Week 7 of NFL 2017 began with a great finish at Oakland. Here are five facts that will help you enjoy the next two days of football.
For only the second time in seven Thursday night tilts this season, the home team wound up with a win as the Oakland Raiders rallied to knock off the Kansas City Chiefs.
But we still have 14 more games to talk about – including three divisional rematches. So here are five little NFL factoids that will generate a little discussion in regards to the games.
5. Upset Alert
The 0-6 San Francisco 49ers host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday and the upset bug is in the air. That’s because Jason Garrett’s club has lost two straight games, blew double-digit leads in both and allowed 35 points in each. On the other hand, we are still waiting for Kyle Shanahan’s club to get a win in ’17, as well as finding a franchise to beat other than the Rams. The 49ers are 3-1 vs. the divisional rival from Los Angeles and 0-22 vs. the rest of the NFL in 26 games dating back to Week 14 of the 2015 campaign.
4. Angry Birds Overseas
4. The much-improved Rams’ offense should find the Arizona Cardinals’ defense to its liking on Sunday as these NFC West rivals clash in London, England. A year ago, Bruce Arians’ team finished second in the NFL in yards allowed. But down the stretch, the Cards didn’t play like a top-notch defense and this unit has picked up from where it fell off. All told, Arizona has allowed a whopping 37 offensive touchdowns in its last 12 games dating back to ’16. The Cardinals surrendered only 17 offensive TDs in their first 10 games a year ago.
3. Are Browns Titans Of Tennessee?
Dating back to the start of the 2014 season, the Cleveland Browns are just 11-43 in their last 54 contests. That includes a 4-39 in their last 43 games dating back to Week 13 of ’14. But two of those 11 wins have come at the expense of today’s opponent, the Tennessee Titans, who are off to a very rag-tag 3-3 start this season. How unpredictable has Mike Mularkey’s club been this season? The Titans have totaled 146 points in six contests. The Titans have scored 106 points in their three wins and a combined 40 points in their three setbacks – one of those minus starting quarterback Marcus Mariota.
2. You Look Familiar
This week, we will see our first divisional rematches of the season as the New York Jets look to double up on the Miami Dolphins while the Denver Broncos will try to knock off the Los Angeles Chargers for the second time in seven weeks. On Monday night, the Philadelphia Eagles look for their first sweep of the Washington Redskins since 2013. A year ago, in 48 divisional settings, the team completed the two-game sweep 28 times (19 splits, with the Cardinals finishing 1-0-1 vs. the Seahawks). Food for thought.
1. Revenge vs. Chowder: Which Dish Wins?
On Sunday night at Foxborough, the Atlanta Falcons will try and exact a little revenge from the defending NFL champion New England Patriots. The former squandered a 25-point third-quarter lead in February on the way to a 34-28 overtime loss in Super Bowl LI. This will mark the third time in four years and eighth time overall that we will see a Super Bowl rematch the season after the teams met in the Big Game. The defending champion is 5-2 in those games—edge Patriots. New England has also excelled at humbling the other conference for well over a decade. The Patriots are an imposing 53-14 vs. NFC teams dating back to ’01. Make that 58-16 if you include their 5-2 record in seven Super Bowls over that span. Those two Super Bowl losses, of course, came to the New York Giants.
