now if they want to make the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, the easy part of their schedule is over and some tough games are ahead. It looks like they will have to play a few more of them without Romo. Their next two games are against Tampa and at the Giants. If they don’t at least split those games they will be in serious trouble heading into a bye in week 10.
Meanwhile the Rams have made a remarkable turnaround under Jim Haslett in the last few weeks. Nobody expected things to be any different after Scott Linehan was fired. The Rams had been historically bad in their first 4 games, going 0-4 while being outscored 147-43, losing by an average score of 37-11. They hadn’t scored more than 14 points in any game and had allowed at least 31 points in every game. They’d lost each game by at least 17 points. Linehan was canned during their bye week in week 5. In 2 games since then the Rams have won at Washington and beaten the Cowboys by 20 at home. Again, the Rams scored 43 total points in their first 4 games; they’ve scored 53 over the last 2 games. The Rams allowed 31 points in each of their first 4 games; they’ve allowed 31 total points over the last 2 games. I actually predicted the Rams would be decent this year, assuming that they wouldn’t have the injuries problems that leveled their season last year. With the NFC West looking as weak as ever, I had the Rams going 9-7 this year. For a while there I thought I might have predicted one of the worst teams in NFL history would have a winning record but they’ve shown something in the last two weeks. Amazingly, the Rams are very much alive in the playoff race. At 2-4, they are in 2nd place in their division and just 2 games back of the 1st place Cardinals. They’ve got some winnable games remaining on the schedule, including home games against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Seahawks, and Niners; as well as road games against the Jets, Niners, and Falcons. If they do come back and make the playoffs it will be one of the more remarkable and unpredictable in-season turnarounds in the history of football.
The Rams blowout of the Cowboys was the most surprising game of week 7 and it was part of an early game slate on Sunday that was nothing but blowouts. All 9 of the one o’clock games in week 7 were decided by at least 7 points; 6 were decided by double digits; and 4 games were decided by 20 points or more. Perhaps the least surprising outcome of any of the games in week 7 was Tennessee’s stampeding of the Chiefs in Kansas City. The Titans came into the game as the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL and they would still be undefeated when the game was over, as they ran roughshod through the KC defense on the way to a 34-10 win. Chris Johnson ran for 168 yards on 18 carries and scored on a 66 yard TD run, while Lendale White rushed for 149 yards on 17 carries and scored 3 touchdowns, including one of 80 yards. The Titans racked up 332 yards on the ground while holding KC to just 58, out-rushing them by a cool 274 yards. The Titans kept the Chiefs scoreless until KC got 10 points in the final 5 minutes of the game to make things a little less embarrassing.
With the victory the Titans moved to 6-0 on the season. Not everyone is convinced that Tennessee is really all that good. Some have questioned the validity of their success as it has come against a fairly light schedule. Make no mistake: the Titans are for real. They have a super defense, a stellar ground game, and they have one of the best coaches in the NFL. They haven’t played the most difficult schedule in the League but there are no automatic wins in the NFL. They’ve taken care of business each and every week and no other team in football can say that.
If people are still on the fence about Tennessee now they may be more convinced one way or the other after week 8. Monday Night Football goes to Nashville this week where the undefeated Titans will host the Indianapolis Colts in an absolutely huge game. The Titans will be looking not only to prove themselves to the nation and to the rest of the League but for something more tangible as well. A win over the Colts on Monday would just about bury the 5 time defending AFC South champions in the division.
The matchup became almost a must win for the Colts in terms of their hopes for winning the division following their 34-14 loss to the Packers at Lambeau during the late portion of Sunday’s schedule. After going a very shaky 2-2 in their first 4 games, with both of their wins coming in near miracle fashion, the Colts appeared to have put things together in week 6 with a 31-3 domination of a Ravens team that had been competitive in every game up until that point. But on Sunday the Colts offense broke down again against a defense missing a pair of starting defensive backs, while the Indy defense allowed 116 yards rushing to a team that had shown almost no ability to run the ball before. After taking a 7-3 lead with 5 minutes to go in the 1st quarter, the Colts were outscored 27-0 before scoring a meaningless TD with less than 2 minutes to play in the game. The Pack led 17-7 at the half and returned 2 Peyton Manning interceptions for touchdowns in the second half to build a 34-7 lead. The loss dropped the Colts to 3-3, and with the passing game struggling like never before and Joseph Addai and Bob Sanders injured, the Colts seem closer to mediocrity than they have this decade. And they are going to have to face some tough teams while dealing with those injuries, including the game at Tennessee this Monday, a Sunday night game against the Patriots at home the following week, and a trip to Pittsburgh the week after that. There are more tough games later in the season. A Sunday night game in San Diego looms in week 12 and they finish the season with games at Jacksonville and against the Titans at home. Everyone’s been waiting for Manning and the Colts to get it together and it looked like they had a couple of weeks ago, but after last Sunday’s game people are really starting to wonder if the run is over.
As for the Packers, they really needed a performance like they had on Sunday after the injuries and the 3 game losing streak they endured earlier in the year. The Packers have now won 2 straight to get back over .500 at 4-3 as they head into their bye week. This was a big win for their confidence which had to have been shaken during that rough stretch. The Packers were not favored in this game (Indy was a 1 point favorite) and to get the win was key because falling to 3-4 would have been tough, especially with games at Tennessee, at Minnesota, and against Chicago coming up immediately after the bye week.
Green Bay’s blowout of the Colts was a continuation of the lopsided action that had been taking place all day. During the early portion of Sunday’s schedule a pair of intradivision games had gotten ugly. The game between the Bengals and Steelers wasn’t expected to be that close and Pittsburgh wound up turning it into a blowout late, winning 38-10 in Cincinnati. The game was typical of this nasty rivalry. Early in the game Hines Ward caught Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers unaware and issued a crunching block that resulted in a broken jaw for Rivers and the end of his season. The Steelers led 10-0 early but a Chad Johnson TD with 36 seconds left in the 2nd quarter cut the deficit to 10-7 at the half. It was only 17-10 Pittsburgh going to the 4th quarter but the Steelers dominated the final period, outscoring Cinci 21-0 to put the game away. The Bengals had managed to be somewhat competitive with Ryan Fitzpatrick as quarterback but eventually the Steelers defense took over, finishing the day with 7 sacks and 1 INT.
With the win the Steelers improved to 5-1 on the season, tied for the 2nd best record in the AFC, and they are 2 games up in 1st place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh has weathered the storm of injuries well for now and they are in pretty good shape but their schedule looks extremely difficult from here on out. They host the Giants this week and play at Washington the following week on Monday night. After that comes back to back home games against the Colts and the Chargers. Later in the year they play at New England, at Tennessee, and against the Cowboys at home. We will see if the Steelers can hold up despite the health issues but obviously getting off to this great start was huge.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Bengals are 1 of only 2 teams still without a win and they are the only team in the League that is 0-7. The Bengals were supposed to have a bye this week, but because of the way the schedule had to be manipulated due to the hurricane, they are playing the Texans this week and won’t have a bye until week 10. Despite the injury to Palmer the Bengals have been fairly competitive compared to some of the other teams at the bottom of the League but if they don’t win at Houston this week they could stay winless for a while. Palmer is out again this Sunday and with all previous team goals virtually down the drain at this point, it’s unlikely that the Bengals will rush their franchise quarterback back from injury. Following their game against the Texans this week the Bengals host the Jags. After their week 10 bye they play the Eagles at home and then play at Pittsburgh. Games at Indy and against the Redskins at home lie further ahead.
The other intradivision game that got out of hand last Sunday was supposed to be close. The Panthers were installed as a 3 point favorite over the Saints in their home game in week 7. Early on the game was competitive. The Saints scored early in the 2nd quarter to take a 7-3 lead but a fumble by Jeremy Shockey turned the game around. The Panthers would take a 13-7 lead into halftime and outscore New Orleans 17-0 in the second half on their way to a 30-7 win. The Panthers outscored the Saints 23-0 following Shockey’s fumble. The defense sacked Drew Brees and intercepted him, holding the League’s leading passer to just 231 yards and no TD’s.
For Carolina, this was about as good a rebound performance as one could have asked for coming off their 27-3 loss to the Bucs in week 6. At 5-2 they are tied with Tampa for 1st place in the NFC South and they have a very manageable schedule over the next month or so. They host Arizona in week 8 before their bye in week 9. They play at Oakland in week 10 and then host the Lions the following week. After that the schedule gets tougher again but one would have to think they have a decent shot at being 8-2 going into the final stretch run.
This was an extremely costly and disheartening loss for the New Orleans Saints, who fell to 3-4 on the year. The Saints had scored at least 24 points in each of their previous 6 games this year before being held to just 7 points on Sunday. The defense has allowed 29 points or more in 4 of their 7 games. Making matters much worse, Reggie Bush suffered a knee injury that could sideline him for a month or more. The Saints messed around and lost games early in the year that they should have won and now they may pay the price. They blew a 4th quarter lead against the Redskins in week 2, missed a short field goal to lose to the Broncos in week 3, and in week 5 they gave away a game to the Vikings. Now they are 3-4 in the very competitive NFC South, Bush is hurt, and they have to go to England this week to play the Chargers. No doubt injuries have played a role in the Saints disappointing start but their own mistakes have been just as detrimental. If they fail to turn it around and make the playoffs the games they gave away early will haunt them.
The wildest game of week 7 was one that you would normally expect to be pretty boring. Old rivals Minnesota and Chicago played for the one millionth time this Sunday but it had never been like this before. The Bears were 3 point favorites over the Vikings at home but the over/under line for the game had been set at 38 points. Both teams would eclipse that point total on their own. In what became a silly game, the two teams combined for 89 points, with the Bears winning in the end, 48-41. The Vikings amassed 439 yards of offense but they turned the ball over 5 times, with Gus Frerotte throwing 4 picks. The Bears recovered a Minnesota fumble for a TD and also returned a blocked punt for a TD. The scoring frenzy started early and lasted throughout the game. Minnesota scored first, the Bears answered with a TD, and then the Vikings special teams imploded again. Punter Chris Kluwe dropped a perfect snap, picked it up and tried to punt it again and whiffed, and then instead of trying to fall on the ball, attempted to kick it off the ground like a soccer ball. It was one of the worst plays by an NFL player you will ever see. The Bears returned it for a TD to take the lead. Minnesota scored to tie the game right before the end of a 28 point 1st quarter. The two teams traded field goals and then the Vikings special teams did it again. With 5 minutes to go in the half, the Vikings forced a punt and Charles Gordon drifted back to his five yard line to return it. At the last moment he decided to let it go and he stepped up to block a Chicago coverage man. As he did so the ball bounced up and hit him in the back and the Bears recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. This was almost as bad as Kluwe’s play. The Vikings scored with 22 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 24 but the Bears were able to add a field goal with no time left on the clock to take a 27-24 lead into halftime. Early in the 3rd quarter Desmond Clark caught a pass and raced to the end zone for what looked like a 36 yard touchdown, but he fumbled at the goal line and the ball rolled into the end zone. However, Rashied Davis was there to recover it for a Chicago touchdown to give the Bears a 10 point lead. The Vikings struck back on a 54 yard TD run by Adrian Peterson but the Bears came right back with a 51 yard TD bomb from Kyle Orton to Marty Booker. Chicago scored a TD on the first play of the 4th quarter to go up 48-31 and the Bears seemed to have the game in hand but Minnesota made a late push. The Vikings scored 10 points to cut the lead to 7 with 3 minutes to play and got the ball back with a minute left before the Bears defense finally shut the door with their 4th interception of the day.
The 48-41 win was pretty big for the Bears considering that they were coming off the heart breaking loss in Atlanta in week 6. It was scary for Bears fans there at the end. The Bears had blown late leads in losses to Carolina, Tampa Bay, and then to the Falcons but they hung on at the end this time. The win got the Bears back over .500 at 4-3 and kept them tied with Green Bay for the lead in the NFC North
As for Minnesota, they came into the season with high expectations but they are 3-4 after 7 games, and to be honest they are really fortunate to have as good a record as they do. They gave away a game to the Colts and tried to give the game away to the Saints a few weeks ago and wound up winning. In week 6 the refs gave them a win when they should have fallen to the lowly Lions. The off week comes at the right time for Minnesota because they need to just start over and decide to play intelligent football for the rest of the year. They ought to spend at least half of their off week working on special teams, as they have allowed 5 special teams touchdowns in 7 games. After the bye week they have winnable home games against the Texans and Packers and they really need to win both. After that it’s back to back games in Florida against the Jags and Bucs and they’ll be really lucky if they split those games before a Sunday night game against the Bears at home in week 13. If they are 6-6 heading into December it will be a miracle but that’s what they’ll have to be if they want any shot at the playoffs.
One of the more intriguing matchups of week 7 was the game between San Diego and the Bills in Buffalo. With people still unsure of what to make of Buffalo’s good start, the Chargers came into town as slight favorites. A power outage at the stadium caused the first half to be played without the use of electronic devices. Much of the first half couldn’t be seen on TV. The Chargers led 13-7 at the half and eventually during the 3rd quarter everything was back to normal. The Chargers scored midway through the 3rd to take a 1 point lead but the Bills came back and scored right before the end of the quarter to take a 20-14 lead to the 4th. The Chargers stayed in the game and despite being outplayed they appeared to be headed into the end zone for the go-ahead score midway through the 4th until Phillip Rivers threw a horrible pick that was intercepted by Kawika Mitchell. The Bills drove down and kicked a field goal to make it a 2 score game with 3:17 left and the defense held on from there as Buffalo beat the Chargers 23-14. The star of the game was Trent Edwards, who came back from a concussion to go 25 for 30 for 261 yards and a TD. This was a back and forth game but the Bills clearly outplayed San Diego, outgaining the Chargers by 107 yards, 370-263; achieving 7 more first downs (22-15); winning the turnover battle 3-0; and controlling the ball for 11 more minutes than San Diego. The Bills defense held San Diego to just 72 yards rushing.
Buffalo is now 5-1 and alone in 1st place in the AFC East. Regardless of what detractors want to say, the Bills keep winning and doing enough to get the job done. They haven’t played the toughest schedule in the League by any stretch of the imagination but they have won convincingly over some weak teams and beaten a couple of quality opponents. And the thing is, their schedule never gets very tough. Right now the Bills would be favored in 6 of their next 7 games, with road contests at Miami and KC, and home games with the Jets, Browns, Niners, and Dolphins. The only game they would be an underdog in right now is a week 10 matchup at New England, and considering how up and down the Pats have been without Brady, the Bills might even win that game. They are in the AFC East race for good and the 3 teams chasing them are all flawed to varying degrees.
San Diego is competing with a handful of other teams across the League for the title of Most Disappointing Team in the NFL. They started last season 1-3, got to 5-5, and then won their final 6 games to win the West. They then upset Indy on the road in the divisional playoffs but they were to banged up to mount a serious challenge in the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots. They would have had some momentum going into this year but injuries have held them down. They lost Shawne Merriman early in the season, LT is not himself, Antonio Gates has been slowed, and lately they have been without Chris Chambers. Still, the injuries don’t explain the 3-4 record. Twice in the last three games they have scored 14 points or less. After their domination of the Jets on MNF in week 3, it looked like the Chargers were finally going to hit their stride, but they needed a lot of help from the Raiders to get a come from behind win the following week and then they lost to Miami in week 5. After their blowout win over the Patriots on Sunday night in week 6 people again thought the Chargers had finally gotten things together. Then they played a sloppy game and lost at Buffalo last week. Now they must go to London to play fellow disappointment New Orleans. The good news is that nobody in the AFC West has gotten off to a great start and the only team that has any chance of winning the division other than SD is Denver and they’re only a game ahead. Also, while the Chargers do have to play at Pittsburgh and against Indy in November and then at Tampa in week 16, the rest of their schedule is very manageable. They have home games against KC, Atlanta, and Oakland, as well as a road game against the Chiefs. They finish the year at home against Denver and the way things look right now there is a good chance that game will mean something in the AFC West.
The two closest games of the week occurred during the afternoon portion of week 7’s Sunday schedule. While both games were decided by just 3 points, neither was really what you would call a classic. Brett Favre’s Jets were favored on the road against the Raiders but they had to come from behind just to force overtime before finally losing an ugly game, 16-13. The two teams combined to commit 21 penalties for 145 yards and they went just 9 for 33 on 3rd down. The Jets gave the game away with 3 turnovers while Oakland didn’t give it away once. The game was 3-3 at the half and Oakland led 10-3 going to the 4th but the Jets tied the score midway through the final period. The Raiders went back on top with a FG with just under 3 minutes to play, but the Jets marched down field and got in position for a field goal with just seconds on the clock. Jay Feely lined up for a 52 yard FG and missed it but the Raiders are the Raiders for a reason and it turned out that new coach Tom Cable had called a timeout just before the snap to freeze the kicker. Instead, Feely split the uprights on the second attempt to tie the game and send it to OT. The Jets got it first in overtime but this game would not be quickly decided. Finally with only 2 and a half minutes remaining in the overtime period, Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 57 yard field, the longest in Raider history, to give Oakland a 16-13 win.
While the win will most likely do very little for Oakland, the loss seemed devastating for a Jets team that needs to win all of their winnable games to have a shot at the postseason. After back to back wins and with a home game against the Chiefs coming up in week 8, the Jets had a golden opportunity to put together a 4 game win streak and get to 5-2 heading into a matchup with the Bills in Buffalo on November 2nd. Obviously that’s no longer a possibility and you have to wonder whether things won’t get worse from here for Favre and the Jets.
The other ugly 3 point late game was between the Browns and Redskins in Washington. After the Browns’ big victory over the Giants on MNF in week 6 and the Skins’ shocking loss to the Rams at home, many believed that the Skins would come out focused and ready to get back on track with a solid win against Cleveland in week 7. Not quite. This game went to the half scoreless and there was no score on the board until Clinton Portis got in the end zone for Washington with 7:30 to go in the 3rd. The Redskins led 7-3 going to the 4th and Santana Moss scored on an 18 yard TD pass from Jason Campbell to make it a 14-3 game with 12 and a half minutes to play in the game. The Browns managed to trim the lead to 3, scoring a TD and 2-pt conversion to make it a 14-11 game with 2:44 to play. Cleveland got the ball back and drove into Washington territory, setting up a 54 yard FG try for Phil Dawson with 25 seconds left. Dawson missed wide right and the Redskins escaped to get to 5-2, though clearly they do not seem to be the elite team that many felt they were after they beat the Saints, Cardinals, Cowboys, and Eagles in consecutive weeks earlier this year.
The Detroit Lions remained winless in week 7, losing 28-21 to the Texans in Houston. Houston jumped out to a 21-0 lead and led 28-10 going to the 4th quarter. Detroit scored 11 points in the 4th quarter to cut the deficit to 3 with over 4 minutes left in the game but they didn’t get the ball back until there was just 20 seconds to go and Houston was able to hang on. The loss dropped the Lions to 0-6 on the season. In their last two games, the Lions have made things close on the road against teams that could at least be described as not that bad. This makes you think that they won’t go winless for that much longer. On the other hand, there aren’t a lot of games on their schedule that stand out as ones they might win. One positive is that they have only 4 more road games left but they don’t have a single bad team left on their schedule. The combined record of the teams left on their schedule is 41-26. Their home games are against Washington, Jacksonville, Tampa, Tennessee, Minnesota, and New Orleans. Their road games are at Chicago, Carolina, Indianapolis, and Green Bay. The dream of an 0-16 season is alive and well in Detroit.
Fittingly, the final game of week 7 was expected to be highly competitive but turned out to be one-sided. The Denver Broncos went to Foxboro to play the Patriots on Monday Night Football in week 7 with the Pats favored by 3. The combination of the Patriots playing well and the Broncos playing poorly resulted in New England winning 41-7. It was a big win for the Pats and a big loss for Denver but it’s still hard to know what to make of either team. As big a story as the score was, injuries sustained by both teams during the game was just as huge. Jay Cutler hurt the index finger on his throwing hand on the first play of the game and it seemed to affect him off and on all night. Going forward Cutler should be fine, but the same can not be said for the Brothers Bailey. Older brother Champ, one of the finer corner backs in the history of the game, injured his groin and is expected to be out 4 to 6 weeks. Younger brother Boss, one of Denver’s starting linebackers, suffered a terrible knee injury that will wipe out his season and require micro fracture surgery to be repaired. These are huge blows for an already vulnerable defense. New England suffered serious injuries as well. The Patriots had announced earlier in the day that RB Laurence Maroney was out for the season due to a shoulder injury. This announcement came pretty much out of the blue. Sammy Morris made everyone feel better on Monday night when he ran for 138 yards on just 16 carries in the first half. But Morris injured his knee and missed the entire second half. The injury is not thought to be too serious. If only the same could be said of the injury sustained by long time Patriots leader and strong safety Rodney Harrison. Harrison was carted off the field during the second half of Monday’s game after tearing a quad muscle. The injury was gruesome but it was not nearly as tough as seeing Harrison carted off the field, thus bringing to an end his season, and quite possibly his career. Harrison’s presence will be dearly missed by the Patriots.
