Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

NFL Week 7 in review: Jaguars are in worse shape than the Eagles heading into matchup in London

Quotes and notes from Sunday's games, plus next week's point spreads.

Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles fumbles the ball as he is hit by Houston linebacker Whitney Mercilus. The Jags have lost three in a row and play the Eagles next Sunday in London.
Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles fumbles the ball as he is hit by Houston linebacker Whitney Mercilus. The Jags have lost three in a row and play the Eagles next Sunday in London.Read morePhelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press

You think the Eagles are in trouble? The Jaguars are worse.

Jalen Ramsey summed it up best after the Jags were dumped by the Texans for their fourth loss in five games.

"It ain't no secret what's going on and it ain't right right now," Ramsey said.

The Eagles are up next for the Jags in the Birds first regular-season game in London next Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Philadelphia time.

Quarterback Blake Bortles lost two more fumbles and was benched in the third quarter. Cody Kessler came in and led a touchdown drive, but then also turned it over twice.

Jacksonville has lost three in a row. They've been outscored 57-0 in the first half of those three games and their turnover margin is minus eight.

Yuck.

Jags coach Doug Marrone, whose team nearly faced the Eagles in last season's Super Bowl, did not commit to Bortles for next week.

"Everything is open," the Jaguars coach fumed. "We've lost three straight games and we can't stop shooting ourselves in the foot – for lack of a better expression.

"We've got to do something, but the first thing we've got to do is stop turning the damn ball over. Period. That would be the positive of how we can build."

More from Week 7 heading into the Monday nighter between the Giants and Falcons:

Full scoreboard | Standings

Big winners

• Miami's Kenny Stills was injured after running into a security guard after catching a late touchdown in the back of the end zone. The female guard, who got the worst of the blindside collision, stayed down after the hit. Stills, himself still wobbling, made his way over to the woman and handed her the football as a souvenir. It was a classy move.

• Patrick Mahomes threw four more touchdown passes and the Chiefs blew out the Bengals, 45-10. Mahomes is up to 22 TDs, a record for a player's first eight games. This even includes last season's start when he failed to throw for a score.

• The Saints proved they can beat a good team on the road when they squeaked one out at Baltimore (with some help, see below).

• Cam Newton and the Panthers tied the biggest comeback in franchise history to improve to 4-2. Perhaps you've heard.

Big losers

• Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel went for two with 31 seconds left after the Titans scored to draw within 20-19 of the Chargers. His team had serious momentum and he probably should have kicked the extra point and continued with overtime.

• Melvin Gordon owners who slept in. Gordon (hamstring) was ruled out about 90 minutes before the Chargers-Titans game, which started at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

• Justin Tucker was 222 for 222 on extra points until he flubbed one at the worst possible time. Baltimore scored a touchdown to make it 24-23 against the Saints with 24 seconds left. Overtime seemed like a foregone conclusion until Tucker's miss.

NFC East report

The Redskins beat the Cowboys, 20-17, when Dallas missed a 52-yard field goal that would have forced overtime. Give the goat horns to long-snapper Louis-Philippe Ladoceur who was called for a snap infraction that pushed the ball back five yards.

Brett Maher's field goal hit the left upright and likely would have been good from 47. Offense was hard to come by and the key play was made when Washington scored on a fumble by Dak Prescott.

The Cowboys are 3-0 at home, 0-4 on the road. They're averaging 28.7 points in home games, 13.5 on the road.

He said it

"This is the same stuff I've been doing since I was a little boy. I've been up in Detroit freezing my tail off. To finally get to play in the sun and heat and humidity, I was loving it." – Lions running Kerryon Johnson, a native of Huntsville, Ala., after running for 158 yards at Miami

***

"That's bad football." – CBS analyst and former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said of Tennessee's Mike Vrabel's decision. Note that Arians was critical of the choice to go for two even before Marcus Mariota threw an incomplete pass.

***

"I love the call, everyone in this locker room loved the call. "We wanted to be aggressive no matter what, and that's what we did. Unfortunately it just didn't go our way." – Titans receiver Tajae Sharpe

***

"I can't tell you exactly what happened, but at the end of the day I feel like I cost us the game." – Ravens kicker Justin Tucker

***

"I mean, you always think you are going to have success, but I didn't think it would happen this much."  – Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes

***

"We believe a lot of players should have stepped up for Colin [Kaepernick.] I believe Malcolm [Jenkins] capitalized on the situation. He co-opted the movement that was started by Colin to get his organization funded. It's cowardly. He sold us out." – Carolina safety Eric Reid, who had a pregame skirmish with the Eagles' Jenkins

***

"I'm not going to get up here and say anything negative about that man. I respect him. I'm glad he has a job. I'm glad he's back in the league. I'll leave it like that."
– Jenkins responded

>> MARCUS HAYES: Panthers' Eric Reid — Colin Kaepernick's closest ally — calls Eagles' Malcolm Jenkins a 'sellout'

Betting report

The bookies were just fine with the Eagles gagging that 17-point lead to the Panthers. According to the William Hill-US sports book, five of Sunday afternoon's games had at least 70 percent action on one side.

Seventy-seven percent of the money on the Eagles-Panthers was on the Eagles. They also cleaned up on the Titans covering against the Chargers and the Browns covering against the Bucs. The bettors won when the Patriots and Vikings covered.

Did you notice?

• The Saints opening drive went for 20 plays, took up 10 minutes and three seconds, needed three fourth-down conversions and ended with a fumble on the Ravens' 6-yard line.

• Mitchell Trubisky scored an 8-yard touchdown on a wild scramble that the folks in Next Gen stats said covered 71 actual yards.

• Trey Burton loves seeing the Patriots. He had career bests of nine catches and 126 yards for the Bears on Sunday. Of course, he threw a touchdown against New England in last year's Super Bowl.

• Colts rookie linebacker Darius Leonard had 17 tackles.

• Patriots running back Sony Michel left after the first play of the second quarter with a knee injury after being awkwardly twisted during a tackle.

• Colts defensive tackle Jihad Ward (Bok High School) was carted off with a right ankle injury.

• Bills running back LeSean McCoy sustained a head injury on the second play of the game and did not return. He has no 100-yard games or touchdowns this season.

• Buffalo has seven offensive touchdowns. Todd Gurley has 14.

• The Browns lost to the Buccaneers when Chandler Catanzaro hit a 59-yard field goal, the longest ever in an overtime. It was Cleveland's fourth overtime game. They are 1-2-1 in OT, 2-4-1 overall. The record for most overtime games is five by the 1983 Packers.

• Drew Brees threw his 500th career touchdown pass, joining Peyton Manning (539), Brett Favre (508) and Tom Brady (504). Brees hit Benjamin Watson with No. 500 and, later, Michael Thomas with No. 501. Afterward, Brees called Watson one of his most favorite teammates ever.

• Brees also joined Manning and Favre as the only quarterbacks to beat all 32 teams.

Grab the Kleenex

Houston safety Andre Hal, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in May, played for the first time this season. He received word last month that the disease was in remission and returned to practice last week.

On Tuesday, Hal's father, Andre Sr. died a few days after suffering a heart attack. Geez.

"He wanted me back on the field and I know he was watching me there today," Hal said.

That Lovin’ Thielen

Vikings receiver Adam Thielen continued his amazing season with his seventh consecutive 100-yard game. He is one shy of the NFL record set by Calvin Johnson in 2012.
Thielen (9-110-1) and Charley Hennigan, in 1961, as the only players to start a season with seven 100-yard games. Thielen leads the NFL with 67 catches.

And finally

What on earth were the Rams wearing on Sunday?

NFL LINES

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Notable lines

More Eagles-Panthers

>> Panthers 21, Eagles 17: Birds collapse in fourth quarter, cough up 17-point lead

>> READ MORE: Malcolm Jenkins, Eric Reid exchange words prior to kickoff

>> PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes from the sidelines at Lincoln Financial Field

>> READ MORE: Doug Pederson says 'the pressure is off' and 'anything is possible' following loss

>> BOB FORD: It's panic on Pattison Ave. for Eagles

>> SOCIAL MEDIA ROUNDUP: Zach Ertz climbs the Eagles' record books, Eric Reid's overturned INT and Joel Embiid meets Brian Dawkins

>> LIVE BLOG: Panthers 21, Eagles 17 — as it happened

>> UP-DOWN DRILL: Michael Bennett trending up, Jim Schwartz trending down

>> GRADING THE EAGLES: Pass defense gets an 'F' in loss

>> LESSONS FROM A STUNNING LOSS: The Eagles need running and defensive backs to protect their leads | David Murphy

>> READ MORE: How did the Eagles manage to blow a 17-point fourth-quarter lead? The view from the other sideline.

>> READ MORE: Dexter McDougle joined the Eagles on Tuesday. He started on Sunday.