It was a busy week around the NFL, with plenty of injuries, slumps, and overreactions. Let’s unpack everything that occurred around the league in Week 7.

We Have to Talk About Patrick Mahomes

With only six passing touchdowns and eight interceptions in his first seven games this season, Patrick Mahomes is off to the worst start in his NFL career. The two-time NFL MVP and three-time NFL Super Bowl MVP has fewer touchdowns than Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, and Joe Flacco, the last of whom has played three games and started only two this season. Mahomes also has more interceptions than Anthony Richardson, Sam Darnold, and Bo Nix. Mahomes is not like the player or even half of the player we have seen over his reign in the NFL to begin the season. 

Despite Mahomes’ underwhelming play, the Kansas City Chiefs sit atop the NFL as the only undefeated team through seven weeks. What is so strange about Mahomes’ poor play is that the Chiefs have done more with less. 

In the 2022 NFL season when Mahomes won MVP and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, his best wide receiver was Juju Smith-Schuster. Yes, Travis Kelce was on the team and was the best tight end in football at the time Mahomes still did more with less: 41 touchdowns, 5,250 passing yards, and just 12 interceptions while leading the Chiefs to the best record in the NFL that year at 14-3. 

Odds are things will get better for the Chiefs quarterback, but with the loss of star wide receiver Rashee Rice and Kelce regressing, Mahomes’ play is something to keep tabs on throughout the season.  

The Robert Saleh-less Jets: an Overreaction

After one game the Robert Saleh-less New York Jets looked shell-shocked without their former head coach. The Jets lost in embarrassing fashion on Sunday Night Football to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 37-15. 

With a 15-6 lead in the second quarter, the Jets seemingly rallied around interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich. But the optimism was short-lived as the Steelers scored 31 unanswered points in quarterback Russell Wilson’s Steelers debut. Another surprise: the Jets’ defense, which supposedly is the strength of the team, did not force a turnover and allowed 149 rushing yards. 

The “revitalized” offense with newly-acquired wide receiver Davante Adams making his debut for the Jets fell flat, going scoreless in the second half. Aaron Rodgers threw two interceptions and the offense as a whole only went 3-for-10 on third down. With just three of their 12 drives reaching the red zone, the Jets simply had too many miscues and missed chances.

In recent memory, the Jets were seen as a defense-first team and the firing of Saleh raised eyebrows since it was the offense that was struggling. Sunday night, both sides of the ball looked worse. Not the best start for the new-look Jets. 

Marcus Mariota and Kliff Kingsbury

After Jayden Daniels was injured in the Washington Commanders Week 7 matchup against the Carolina Panthers, Marcus Mariota saw his first extended playing time of the season, and the former first-round draft pick played a near-flawless game, throwing for 205 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Commanders to score 33 points after Daniels left the game. Mariota also completed 78.3% of his passes. 

The Commanders have been one of the feel-good stories of the season. Specifically the offense, averaging 31.1 points per game, which is tied for the best in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens.  A big reason why is Daniels, who leads the NFL with a 75.6 completion percentage. One person who deserves a lot of credit for the Commanders’ success is offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

The former Arizona Cardinals head coach is proving his critics wrong due to how potent the Washington offense has been. The Commanders’ offense under Kingsbury is tied first in points, third in rushing yards per game, and fourth in total yards per game. A questionable hiring at the time, Kingsbury, in tandem with Daniels, is giving Commanders fans an offensive display not seen since the likes of Robert Griffin III.

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