Week seven was full of eye-opening play and revealed who is closer to the playoffs. Conversely, some teams are already preparing for the offseason. As we end October, more teams separate from being playoff contenders to having high draft picks. Coaching plays a part in which team advances or goes home. It is time to break down the weekend’s winners and losers.
Winners: Ollie Gordon
Miami finally got their first win of the season Sunday and runningback Ollie Gordon had a large stake in it. Gordon has played better in the last few Dolphins games, but a road win in New York will make opposing defenses take him more seriously.
Ollie Gordon ran 25 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. His scoring run gave Miami their second lead of the game, and his runs got the Dolphins crucial first downs to take more time off the clock.
Miami lacks a lot of talent on both sides of the ball outside of quarterback Malik Willis. Now it seems there’s a rising star on the Dolphins who can take the pressure off Willis and make sure the QB doesn’t have to create game-changing plays every down. Miami could steal another win or two this season if they prioritize Ollie Gordon more on offense.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Despite an ugly start to the season and a winless September, Tampa Bay has improved and mostly played well in October. A fourth quarter collapse against Pittsburgh prevented the Buccaneers from having a winning record this month. While their win against Dallas on Thursday night football a few weeks ago was impressive, Tampa’s best game came Sunday in Carolina.
The Panthers had no chance of beating the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay mercilessly ran the ball through Carolina’s defense and couldn’t be stopped. Bucky Irving ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker combined for another 140 yards on 21 carries and another score. Quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t have to do much in his return as he threw for 64 yards and a touchdown on seven completions and a 109.7 passer rating.
A big reason Mayfield didn’t have to do much was because the defense was relentless in their pressure on Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. Linebacker Yaya Diaby finished the game with three of the team’s five sacks on Young. Al-Quadin Muhammad also had a sack on Bryce Young for a loss of eight yards and forced a fumble. The fumble was recovered by defensive lineman Calijah Kancey and returned for a 32 yard touchdown.
Special teams contributed too. After Carolina scored a touchdown, cornerback Zyon McCollum returned a blocked extra point to the Panthers endzone for an extra two points. Carolina failed to take their opponent seriously during their bye week, and the Buccaneers made them pay for it by winning a crucial divisional game. Tampa Bay is more than alive in a tight NFC South race. It would not be surprising if they continue to play well (or at least better) in November.
Sean McVay
Los Angeles has not been a good team most of the season outside of a week two Monday night win. Sunday was one of their best and most dominant games of the season, and it was against a quality Raiders team led by a former division rival at head coach.
There were serious calls and takes that maybe the Rams should move on from head coach Sean McVay. There is validity in those takes, and McVay probably heard and read about them last week. Los Angeles played like their season was on the line after all the injuries kept piling up. Matthew Stafford led the offense with his three touchdown passes. He’s now the first and only quarterback to lead two franchises in all-time touchdown passes.
Both runningbacks were the reason the Rams won by double digits. Blake Corum and Kyren Williams combined for two scores and almost 200 rushing yards. They averaged five and a half yards per carry against a usually stout Vegas running defense.
Los Angeles is now in the easier part of their schedule and they need as many wins as possible. Sunday was a great start.
Mike Macdonald and Nick Emmanwori
Sunday night was a big one for Seattle. Back-to-back agonizing losses to San Francisco and Denver were talked about nonstop for almost two weeks. Led by the Seahawks’ former Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City was the AFC’s best team. This looked like a game that could go in the Chiefs’ favor early and get ugly. Well, it was ugly and decisive all right, but it was a throttling Kansas City won’t forget anytime soon.
The real praise and highlights goes to Seattle’s defense led by determined head coach Mike Macdonald. He destroyed any and every opportunity the Chiefs had on every possession. It’s almost unheard of in the last 15 years where the usually calm head coach Andy Reid was not only completely out-coached, but he erupted into angry vocal tirades, reminiscent of his own mentor during losses. Kansas City was lucky they weren’t shut out. You’ll read and hear throughout this week that Kenneth Walker III averaged just over two yards a carry and this was the first game in which Patrick Mahomes II failed to reach the opponent’s redzone. What you may not hear often is that according to OptaStats, the Chiefs were the first team in the Super Bowl era to have a game with no 10+ yard rushes, no 20+ yard passes, no red-zone drives, no touchdowns and multiple missed field goals.
For those who have watched the NFL for decades, Mahomes looked like the classic Eli Manning drooling face memes that still circulate the internet and remains top tier sports humor. Not only was he befuddled at how things went off the rails early and often, it was the first time Mahomes was chased down from behind on a reverse roll-out running pass by a defender. That defender was sophomore strong safety Nick Emmanwori, who not only forced Mahomes into an interception during the play, but went stride for stride with who’s considered the fastest NFL receiver in Xavier Worthy. A starting safety is usually not, if ever, that fast. Unless they play again in the Super Bowl, Travis Kelce will finish his career with no touchdowns against Seattle. Walker left the field without shaking hands with his former teammates after the game ended.
Seattle still has a lot to prove this regular season. Their next game should be a Monday night thriller at home against the Chicago Bears. That game will feature the two most innovative head coaches the NFL has to offer. Yet, Sunday night was about the defending Super Bowl champions finally playing a dominant, one-sided game this season. It came at the best time against the AFC’s best team.
Losers: DeMeco Ryans
Houston had all the momentum and positive feelings rolling into what many thought would or should be an easy home win against New York. The Giants faced on-going questions about their ability to play winning football, especially on offense. The Texans were on a two game winning streak. One of those wins was against the impressive Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Houston fell flat Sunday in scarlet red fashion.
Not only did New York’s new quarterback J.J. McCarthy get his first start with the team, but running back Cam Skattebo came back. Both played well and gashed the supposedly elite Texans defense. McCarthy finished the game with 252 passing yards and Skattebo averaged over seven yards a carry, had 124 rushing yards and a touchdown. New York’s four rushing touchdowns earned them a hard-fought overtime win.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans has been one of the more respected leaders for any team in both the AFC and the NFL. He knows how to prepare his players well, especially his defense. Evidence of that was sorely vacant on Sunday. This is a lingering loss viewers knew Houston would deeply regret, especially if they miss the playoffs. At 2-5, that game could very well cost the Texans their season.
Tennessee Titans defense
Houston wasn’t the only AFC South team that had their defense fail them Sunday. Every time Tennessee’s offense got a lead in their home game against Cleveland, the defense found a way to rip it away.
While there were turnovers for both teams, the Titans defense struggled to stop the Browns passing attack and keep runners out of the endzone. Quarterback DeShaun Watson finished 25 of 36 for 308 yards. He also ran for a game tying score on Cleveland’s second-to-last offensive possession. Runningback Quinshon Judkins had his best game of the season with 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
What sealed the loss for Tennessee was the Browns’ last offensive possession. The Titans allowed Cleveland to get 57 yards in 55 seconds. Watson found Harold Fannin Jr. for a 36 yard catch and run where no defender could make a competent tackle until he got deep in Tennessee territory. Then the Titans committed a five yard offside penalty that made Andre Szmyt’s field goal attempt easier and shorter. Of course he made it because the Titans are in the losers column.
Tennessee’s offense has been correctly criticized throughout the season, but it’s deflating that one of the few good games the offense has, the defense weighs the team down and is a major reason why the Titans are pretty much eliminated from the playoff race.
Arizona’s four yard hook and ladder play on 4th and 13
Few plays catch peoples’ attention because of their failure, especially on a fourth down. Those plays stand out like a throbbing sore thumb when they’re trick plays.
Arizona trailed 27-13 to start the fourth quarter and had a good chance to at least get some points and make Denver work the remaining quarter for the win. The Cardinals drive sputtered at the Broncos 40 yard line. At 4th and 13, rookie head coach Mike LaFleur decided to let the offense stay out instead of attempting a field goal. It was a disastrous decision, mostly because this was the play-call and result.
If there was one play to sum up Arizona’s 10 game losing streak at home, this would be it. A hook-and-ladder play near the sidelines is wild, especially when far away from the first down marker. Denver might have stopped the drive, but the Cardinals could not capitalize when it mattered. It shouldn’t surprise readers that the Broncos at least got their own field goal their following possession.
Sunday night football and NFL fans for week eight
There has been a solid schedule of Sunday night games so far this season. Seattle’s almost perfect home win against Kansas City is one of the network’s best of all 2026. If you expected week eight to have a sequel alas, you are wrong. The reason is because commissioner Roger Goodell and company have decided to not flex the Eagles-Commanders game, even though Philadelphia plays tonight.
Ratings are important for the NFL and no division has ratings glamour more than the NFC east. The current dilemma is, fans of neither the Eagles nor Commanders want to watch their awful teams on national broadcast televison after October. Who can blame them? Washington is nowhere close to being a caliber team. However, they are close to firing their head coach Dan Quinn. Philadelphia will have an offense filled with backups at almost every position. None of that should appeal to either local or national audiences.
The dumbest part about this is that the NFL had until October 20th to make a change. They punted on the decision and determined we should all suffer because of it. If you haven’t seen your family for the last month and a half, make an exception next Sunday night.
