With the way Week 7 started with Steelers-Bengals, you might think the week was set up for great drama and shootouts. Instead, we got the least dramatic week of 2025 with the most dramatic ending that came out of nowhere between the Giants and Broncos.

We only had six games with a comeback opportunity in Week 7 (5 on Sunday), and only two games had a fourth-quarter lead change. But what a few changes it was in Denver.

This season in NFL Stat Oddity:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6

Giants at Broncos: Comeback of the Year

I thought the Broncos had their improbable comeback in Philadelphia when they were down 17-3 going into the fourth quarter and won 21-17. But they outdid themselves this time in one of the wildest fourth-quarter finishes in NFL history.

The Broncos scored 33 points in the fourth quarter alone after trailing 19-0 to start the quarter. That’s a record for points scored by a team who was shutout for 45 minutes. Not only did the Broncos make a 19-point comeback, but they still allowed two touchdowns in the quarter, falling behind 26-8 with 10:14 left and then again 32-30 with 0:37 left. Obviously, the missed extra point doomed the Giants in the end.

Funny how a couple of plays that should have benefitted the Giants actually hurt them late too. By getting a controversial defensive pass interference penalty and a replay showing Jaxson Dart scored from the 1-yard line on his first-down run, the Giants covered those final 40 yards in 12 seconds. That’s where you’d actually like to need 2-3 plays to score the game-winning touchdown, leaving Denver little time to answer with no timeouts.

But this was wild stuff as Bo Nix threw two touchdowns and rushed for two more in the quarter, another thing no player had ever done before in NFL history. Each team scored a touchdown off a deflected pass as well in that 46-point quarter.

Dart had a fantastic game on the road against this defense without Malik Nabers. His only big mistake was that interception with 4:47 left after Denver just scored a touchdown to make it 26-16. That set up the Broncos to become the 30th team since 2001 to win a game after manufacturing a multi-score comeback in the final 5:00.

What separates this table from a regular game where a team wins after trailing by two scores in the final 5:00 is the time they had at the start of the comeback. It’s not as uncommon to see a team get the ball back with 10 minutes, score with 4:30, then use that time to get the ball back and win. This way, you have to actually complete the whole drive, score, get the ball back, score again, then finish as you have to finish for the win all within 5:00.

What makes Denver stand out on this table is that it’s only the seventh team that trailed by 3 possessions in the quarter, and the 19-point maximum deficit is the second largest of the 30 games. The only one that tops it is the 2003 Colts’ comeback in Tampa Bay, which is still the gold standard for improbable comebacks in NFL history.

But this one will rank up there, and it sure puts a dent in the Giants’ attempt to get to 3-4 and go on a run with Dart. It keeps the Broncos (5-2) on top of the AFC West with an easier remaining schedule than Kansas City.

At the same time, Sean Payton’s team has already lost to the Colts and Chargers, his offense has shit the bed for 6-of-8 quarters against the Eagles and Giants, and I can’t see this type of comeback happening again for them this year.

Better question is why is Denver down multiple scores so often in the fourth quarter with that defense on the other side? We won’t see them play the Chiefs until Week 11.

Eagles at Vikings: What’s the Opposite of a Revenge Game?

The Eagles got a great look at why they made the right move in 2020 to replace Carson Wentz with Jalen Hurts. The former got the start for the Vikings, had a few laughable turnovers, including a pick-six, while Hurts had maybe the best passing game of his career. Beyond the perfect passer rating, he hit his deep throws and they came at huge moments to salt this 28-22 win away.

This was one of the few close finishes we had this week, and the coaches in this game have two of the best records in such games among active coaches. But I thought there were some questionable strategy decisions in the final quarter.

Up 21-16, the Eagles ran the ball on a 3rd-and-5 on an unproductive day for Saquon Barkley and settled for a 42-yard field goal, which was missed. Down 28-19, the Vikings had a touchdown to T.J. Hockenson overturned by replay after he lost control of the ball after it touched the ground, a nitpicking thing they like to do with catches. I feel like if you control it on the ground and it pops out after you’ve cleared the ground, but you catch it again without it touching the ground, it should count. But they don’t make that distinction.

That gave Kevin O’Connell a tough decision to make on a 4th-and-2 at the Philadelphia 15 with 2:58 left. If it was 4th-and-goal at the 2, I see the argument being quite clear for going for the touchdown. But from the 15? He had four clock stoppages left, and by kicking the field goal there, you give yourself some margin for error to get the stop and get the ball back (want no part of onside kick recovery). With the Eagles, you can’t treat them like a normal 3-down offense. If they get 3rd-and-2 or shorter, they’re probably going Tush Push twice.

So, it looks like the trend is to go for it early these days, but I don’t agree with that in this case. The game is over right there if you don’t convert the 4th-and-2, so I don’t like that idea with almost 3:00 left. Too early to end the game by pushing it into pure miracle territory (stop, score, onside kick recovery, score).

The Vikings ultimately went for it, got it, but after a sack and completion, they ended up wasting the 2-minute warning and still had to kick the field goal anyway on 4th-and-goal from the 11. They wasted a full minute and clock stoppage just to get the field goal they could have got with 2:55 left. Bad process.

That made getting the 3-and-out the last shot. The Eagles gave them a break with a 2nd-and-9 incompletion, but then Hurts found A.J. Brown deep one more time for 45 yards, a dagger. At that point, the Eagles could just run four time-consuming plays and never give the ball back to Minnesota, which is what happened.

Maybe the Vikings never get the ball back either way, but I still think waiting to kick the field goal was a big mistake. Not everything is solved for the Eagles, but at least the passing game showed it can hit big plays. Still have to fix the running game and 3rd down efficiency.

Raiders at Chiefs: The Almost Perfect Game

The spread got up to Chiefs -13.5 once you found out the Raiders wouldn’t have Jakobi Meyers or Brock Bowers available. But what the Raiders really needed was a time machine that could bring Howie Long, Ted Hendricks, Jack Tatum, Charles Woodson, and Willie Brown in their prime to the defense.

Even then it may not have mattered as the Chiefs were as dialed in as you could be for an NFL game these days. For three quarters, this was really close to a perfect performance on both sides of the ball.

The offense had touchdown drives of 92, 84, 94, and 65 yards before settling for a 66-yard field goal drive. That’s over 80 yards per drive and 31 points before Andy Reid pulled Patrick Mahomes, and they were missing 40% of the offensive line as Josh Simmons was inactive and Trey Smith was injured early in the game. Rashee Rice scored two touchdowns, and it felt like they were holding things back still.

But like I’ve been saying for over a year, people have judged Mahomes without his best receivers available despite all the success they still had. Now he gets to play his first game in years with his full arsenal of receivers, and he averages 80.2 yards and 6.2 points per drive. Absurd numbers, and it’s not just a matter of playing the Raiders, who were top 20 in those drive stats coming into the week. The Chiefs have been playing elite offense for several weeks now.

Then the defense pitched the first shutout of the Mahomes era. The Raiders went scoreless on 10 possessions. They ran as many plays (30) as the Chiefs had first downs. It’s just the fourth time in NFL history a team got to 30 first downs while allowing no more than 3 first downs.

This game was pure domination, the most lopsided in the NFL this season.

Colts at Chargers: Indy’s Year?

Talk about role reversal. First, it’s been a long time since the Colts and Chargers have played a real meaningful game against each other. You have to go back to 2013 to find the last time they met in a season they’d both make the playoffs. Maybe that happens this year but no guarantee yet. The Chargers used to give the Colts a hard time too in the Manning era.

But on Sunday, it was all Indy from the start. The Colts led 20-3 and intercepted Justin Herbert twice, including another deflected ball at the line that’s been an issue for him the last month. He ended up throwing for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns, but he needed 55 attempts, he led the team in rushing (31 yards), and his last drive consumed 9:14 off the clock before ending in a failed completion on 4th-and-forever, a killer in a 38-24 game.

The Colts are just so deadly efficient on offense this year. They scored on 6-of-7 drives to start the game, including four long touchdown drives. Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor played great again.

The Colts and Chiefs look like the best teams in the AFC right now, if not the whole NFL as you just can’t argue with this kind of offensive efficiency. Then when you’re getting takeaways, it’s super hard to beat a team playing at this level.

I picked the Colts to win this game, but I thought for sure it’d be a tight one late. But the Colts have legitimate arguments for MVP (Jones), OPOY (Taylor), Coach of the Year (Steichen), and OROY (Tyler Warren).

I liked the supporting cast this summer but obviously had six years of data to not trust Daniel Jones. But he’s proving me and everyone wrong.

Packers at Cardinals: Too Close for Comfort

Maybe Green Bay fans were fair to be worried the team struggled with the Bengals in the second half last week. This team really hasn’t been that great since the first two games of the year, yet they continue getting large spreads.

Jacoby Brissett more or less did what he did last week. Gave the Cardinals a chance, gave them a fourth-quarter lead, got Trey McBride touchdowns in a way Kyler Murray couldn’t last year, and he still came up short in the end in a 27-23 loss as Arizona has blown a league-high four leads in the fourth quarter.

Good game-winning drive for Jordan Love, who doesn’t have a lot of them, and he got an incredible catch from Tucker Kraft on a fourth down. Good game for the DPOY candidacy for Micah Parsons, who had 3.0 sacks despite getting called for only the second hip-drop tackle in the NFL this season.

But I agree with the notion that the Packers aren’t close to playing their best football after the way they played the first two weeks showed promise of an elite team. Up next is SNF in Pittsburgh against a certain quarterback and coach who are steaming after last week’s loss.

Should be good TV.

Patriots at Titans: Mike Vrabel Revenge Game

My most confident pick this week was the Patriots covering the 7-point spread, which went down to 6.5 for some reason. I was nervous to see that along with all the people riding the Titans. I guess the optimism was over the new coach bump, but that lasted about a quarter here. The Patriots trailed 10-3 before winning 31-13 with little resistance from Tennessee.

Cam Ward had another terrible play where the ball just slipped away from him and it went for an easy touchdown. Drake Maye completed 21/23 passes, though he did get sacked four times.

The Patriots took it easy after the fumble touchdown and still covered easily. The Titans have a long way to go, but on the bright side, look how quickly the Patriots have improved after consecutive 4-win seasons. They’re 5-2 now, though this easy schedule is a godsend in 2025.

Commanders at Cowboys: Washington’s Forces Undermanned  

I had high hopes for this game a few days ago, then I saw the Commanders were going to be without their top three wide receivers (Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, Noah Brown). They’re already without their best receiving back (Austin Ekeler), so this is putting a lot of pressure on Jayden Daniels even if it’s against a bad defense.

But the shootout was never quite on as the Commanders punted three times in the first quarter as Dallas was getting some timely pressures and stops at home for a change. The offense was still hot with Dak Prescott getting CeeDee Lamb back to give him his full arsenal, and then Daniels was injured, putting Marcus Mariota in the game. He forced a bad pick six and the rout was on in a 44-22 final.

We’ll see what the news is on Daniels, but the Commanders (3-4) are fading fast with the Chiefs, Seahawks, and Lions up next. Just too many injuries to the wideouts – I’m telling you it’s not normal to be down this many of your top guys at the same time – and now two injuries to Daniels.

I guess I was wrong about Washington in 2025. But at least I didn’t go all in and have them winning the NFC East and getting to a Super Bowl and all that. I learned my lesson from Houston last year.

Saints at Bears: Dennis Allen Revenge Game

With all the revenge games this week, I should have given some thought to Dennis Allen, the Chicago defensive coordinator, taking on his former team that fired him last season. It was an old-school mix of running the ball (222 yards) and defense (four takeaways off Spencer Rattler) that won this game 26-14 rather than Ben Johnson’s passing game.

I’ve given Rattler credit for keeping things close this year, but this was his worst game. Even after some Chris Olave touchdowns turned a 20-0 deficit into a 20-14 game, the Saints were scoreless the rest of the way.

The Bears are 4-2 with key wins over Dallas and Washington for tiebreakers. They were 4-2 last year as well, but I think it’s safe to say this team will finish stronger.

Rams vs. Jaguars: London Jags My Ass

Boy, am I glad I didn’t get up early for the start of this one. The London Jags are supposed to feel comfortable in these surroundings, but I guess Liam Coen didn’t get that memo. This was the team’s worst performance of the season, allowing Matthew Stafford to throw 5 touchdowns without Puka Nacua and without even throwing for 190 yards.

The Jaguars missed one field goal early in the rain, then kept failing on fourth down over and over. Trevor Lawrence basically had three modes: wild incompletion, drop, or sack. The only bright side was Travis Hunter scored his first touchdown and had his biggest impact as a receiver yet, but he also didn’t play defense. So I’m not sure what the plan is there now.

But what a terrible performance for a team that’s been nothing but terrible since upsetting the Chiefs, the game they must have thought was the Super Bowl.

Panthers at Jets: 0-7

I’m proud of my Week 7 picks where I didn’t fall for the bait that the Jets might actually win a game at home against Carolina. My favorite pick was an alternate line for the Panthers (O/U 21.5) to score under 20.5 points, thinking maybe Justin Fields could win a game if the team allows under 21 points seeing as how he’s 0-26 when they allow more.

For the second week in a row, Aaron Glenn’s defense was fine and only allowed 13 points, but Fields was stuck on 3 points before he was benched for Tyrod Taylor. The offense moved better with Taylor, but he’s still one of the worst 4QC quarterbacks in NFL history too, so they still lost 13-6 after not being able to tie the game late. In fact, the Jets punted on 4th-and-10 deep in their own end in no man’s land with 1:55 left. Never saw the ball again.

Panthers lost Bryce Young during the game but it didn’t matter. They’re 4-3 and doing well. The Jets are 0-7 and look like they need a full reset. New York is only the third team since 2008 to lose back-to-back games without allowing more than 13 points. The 2023 Patriots did it three games in a row and the 2011 Bears (Caleb Hanie year) did it for two weeks.

Dolphins at Browns: The End of Mike McDaniel-Tua Tagovailoa?

I’m expecting to wake up Monday and see that the Dolphins fired Mike McDaniel. It’s hardly all his fault this year as the roster is weak, he’s lost key players, and Tua Tagovailoa is playing some horrible football.

But Sunday was likely the last straw as you can’t lose 31-6 to a bad Cleveland team with a rookie quarterback. The Browns hadn’t surpassed 17 points in any game this year, and they may have been stuck there again if Tua didn’t basically spot them 14 points after halftime.

It’s not going to be an attractive job for the next coach either as you have Tua on a ridiculous contract, and Tyreek Hill will probably never be the same player after his injury and his age. Tough sell.

Falcons at 49ers: CMC Carry Job

I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done during Sunday Night Football. I wasn’t feeling well, so I went up to bed, got under the covers, plugged my phone in to charge, turned the game on it, and listened to it while being in twilight sleep mode.

Doesn’t look like I missed much as the game had one 20-yard play, and that was before halftime with the Falcons wasting another pre-halftime drive by not getting any points after a grounding penalty. George Kittle was back and didn’t get a single catch as Mac Jones only threw for 152 yards against that legit Atlanta pass defense.

But it was a great night for a vintage Christian McCaffrey performance. He had 201 yards from scrimmage and iced the game on his second touchdown in a 20-10 win. The Falcons had their shot in a 13-10 game, but they didn’t pick up 1 yard on two plays, and then the 49ers had their long drive to put it away.

Next week: Vikings-Chargers isn’t bad for TNF, but will we see J.J. McCarthy return on a short week? Finally, a break from another international game Sunday morning. Buffalo at Carolina is suddenly more interesting than it has any business being. Chicago-Baltimore is also more interesting for the desperate Ravens. Dallas-Denver will have to carry the weak late slate. Aaron Rodgers gets probably his only shot against the Packers on Sunday night, and I’ll say it early I think he’s going to win  the game. Washington-KC could take a big hit on MNF if Jayden Daniels can’t go, but Chiefs should roll through that defense regardless of the QB.