8 Things We Learned From Week 7 of 2022 NFL Season: What’s Wrong With Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and NFC?
America can’t get enough football, and the 2022 NFL season has been no exception to this rule.
Week 7 of the season just wrapped up, with some new revelations about some of the best players in the league, including Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and the NFC division as a whole.
Let’s take a look at eight things we learned from week 7 of the NFL season.
1) The top two teams in the AFC East both lost
The Miami Dolphins (9-1) lost to archrival New York Jets (7-3), 27-17; while AFC East rival New England Patriots (7-3) fell to Buffalo Bills (6-4), 20-12.
This gave Buffalo a chance to take over first place in their division if they beat Dallas Cowboys (6-4).
However, Bills did not succeed in doing so as Cowboys prevailed 19 -14. Meanwhile, New England was able to bounce back with an overtime win against Jacksonville Jaguars (5-5), 23-20.
The top two teams in NFC West also lost: Seattle Seahawks (7-2) suffered a heartbreaking loss at home against Philadelphia Eagles (6-4), 17 – 14,
while San Francisco 49ers (5-5) dropped another close one at Arizona Cardinals (7-3), 16 – 13.
2) So did NFC South
It’s clear to see that all is not well in one of football’s most competitive divisions.
The Saints are looking less like a Super Bowl team every week. Meanwhile, both Atlanta and Carolina have major QB issues.
It has become glaringly obvious that Drew Brees isn’t getting any younger.
The writing was on the wall for his decline at 36 years old after last season but he got them over that hurdle in year 17 by winning his second ring with New Orleans.
Now it seems as though age might finally be catching up with him.
He has thrown an interception in four straight games and six times overall so far this season.
3) Julio Jones finally had a breakout game.
But it still wasn’t enough.
The Falcons were unable to knock off Seattle on Sunday after falling behind 14-0 in their matchup.
Atlanta now sits at 6-3 on the season, while Seattle is 8-1 with a five-game winning streak.
At 3-5, Atlanta isn’t going anywhere in 2022 without an improved running game and defense.
The Falcons have been incapable of stopping anyone over recent weeks they’re one of three teams allowing more than 30 points per game which has resulted in their offense having no margin for error.
4) Patriots QB remains under fire despite his team’s win
Earlier in September, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was benched by head coach Bill Belichick amid allegations that he might be involved in Deflategate 2.0.
But after beating Buffalo Bills on Sunday night to improve to 5-2 for a half game lead over Miami Dolphins in AFC East Division race, Belichick reinstated his star QB.
However, after yet another bad outing which included three interceptions it looks like some people around Brady don’t trust him either.
5) Chiefs made another strong statement in beating Falcons
Chiefs made a loud statement on Sunday.
Kansas City looked like one of the best teams in football against Atlanta.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked once.
Tyreek Hill caught 10 passes for 153 yards; Kareem Hunt added 94 yards from scrimmage.
The Chiefs have put themselves into position to challenge for home-field advantage throughout playoffs.
They’re at 5-2 with four games remaining before their bye week.
They have a two-game lead over Oakland in AFC West, plus head to head tiebreaker over Raiders.
And they’re tied with New England for best record in conference at 5-2. There are still some issues that need to be addressed (chiefly defense), but Chiefs look legit right now.
6) When will Steelers make their move?
The Steelers have slumped over their last five games, dropping three.
It’s not a matter of if they’ll make their move back into contention in their division it’s when they will.
Pittsburgh sits only one game behind division leading New England at 3-3 in conference play with a weak schedule down the stretch.
They are facing a struggling Baltimore team on Sunday, which should give them an opportunity to get back on track.
But after that comes two tough road matchups against Houston and Kansas City before hosting AFC North rival Cincinnati in week
12. If Pittsburgh can pick up wins against Baltimore and Cincinnati, there is no reason to think they won’t be right back in it by week 13 when they host Philadelphia before traveling to Dallas for an early Thanksgiving Day showdown with Dallas.
7) Nobody wants to go on road trip through unpredictable NFC West
The NFC West is still one of the toughest divisions in football.
Yet for a second straight year, it’s not clear who will come out on top at season’s end.
One thing is for certain, however: Whoever manages to win that four-way race to come out on top will have earned it.
This division has been unpredictable from start to finish over the past two seasons.
It was no different in Week 7, with three of its teams going down to defeat against teams they were favored against.
Nobody wants to go on road trip through unpredictable NFC West
8) Titans are playoff contenders thanks to DeMarco Murray’s leadership
After a rough first two weeks to open up his season, Titans running back DeMarco Murray has put together three solid games in a row. He’s topped 100 yards in each of those three contests.
As his production has increased during his hot streak he’s gotten stronger as games have gone on so too have Tennessee’s wins.
The Titans are now 4-3 after losing their first five games.
They will be in contention for an AFC wild card spot by season’s end if they can continue playing at such a high level.
