The NFL Roundup Week 7 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

(Matt Dunham / Associated Press)

There was definitely something different in the air when it came to this past weekend's games and with good reason. Several players were facing off against past teams, several coaches were trying to get the best out of their players and some teams were trying to salvage their seasons. Either way, it made for some stunningly good and stunningly bad performances and taught us plenty about our favorite players and teams and here is what we learned from Week 7 in the NFL.

​The Rams QB situation is an absolute mess.
It's been a weird year for the Los Angeles Rams, simply because, you never quite know what you're going to get out of their offense when it comes to their passing game. One week, they're on it, dropping points in the end zone like it's nothing. Then you get games like the one in London, where #17 tosses nothing but errant and costly throws, begging the question...why the heck haven't they bothered to start the first overall pick in the 2016 draft, Jared Goff? Well, quite a few things could be in play here. For starters, Keenum is a team captain and benching a captain means that more or less, the season is lost and they've lost confidence in a leader. Not to mention, the coaches see Goff every day and know exactly what his skill set is right now and he may not be ready to lead this team. But what we can all agree on, is that the QB position is a mess right now in L.A., with a starter who is clearly in over his head and a rookie that may struggle to produce. 

The Minnesota Vikings suffered their first loss of the season in ugly fashion.
Sunday was supposed to be redemption day for Sam Bradford. He would return to the Linc, and the light Eagles up and show everyone that Philadelphia made a big mistake in trading him away. Instead...the Eagles out couched, out played and utterly manhandled the Vikings, handing them their first loss of the season and spoiling Sam's attempt at revenge. But what truly made this one hurt, is the fact that score was so one sided against the Vikings, a team that seemed so unstoppable for the majority of the season but either way, the '72 Dolphins can toast once again since their perfect season is still preserved in the history books and the Vikings have been humbled nicely, allowing for them to regroup and learn from their mistakes so that this kind of disaster doesn't happen again.

The Seahawks and Cardinals gave us the best football game of the week.
Sunday Night Football seemed to elicit a wide range of emotions from football fans on social media this week. I saw comments from folks who thought the game was boring. I read heartfelt pleas from fans of both teams, begging their boys to score and then there was a handful of folks who believed this was some damn fine football on display and in my humble opinion...that's the right way to look at this. Part of football's appeal is the non stop scoring, as quarterbacks dink and dunk touchdowns left and right. But the real magic in this sport is when the scoring disappears and it reverts to the way the game used to be played, where it was more or less a chess game and that's what this game was; old time football, and a fine defensive struggle where the pressure was on for the players and I think it is that pressure, to know that this play would wrap everything up, is what forced the kickers from both teams to miss. Either way, we have our first tie in the league since 2014 and the suspense from this one, despite its ending made it the best game of the week hands down.

The San Diego Chargers are enjoying an incredible resurgence.
It always amazes me just how fast a team can turn around their season in the NFL, and the Chargers are a shining example of that. Just a few weeks ago, it seemed as though their season was over and Head Coach Mike McCoy was about to find himself uncomfortable in the hot seat and yet here we are. They've had two big time wins over Denver and Atlanta and they've done it in impressive fashion with stunning offense and stout defensive play. But this week's game in Atlanta bears a little deeper discussion, since the Chargers fought a top notch Falcons team every step of the way, finally pulling out the win in overtime. Either way, while it's impressive to see this team pull it together, they are still 3-4 and a couple of ugly losses can still jeopardize the season for this plucky team, but in the meantime they can still take pride in the fact that this team is filled with talent and can indeed hang with the big boys...and beat them.

The Broncos got their season back on track, with a big time win over a ghost from their past.
The talk surrounding Denver over the past couple of weeks has been filled with doubt and with good reason. They lost to the Falcons in ugly fashion and then they found themselves manhandled by San Diego in prime time. But last night, any discussion of doubt was put to bed. Trevor Siemian played lights out football, the run game was in full effect, the defense was stifling and most importantly, the Broncos finally closed the book on the last glaring issue from their offseason; Brock Osweiler's unceremonious departure from Denver...to Houston. That kind of move can mess with a team's synergy,  but the Broncos never let it get to them and didn't let revenge be at the top of their mind during the game either and the end result of their keeping it cool and sticking to the game plan was simple, a win for Denver and another prime time loss that exposed Brock Osweiler to be a sub par quarterback making wayyyyyyy too much money.

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