Things I Noticed: Week 7

The Patriots may have been off this week, but there was still plenty of other NFL action going on around the league.

In addition to New England having a bye, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and the New York Giants were resting up this week.

For the rest of the league, here are some things I noticed this week:

• The score looked more fitting for a baseball game, but the Browns got the better of the Seahawks with a 4th quarter FG.  Both offenses struggled to move the ball for most of the game, with Charlie Whitehurst having an exceptionally poor game, completing only 12 of 30 passes for a meager 97 yards. 
• Peyton Hillis missed another game with a hamstring injury (or did his agent just advise him to sit out again?).  Montario Hardesty failed to impress when giving the opportunity, failing to surpass the 100 yard mark despite a whopping 33 carries.
• Seattle's defense leads the league in yards per carry allowed, so perhaps attacking them on the ground wasn't the wisest strategy to begin with.
• After getting off to the best start to a season that their franchise has had in over 50 years, the Lions have now dropped two straight games at home.  Matthew Stafford and the offense couldn't get much going, aside from Calvin Johnson's TD catch, which came after he split the defense to take the ball 57 yards for the score.  

• Stafford appeared to injure his ankle on his last pass attempt of the game.  No word yet on the severity of the injury, but given his history, the Lions have to be concerned.  I've said all along, the Lions are contenders if Stafford can stay healthy.  If he's forced to miss time, their dream start to the season could become another nightmare.
• Matt Ryan also injured an ankle earlier in the game.  He later returned to finish the game, so it apparently wasn't that bad, but it sure looked pretty gruesome when it happened.
• Tony Gonzalez moved into second place on the all time receptions list.  He now trails only Jerry Rice.
• The Texans were reeling after two straight losses, but stepped up big in a divisional showdown in Tennessee to reclaim the top spot in the AFC South.  Arian Foster carried the team, racking up 234 total yards and 3 TDs.
• Falling behind by 20 points in the first half forced the Titans to essentially take the running game out of the game plan, but that's hardly an excuse for another poor rushing performance for Chris Johnson (10 carries, 18 yards).  It's a wonder the Titans have been competitive all year despite getting essentially nothing from their best player, but if he doesn't step up soon then they won't be staying in the race much longer.

• Tebow-mania is running wild, as the fan favorite QB got his first start of the season for the Broncos.  He completed less than half of his passes and his yardage total won't impress many, but he did make some key plays when it mattered most, leading two TD drives in the final few minutes of the game, as well as the drive leading to the game winning FG in OT.  
• Tebow's first start of the year may have came on the road, but it may not have felt like it.  The game in Miami was held in the same stadium where Tebow played in college for the Florida Gators.
• Willis McGahee broke his hand in the game, which means Knowshon Moreno may get a chance to reclaim the starting job.  Not that it matters, since Tebow is the biggest rushing threat on the team.
• Plaxico Burress had his best game as a Jet, hauling in three TD catches.  He caught 4 passes on the day, totalling only 25 yards.  At his age, combined with his time away from the game, he's lost the speed that once made him a down field threat, but at 6'5" he's clearly still a useful endzone target.
• Shonn Greene had his best rushing day of the season (20 carries, 112 yards).  His biggest gain went for 24 yards and nearly got him into the endzone, but he stepped out of bounds at the 2 yard line before diving for the pylon. 
• Philip Rivers was happy to see top target Antonio Gates back on the field, as the two connected for a second quarter TD.  Unfortunately for Rivers, his top receives, Jackson and Floyd, were blanketed all day by the Jets secondary and rarely were able to make a play.  Jackson had only one catch despite a team high 8 targets, one of which was picked off by Revis and nearly returned the other way for a TD.
• Not a great day overall for Rivers, but it was made even more ugly by the way it ended.  With a chance to launch a game winning bomb to the endzone, he instead sailed the ball out of bounds on his last attempt of the day.  Despite having a collection of tall receivers, he wasn't even able to give them a chance in a jump ball situation in the endzone. 
• The Bucs have played well at home this year, but unfortunately for them, this "home" game took place in London.  Without that advantage on their side, the Bears were able to hang on to win.
• The Bears defense put them in position to win by picking off 4 passes from Josh Freeman.  With LaGarrette Blount out again and back up Earnest Graham falling to an injury of his own this week, the Bucs running game was virtually non-existant, forcing Freeman to put the ball in the air a season high 51 times. 
• Freeman is doing all he can to get top WR Mike Williams more involved.  He's off to a troubling slow start, despite being on the field on almost every play and being one of the game's most targeted receivers.  He was targeted 11 times this week, but caught only 6 passes for 75 yards.
• Matt Forte had one of the best runs of the day on this 32 yard TD run.  The blocking was great to start the run, but Forte made some outstanding moves to avoid getting tackled.  He continues to be the biggest weapon in this Bears offense.
• Cam Newton picked up his second career victory, while also scoring his 7th rushing TD of the season, placing him alone in second place on the list of league leaders for that category.  
• The RB carousel continues to turn in Washington and it's was Tim Hightower's turn again to be the featured back.  He by far had the lions share of the carries this week while his back ups, Torain and Helu, combined for three carries for -6 yards.  A devastating knee injury may have ended his season though, so expect the other two backs to get their chances.
• It didn't take long for the Raiders to insert Carson Palmer in the lineup.  Despite having just joined the team less than a week ago and hardly knowing the playbook, Palmer was thrown into the game after Kyle Boller threw away three INTs in the first half.  Unfortunately, Palmer wasn't any better, throwing three of his own.  Palmer clearly wasn't ready to take over this offense, and with the Raiders bye week coming up it made no sense to put him in this situation.  Combine that with Darren McFadden leaving the game with a first quarter injury and it's no wonder Oakland got shut out.
• Despite hardly playing in the game, McFadden is still 5th in the league in rushing yards.
• Jackie Battle once again got the bulk of the carries for the Chiefs, with McCluster and Jones splitting most of the remaining carries, but it was corner back Javier Arenas and full back Le'Ron McClain that got the goal line carries.  They both scored TDs on their only carries of the game.  Messy situation in that back field right now.
• Ben Rothlisberger tore apart Arizona's defense for 361 yards and 3 TDs to help the Steelers cruise past the Cardinals.  The play of the game was his 95 yard bomb to Mike Wallace.  It's just not fair how fast that guy is.
• The Cowboys running game looked to be in trouble following the loss of Felix Jones last week, but his absence may have been a blessing in disguise, as Dallas may have found it's RB of the future.  DeMarco Murray set a franchise record with 253 rushing yards, topping the previous Cowboys record set by Hall of Famer, Emmitt Smith.  Sure, the Rams league worst rush defense gets part of the credit for his big day, as he wasn't even touched on his 91 yard TD run in the first quarter.  However, he did show a great combination of power and speed, took advantage of the holes his line opened for him and clearly has big play potential.  He may not hold up as an every down back, as he clearly got winded at times and isn't used to such a heavy workload, but he'll certainly remain involved even when Jones returns in a few weeks.
• Dez Bryant has made a habit of disappearing in the second half of games, which is something the Cowboys vowed to correct.  Looks like they are making progress there, as Bryant caught four passes in the second half, including a TD, after having only caught a total of 2 passes in the second half of games all season.
• The silver lining for the Rams is that newly acquired WR Brandon Lloyd appears to be quickly acclimating himself to the offense, which he's familiar with from when offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was his head coach in Denver.  Lloyd managed 6 catches for 74 yards, despite having those throws come from AJ Feeley.  Imagine what he'll be capable of once Sam Bradford returns.
• Aaron Rodgers continues to roll for the Packers.  He leads the league in QB rating by a large margin.  His worst game of the season by that standard, a 111.4 rating against the Bears in Week 3, is still better than Tom Brady's season rating (104.8).  Brady is second on that list, behind Rodgers (125.7).
• Christian Ponder is clearly still a work in progress, as he completed less than half of his passes and threw two INTs to Charles Woodson (who now leads the league in picks with 5).  However, he did enough to keep his team in the game and seemed poised under pressure.  The numbers won't look great, but there were some encouraging signs from the rookie.  Enough to make it clear that his upside dwarfs what they were getting from Donovan McNabb.
• Adrian Peterson did his part to keep the game close as well.  Any question of whether or not the league's leading rusher would be impacted by a rookie QB leading the offense were put to rest after AP piled up 175 yards and a score against the Packers.
• Drew Brees shredded the Colts in a game that was as lopsided as you'll see all season (62-7).  Brees had more TD passes (5) than incompletions (4).  Two of those came to top WR Marques Colston, while the league's best TE, Jimmy Graham, caught two as well.
• I get that the Colts miserable season is tied to the loss of Peyton Manning, but what does his absence have to do with their defense?  There's still some talented players on this roster, but it looks as if they aren't even trying anymore.  They were at least competitive earlier in the season, but this one was embarrassing.  If they are indeed beginning to tank as part of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, you have to wonder what the future holds for Manning.  If the Colts get the top pick, do they trade the pick or trade Manning?  Hard to imagine them keeping both.
• Ugly game offensively for both Baltimore and Jacksonville.  We expect that from the Jaguars, but the Ravens are supposed to be one of the elite teams in the league.  Their defense is elite, but games like this make you question if they have the offense to keep up with the top teams.  
• At the half, Joe Flacco had completed 6 passes for a total of 8 yards.  One of those passes that he completed was to himself (after the pass was deflected back to him) for a loss of 9 yards.  The Ravens failed to pick up a first down in the entire half, with their first not coming until near the end of the 3rd quarter.
• Ball security was a big issue in the first half.  Ray Rice and Maurice Jones-Drew both lost fumbles and each of them nearly lost another on plays that were challenged and reversed in their favor.  MJD also fumbled again in the second quarter, but his team was able to recover.
• Talk about a game of inches.  Baltimore's on side kick attempt bounced literally inches short of the minimum 10 yard distance, causing an illegal touching penalty when they recovered the kick. Jacksonville got the ball well into Baltimore territory, which pretty much sealed the victory for the Jags.
• It's still a passing league, but it's quieted down a bit from the historical paces we saw earlier this season.  After Week 1, eight QBs were on pace to shatter Dan Marino's season record for passing yards.  Now only three QBs are on pace to come even close (Brees, Rodgers, Brady).
• Teams are passing the ball more than ever, but RBs seem to still be taking a beating, as we saw several more fall to injury this week. Currently 10 teams have injured running backs that would typically be their starter.
• Despite winning one of the most lopsided games in league history, the Saints (+81) still trail the undefeated Packers (+89) in point differential.
• Despite losing that lopsided game, the Colts (-114) still remain ahead of the Rams (-115) for last place in point differential, even though the Colts have played (and lost) one more game due to the Rams having had their bye week already.