4th & Monday: Hail Mary comes up *just* short, security guard gets leveled and more highlights from Week 7
Seven weeks in and the Rams remain undefeated.
Los Angeles earned an easy win over the 49ers on Sunday, but a tough road to lies ahead. After hosting the Packers in Week 8, the Rams get the Saints in New Orleans, then host the Seahawks, and then play the Chiefs in Mexico City. That's a tough stretch to stay umblemished.
While the Rams are (again) winners, they don't quite make our list of winners and losers for Week 7. But the Panthers, Bills and Cowboys all make the cut.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, rebounded from their first loss of the season by dump trucking the Bengals on national television. The Patriots — the team that dealt the Chiefs their only loss so far this season — won a wild one in Chicago, which had a last-second desperation Hail Mary heave come just a yard short of potentially tying the game.
Week 7 also brought some crazy adventures in the world of kicking. Justin Tucker missed the first extra-point attempt of his career (in the closing seconds, no less) as the Ravens lost by one point to the Saints. The Cowboys' Brett Maher's attempt to tie the game against the Redskins clanged off the left upright in the game's final play. But what about that snap-infraction penalty? And the Buccaneers' Chandler Catanzaro missed a PAT and 40-yard field goal attempt as time expired in regulation, but made a 59-yarder to win it in overtime.
Check out the biggest 32 things we learned in Week 7 before we break down all the moments that you need to see from Sunday:
TOP SHOTS: Best pics from Week 7 | Cheerleaders | Celebrations | Fans
Quick hits: Must-see NFL moments
- Game-winning kick leaves Mayfield dumbfounded: Buccaneers kicker Chandler Catanzaro hit a 59-yard field goal in overtime to deliver another heartbreaking loss to the Browns. TV cameras caught a shocked Baker Mayfield.
- Hail Mary comes up one yard short: Kevin White caught Mitchell Trubisky's last-second desperation heave, but a host of Patriots defenders were there to make sure White didn't go a yard further.
- TD celebration cut short to check on security guard: Miami's Kenny Stills leveled a stadium security guard after scoring a touchdown against the Lions. Stills seemed genuinely upset about it.
- Bortles benched: It seems that the Jaguars finally realized what many fans have known for a while: The team has a quarterback problem. In the third quarter of a brutal loss to the Texans, Blake Bortles was benched and replaced by Cody Kessler.
- Another milestone for Brees: Two weeks after breaking the career passing yardage record, Drew Brees threw his 500th career touchdown pass. Only Peyton Manning (539), Brett Favre (508) and Tom Brady (504) have thrown for more touchdowns than Brees, who has 501 after a two-touchdown performance in Sunday's win.
- Twitter roasts Cowboys coach: The Cowboys lost to the Redskins after a 52-yard field goal attempt by Brett Maher bounced off the upright as time expired. And it didn’t take long for Twitter to go after Jason Garrett.
- Tucker just as shocked as the rest of us: Justin Tucker is as good as anybody at kicking a football. He'd never missed a point-after try. That is, until Sunday, and it came at the worst possible time. The Ravens kicker was just as startled by the miss as fans who were watching the game.
- Burfict flops: Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, arguably the NFL's dirtiest player, turned into Neymar with a dramatic flop during Sunday night's game. Burfict later left the game with a hip injury. Nobody missed him.
- Reid calls out Jenkins: Dating back to last year, Eric Reid had been critical of Malcolm Jenkins’ cooperation with the NFL in the Players Coalition, calling the committee an NFL-funded "subversion group." That feud escalated on Sunday, and after the game Reid called Jenkins "a sellout."
- Reporter gets hit with football on live TV: NFL Network’s Melissa Stark was doing a live report on the field before Sunday’s Chargers-Titans game in London when a football hit her in the head. Stark's a pro, and shook it off and continued on her report.
Key story lines from Week 7
- Bortles benched as Jaguars implode: A season that started with Super Bowl expectations has turned into a nightmare for Jacksonville. In Sunday's loss to the Texans, quarterback Blake Bortles was benched in favor of Cody Kessler. After the game, the frustration carried over into the locker room.
- Andrew Luck 2.0: A year ago this week, Andrew Luck boarded a flight to Europe, wondering if he'd ever be the same. Now, he's smarter (and better) than ever.
- Effort (or lack thereof) a concern for Bills: Instead of giving credit to the cellar-dweller Colts, Bills coach Sean McDermott should be focused on keeping his locker room from fracturing after an embarrassing 37-5 loss.
- Payton's balancing act: Balancing data with gut instinct and institutional intel was a winning formula for Saints coach Sean Payton, whose Saints pulled off a wild win in Baltimore.
- Tucker holds himself accountable: Ravens kicker Justin Tucker would not hide after the first missed extra-point kick of his career in the final seconds allowed the Saints to escape M&T Bank Stadium with a victory. He stepped to the podium and faced the music.
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Week 7 rundown
Chiefs 45, Bengals 10: Kansas City rebounded from its first loss of the season rather nicely.
Redskins 20, Cowboys 17: The Redskins remain in first in the NFC East after Cowboys kicker Brett Maher's 52-yard field goal attempt hit the upright as time expired.
Rams 39, 49ers 10: The Rams are 7-0 to start a season for the first time since 1985.
Saints 24, Ravens 23: Just when you thought this one was going to overtime, Justin Tucker misses the first extra-point attempt of his career.
Panthers 21, Eagles 17: For the second time this season, the Eagles blew a big second-half lead in a loss.
Lions 32, Dolphins 21: Detroit had its best rushing game since a somebody named Barry Sanders was on the team.
Texans 20, Jaguars 7: Jacksonville is in full-on meltdown mode.
Colts 37, Bills 5: The Colts absolutely embarrassed the Derek Anderson-led Bills.
Patriots 38, Bears 31: The Bears' last-second Hail Mary attempt came one yard short.
Buccaneers 26, Browns 23 (OT): Another week, another Browns game that went into overtime.
Vikings 37, Jets 17: Adam Theilen became the fifth player in NFL history with at least 100 yards receiving in seven consecutive games.
Chargers 20, Titans 19: Titans coach Mike Vrabel went for the win in London, but a two-point try failed.
Broncos 45, Cardinals 10 (Thursday): After being embarrassed on national television the Cardinals fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. David Johnson fantasy owners are likely elated with that news.
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Eyes on the (fantasy) prize
Looking ahead to this week's potential waiver-wire pickups ...
There's a starting running back spot open in Oakland with Marshawn Lynch out at least a month. Doug Martin figures to take over the early-down role, while Jalen Richard's receiving skills could make him the more valuable Raider back going forward.
With LeSean McCoy exiting early due to a concussion, the Bills’ Chris Ivory racked up 106 total yards. Third-stringer Marcus Murphy also saw some run, rushing for 53 yards on four carries and catching five passes for 17 more yards. Keep an eye on Ivory (and possibly Murphy) as you monitor McCoy's status.
Titans wideout Tajae Sharpe enjoyed his trip to London. He caught a season-high nine passes for 101 yards — and might have moved ahead of Taywan Taylor as the Titans' No. 2 wide receiver.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert isn't going to take Zach Ertz's job away. However the rookie did catch four of his five targets for 43 yards and a TD. Lions tight end Michael Roberts also stood out Sunday with a pair of touchdowns. Of his four receptions this season, three have gone for scores.
MORE: Week 7 takeaways, plus the Broad Shoulders Award
Coming this week
Monday: Week 7 concludes with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the New York Giants (8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN). Something will have to give when the Falcons' leaky defense faces the Giants' struggling offense.
Tuesday: Paste BN Sports' NFL experts update their power rankings for all 32 NFL teams after Week 7. Don't agree with our rankings? Speak up! Submit your own rankings to tell us where our experts got it wrong with our NFL Fan Power Rankings.
Thursday: The Houston Texans host the Miami Dolphins (8:20 p.m. ET on FOX, NFL Network and Prime Video) to kick off Week 8. The Texans have won four in a row to move atop the AFC South. Before Thursday's game, make sure to visit Paste BN Sports to check out our expert picks for every Week 8 game.
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