Two teams are still perfect after seven weeks, a fourth team joins the winless column, and Washington's quarterback still hasn't thrown the league a single interception.
The number the Chronicle keeps checking, week after week, is zero. Anthony Richardson Sr. threw for 259 yards and two more touchdowns in a 17-3 win over Philadelphia, and once again the interception column next to his name did not move. He has started six games for a team that has won all six of them, and in exactly none of those games has he thrown the ball to the other sideline. Washington is 6-0. Green Bay and Denver are both 7-0. San Francisco, Cincinnati and Washington itself sit one game back. Two months into the final season of this league, five teams have lost at most once — and the quarterback the Chronicle keeps returning to has not made the single mistake that ends drives.
| Eagles | 3 | Commanders | 17 |
| Texans | 33 | Vikings | 13 |
| Jaguars | 7 | Packers | 28 |
| Ravens | 14 | Steelers | 17 |
| Broncos | 31 | Raiders | 28 |
| Titans | 34 | Chargers | 21 |
| Buccaneers | 38 | Saints | 28 |
| Rams | 31 | Patriots | 7 |
| Bears | 31 | Lions | 0 |
| Colts | 24 | Chiefs | 34 |
| Falcons | 41 | Seahawks | 14 |
| Cardinals | 17 | Jets | 31 |
| Bengals | 34 | Dolphins ★ | 14 |
49ers, Cowboys, Giants, Panthers, Bills and Browns were on their bye.
The Chronicle billed this as the first real measuring-stick game of the season for either team, and Cincinnati answered it with its running game instead of its passing game. Jaydon Blue carried twenty-three times for 253 yards and three touchdowns — a 73-yard burst included — and the Bengals never needed to ask Nicholas Battle for more than a supporting performance behind him. Battle went 16-of-23 for 171 yards and a touchdown, clean enough, and Cincinnati's defense took the ball away three times, Xavier Ashmore alone contributing a sack, two forced fumbles and a recovery.
Miami did not fold. Baker Mayfield threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns on just sixteen attempts, an efficient afternoon undone by three Dolphins giveaways against just one from the other sideline. Terry McLaurin caught five for 141 and a score, Noah Fant added a touchdown of his own, and Miami still finished with more total offense in the box score than the game ever felt like it had.
The turnover margin decided it, same as it has all season: plus-two for Cincinnati, minus-two for Miami. The Bengals are 6-0. Miami falls to 5-2, still very much alive, but no longer looking like the team best positioned to catch the unbeaten group ahead of it.
Washington's defense did the heavy lifting in front of its own quarterback's zero-interception afternoon: Philadelphia managed 223 total yards and converted two of six third downs. Anthony Richardson Sr. went 16-of-19 for 259 yards and two touchdowns, one each to DeVonta Smith and Dennis Loftus, and did not turn the ball over — his sixth start without one. Caleb Williams threw for 189 yards and an interception in the loss, and Jonathan Taylor was held to 32 yards on ten carries. The Commanders are 6-0. Philadelphia falls to 4-3.
Denver stayed perfect, but it took a division-rival upset bid from the league's only winless team to make it interesting. Jaxson Dart threw for 477 yards and two touchdowns for Las Vegas — a career afternoon in a losing effort — and the Raiders out-gained Denver 463 to 353. Jahmyr Gibbs made sure it did not matter: twenty-two carries, 208 yards, three touchdowns, a 50-yard burst. Denver's defense sacked Dart three times and forced the one turnover of the game. The Broncos are 7-0, tied with Green Bay for the league's best record, and have needed a different kind of escape act nearly every week to get there.
Green Bay stayed level with Denver at 7-0 without much drama. Jayden Daniels threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns despite two interceptions, Matthew Golden and Luther Burden III each caught a score, and the Packers' defense forced four turnovers and sacked Jacksonville four times — Doug Ferguson alone getting two of them, and Mac Heath returning a fumble for a touchdown. Jacksonville turned the ball over four times itself and fell to 3-4.
Pittsburgh's defense won this one at the line of scrimmage — two sacks, two takeaways forced of its own to match Baltimore's two — and Emmett Bennett was efficient behind it, 15-of-17 for 173 yards and a touchdown with a 128.6 rating. J.J. McCarthy threw for 130 yards and two touchdowns for Baltimore, but the Ravens are 0-6 with their bye already behind them, and the margin for finding a first win keeps shrinking.
Los Angeles's turnover problem finally caught up with it in the worst possible way: Shane Dressler threw six interceptions, and Tennessee's secondary made him pay for every one of them — Daiyan Henley alone picking him off twice. Bhayshul Tuten ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a 98-yard breakaway, and Dak Prescott did just enough with 191 yards and a touchdown despite two interceptions of his own. Tennessee improves to 4-3. The Chargers fall to 4-3 as well, in a game their own quarterback single-handedly turned over six times.
Tampa Bay outlasted New Orleans in a shootout that turned on the ground game late — Kaleb Johnson ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, a 59-yard burst included — while Justin Herbert threw for 306 yards and three scores. Lamar Jackson answered with 334 yards and four touchdowns for the Saints, but four interceptions thrown against one takeaway forced was too large a gap to close. The Buccaneers improve to 3-4. New Orleans falls to 4-3.
Trevor Lawrence needed only seventeen attempts to throw for 217 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Tyler Warren, and Los Angeles's defense did the rest — three sacks, a takeaway, and a New England offense that managed 205 total yards. The Patriots started Drake Maye and finished with Tony Sheets under center; neither found much room. The Rams improve to 4-2-1. New England falls to 2-5.
Chicago's shutout of Detroit came behind an efficient Lorenzo Whitworth (4-of-6, 131 yards, two touchdowns) and a monster day on the ground from Tank Bigsby — fourteen carries, 116 yards, a touchdown, an 80-yard burst. Dylan Sampson added 94 yards and a score of his own. Detroit's C.J. Stroud threw for just 63 yards and an interception, and the Lions managed 115 total yards. The Bears are 4-2-1. Detroit falls to 2-5.
Jalen Milroe threw for 373 yards and four touchdowns, George Pickens turning five catches into 190 yards and two scores, including a 74-yarder. Indianapolis got a strong two-way effort from Christian McCaffrey and 262 passing yards from Hayden Andrews, but three Colts interceptions against three Chiefs giveaways of their own left the turnover math even and the yardage math not close enough. Kansas City improves to 4-3. Indianapolis falls to 1-6.
Saquon Barkley kept rolling: sixteen carries, 120 yards, three touchdowns, eight broken tackles. Atlanta's defense turned Seattle over six times — five interceptions among them, three by Jonas Sanker and Justin Reid combined — and Jalen Hurts threw for 147 yards and two scores without needing much more than that. The Falcons improve to 2-5. Seattle falls to 0-7, still searching for its first win despite the fight that has followed this roster all season.
Riley Leonard posted a perfect afternoon — 17-of-19 for 262 yards and three touchdowns, a 158.3 rating, and 85 rushing yards on top of it — spreading touchdowns to three different receivers. Brock Purdy threw for 228 yards and two scores for Arizona, but an interception and a defense that could not get off the field on third down (Arizona converted just four of eight of its own while the Jets moved the chains at will) put the Cardinals in a hole too deep to escape. New York improves to 4-3. Arizona falls to 5-2.
Quintin Warner needed only twelve attempts to throw for 169 yards and two touchdowns, a perfect 158.3 rating, and Bijan Robinson ran for 179 yards and two more scores on top of it. Houston's defense forced three takeaways and sacked Jordan Love three times. Minnesota's Garrett Wilson caught a 77-yard touchdown, but the Vikings turned it over three times and fall to 0-7. Houston improves to 4-2.
Week 7's honor roll, built straight from the box scores.
Seven games in, the paces are real. A few worth clocking.
No new mark fell this week — but one came close, and one performance belongs in the file for entirely the wrong reasons.
Seven weeks ago, this league had thirty-two teams and no idea which of them would still be unbeaten in October. It now has an answer, and the answer is oddly specific: exactly two. Green Bay handled Jacksonville the way a 7-0 team is supposed to handle a 3-4 team. Denver needed every one of the last three minutes to hold off the only team in the league that has not won a single game. Both are 7-0. Only one of them looked like it on Sunday.
The Packers' path to 7-0 has been the boring kind of dominant — plus-151 on the season, a defense that has allowed the fewest points in the league, and a 28-7 handling of Jacksonville. Doug Ferguson had two sacks. Mac Heath returned a fumble for a touchdown. Jayden Daniels threw two interceptions and it did not matter — the final margin was still three touchdowns.
Denver's path has been the other kind. The Broncos have not blown out very many people; they have out-lasted them, and Sunday against the winless Raiders was the clearest example yet. Las Vegas's Jaxson Dart threw for 477 yards — a career day, wasted — and out-gained Denver by over a hundred yards, and the Broncos still won by three, because Jahmyr Gibbs carried the ball twenty-two times for 208 yards and three touchdowns and Denver's defense found exactly one takeaway when it needed one. That has been the whole formula: Gibbs does something historic, the defense gets one stop that matters, and the Broncos survive.
Both styles have gotten to the same record. Neither has been tested by the other yet, and neither has played San Francisco, Cincinnati or Washington — the three teams sitting one game back at 6-0, all of them very much still alive in the race to catch up. The schedule is about to start deciding which version of 7-0 is the real one. The Chronicle would not bet against either.
The column stays open. No new quotes reached the desk this week, but with two teams still perfect and a third joining the winless column, there has rarely been a better week for a coach or a captain to have something to say. Send it in — a word about your own team, a shot across the division, a prediction you'll put your name to. Wit, not venom, as always. It runs in Issue 8.
Nothing crossed the trade wire this week. The injury board grew, though — five new names joined it, most of them along the offensive or defensive line.
Will Anderson Jr., REDGE, Packers (torn labrum, roughly 3 weeks) is the one that matters most given the record: Green Bay's defense has carried this team to 7-0, and its best pass rusher is about to miss time. Nate Wiggins, CB, Ravens (torn labrum, roughly 4 weeks), Emery Jones Jr., LT, Eagles (broken collarbone, roughly 6 weeks), Darren Conover, RT, Bears (dislocated hip, roughly 7 weeks) and Benjamin Phillips, RG, Steelers (torn labrum, roughly 4 weeks) round out the new additions.
Travis Etienne Jr., HB, Jaguars and Emeka Egbuka, WR, 49ers remain out with no change in status, both already reported in prior issues.
A quiet week for the class, with the two rookie quarterbacks doing exactly enough.
Offensive Rookie of the Year lean: Warren Davis remains 7-0 as a starter, the best case a rookie quarterback can make in this league, though this was the quietest of his seven wins statistically.
Defensive Rookie of the Year lean: still wide open — no rookie had a signature defensive week, and the field stays crowded heading into Week 8.
Los Angeles is 4-2-1 and just blew past New England 31-7 behind three Trevor Lawrence touchdown passes on only seventeen attempts — the Rams have quietly built one of the better point differentials in the conference. Buffalo is 2-4 and coming off its bye, looking for the kind of result that changes the shape of a season before it gets away.
A housekeeping note: the Patriots and Steelers are idle in Week 8. That leaves fifteen games on the board, and the picks below cover all of them.
Dallas is 4-2 and at home; New York is 3-3 and has been the streakier of the two teams all season.
Houston just won by twenty on the road behind a perfect Quintin Warner; Tennessee is coming off a good win of its own but has the tougher matchup here.
Los Angeles has plenty to answer for after six interceptions, but Indianapolis is 1-6 and has been the league's most turnover-prone team all season.
Denver is 7-0 and has found a way to win every kind of game so far; Jacksonville just turned it over four times against Green Bay.
Cincinnati is 6-0 and just ran for 253 yards in a win; Philadelphia is 4-3 and still finding itself after Washington.
San Francisco is 6-0 and rested off its bye; New York is 4-3 and playing well, but not 6-0-well.
Both are excellent and both just lost. Baker Mayfield's efficiency gives Miami the slight edge on a neutral-feeling Sunday.
Washington is 6-0 and its quarterback still has not thrown an interception; Cleveland is 1-5.
Chicago just posted a shutout of Detroit; Tampa Bay just won a shootout but has to travel.
Baltimore is 0-6 and has the roster of a much better team, but until the record changes the pick does not either.
Green Bay is 7-0 and has not been seriously challenged since Houston in Week 5.
Las Vegas just pushed Denver to the brink and deserves credit for it, but New Orleans is the more complete team at home.
Kansas City just scored 34 behind Jalen Milroe and George Pickens; Atlanta is 2-5 despite Saquon Barkley's continued excellence.
Two 0-7 teams meet, and somebody has to win one eventually. Minnesota's point differential is the less bruised of the two.
Nine right, four wrong in Week 7 — the Ravens over Pittsburgh, the Chargers over Tennessee, the Saints over Tampa Bay and the Cardinals over the Jets were the four the desk missed. Shane Dressler's six-interception afternoon undid that last one all by itself.
One letter reached the desk this week — the rest are questions the Chronicle is confident somebody in this league is asking. The real mailbag is open and runs with your name on it.
Results from the poll are pending — this is the first live, interactive poll on the site, so there's no history to report yet. Results run in Issue 8.
This week's poll:
Two teams are still perfect through seven weeks — who's got the edge?
Seven weeks down, eleven to go, and the league is down to two teams that have not lost and four that have not won. Anthony Richardson Sr. still has not thrown an interception. Shane Dressler threw six of them in one afternoon. Jaydon Blue ran for 253 yards in a game nobody outside Cincinnati saw coming from him, and Jahmyr Gibbs needed every one of his 208 to keep the league's most fragile perfect record alive.
The Chronicle will keep saying it: this is the tightest race for the top of the standings this league has produced in two volumes, and the bottom is just as compressed. Green Bay and Denver are the last two teams standing. Three more are one game back. There is a great deal of football left, and for the first time all season it genuinely feels like anyone in the top five could be the one still standing in January.
Press Row is open, the mailbag runs with your name on it, and the poll is live for the first time — vote, and the Chronicle will see everybody back here after Week 8.
Until next week, the Chronicle stands with all 32.
— Jenna Tulls, Senior HFL Correspondent