The NFL never fails to surprise us. In the premier matchup of the week -- a rematch of Super Bowl LVIII -- Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy both posted the worst passer rating in their career. In East Rutherford, the Giants welcomed back Saquon Barkley with open arms, literally. They didn't seem too worried about tackling him. In a week that featured two star wide receiver trades, Amari Cooper caught a touchdown as his first reception with the Bills; hours later, the Jets looked as bad as ever in Davante Adams' team debut. And on Monday night, Lamar Jackson made even more history.
All that leads us here, where we crunch down all 14 games from the Sunday/Monday slate and digest it into five things we liked -- encouraging trends, great performances, fun plays, cool things -- and five things we didn't, which can (and will) get ugly.
Here we go.
Five things we liked in Week 7
1. Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews emerging
Everything is working for the Ravens offense. While Jackson is the deserved headliner (and the MVP front-runner) after a historic night and Derrick Henry has made a huge difference, that's been the case all year. In Week 7, we liked what Rashod Bateman provided in the deep passing game and what Mark Andrews did in the intermediate range and in the red zone.
Bateman finished with four catches on four targets for 121 yards and a touchdown. That included a 58-yard catch and a 49-yard score, which makes him the first Ravens player with multiple catches of at least 40 yards in one game since Marquise Brown in 2019.
This marks the first time Bateman has had at least 70 yards receiving in consecutive games in his career, and he's finally becoming the speedy, big-bodied big-play threat the Ravens envisioned when they drafted him. As if opponents needed another thing to defend ...
Well, they have one. Andrews has also come alive with 107 yards receiving and three scores over the last two weeks after 120 yards and no touchdowns in the first five weeks. He has also received three red zone targets over the last two weeks after one in the first five weeks.
2. Lions attack the middle
The Ravens and the Lions own the two most fun-to-watch offenses in the NFL right now, and Week 7 was particularly impressive for Detroit against a usually dominant Vikings defense. Facing a team that sends a ton of varied blitzes, Jared Goff was magnificent.
Goff is just so in control of everything, and it shows. He's completing 69% of his passes when pressured (league average: 50%). It's been a major advancement in his game, and he and Ben Johnson deserve a ton of credit.
Goff was then able to take advantage of the middle of the field against Brian Flores' favored two-deep safety look. Goff had four completions of 25+ yards over the middle. The Vikings had only allowed four such completions over the past three weeks combined.
3. George Pickens highlight reel
The talent has never been an issue for Pickens, and my goodness did he put that talent on display Sunday night.
Russell Wilson has always been willing to give his guys shots on the outside, and that is exactly what Pickens needs. He had 100 yards receiving on throws outside the numbers alone. This is what he does. Now, he has a quarterback to match.
4. Tank rolls through Patriots in London
Jerod Mayo characterized his Patriots as "soft" after a 32-16 loss to the Jaguars in London. He reserves that right because he played in the NFL, but even he wouldn't have wanted to step in front of a tank. Tank Bigsby ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Bigsby is a no-nonsense runner. He finds lanes and asks questions later. And it works. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Bigsby has run for 162 yards over expected this season, a top-five figure league-wide. And Sunday, with Travis Etienne sidelined, Bigsby did what he does best: pound the rock. He had 10 carries of 5+ yards, and he had exactly zero carries that lost yards.
We like Bigsby's reliability -- this season, only 12% of his runs go for 0 of negative yards, whereas 18% of Etienne's do -- and his 48% success rate on carries up the middle (compared to 32% for Etienne). Bigsby isn't as dynamic as Etienne, and he poses no receiving threat, but his hard-nosed running has been terrific.
5. Jordan Love, Geno Smith let it rip
NFL defenses have evolved to limit big plays. But Jordan Love and Geno Smith are absolutely letting it rip. Want to limit big plays and discourage aggressive throws? We're going to try to make them anyway. On Sunday, Smith had the highest average air yards per attempt of any quarterback, and Love wasn't far behind.
Both delivered awesome throws in Week 7. Let's start with Love's 14-yard seed to Tucker Kraft. An absolute rocket.
It's even better from this angle.
As for Smith, how about this 31-yard strike to DK Metcalf? Again, it's nice from the broadcast angle. It's beautiful from behind the play.
Yeah, we like that a lot.
Five things we didn't like in Week 7
1. Texans offensive line
The saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." What about when you get fooled over and over and over? That's what the Packers' pass rush did to the Texans. Josh Norris pointed this out in a thread that illuminates the struggles.
The Texans' offensive line has struggled in every facet -- only the Giants, Patriots and Browns have allowed more sacks -- but especially against the blitz. When facing a blitz, Houston allows pressure in 2.23 seconds, sixth-fastest in the NFL. But it reached fever pitch Sunday. The Packers blitzed five times. They got pressure four times. And even when Green Bay didn't blitz, the Texans fell all over themselves. Literally.
They're not performing well in the run game. Houston is 21st in yards per carry before contact and 31st in rushing success rate. Yuck.
2. Everything about the Giants
Maybe Mekhi Becton was right about MetLife Stadium. "I don't wanna play in that shitty stadium," Becton told CBS Sports last week. "It's bad. Everything is just bad about that stadium. I don't really like it. I'm just glad I only gotta do it one time a year. Just gotta go in there, do my 1-11 and go home."
Becton, the former Jet now with the Eagles, went home with a 28-3 win over the Giants. The Eagles still aren't close to where they want to be, but at least they're not the Giants.
Let's start with Deonte Banks' effort on this play:
Banks told Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, "That's me just letting the emotions get the best of me."
On one hand, I get it. Saquon Barkley ran all over you all day. The offense scored three points. On that play, a teammate missed a surefire sack and a chance to get off the field.
On the other hand, this an awful look, and as mentioned above, Banks hasn't been the most willing tackler.
Brian Daboll said it's been addressed, and the Giants had better hope so. Banks, 23, was a first-round pick last year and has the talent to be a franchise building block.
On the other side, Daniel Jones got benched, though he'll remain the starter. This performance isn't all on Jones. Left tackle Andrew Thomas is done for the season, and things didn't go well for his replacement, Joshua Ezeudu, or anyone on the line, really. The Eagles racked up seven sacks. In the first half, Jones was pressured on 12 of his 25 dropbacks (48%), even though the Eagles blitzed just once. After the game, Malik Nabers made his feelings known.
3. Kirk Cousins' movement ... or lack thereof
Cousins and Aaron Rodgers are reminders that while NFL players are incredible, they're not invincible. Especially if they're aging quarterbacks coming off Achilles tears.
Rodgers has had a few more months in his recovery, and his movement skills look OK. Cousins recently said he feels fully recovered, but "fully recovered" and "as good as pre-injury" aren't the same. Cousins pre-injury was excellent as a play-action passer who could move out of the pocket on rollouts and other movements and make teams pay. And while he was never an explosive runner, he was a reasonable scrambler when needed.
More worrisome, Cousins just isn't the same play-action passer, and Atlanta seems to know it. He's only under center on 23% of his dropbacks and using play action on 14% (down from 38% and 31%, respectively, last year). And last year, Cousins averaged 7.0 yards per attempt on play action. That's down to 5.8 this year.
The lack of mobility also shows up on plays like these:
It's a tough spot for Cousins, and there aren't many answers.
4. Antonio Pierce's decision-making
Against the Rams, the Raiders kicked two fourth-quarter 27-yard field goals, one on fourth and goal (with just over two minutes left) and the other on fourth and 5. They lost, 20-15.
This is ... less than ideal. It's also nothing new. Only the Patriots have fewer expected points added on fourth-down decisions this season.
The first kick was a reasonable call. The second? Not so much. The Raiders needed a touchdown when they kicked the field goal. After they made it ... they still needed a touchdown with a backup quarterback and a struggling offense that got the ball at its own 11-yard line with 1:39 left and no timeouts. Gardner Minshew went incompletion-incompletion-interception. The end.
5. Anthony Richardson's accuracy
Richardson has missed a ton of time in his young career, and on Sunday, he was returning from yet another injury. And he did some good things! (on the ground)
The passing is ugly. Unsustainable. I won't make you watch a bunch of incompletions, so I'll leave you with this: Currently, 19% of Richardson's throws are deemed off target, the highest rate in the NFL this season and on pace to be the highest by any player on record (since 2017). Yes, it's that bad. And somehow, the Colts won! Tua Tagovailoa can't return soon enough for the Dolphns.