With a crushing 39-10 victory over the San Francisco Niners, the Los Angeles Rams improved to 7-0 under Sean McVay, who at 32 is the youngest head coach in the NFL.
The unstoppable Rams starting the season 7-0 is the big story of Week 7, but it didn’t overshadow other key events around the league. The most-accurate kicker in the NFL, Justin Tucker, missed his first extra point in 222 tries and cost the Ravens a game against the Saints. Mitch Trubisky held his own against Tom Brady, but the Bears lost to the Pats after denying Trubisky a game-ending miracle. The Jags finally benched their struggling QB Blake Bortles, yet still lost. The prodigious Patrick Mahomes threw 4 more touchdowns. Lastly, the Cleveland Browns played another overtime game… and lost.
1. Rams 7-0
The Los Angeles Rams remained undefeated after an easy victory against one of the worst teams in the league. Sean McVay’s biggest challenge was keeping his high-octane squad focused against a benign foe without looking ahead on the schedule at higher-profile opponents. The Rams got the job done and blew out the Niners 39-10.
Running back Todd Gurley made another strong case for an MVP trophy with three touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 receiving). Gurley has been successful in both aspects of the offense. Overall this season, Gurley scored 14 touchdowns and 956 combined yards of offense from scrimmage.
Sean McVay will now prep his 7-0 squad to face their toughest stretch of the season with upcoming games against the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs.
2. Most Accurate Kicker in NFL Misses Extra Point
The New Orleans Saints edged out the Baltimore Ravens and improved to 6-1. In a game billed as a QB battle between Drew Brees and Joey Flacco, the outcome was decided on a missed extra point.
Justin Tucker connected on 222 of 222 extra points in his career. The “kicker who never misses” missed a crucial extra point late in the fourth quarter. Instead of tying the game and forcing overtime, the Saints won 24-23. A stunned Tucker could not believe his eyes when the ball sailed wide right.
It’s been a rough season to be an NFL kicker.
3. St. Trubisky’s Scramble
Mitch Trubisky unleashed a one-man show in Chicago with two touchdown passes and a dazzling rushing TD.
Trubisky’s eight-yard touchdown run that energized Bears’ fans was actually 72-yards of real running during his prolonged scramble to the end zone.
On the final play of the game, Trubisky almost tied the Patriots with a Hail Mary. He connected on the 54-yard bomb, but the Pats stuffed Kevin White at the one-yard line and the game ended with the Pats winning 38-31. Belichick’s crew held off a comeback from the Bears and the Pats improved to 5-2.
4. Benching Blake Bortles
After two fumbles and another rancid performance, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone benched QB Blake Bortles in favor of backup Cody Kessler. Although, Kessler did not fare much better in a 20-7 loss to the Houston Texans.
Bortles’ numbers this season have been atrocious. The Jags are 29th in the NFL in scoring with only 16.6 points per game. Bortles tossed 9 TD and 8 INTs. His anemic QBR rating of 46.1 is among the worst among starting QBs in the NFL. Will the Jags stand pat before the trade deadline and stick with Bortles, or will they attempt to bring in a better QB?
5. Mahomes Mauls Opponents … Again
The Cincinnati Bengals witnessed Patrick Mahomes tear their defense apart. Mahomes tossed four touchdowns and 358 yards in a blowout on Sunday Night Football. Another sensational performance from Mahomes overshadowed RB Kareem Hunt, who added three touchdowns of his own.
Through Week 7, Mahomes tossed 22 TDs and turned the ball over only five times with interceptions. The sophomore QB is averaging a little more than 3 TDs a game. His QBR is 85.9 and his overall rating for the season is 114.0. Those are undoubtedly MVP-like numbers.
6. OT for Cleveland
The NFL experienced an overtime game for the seventh week in a row. The trend of close games in 2018 continued when the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Bucs were tied at the end of regulation. That made for the Browns fourth OT game of the season, one shy of tying the record at five.
The Bucs edged out the Browns when Chandler Catanzaro blasted a game-winning 59-yard field goal, which set an NFL record for longest game-winning FG in overtime.
The Browns’ current record in overtime is 1-2-1. At least Cleveland is showing fans that they can deliver a little extra value for the ticket price.