NFL - Week Seven Review

Halloween is still a week away, but the NFL games this past weekend were strange indeed. In fact, to some teams, this season has been downright scary. To other teams, it has been a treat indeed as upsets and surprises dominated week seven around the league.

Washington 17, Chicago 14- De Angelo Hall is the co-Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week after making four interceptions in the game for the Redskins, including taking one back 92 yards for a touchdown.

Baltimore 37, Buffalo 34 (OT)- The Ravens struggled at home to beat the winless Bills as Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick shredded the vaunted Ravens' defense for 374 passing yards and four touchdowns. Baltimore QB Joe Flacco had three TD passes in the win.

Oakland 59, Denver 14- WOW! Where did this come from? The Raiders lit up the host Broncos as co-Heftyinfo NFL Player of the Week led the way. Darren McFadden rushed for 165 yards and scored four touchdowns in the rout. The Raiders' defense scored a TD and limited Denver to 240 yards in total offense.

Cleveland 30, New Orleans 17- That's right! The Browns went into the New Orleans SuperDome and crushed the defending Super Bowl champion Saints. The Browns were outgained by nearly 2-1 margin, but Saints' QB Drew Brees was intercepted four times in the loss. David Bowens ran two of the picks back for scores for Cleveland.
This is the third straight season the Browns have defeated the defending Super Bowl champions, having beat Pittsburgh last year and the New York Giants in 2008.

Tampa Bay 18, St. Louis 17- The Buccaneers are 4-2 after getting a late scoring pass from QB Josh Freeman to Cadillac Williams with ten seconds remaining in the game. Both the Rams (3-4) and Bucs are surprise contenders in their divisions in the NFC.

Tennessee 37, Philadelphia 19- The Titans drew away in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Eagles, 27-3 including two TD passes from QB Kerry Collins to wide receiver Kenny Britt. The duo hooked up three times for scores in the game for Tennessee (5-2). The Eagles slipped to 4-3 with the defeat.

Kansas City 42, Jacksonville 20- Another surprise team in 2010, the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 4-2 with a home win against the hapless Jaguars, who have allowed a league high 209 points through seven games.
Veteran running back Thomas Jones ran for 125 yards and the Chiefs totaled 236 yards on the ground.

Carolina 23, San Francisco 20- The Panthers earned their first win of the season as John Kasay kicked the game winner from 37 yards out to send the 49ers (1-6) to yet another defeat.

Atlanta 39, Cincinnati 32- Another strange game as the host Falcons bolted out to a big lead, only see the Bengals storm back behind QB Carson Palmer (412 yards and three touchdown passes) and actually get the lead.
Matt Ryan (299 yards passing) connected with Roddy White (11 catches for 201 yards) twice for touchdowns and running back Michael Turner (121 yards) scored the deciding touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Pittsburgh 23, Miami 22- The Steelers won with a late field goal by Jeff Reed as the Steelers pulled one out against Miami to improve to 5-1. This was a defensive struggle as field goals dominated the scoring. Steelers' QB Ben Roethlisberger threw two TD passes.

Seattle 22, Arizona 10- Seahawks kicker Olindo Mare kicked five field goals and the Seattle defense stymied the Cardinals to get the win and take over first place in the NFC West.

New England 23, San Diego 20- The Patriots took advantage of four first half turnovers by the Chargers (2-5) to sneak out the win.
The Chargers defense limited the NFL's top scoring offense to just 179 total yards while seeing the Pats get ahead 23-6 early in the fourth quarter. San Diego QB Philip Rivers (336 yards passing) hit Antonio Gates for a TD scoring pass and three minutes later Mike Tolbert scored from a yard out to cut the deficit to 23-20.
San Diego got the ball back after stuffing New England on fourth-and-one from the Pats' 49-yard line, but kicker Kris Brown's 50-yard field goal attempt clanked no good off the right upright to seal the win for New England.

Green Bay 28, Minnesota 24- The Packers took advantage of three Brett Favre interceptions, including a touchdown by Desmond Bishop off one of the picks to get the win and get back into a tie for first place with the Chicago Bears in the NFC North.
Favre suffered an injury and it has since been disclosed he has an ankle fracture and might not start next week at New England.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 295 yards and a pair of TDs in the win.

NY Giants 41, Dallas 35- The Giants (5-2) saw Dallas take an early 10-0 lead as Eli Manning was intercepted twice. But the Giants' QB rallied his team with four touchdown passes and 306 yards through the air.
Dallas QB Tony Romo suffered a broken collar bone in the game and will be out six to eight weeks as the Cowboys (1-5) are seeing their season slip away.