As the playoff picture starts to take shape after Week 7 of the NFL season, some surprising teams are starting to join the usual suspects at the top of the standings. In an interesting twist, the NFC is the more difficult conference this season as the AFC deals with injuries to some of its top teams, and has a couple of surprising teams at the top.
One of those teams is the Indianapolis Colts, who are still rolling with Daniel Jones at quarterback after a 38-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. After one of the most impressive showings of the season, Indy tops our list of big winners from Week 7.
Colts capture best record in the NFL
That's right, the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones have the best record in the NFL after seven weeks. Those are the same Colts that took plenty of heat when they announced that Jones would start the season over Anthony Richardson. Were they tanking? Punting on Richardson? Neither?
As it turns out, Shane Steichen and his staff saw something in Jones that the Giants certainly could never unlock, and he is now this year's quarterback reclamation success story.
Sunday was supposed to be a big test for this Colts team against a Chargers team that is beat up but still has an elite quarterback and a very good defense. Justin Herbert did what he could behind a battered offensive line, but the Chargers defense was helpless against Jones, Jonathan Taylor and the rest of the Colts offense.
The Colts finished the week with 0.35 EPA per play, a number that led the league by a wide margin. They also led the league in EPA per rush in Week 7 as Taylor continued to carve up defenses, building his Offensive Player of the Year campaign.
There are still questions about the Indianapolis defense, but it was able to take advantage of the Chargers' third-string tackles trying their best to protect Justin Herbert on Sunday. For now, this Colts squad looks like a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Lions make a statement to the rest of the NFC
Baker Mayfield was the talk of the NFL coming into Week 7 after he became one of the MVP frontrunners with his clutch heroics on the way to a 5-1 start for his Buccaneers. Tampa Bay had the chance to cement itself as the class of the NFC on Monday night, but the Lions quickly put a stop to that with a 24-9 victory that felt even more lopsided than the final score.
Tampa Bay finished with the third-lowest EPA per play of the week (-0.45), ahead of just the Dolphins and the Raiders. That is always bad company to be in, but it was especially bad in Week 7.
Some people wrote the Lions off after a Week 1 loss to the Packers, but they now appear to be clicking on both sides of the ball, even if it is a little bit more inconsistent than it was last season. The defense was stellar on Monday night against a very good Tampa Bay offense, and it should be getting Terrion Arnold back in the secondary before too long.
The offense comes and goes, but a couple of Jahmyr Gibbs explosive plays are more than enough to buoy that unit even on a night where it doesn't have the down-to-down consistency that it does on its best days.
Now, the Lions are quietly sitting at 5-2 and have one of the best records in football. They will be right in the mix at the top of the NFC throughout the rest of the season.
Joe Flacco turns back the clock in TNF classic
Just a couple of weeks ago, Joe Flacco was middling about in Cleveland on a terrible Browns team, about to get benched for Dillon Gabriel. Now, he is slinging the rock to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in Cincinnati, and he sure looks to be enjoying himself.
Flacco was spectacular in a Thursday night victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing 31-of-47 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. 23 of those passes went to Chase, and he caught 16 of them for 161 yards and a score.
The Bengals even called a designed run for Flacco to pick up a big first down late in the game, and that helped them get a huge 33-31 win to stay in the playoff hunt. Flacco still has about two months left as the Bengals starter before Joe Burrow comes back, and he will have to keep playing like this in order to keep a Cincinnati team with a bad defense and a bad offensive line in order to keep it in the hunt. However, he at least showed that he still has that club in the bag in Week 7.
The Dak Prescott MVP campaign heats up
Dak Prescott has quietly been playing some of the best football of his career so far this season, and he has a Cowboys team that doesn't have a whole lot around him at 3-3-1 through seven weeks. Prescott has long been one of the best pocket passers in the sport, and that has been amplified with the addition of George Pickens this season.
Dallas also got CeeDee Lamb back from an ankle injury this week, and the offense exploded in a 44-22 win over the Commanders to move into second place in the NFC East. The Cowboys have one of the best offenses in football and are even running the ball well with Javonte Williams in the backfield, but Prescott is the straw that stirs the drink.
At this point, Prescott is essentially building the same MVP case that Joe Burrow was last season. The Dallas signal caller is second in the NFL in both passing yards and touchdowns, and he also leads the league in QBR. If this Dallas team, even with its flawed defense, can sneak into the playoffs, Prescott will have as good an MVP case as just about anybody.
