- Perhaps it’s folly to read too much into one Sunday, but the apparent problems of the Eagles and Chiefs don’t seem so major anymore.
- Two prominent coaches got payback against their former teams Sunday.
- Is Drake Maye making Patriots fans forget about Tom Brady? Probably not, but …
The 32 things we learned from Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season:
0. Still the number of wins for the New York Jets, who dropped to 0-7 after another pathetic offensive performance against the Carolina Panthers.
0. Apparently, also the number of QB1s the NYJ now have after Justin Fields was yanked for Tyrod Taylor on Sunday. Coach Aaron Glenn hasn’t committed to a starter for Week 8.
1. Could the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles become the first teams in NFL history to cross paths in the Super Bowl three times in a four-season span? Yes, the answer is yes – that is most definitely within the realm of possibility as of Oct. 19, 2025. But Sunday afternoon suggests the likelihood is suddenly much better with both teams, who met in both Super Bowls 57 and 59, seemingly curing some of their recent ills amid encouraging victories.
2. Coming off a massive fail at the end of its three-peat quest in February, K.C. very much seems to be recapturing its dynastic form – winning for the fourth time in the past five weeks after whitewashing the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0. Patrick Mahomes was back in MVP form, pulled for the fourth quarter after passing for 286 yards and three TD – two to WR Rashee Rice, playing in his first game in more than a year after undergoing knee surgery 12 months ago before serving a six-game suspension to start this season.
3. Meanwhile, think Eagles QB Jalen Hurts can’t throw effectively? He compiled a perfect passer rating (158.3 in the NFL) Sunday in a 28-22 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings, all three of his TDs and nearly every one of his 326 yards divided between WRs A.J. Brown (121 yards, 2 TDs) and DeVonta Smith (183 yards, TD). And, y’all, he did this against the Vikings, one of the nastiest, most pressurized defenses in the league.
4. Nitpick the perennial league powers of the roaring 2020’s all you want … just realize you may once again be doing it all the way to Super Bowl 60 next February in Santa Clara, Calif.
4a. If you were historically curious, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys are currently the only teams to meet on Super Sunday three times – though that occurred over the course of 21 seasons (1975, 1978, 1995).
5. The number of touchdown passes thrown Sunday in London by Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford, a single-game record for an International Series game. The barrage matched Stafford’s career best – he’d done it four other times – but the first time he’s fired five for the Rams, his most recent occurrence a decade ago with the Detroit Lions.
5a. The number of players who have played in multiple international games in the same season but for different teams. Recently acquired Jacksonville Jaguars CB Greg Newsome II joined the list Sunday, two weeks after he played in London for the Cleveland Browns.
6. If Stafford hadn’t previously joined the unofficial race to be the league’s 2025 MVP, he’s most certainly in a field with Mahomes, Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield, the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and others now.
7. Don’t know what a “Siuuu” celebration is? (Raises hand.) For those of you – I mean us – who don’t really give a rip about European soccer, it’s what Portuguese star Ronaldo does after scoring a goal … on a pitch … in a match … maybe a friendly … perhaps off a set piece. Whatever. The Rams gave him a few nods on Sunday.
8. Speaking of soccer, seems there’s some synergistic growth between the Rams and London-based Arsenal of the Premier League. Both are owned by Stan Kroenke. Rams coach Sean McVay and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also have a blooming mutual admiration club.
9. The number of consecutive regular-season games in which Rams OLB Byron Young has recorded at least half a sack. No word as to whether any of the quarterbacks he bagged took a dive in a bid to draw a yellow card. Oops, wrong bullet point.
10. One more shoutout to the Rams and their social media team, who wrapped up about a day and a half’s worth of work in the U.K. with a nod to the Beatles and their “Abbey Road” album cover.
11. The number of consecutive games during which the Browns had scored 17 points or fewer. That ended Sunday when they dunked the drowning Miami Dolphins 31-6.
12. Cleveland QB Dillon Gabriel isn’t posting crazy numbers, but he’s certainly taking care of the ball. Fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins did the heavy offensive lifting Sunday with a season-best three TD runs, the first time he’d scored multiple times in an NFL game.
13. The number of penalties (for 119 yards) incurred by the Jags in Sunday’s London loss.
14. The number of sacks Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence has absorbed in the past two games, seven apiece. Prior to that, he’d never been sacked more than fives times in a single contest during his five-year career.
15. Jaguars rookie WR/CB Travis Hunter posted his best statline of the season (8 catches, 101 yards, TD, pass defensed). But the impact still isn’t there – Hunter’s first NFL score, a 34-yarder, doing little more than averting a Rams shutout.
16. And this is why the Green Bay Packers traded for DE Micah Parsons, who racked up a career-best three sacks in Sunday’s narrow 27-23 escape from the Arizona Cardinals. His 29 pressures pace the league.
16a.Hope the flight home was nice, fellas.
17. Congrats to the Panthers, winners of three in a row for the first time in four years. The question now is whether QB Bryce Young will be healthy enough to go for four in a row after injuring an ankle.
18.QB Jayden Daniels’ hamstring injury, depending on its severity, could cast a serious pall over the prospects of the Washington Commanders, who have lost three of four and nearly dropped into the NFC East basement Sunday. Fortunately for the Commanders, the Denver Broncos bowed up on the weekend when they honored their Super Bowl 50 champions and put the late, great WR Demaryius Thomas into their Ring of Fame. (More on Denver later.)
19. With a 61-yard field goal Sunday, Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey has now hit from 60+ five times in his three-year career, already an NFL record.
20. Prescott didn’t set a record Sunday, but he continues to play exceptionally well for a team that relies heavily on him − becoming the third player in NFL history to throw at least three touchdown passes and compile a passer rating of at least 120.0 in four straight games.
21. San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey may not be the so-called best player in the league, but he led his decimated team to another win Sunday night while outgaining Atlanta Falcons counterpart Bijan Robinson by 109 yards in Sunday night’s victory.
22. Drake Maye and the first-place New England Patriots are quickly making their fans forget about Tom Brady. (Just checking that those of you who have read this far are still paying close attention.) But Maye did eclipse one of TB12’s team records Sunday, connecting on 21 of 23 passes for a 91.3% completion rate, best in team history.
23. Maye is also part of a Patriots squad that’s won three road games in three weeks, another franchise first. We’d already learned this year that former New England coach Bill Belichick and his eight Super Bowl rings are overrated. But Brady was wicked average, too, apparently.24. A 31-13 rout of the aimless Titans had to feel good to current Pats coach Mike Vrabel, who was dismissed by Tennessee after the 2023 season for philosophical reasons despite the success he’d had in Nashville.
25. New England has five wins this season.
25a. Tennessee has four wins since Vrabel left.
26. Kudos to another exiled former HC, current Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. His current charges embarrassed the New Orleans Saints, who fired Allen midway through the 2024 campaign. The Bears racked up at least three takeaways for the fourth straight game while sacking Saints QB Spencer Rattler four times.
27. And just maybe the Monsters of the Midway are back, too, under rookie coach Ben Johnson, who’s led the Bears to their first four-game winning streak in seven years.
28. Per OptaSTATS, the number of venues Rams WR Davante Adams has scored a touchdown in after finding the end zone three times Sunday at London’s Wembley Stadium. Only Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (33) and Randy Moss (32) have scored in more buildings.
29. The number of regular-season wins (and losses) Miami coach Mike McDaniel has after the Fins were blown out in windy Cleveland on Sunday … and sure feels like those figures could remain permanent at any point.
30. Sure doesn’t help when your quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa in this case, throws three INTs in successive games while bemoaning team chemistry and focus in between.
31. The Indianapolis Colts became the first team to six wins this season, maintaining their position atop the AFC, with a dominant victory in LA.
32. Of course, the Colts should beat the Savannah Bananas convincingly.
32a. From a fashion perspective, the Bolts are almost always on point. But this was no way to honor the Air Coryell teams … who never sported such abominations in the first place.
33. Yes, this weekly column is about 32 things that happen in a given NFL week. But when a team scores 33 points in the fourth quarter, the most ever for a club that was shut out for the first three periods, we’ll go the extra mile for the Broncos.
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