The Biggest Winners (& Losers) Of NFL Season Week 7
Highs And Lows: The Biggest Winners (& Losers) Of NFL Season Week 7 & Mastering The Edge
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My favorite Mike Tyson story has nothing to do with anything he did in the ring. It’s the story that Teddy Atlas talked about, when Mike Tyson was just 15-years-old and he’s outside pacing back and forth before a fight. Atlas jokes that he doesn’t want Tyson to leave Denver, where he’s supposed to be fighting a grown man, because even as a teenager, Tyson’s body was already adult-sized.
Atlas walks over to him and realizes that the boy; the boy with all of the expectations, the boy with all of the trauma, the boy with the world stretched out in front of him, is crying. Atlas puts his arm around Tyson and Tyson does the same, and in this moment they could be a father and a son.
Atlas says to Tyson, “Just relax, Michael. All it is is another boxing match. You’ve done it already 20 times. You’ve done it in the gym with better fighters than you’re ever going to fight here. It’s always hard, but you always should have confidence; because it always comes off on your side.”
It’s almost impossible to hear Atlas over Tyson’s deep sniffles. And then Atlas says, “Let’s go get ready for a fight,” and for the first time, a young Mike Tyson turns to face the camera, and you see that whatever boy is inside him is gone now. He throws two punches into the wind and walks back toward his destiny.
But what’s stunning about this moment, the part that has stuck with me all these years, is that if you speed through years of him dominating opponents and becoming the most feared man on the planet, and you get all the way back to the core, even Mike Tyson cries.
This is Week 7 of the NFL football round-up in which we separate the wheat from the chaff (whatever that means) and figure out which teams are winners, losers, and everything in between.
Winners
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Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles have righted the ship after beating the Minnesota Vikings 28-22. Quarterback Jalen Hurts went back to being his normal self, going 19-23 for 326 yards and 3 TDs and no interceptions. He ended with a perfect passer rating and all in America is well. AJ Brown finally had a game that may keep him happy, as the disgruntled receiver had 4 catches for 121 yards for 2 TDs. And his wide receiver teammate Devonta Smith torched the Vikings for 9 catches for 183 yards for 1 TD.
The Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak, and hopefully, this stops all the critics’ hot takes against the Eagles and Jalen Hurts that weren’t warranted in the first place.
Detroit Lions
It was supposed to be a matchup between two of the best NFL teams, but the Detroit Lions made it clear that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t on their level. And that’s no knock against Bucs QB Baker Mayfield (one of the frontrunners in the MVP race) who went 28/50 for 228 yards, 1 TD and 1 Int. But, the Bucs literally couldn’t get anything going. Running back Rachaad White couldn’t get going, running for a dismal 38 yards on 10 carries. And it’s almost impossible to win a game when your tight end has the most receiving yards, as Cade Otton had 7 receptions for just 65 yards.
The “full-grown man award” goes to Jahmyr Gibbs because he couldn’t be stopped, running all over the Bucs and going for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 17 carries.
Kansas City Chiefs
And just like that, the Kansas City Chiefs are in mid-season form shutting out the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0. It was a statement game for the Chiefs who are still in third place in the AFC West following the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles at 4-3 but as long as they have Patrick Mahomes (who threw for 3 TDs) the Chiefs are and will forever be a problem. Oh, did I mention that the Raiders were held to just 96 total yards?
“That’s embarrassing, man. We put too much into this game to come out here and not have a shot,” Raiders quarterback Geno Smith said. “My heart’s broken, really, for Raider fans, you know what I mean? There’s a lot that goes into this. And there’s a lot of things on that field that we can do better.”
Middle of the Pack
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Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers barely beat the lowly Arizona Cardinals 27-23. Packers cornerback Nate Hobbs might as well be a broken screen door as he doesn’t stop anything or anyone from getting in the house. Hobbs surrendered the second-most yards of any corner this week. And sure the Packers won, but they beat a team that is fourth in the NFC West (which is stacked, I know having the San Francisco 49ers, LA Rams and the Seattle Seahawks) but they aren’t a close fourth. All of the teams above them are fighting for first place and way in the back, near the cheap seats, are the sad Cardinals.
Dallas Cowboys
I’m just ready for the real Dallas Cowboys to show themselves. Are they the team that got beat by the Chicago Bears 31-14, or are they the team that annihilated God’s favorites the Washington Commanders (more on them in a bit) 44-22? It’s impossible to figure this team out and it really didn’t help things when they tied with the Green Bay Packers 40-40 in Week 2. This might be the most unstable team in the league this year as they can’t seem to find a groove and being 3-3-1 in the middle of the season is just screaming middle of the pack.
Atlanta Falcons
Coming off an improbable win against the Buffalo Bills last week, the Atlanta Falcons came back down to Earth losing to the San Francisco 49ers 20-10. Michael Penix Jr. played well, going 21-38 for 241 yards and 1 TD. But superstar Bijan Robinson peaced out his team as he seemingly disappeared from the game, running just 14 times for 40 yards.
Don’t look now, but Mac Jones is a gawd dahm winning machine, having led the 49ers to four wins, earning a $400,000 payday because no one thought Mac Jones would be winning games in 2025. I mean, did he do it last Sunday? Hell no. Jones went 17-26 for 152 yards and 1 Int. but he had “Run CMC” Christian McCaffrey in the backfield, who ran for 129 yards on 24 carries and two TDs.
Basically, Jones looked like Jones, and the Falcons still lost.
Losers
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Washington Commanders
It pains me to write this but the Washington Commanders, God’s favorite teardrop, look like trash. They didn’t just lose miserably, they lost to their archenemies, Satan’s favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys. This wasn’t just a matchup between the Cowboys and the Commanders, this was the Super Bowl within the game for fans of these teams and the Commanders walked into AT&T stadium and laid an egg. They didn’t just lose, they got the doors blown off the hinges in a game that was never close. And to make matters worse, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels got injured again and mom has had to go on Twitter to point out that her son is not the second coming of former Commanders quarterback and current cornball brotha Robert Griffin III.
Miami Dolphins
What can I say about the Miami Dolphins that hasn’t already been said? The Dolphins are just a bombed out, desolate team that doesn’t know if they are rebuilding or really this damn bad. They got destroyed by the Cleveland Browns 31-6. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played so terribly that he was benched. After the game, the Dolphins’ head coach was glitching; they got beat so damn bad.
Also, this is still my favorite tweet of all time about him.
New York Giants
This isn’t about football anymore. The New York Giants were up big against the Denver Broncos and it all collapsed in the fourth quarter. See, Tyson’s tears were about fear, I mean that was a part of it, but Tyson’s tears symbolized a storm inside: the battle between self-doubt and raw power. Once the fight began, the emotion transformed into control, aggression, and dominance. For the Giants, it was the exact opposite. The fourth quarter collapse is what happens when confidence breaks under pressure — not from lack of talent, but from mental fatigue and the fear of losing that slowly took over once the game turned tense.
Tyson learned to master the edge, the Giants are what happens when you fall off it.
