This NFL season is full of ups, downs, upsets and surprises. We’ve got highlights from the last 2 weeks to get us ready for Week 7.

Week 5

To start off, on Thursday Night Football, where the Seahawks take a devastating loss to their divisional rivals the LA Rams, 26-17. This loss puts them at a record of 2-3, which makes them third in their tough NFC West division. They also lost franchise quarterback, Russell Wilson, with a dislocated finger that will take him out for multiple weeks. This will be the first time Russell Wilson will miss a game in his NFL career and his first major injury. 

On Sunday, Carolina Panthers took on the Philadelphia Eagles at home and took an early lead into half time, only allowing the Eagles offense to get 3 points in the 1st half. Then disaster struck for the Panthers as the Eagles made a comeback for the needed win, the final score being Eagles winning, 21-18. The Eagles defense has had trouble creating turnovers over the past few years, but Darius Slay, star cornerback for the Eagles, intercepted two of quarterback Sam Darnold’s passes, while Steven Nelson had one as well. 

The Green Bay Packers traveled to Cincinnati to play the Bengals, who many thought was the first real test of this young and explosive Bengals team. The score from both teams was close the entire game, as the score at the end of the 1st half was Packers up 16-14. Later in the game, the Bengals managed to tie the game 22-22 with 3 minutes left. Then they went into overtime as both teams missed 3 combined field goals. The Packers ended up winning this matchup, with star receiver Davante Adams putting up a career high of 206 receiving yards on 11 receptions and a touchdown. 

As we get into late-night football the Buffalo Bills take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Chiefs home Arrowhead Stadium. This game looked to be an exciting one with both teams being Super Bowl contenders with two young star quarterbacks with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, and with Kansas City ending Buffalo’s deep playoff run last season, the Bills look to get their revenge. The Bills ended up dominating the Chiefs winning 38-20, getting a great win on the road putting them at 4-1 and the Chiefs at 2-3. The Chiefs lost their running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to a knee injury. This is the worst start to a season the Chiefs have had in the past 5 years. 

On Monday night, the Indianapolis Colts took on the Baltimore Ravens in the Ravens’ home M&T Bank Stadium. This game was a thriller, going into overtime and the Ravens coming back being down 22-3 with 8 minutes left in the third quarter. A clutch play was made by Ravens defensive lineman Calais Campbell blocking a field goal attempt with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter with the Colts in the lead 25-17, that block set up a game tying drive and kept it to a one possession game. According to ESPN, Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson had a career high game in passing going 37 for 43 with 442 yards, four passing touchdowns and 62 yards rushing. Ravens tight end Mark Andrews had a breakout game with 11 receptions with 147 yards and he had two clutch two point conversions to keep the game within reach. The game looked to be over being 25-25 with the Colts going for a 47 yard field goal with only 4 seconds left to go in the game but the kick went wide left sending it into overtime. In overtime, the Ravens took over receiving the ball first and sealing the game with a Lamar Jackson touchdown pass to Ravens’ receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. 

Week 6

Starting the week off right, Thursday Night Football saw the reigning champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, perform in Philadelphia against the Eagles. Although the game seemed one-sided as the Bucs were up 28-7 at one point in the 3rd Quarter, the Eagles led by Quarterback Jalen Hurts showed fight and made a late push for a comeback. The defense ended up being unable to stop Quarterback Tom Brady and their offense late in the fourth, Tom Brady causing the Eagles to lose the game 28-22 and put the Eagles in a bad spot with a 2-4 record. The Bucs are now 5-1, making them a clear cut favorite to be the winner of their division and being a top contender for a repeat championship.

We head across the Atlantic, where the Miami Dolphins face off against the winless Jacksonville Jaguars. Heading up to this matchup in London, the Jaguars had a 20 game losing streak, which helped them acquire the 1st overall pick in the 2021 draft. During the game, both teams never strayed from each other in terms of scoring, but the Jaguars eventually led an upset against the Dolphins, winning 23-20 with a game winning field goal at the last second. Dolphins had high expectations coming into the season, especially with their young and talented defense. This game tied both teams to a 1-5 record, at the bottom of the standings. Dolphins gave their 1st round pick for this year to the Eagles, meaning if they continue on this path, they could very well give up a top 5 pick to the city of Philadelphia.

In the Windy City of Chicago, the Green Bay Packers took on the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field. The Chicago Bears took an early lead in the first quarter, but it would be the only lead that they would have all game. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense quickly settled in after a slow start. Bears’ rookie QB Justin Fields struggled against the Packers throwing an interception, being sacked 4 times and having only 174 yards and one touchdown. Although the Packers went up 17-7, the Bears scored a touchdown to make the game 17-14 late in the game, but Aaron Rodgers closed out the game making the score 24-14 and after the touchdown he yelled out to the Chicago fans saying “I still own you!” 

We travel to Foxborough stadium, home of the New England Patriots where they face the Dallas Cowboys. It was a back and forth battle between the most historic franchises in the NFL. 

They went back and forth in the first quarter with the score being 14-7 with the Patriots leading, but the Cowboys looking to tie the game at 14 once they were inside the Patriots 30 at the start the second quarter. A few plays later, Dak Prescott’s pass would be tipped by the Patriots defense and intercepted by Kyle Dugger. That same drive, Patriots QB Mac Jones would fumble the ball after a sack from Randy Gregory. The score would be 10-14 Patriots at halftime after a forced fumble by the Patriots on the goal line with a minute left in the half. As we got into the 4th quarter the score was 20-21, Patriots up by 1. With 2 minutes left in the game 2nd year cornerback Trevon Diggs would have a clutch “pick six” to make the game 26-21, the Cowboys would fail the two point conversion. Mac Jones and the Patriots drove down the field and scored a touchdown and converted on the two point attempt making the game 29-26. The Cowboys answered back with a 49 yard field goal to send the game to overtime. The Patriots would receive the ball but would be held to a punt by the Cowboys defense, and a 37 yard Dak Prescott to Ceedee Lamb connection would seal the game, 35-29 Cowboys. 

In Heinz Field, The Seattle Seahawks took on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers took a lead in the second quarter to end the half 14-0 after the game being scoreless the first quarter. The Steelers went up 17-7 in the third quarter but the Seahawks made a great effort to make the game 17-17 with a touchdown late in the third quarter and a field goal at the beginning of the 4th. In the end it wasn’t enough as the Seahawks took the hard loss back home giving them a record of 2-4. The missing star Quarterback Russel Wilson was definitely a hard loss for them going forward, but they’re going to need to pick up some momentum if they want to make a push for the playoffs at this point.

The Colts played the Houston Texans in a very one-sided game. Quarterback Carson Wentz, Colts who was traded earlier this offseason from the Eagles, is seemingly returning to his 2017 MVP caliber form. The game was painful to watch if you were a Texans fan, as they got demolished 31-3 from this Colts offense. Texans Quarterback Davis Mills had a hard time playing against their defense, putting up 243 yards in the air and 2 interceptions with no touchdowns to match. Overall this was an important win for the Colts, as winning this game keeps them in contention for a small chance at a division spot against the Titans with a record of 2-4. 

Derrick “King” Henry does it again, matching up against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills came into this game with high expectations, as they’ve been regarded as a top 5 team to win it all this season. From Quarterback Josh Allen to Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs this team is loaded with talent, but you shouldn’t sleep on the Tennessee Titans either. Derrick Henry leads the Titans to a 34-31 win with 143 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns, an absolutely monstrous game. A.J Brown also had himself a game with 9 receptions to put up 91 yards. This game tied the two teams up with records of 4-2, so look out for these teams going forward as both could very well make a deep push into the playoffs.

It could all change as we head into Week 7. Keep up to date with the standings at www.nfl.com/standings.