Final NFL Week 7 Observations ... With Dolphins Angles
Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season began with a wild Thursday night game between the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints (and ugly uniforms) and ended with a major upset Monday night that raised eyebrows about the two upcoming Miami Dolphins opponents, the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots.
The Dolphins will face the Bears at Soldier Field in two Sundays, and what once looked like a likely win doesn't quite look like that anymore.
And it wasn't just about the Bears shocking the Patriots, 33-14, at Gillette Stadium, but rather a second indication they have found an answer on offense. It should have been obvious, really: Let Justin Fields run.
While they lost against Washington in Week 6 because they were brutal in the red zone, they gained 391 yards of offense in that game. They followed that with 390 yards against New England.
Fields rushed for more than 80 yards in each of those games, helping Chicago top 200 rushing yards each time.
Chicago will face the Dolphins after playing at Dallas on Sunday.
As for the Patriots, everybody is wondering what is going on with their quarterback situation after Mac Jones started but was replaced by rookie Bailey Zappe after three series with New England down 10-0, and it's certainly not Bill Belichick who was going to provide answers after the game.
This just seems weird.
While Zappe was very impressive in his first two-plus games after Jones sustained an ankle injury, didn't the Patriots select Jones with the 15th overall pick just last year? And didn't he have a productive rookie season?
And while Zappe did help the Patriots defeat the Lions and the Browns, it's not like he was carrying the team. He was doing pretty much what Cooper Rush did for Dallas in Dak Prescott's absence, basically managing the game.
As for what's going to happen with the Patriots starting quarterback spot when they face the Jets on Sunday, we can only guess at this time.
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UP-AND-DOWN 49ERS
We always mention the 49ers in this space, and it'll continue that way because the Dolphins face them Dec. 4 and, more importantly, because the Dolphins own their 2023 first-round pick.
And truthfully we just don't know what to make of those 49ers, who went for it big last week when they traded four draft picks to land Christian McCaffrey before watching their vaunted defense get shredded by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
As we mentioned last week, though, that defense is dealing with a lot of injury issues and the offense just isn't good enough to compensate on those days when the 49ers can't shut down an opponent.
So for all the talk of the 49ers being legit Super Bowl contenders, they're now at 3-4 heading into a rematch against the Los Angeles Rams, this time at SoFi Stadium.
We should, however, mention that the 49ers were 3-5 last year before they went on a run all the way to the NFC Championship Game.
DOWN IN THE DUMPS IN DETROIT
At least the Lions showed signs of life and their defense played well at Dallas last Sunday after their embarrassing 29-0 loss at New England followed by their bye, and the final score in their 24-6 loss didn't remotely reflect the game.
In fact, the Lions were ready to take the lead before Jamaal Williams fumbled on first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, the first of four — yes, four — turnovers by Detroit in the fourth quarter.
A big issue for Detroit is the offense getting stuck in neutral after leading the league in points through four games, though it didn't help that the Lions played without running back D'Andre Swift and top receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown got the Teddy Bridgewater treatment when he was pulled out of the game for a suspected concussion, which head coach Dan Campbell said Monday he didn't suffer.
It's possible the Lions could have both players in the lineup against the Dolphins on Sunday.
PAINFUL WIN FOR JETS
lf you thought the Dolphins victory against the Steelers on Sunday night was ugly, it didn't have anything on the Jets game at Denver.
In the end, it was a fourth win in a row for Robert Saleh's team and moved the Jets to an impressive 5-2 on the season — tied for second-best record in the AFC with the Chiefs behind only the Bills — but it didn't bode well for the rest of the season.
First, there was a massively underwhelming performance by quarterback Zach Wilson, who passed for 126 yards and had a 72.8 passer rating. And it's not like this was something new for him because Wilson's only game with a passer rating higher than 74 this season came against the Dolphins in Week 5 when he was at 99.3.
For the season, Wilson is at 73.9 and this is where we'll again make the point of how ridiculous it is to overemphasize won-loss record for a QB because he's 4-0 and there's no one who would suggest he's played well.
Worse for the Jets, of course, was the loss of running back Breece Hall and offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker to season-ending inuries. Props to the Jets for quickly addressing the RB position by trading for Jacksonville's James Robinson, but he's not as good as Hall and replacing Vera-Tucker is going to be more difficult because the 2021 first-round pick not only is good, but he can play guard or tackle.
QUICK HITTERS
-- Former Dolphins backup Jacoby Brissett had a strong statistical performance for the Browns at Baltimore last week, but that didn't prevent a 23-20 loss that dropped them to 2-5 on the season after Coach Kevin Stefanski made the strong decision to have his kicker attempt a 55-yard field to tie the score instead of going for it on fourth-and-5 from the Baltimore 37 just before the two-minute warning — and then it became a 60-yard attempt after a false start penalty. At this rate, Cleveland might be out of the playoff picture by the time Deshaun Watson is ready to start in the 12th game.
-- Yeah, this notion of the Chargers being a Super Bowl contender in the AFC? Not happening. There are all sorts of issues with this team, including the offensive line, a defense that still can't stop the run, an offense with no short-yardage ability and a neverending run of injuries, the latest being the season-ending knee injury to CB J.C. Jackson and the high ankle sprain that's going to keep Mike Williams out of the lineup for weeks, not days, according to head coach Brandon Staley. The Dolphins face the Chargers on Dec. 11, which is seven weeks from the time of Williams' injury, meaning he should be back in action barring any setbacks.
-- The Dolphins running game hasn't put up big numbers so far this season, but the Houston Texans will soon be at Hard Rock Stadium to possibly help. The Texans are dead last in the NFL in rushing defense, giving up 164 yards a game, which is exactly what the Raiders got Sunday when they defeated Houston 38-20.
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