Tag: NFL Week 7

Twitter reacts to Vikings, Kirk Cousins’ prime time win over the 49ers

Twitter was full of takes as Kirk Cousins led the Minnesota Vikings to a 22-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.

Kirk Cousins playing in prime time is always a disaster waiting to happen, especially when the Minnesota Vikings would be without receiver Justin Jefferson for a second straight game.

However, the embattled Pro Bowl quarterback was clutch at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings beat the San Francisco 49ers 22-17 on Monday Night Football. Despite throwing an interception on Minnesota’s third play of the game, Cousins finished 35-of-45 for 378 yards, two touchdowns, no sacks, and a 107.2 passer rating. Minnesota’s offense was even 8-13 on third downs — tied with the Chicago Bears for the highest conversion rate of Week 7.

Naturally Twitter was full of takes throughout the ballgame. Here are some interesting remarks.

3 standout stars for Patriots in Week 7 victory over Bills

These were the three standout stars from the Patriots-Bills game

The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills.

This would have felt like the norm in the mid 2010s, but it was anything but on Sunday afternoon, when the Patriots ended a four-game losing streak to the Bills in a 29-25 victory.

It might be hard to believe, but the 2023 Patriots, who were off to one of the more horrific offensive starts to a season ever, took on one of the NFL’s best. And they won.

This week flashed some 2021 Patriots and vintage Mac Jones with the team controlling the entire game and likely boosting their confidence moving forward. After a slow start to the year, and some changes that should have happened much sooner, the Patriots find their needle pointing upwards for the next stretch of the season.

Here are this week’s three standout stars that helped lead the Patriots to victory over Josh Allen and the Bills.

5 big takeaways from Patriots’ unexpected 29-25 win against Bills

5 big takeaways from the Patriots-Bills game

Well, that was unexpected.

In a game nobody thought would be close, the New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills in Foxborough on Sunday.

The 29-25 victory was just the Patriots’ second of the season and marked head coach Bill Belichick’s 300th career win. It also marked the first time all season that the team generated sustained offensive production and the first time that they commanded a game against a formidable opponent.

The loss was the third of the season for the Bills, who have now fallen to the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets in addition to New England.

Here are five big takeaways from the game.

Snap count notes: New role for Rodrigo, interesting WR usage in Week 7

Detroit Lions snap count notes: New role for Rodrigo, interesting WR usage in Week 7 loss to the Ravens

Sunday’s 38-6 loss in Baltimore was one of the low points of the Dan Campbell era in Detroit. The Lions got whipped on both sides of the ball by a sharp Ravens squad.

The snap counts from the game are an interesting reflection of the Lions loss. Detroit racked up 75 snaps on offense to just 60 on defense, but the splits from the halves were wild; Baltimore ran 37 offensive plays in the first half to Detroit’s 25, en route to a 28-0 halftime lead. A lot of the Lions offensive snaps and production came in garbage time.

The entire starting offensive line and QB Jared Goff played all 75 snaps, with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown playing all but two. Jahmyr Gibbs dominated the RB snaps with David Montgomery out. The rookie played 65, with backup Craig Reynolds only notching seven reps. Devine Ozigbo and Mo Ibrahim only played on special teams.

There was one other player in the backfield: Malcolm Rodriguez. The backup linebacker took two snaps at fullback. Rodriguez hadn’t played on defense since Week 4, though he did get on the field for one snap at his regular position.

Behind St. Brown, Josh Reynolds was the clear No. 2 at wide receiver:

  • Reynolds – 55
  • Antoine Green – 33
  • Jameson Williams – 33
  • Kalif Raymond – 27

Maybe it was the early blowout status impacting the snaps and usage. That’s certainly possible. However, it’s interesting that Raymond was out-snapped by young players who contributed nothing (zero catches on seven combined targets) in the game.

On defense, the biggest eyebrow raise comes from Benito Jones getting the most reps of the DT rotation. Jones played 40 reps, with Alim McNeill at 38 and Isaiah Buggs at 33. John Cominsky played 37 snaps and at least a handful of those were inside the 5T alignment, though we don’t have the exact breakdown yet.

In his return from I.R., Josh Paschal logged 17 snaps. That’s more than both Romeo and Julian Okwara, who played 10 and eight, respectively.

In the second half, Khalil Dorsey came in and repped 10 plays at cornerback. Those were the only 10 plays where Will Harris was off the field. Steven Gilmore played two reps at CB, while Ifeatu Melifonwu saw four reps — all in a safety role. Chase Lucas did not play on defense once again.

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The Morning After…Patriots shock NFL with underdog victory led by Mac Jones

Here are some leftover thoughts the morning after the Patriots’ upset win over the Bills

The New England Patriots improved to 2-5 through a 29-25 victory over the Buffalo Bills, who fell to 4-3 on Sunday. They finally won after giving up 24 or more points in a game against a legitimate opponent with a winning record.

The game came down to a quarterback duel between Mac Jones and Josh Allen, and surprisingly, Jones got the better of Allen in the matchup.

Jones completed 83 percent of his passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns, with a passer rating of 126.7. He led his team to a victory with a touchdown to Mike Gesicki with :13 left on the clock.

So what changed?

The Patriots finally made changes we have been clamoring for since the spring. Mike Onwenu started and played right tackle, and the Patriots gave snaps to rookie wide receiver Demario Douglas over DeVante Parker.

Let’s get into some leftover notes from the game.

Twitter ruthlessly trolls Josh Allen for being outplayed by Mac Jones

Josh Allen got outplayed by Mac Jones on Sunday. Here’s what people are saying about it on social media.

Not many people woke up Sunday morning thinking the New England Patriots would upset the Buffalo Bills. But even fewer woke up thinking Mac Jones would outplay Josh Allen at quarterback.

That’s exactly what happened in the Week 7 matchup between the AFC East division rivals.

The Patriots ended a three-game losing streak by toppling a Bills team that has owned them over the last two years. And Jones, who had been benched in two of his last three games, outplayed one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league in Allen.

With less than two minutes left in the game, Jones led the Patriots on a game-winning touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to knock off the Bills at home.

Jones also won in the quarterback stats department, going 25-of-30 for 272 yards and two touchdowns as opposed to Allen’s 27-of-41 passing for 265 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. That led to many on social media relentlessly trolling the Bills quarterback after the loss.

A week ago, people were talking about Jones being replaced by Malik Cunningham, and on Sunday, he was outdueling Allen and looking like the more efficient signal-caller under center.

Here’s what people were saying about the game:

NFL Week 7 Sunday final scores

Check out Sunday’s scores in Week 7.

The NFL had 11 games on Sunday in Week 7 because six teams were on their bye.

What happened in Sunday’s games?

We know the Arizona Cardinals lost their fourth consecutive game, a 20-10 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The rest of Sunday’s Week 7 scores are below.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

NFL Week 7 Awards: Myles Garrett’s greatness is being wasted on the Browns

Just imagine Myles Garrett’s dominance on a real NFL team.

Let’s make this simple. The Cleveland Browns are beyond fortunate they have a human magnet of goodwill and sheer power in the form of Myles Garrett. The prolific defensive end is at the hallowed point in his career where he seemingly controls the line of scrimmage with minimal effort, even though it’s readily apparent he’s just that dominant. He is a game-wrecker of the highest order.

Take his performance against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday as a perfect example. Garrett recorded nine tackles, two sacks, and two quarterback hits. Oh, and he even blocked a field goal by jumping over the blocking guard before Indianapolis kicker Matt Gay even had a chance to make contact with the ball.

This is beyond exceptional:

Better yet, look at how easily Garrett rips through the right side of the Indianapolis offensive for a sack fumble below. Once again, this is not normal athleticism for a man at Garrett’s listed height and weight of 6-foot-4, 271 pounds:

With the Browns’ elite defense carrying Cleveland to a 4-2 record, we are witnessing Garrett finally leaping to a true national platform. He’s long been one of the NFL’s more elite defenders since entering the league in 2017, but the Browns have mostly … stunk. Now that they resemble a playoff-adjacent team buoyed by its defense, it will be hard to argue against the four-time Pro Bowler earning his first career Defensive Player of the Year Award in the coming months. This is Garrett’s glorious moment, and he deserves every bit of the limelight.

But there’s still something that irks me, at least and only in favor of Garrett.

This Browns team should be ready to win and compete now. But I have doubts that if Cleveland sneaks into the playoffs, it’ll be able to make any noise. That’s because the Browns have no consistently good quarterback play. Deshaun Watson, once accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women in what the NFL would characterize as “predatory behavior,” is a financial albatross. When healthy, Watson is one of the league’s most inept passers. He almost singlehandedly drags down the ceiling of what Garrett’s accomplishments can achieve for the Browns. They have no legitimate chance of upending any of the AFC heavyweights with an efficient and ineffective signal caller like Watson. (If they ever turn to P.J. Walker, well, let’s be frank: he’s a backup for a reason, folks.)

And that’s just a real shame for someone as gifted as Garrett.

We are witnesses to him becoming another all-time defender right in front of our eyes. He deserves a real run at it — meaning, a shot at a championship — and he deserves a quarterback who can match his brilliance to get there. Maybe someday he’ll get one.

Elsewhere in Week 7 in the NFL, Lamar Jackson showed us why he has his slippery, magical reputation in the pocket. Meanwhile, Drake London literally went upside down in one of the week’s wackier plays and aftermaths. Also, I wouldn’t want to get on Jonathan Allen’s nerves tonight after what his Washington team just endured.

Let’s hand out some awards and wrap this chaotic Sunday up.

Patriots CB J.C. Jackson weirdly held Stefon Diggs’ hand before a contested Bills pass

J.C. Jackson accidentally invented a new way to stop Stefon Diggs.

The New England Patriots might have pulled off a monumental 29-25 upset of the rival Buffalo Bills Sunday, but it was cornerback J.C. Jackson who seemingly innovated the most.

As Buffalo receiver Stefon Diggs ran a deep route and improvised with quarterback Josh Allen, Jackson was tasked with slowing the playmaker down. Eventually, once Diggs just threw his hand up while trying to get Allen’s attention, Jackson matched him. Of course, he might have matched him too much when he just resorted to holding Diggs’ hand.

And he wouldn’t let go all the way through an eventual incompletion. That’s one unique way of defending, I suppose.

Look, Diggs still ended up with six catches for 58 yards and a score, so it’s as not if Jackson shut him down. And it’s not as if this sort of defense is sustainable (was no one going to penalize this sequence for holding? It literally fits the definition).

But still, props to Jackson for giving us one of the funnier moments from Week 7.

Gene Steratore was convinced that the refs mistakenly gifted the Packers’ Romeo Doubs with a TD

The Packers’ “Fail Mary curse” is OVER!!!

After a clunker of a Monday night game and a needed bye week, the Green Bay Packers were in desperate need of a rebound. Jordan Love, in particular, had to bounce back after throwing three interceptions in one of the worst efforts of his career. Little did he know that officials in Denver would be very kind to help him try and ignite the Packers’ offense.

As Green Bay tried to capitalize on a late third-quarter red zone trip against the Denver Broncos, Love inexplicably lobbed up a weak ball to receiver Romeo Doubs at the near corner of the end zone.

When Doubs went up for the pass, Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain simultaneously had the ball in his grasp mid-air. The play was ruled a Packers touchdown, but former NFL referee and now CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore was in disbelief Green Bay got the conclusive touchdown.

Frankly, he probably has a point:

While, yes, Doubs more or less beat Surtain to the ball, he did not establish clear possession with both feet down, according to Steratore’s interpretation of the rule book. But that’s not how the referees at Mile High viewed it. On this occasion, they wanted to give the Packers a fateful “Prevail Mary.”

That curse, first borne in an infamous game with the Seattle Seahawks, is over.