What we learned from Sundays Week 7 games

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What we learned from Sunday's Week 7 games Published: Oct 21, 2018 at 12:42 PM Here's what we learned from Sunday's Week 7 games, including an AFC showdown at Wembley Stadium in London. Sunday's matchup featured the league's top scoring offense against the top defense, and the game came as advertised with a hard-fought battle on both sides. The , however, came out on top after putting up 24 points and surviving kicker 's first career mi sed extra point in the waning seconds of the game. The 24 points scored by the represent the most the have allowed since the scored 34 in Week 2. The entered the day allowing just 12.8 points per game. Quarterback led the charge, completing 22 of 30 pa ses for 212 yards and two touchdowns as the improved to 5-1, winning five straight games. Sunday proved historical for Brees as he entered the game with 499 career touchdown pa ses. in the second quarter on a 1-yard TD pa s to tight end , then added a 5-yard scoring strike to wide receiver in the fourth quarter. Brees, who now has 501 career touchdown pa ses, became the fourth quarterback in league history to join the 500 Club along with Peyton Manning (539), Hall of Famer Brett Favre (508) and (504). With the win against the , Brees also became the third quarterback in league history to defeat Adam Cracknell Women Jersey all 32 teams, a feat previously accomplished by Manning and Favre. While he fumbled at the ' 6-yard line, backup quarterback continues to prove he is 100 percent a football player, not a gadget player. The look to utilize Hill in a variety of offensive packages, including lining up as a tight end to block. All Hill does is produce, either taking snaps and running or getting down the field on special teams. Against the , Hill gained 35 yards rushing on six carries and produced two tackles while covering kicks. Hill has the full trust of head coach Sean Payton. And it's a virtual certainty Payton, one of the league's brightest offensive-minded coaches, will continue to seek ways to work in Hill on any give play. quarterback put his team on his back with 2:03 remaining in the game and facing a 24-17 deficit. Flacco engineered a six-play, 81-yard drive, capped off by a 14-yard touchdown pa s to wide receiver . On the game, Flacco completed 23 of 39 pa ses for 279 yards and two touchdowns. Following Flacco's last touchdown pa s, all the needed to send the game to overtime was for Tucker to do something he's done 222 out of 222 times on his seven-year career: make the extra point. Unfortunately, Tucker's kick sliced wide right, leaving a stunned wide-eyed expre sion on the two-time All-Pro and two-time selection's face. The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) With the lo s, the dropped to 4-3 on the season in the hotly contested AFC North. kicker doinked a potential game-tying field-goal attempt off the left upright as time expired handing the the win and an NFC East division lead. The mi sed field goal broke a streak of 16-straight makes by Maher after he mi sed his first career attempt. The failure came after Dallas was flagged for a 5-yard penalty before the snap, pushing a would-be 47-yard attempt to a 52-yarder. The kick appeared as though it would have been good if not for the additional five yards. In a match in which Washington couldn't put the game away -- including stunningly going out of bounds on the ' final po se sion -- it was a ' error that ended the mistake-filled game. In a league of high-flying offenses, it was Washington's defensive front that dominated Sunday's NFC East battle, propelling the to the win. It was fitting that the pivotal play came in the form of a strip of that was scooped up by for a touchdown, giving the a 20-10 lead late in the fourth quarter. Washington's defense dominated the offensive line throughout the afternoon. Led by Kerrigan, Smith, , , and , the controlled the line of scrimmage all game. The group hammered running back time after time in the backfield, holding Zeke to a meager 34 yards on 15 totes (2.3 average) with a long run of six yards. Washington pestered Prescott with pre sure, taking down the quarterback four times, two fumbles, and forced several big holding calls. Outside of one big play to receiver (49-yard TD), the dominated a milquetoast Cowboy offense until Prescott used his legs to get Dallas back into the game with a chance to tie. continues to be the motor of the offense. With a banged-up skill-position crew, couldn't consistently move the chains, generating just 178 pa sing yards on 56 percent completion rate. Washington rightly leaned on the 33-year-old running back, who powered his way for 99 yards on 24 carries, for 4.1 yards per tote. Behind an offensive line that kept a good Dallas front at bay much of the contest, Peterson continued to look spry, breaking tackles and jutting to the outside for chunk gains. Sunday marked All Day's fourth game this season with 96-plus yards rushing. It's no coincidence that each of Peterson's big days led to Washington wins. 's return from a hamstring injury provided a boost to an already good linebacker corps. Rotating in early, Lee made several pivotal plays to end drives and give Dallas a shot at a comeback. Compiling six tackles, the linebacker sniffed out one option pitch and squashed the play, leading CBS analyst Tony Romo to praise Lee's instincts: "That's not his gap. He's not supposed to be there," Romo said. Later, Lee tracked down Smith on third down and tackled the quarterback out of bounds short of the marker to set up the potential game-tying drive. and rookie have played great for Dallas this season, but Lee's savvy is a difference-maker. One week after their first defeat, the made sure not to suffer the same slow start that set them back against New England. The (6-1) found the end zone early and often against the visiting , scoring points on five of their first six drives en route to an a sured prime-time victory. K.C. racked up 319 total yards on five drives in the first half, its most since 2016, and a season-high 551 total yards for the game, its most since 2004. Mahomes continued his MVP campaign with another stellar night (358 yards, 4 TDs, INT). Leading the league with 22 touchdown pa ses, the second-year gunslinger is the youngest player in NFL history with six consecutive 300-yard pa sing games. But the true star of the night was , who set the tone early and scored three touchdowns with 141 yards on 20 touches. It's shocking how ho-hum these types of performances have become for Mahomes and Co., that a 45-10 win over an AFC playoff contender could seem not just expected, but elementary. Cincinnati underwhelmed in every facet on Sunday evening. Every team struggles against Andy Reid's offense, but that league-worst defense, the one surrendering 28.7 points per game, is supposed to be ripe for the taking, right? Uhh... The mustered just 235 total yards against the defense, which hadn't allowed fewer than 385 yards in its previous six games. Cincy went three- or four-and-out on three of its first-half drives and fell down four scores before the middle of the third quarter. Making matters worse, the botched a fake punt in the first half, setting K.C. up with superb field goal position, and mi sed myriad tackles on defense, lengthening drives by allowing unnece sary chunk plays. Fresh off his $112K fine, was the worst offender, losing ball-carriers with his slippery grasp on drive after drive before exiting with a left hip injury. After going down to the wire with Pittsburgh last week, the (4-3) have crumbled over their last five quarters, failing to resemble in the slightest the club that throttled Baltimore in Week 2. The AFC North remains wide open. is rarely active, and and Tamba Hali are no longer on the roster. But don't look past the ' front-seven stars they've left behind. and are each having career years and continued their strong play with sacks of . Ford was joined in the backfield by fellow linebackers , and rookie , who kept the offense at bay by confuddling Dalton (148 yards) and stuffing (50 yards). bounced back from his ridiculed mi sed tackle of Brady by playing all 53 snaps and recording a QB hit. K.C. allowed just 15 first downs and 4.4 yards per play on Sunday night, a season-best showing that undoubtedly started up front. A competent defense is the AFC's worst nightmare, and if Sunday night was any indication, it has already arrived, just in time for Halloween. Down 38-31 with two seconds remaining, Mitch Trubisky needed a 55-yard Hail Mary to force overtime. A back-from-the-wilderne s corralled Trubisky's 54-yard rainbow only to be tackled by a swarm of just shy of the goal-line. It was that kind of day for Trubisky, who did more damage with his legs than his scattershot arm. Even though the defense made his scrambling ability a focal point all week, Trubisky improvised his way to 81 rushing yards, the second-most by a quarterback versus New England in the Bill Belichick era. In true Trubisky style, the box score belies his erratic ball placement, perhaps best exemplified by ' one-handed interception on a pa s that might have gone for a long touchdown had it not been slightly underthrown to rookie inside the ' 5-yard line. Chicago's defense and special teams will have to shoulder their fair share of the blame as well. After dominating the season's first month, the have allowed 69 points to the and over the past two weeks. With all-world edge rusher playing through an ankle injury, this formerly stingy unit simply can't get off the field in key situations. Might the coaching staff take a chance on resting Mack with the sluggish offenses of the and on the horizon? Thanks to strong special teams play, the overcame a pair of lost fumbles by and that placed them in a 17-7 hole early in the second quarter. Patterson quickly earned redemption with a 95-yard kickoff return, the sixth such touchdown of the return ace's career. Linebacker broke a 24-24 tie in the middle of the third quarter, scooping up 's blocked punt for New England's first touchdown of that nature since 1996. Due in large part to the special teams scores, the reached at least 21 points by halftime and 38 points total for the fourth consecutive game -- the latter figure setting a new franchise record. This is an injury-ravaged offense yet to click on all cylinders, but the team is finding ways to move the chains, generate big plays and outscore opponents on a weekly basis. The Pats travel to Buffalo for a date with the reeling before hosting and the in Week 9. Already playing without All-Pro tight end , seemed destined to continue leaning heavily on the backfield tandem of and rookie , gashing the defense on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to begin the festivities. That plan was dashed when Michel's lower leg was twisted on the second-quarter play which resulted in a lost fumble. After posting three straight games of 100 or more yards, Michel was quickly downgraded from questionable to out, a sign that he may be unavailable for the foreseeable future. The Pats have already lost and to injured reserve, leaving recently re-signed scatback to function as the between-the-tackles complement to White for the game's final three quarters. Look for New England to add a power back this week, perhaps re-signing . White was the offense's player of the game, accounting for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns on a regular-season career-high 19 touches. Although the connection between Brady and remains sporadic, the former wideout led the team with 100 yards on four receptions, including a tackle-breaking 55-yard catch-and-run that set up White's 2-yard touchdown catch to cap off a nine-play, 96-yard drive late in the fourth quarter. Gordon's importance to Brady's aerial attack is growing by the week. Give Cleveland (2-4-1) this much: They're the polar opposite of dull. On Sunday, though, intrigue simply wasn't enough as the team's fourth foray into overtime ended in failure after a fumbled punt return by set up a game-winning, 59-yard field by . Tampa's kicker was redeemed after botching a 40-yard try as regulation expired. Catanzaro also mi sed an extra point. It was a game imbued with a thousand storylines, not the least among them 's struggles in overtime, as Tampa's quarterback threw a killer interception -- one of four Bucs turnovers on the day -- and unfurled a fleet of off-kilter darts. Winston played well in regulation, though, finding (7/107), (5/59) and (6/67) time and again. A juicy, 14-yard end-around touchdown by helped the Bucs build a 9-2 lead, but the deep threat went 60-plus minutes before his first grab. Winston threw for 365 yards on the day and piled up 55 yards on the ground. He also lost the ball on a third-quarter strip by and nearly lost the game with a shaky final few minutes. Here in the newsroom, colleague Gregg Rosenthal was miffed to see Tampa (3-3) play for that ill-fated field goal at the end of regulation instead of trying for the touchdown with le s than a minute to play. After authoring their worst half of the year on offense, the played some of their best football yet down the stretch. They're banged up at wideout and the line has i sues, but Cleveland always seems to have a chance with at the controls. The first-overall pick threw for just 62 first-half yards, but bounced back to lob a scoring strike to tight end and author a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown march to bring Cleveland within 23-16 of Tampa. From there, Mayfield galvanized the team with a surging, 35-yard scramble in the fourth quarter, but that potential game-tying drive fell to pieces when the signal-caller was stuffed on a fourth-and-goal sneak. Mayfield would not be denied, though, unfurling a dart one drive later to (10/97/1), who fell into the end zone after making a beautiful game-tying grab to cap his best outing of the year. On the ground, newly anointed bell-cow (18/80/1) ran with raw power in a post- world. He's fun to watch. Two embattled coaching staffs went at each other on Sunday. It was concerning to see Tampa's Dirk Koetter throw the red challenge flag in overtime -- a forbidden move -- that cost the Bucs their final timeout. The , meanwhile, were crushed by 14 penalties for a whopping 114 yards. Hue Jackson also lost a key challenge in the second half. That said, this Cleveland roster is laced with tangible young talent, especially on defense. and recovered fumbles -- Kirksey and registered picks -- and was a difference-maker. After sleep walking through the first three quarters, the ' offense hit the alarm clock in the final period and scored three touchdowns to overcome a 17-0 deficit en route to the win. Quarterback shook off a sluggish start to lead the charge, ripping off his suit and donning his Superman cape to propel the (4-2) for the comeback victory. In the fourth quarter alone, Newton completed 16 of 22 pa ses for 201 pa ses and two touchdowns with a 131.1 pa ser rating, and his biggest play occurred on the game-winning drive. Facing a fourth-and-10 with 2:06 remaining in the game, Newton displayed poise while facing the ' pa s rush before connecting with wide receiver for a 35-yard gain. Newton capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pa s to , and finished the game completing 25 of 39 pa ses for 269 yards and two touchdowns, adding 49 yards rushing on seven carries. Like the offense, the ' defense had i sues early in the game. Through the first three quarters, Carolina had no answer for the ' offense, which finished the game with an edge in time of po se sion (35:17 to 24:42). The were also on the bad end of an ' 17-play, 94-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter, which had Carolina looking up at a 17-0 deficit, marking the second straight week the had to crawl out of an identical hole. But like the offense, the defense turned on the in the final period, holding the (3-4) to just 22 yards of total offense and recording two sacks on quarterback . The rose to the occasion in the final minute with the marching in the red zone by coming up with sack-fumble of Wentz to ice the contest. On the game, the sacked Wentz four times and recorded six quarterback hits. The winds were swirling at Lincoln Financial Field, but Wentz basically shrugged aside the elements with a seamle s performance to help the run out to an early lead. Through the first three quarters, Wentz had his way with the ' pa s defense, completing 23 of 27 pa ses for 281 yards and two touchdowns. The third-year quarterback was on fire from the start of the game, at one point completing 15 consecutive pa ses, en route to finishing the game completing 30 of 37 pa ses for 310 yards and two touchdowns. Wentz's favorite target was tight end , who hauled in nine catches for 138 yards on 11 targets, while wide receiver chipped in with seven catches for 88 yards on 10 targets. Unfortunately for Wentz and the offense, the ' defense couldn't stop the late-charging offense after holding Carolina in check for most of the game. The offseason plans to upgrade the ground game in Detroit came to fruition in a smashing effort in South Beach. Rookie running back blasted through, around and over (4-3) defenders all game. The second-round pick paced the (3-3) with 158 yards on the ground -- his second 100-plus yard rushing performance of the season -- for a gaudy 8.3 yards per carry average on 19 totes. Johnson's 71-yard gallop in the first quarter displayed the running back's jet-powered burst through the hole. Detroit spent the offseason upgrading the rushing attack, adding Johnson, (50 yards, TD) and first-round offensive lineman . The plan worked like a charm Sunday as the offensive line opened huge holes, and the backs made defenders mi s in space and pinballed for extra yards. As a team, the galloped for a whopping 248 rushing yards. The ability to churn out yards took pre sure off 's shoulders. Detroit generated 24 first downs with 8.2 average yards per play on 56 snaps before end-game kneel-downs. Six games into the season, this is the type of offensive balance Detroit planned entering the year. Brocktober took a fall, but wasn't the problem Sunday. While he rarely tested Detroit down the field, the quarterback made enough quick throws to move the chains consistently enough, if Miami's defense had done anything to slow the (Detroit punted once all game and scored on each of its four second-half po se sions). Osweiler made a gorgeous touchdown to s to in the back of the end zone in the first half. He later darted a laser to on the move to close the scoring gap deep into the fourth quarter. It's clear Adam Gase has a bead on how to milk the most out of Osweiler while eliminating game-changing mistakes. blasting off for a 54-yard touchdown run, displayed that the can move the ball well enough, and get a sprinkle of explosive plays, with Brock under center. The exited Sunday's tilt banged up at receiver. left the game in the first half after a 25-yard catch-and-run with a leg injury that looked bad. The wideout was heavily in the game-plan early with two rushing attempts and three catches on the first four drives before suffering the injury. Wideout then walked to the locker room with an injury during the ' final drive. With inactive, the injuries left Miami with just two healthy receivers dre sed on their concluding po se sion. With trade rumors swirling about Parker, the might need the former first-round pick to finally play a role if Wilson's injury turns out to be a long-term i sue. The story of this is the benching of , because quarterback news -- and news related to the polarizing Bortles -- is hot in this league. But make no mistake: Jacksonville (3-4), as a football team, looks nothing like the team that took down New England a month ago. The conversation after the game was filled with questions of if the were panicking, and requested reporters "don't ask us to point fingers," presumably at each other. "We're figuring out who we are," Smith explained, before acknowledging he'd sound like Tim Tebow and then promising a Pavel Buchnevich Women Jersey better team in the second half of the season. Whether it's Bortles or under center remains to be seen, but Jacksonville needs a retreat with heart-to-hearts and a kumbaya circle right now. Their identity is lost. Here's hoping Smith is right, for the ' sake. Jacksonville's complete lack of a running game is killing their offense. So are drops. And routes run short of the sticks on third down. And most of all, turnovers. Doug Marrone railed against it in the postgame pre ser and rightfully so, pointing out the obvious in the proce s: A negative turnover differential will, in most games, produce a lo s. "For me, it's on everyone," Marrone said in reference to his change at quarterback and his team's lo s. But back to the running game. , best suited as a change-of-pace back, has been forced to carry an incredible load and understandably struggled to do so. He dropped a pa s that ended up in a Ke sler interception, and gained just 28 yards on 12 attempts. can't get up to speed fast enough as 's absence becomes more and more damaging with each week. Now, onto the winners. has to thank his lucky stars for a guy like De'Andre Hopkins, who has one of the widest catch radiuses in football. Hopkins was routinely winning one-on-one matchups with early in the game, and though he only finished with three receptions, one of them extended a key early drive, and another one went for a touchdown. Combined with , Watson has at least two solid targets to throw to. Oh, and welcome back, , who rushed for 100 yards for the first time this season and scored a touchdown on 22 carries. In a season filled with heart-stopping wins and lo ses, the deserved a smooth victory. They earned that Sunday. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a free-agent quarterback seeking good fortune must be in want of a front-running team. The ' performance against the (3-4) showcased why Cousins chose Minnesota (4-2-1) over the work-in-progre s . Both teams had their struggles in the blustery conditions of MetLife Stadium, but the ' experience and talent on both sides of the ball overcame the ' best efforts. Cousins had a steady if humdrum performance that shouldn't have instilled any feelings of regret from the ' faithful. He finished the game connecting on 25 of 40 pa ses for 241 yards and two touchdowns against New York's No. 22-ranked pa s defense. After slicing through the ' defense on the first drive of the game, Cousins struggled to find rhythm as the settled for punts on six of the next seven po se sions before halftime. It took until the middle of third quarter for Cousins to tap into the efficiency that has him on pace for the best season of his career. Completing pa ses to , and , Cousins put together an impre sive nine-play, 74-yard drive that demonstrated why he is among the NFL leaders in completion percentage, pa sing yards, TD-INT ratio and 300-yard games. Late in the game, Thielen tied Charley Hennigan's NFL record for the most 100-plus yard games to start a season with seven when he caught a 21-yard pa s. Thielen finished with 110 yards on nine catches and Diggs added 33 yards on eight catches as the posted their third consecutive win. continues to show the jagged promise that has characterized his first seven games in the NFL. Darnold spun a handful of really nice pa ses while putting up a bunch of haphazard throws. The first of his three interceptions came when he tried to target while he was being covered by Pro Bowlers and -- which turned into an easy pick for Smith after it deflected off Rhodes' hands in the gusty conditions. Darnold took more risks as the ' chances for a comeback diminished and it transformed what was a relatively close game on the scoreboard into a huge deficit by the middle of the fourth quarter. Darnold finishing with very rookie-like 17-of-42 pa sing for 206 yards and a touchdown. He also ran in a touchdown. While the offensive line provided decent protection, the running game couldn't provide balance. , two weeks removed from his 200-yard performance against the , was held to 29 yards on 11 carries and had just five carries before leaving with a neck injury. sat this one out because of a hamstring injury, but had a solid game running the ball. Murray finished with 69 yards and two touchdowns for the . Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news for the . Linebacker left the game in the second half with a hamstring, and it'll be something to monitor moving forward. Rhodes exited late with a sprained ankle he suffered while battling Anderson in coverage on a fourth quarter pa s. With the temperature on the ' schedule about to go up a notch (upcoming games against , , , , Patriots), Minnesota's win keeps them in the top echelon of the NFC hierarchy. Buffalo's defense, the pride of a beleaguered (2-5) team, forgot to board the plane to Indianapolis. (2-5) quarterback completed 17 of 23 pa ses for 156 yards and four touchdowns (pa ser rating: 131.5), but the bigger point is the ' running game, which racked up 220 yards on 37 attempts, including a 19-carry, 126-yard, one-touchdown day from . The runner ripped off gains of 23, 15 and 10 over the course of the game, punctuating an Indianapolis ground game that ran the into submi sion and provided excellent balance from which Luck could operate. Luck has to be extra thankful to have (four catches, 25 yards, two touchdowns) back in the fold. His value to this offense is undeniable and was immediately noticeable Sunday. Hilton did what he often does: Found soft spots in zones, made contested catches and adjusted on the fly to give his scrambling quarterback an open target. The last resulted in a touchdown, and the others brought much-needed balance to a pa sing game that was overly reliant on its tight ends in recent weeks. Speaking of tight ends, Frank Reich is using his tight ends to the fullest. and have been a nice one-two punch at the position. Buffalo's offense was abysmal, especially after losing to a head injury early in the first half (though and did admirable jobs, rushing for 134 yards on 20 carries). That made an already uphill climb seem mountainous for , whose stat line looks much worse than the majority of his day actually was. Anderson's final two interceptions came in garbage time, but his first (and Buffalo's offensive ineptitude) had some ready to turn to the game when hearing had his helmet on at the start of the third quarter. That was just a false alarm, though Buffalo's offense wasn't much better with Anderson. In a game that featured fits of scoring interrupted by periods of offensive malaise, the (5-2) found ways to stay one step ahead in securing their fourth straight victory. With not playing , once again was the catalyst for the offense. He finished the game connecting on 19 of 26 pa ses for 306 yards and two touchdowns in a performance that started off fast before fading to allow the game to slide into the clutches of a nail-biting finish. Rivers' 75-yard touchdown pa s to in the first quarter helped the jump out to the lead and ' 55-yard touchdown early in the third quarter gave Los Angeles a 17-6 lead. But the responded almost immediately with what was their best drive of the game -- a seven-play, 42-yard drive that culminated in a 1-yard TD run by . From there, the ' defense kept things under control until ' final drive and subsequent failed two-point conversion attempt locked in the win for Los Angeles. The ' wide receiver corps played a key role in the victory with the trio of Williams, and combining for 245 receiving yards. helped out with 46 yards on the ground and 26 receiving yards. The ' consistency on offense and special teams ended up giving them a slight edge. The were plagued by drives sputtering out at midfield during the first half before finding more succe s in the second half behind a stronger performance by . The quarterback, who threw the first red-zone interception of his career just before halftime, managed to keep the in the contest and finished the game completing 24 of 32 pa ses for 237 yards and a TD. The effort was complemented by a strong rushing effort by , who tallied 91 yards on 13 carries -- a huge chunk of which came on a spectacular, 36-yard, tackle-shedding run on the ' final scoring drive. Ultimately, though, Tenne see's relative quietne s on offense in the first half coupled with mi sing a 54-yard field goal hurt the team's chances of a comeback. coach Mike Vrabel will have a long trip home to ponder what might have been. The first-year head coach went bold in his attempt to steal a victory at Wembley Stadium by going for two after 's 1-yard TD catch pulled the team to within one point of the lead. But Mariota failed to connect on a bullet of a pa s to in tight coverage, and the didn't get a chance to fully showcase the resilience that was a hallmark of their first three wins. Instead, Tenne see drops its third straight game following a pair of head-scratching lo ses to the and . "Go win the game," Lewis told reporters after the game. "He's told us that since training camp, that he's going to be aggre sive, he's going to trust us. I think any team you want that. You want your coach to trust you that way and put the game in your hands and unfortunately it didn't work out. It worked out in the past. You live by it, you die by it, and we just going to keep riding." It's always easy to criticize a coach's gutsy decision to "go for it" when things don't work out, but Vrabel's gut instinct did work well during the team's improbable overtime victory over the earlier this month. Vrabel almost certainly doesn't care (or doesn't know) the have failed to convert on their last seven two-point attempts dating back to 2015. The might be the NFL's best 3-4 team or they could be considered only a couple plays away from being a 1-6 squad following skin-of-their teeth performances against the and . The true measure of the will come when they manage to pull together a consistent effort -- something that's been lacking so far. Once that happens, they might see the level of respect forcefully a serted they were worthy of three weeks ago. Flexed out of its original slot in , Sunday's - Jimmy G-le s afternoon clash in Santa Clara was merely a formality. Los Angeles outcla sed its division rivals in all three phases, taking advantage of Niners turnovers and picking apart their defense all day long. The remained undefeated first and foremost thanks to and their takeaway-happy defense. Donald recorded four of Los Angeles' seven sacks of , his most in a single game, and doubled his season sack total to eight. The linebackers, oft derided as the defense's weak link, were flying around in San Francisco's backfield, too. Corey Littleton tallied two sacks; forced a fumble on a strip sack; and played enforcer. L.A. forced four Niners turnovers and those into 24 crucial points. The front seven's strong showing was a nece sary bulwark against a ' deep pa sing game that had succe s against Green Bay and could have exploited a short-staffed secondary. The result? L.A. throttled its NFC West counterparts despite compiling a season-low 331 total yards on offense. It's time to ignite touchdown watch (#TGTW for the youths). Fresh off his first career 200-yard rushing game last week, the running back made more history Sunday. Gurley scored three more touchdowns in Santa Clara to up his season total to 14, tied for the most through seven games in NFL history. It was the 10th consecutive regular season game in which TGIII has tallied a TD and his third Jaromir Jagr Jersey game this season in which he's scored at least three touchdowns. Gurley is on pace for 32 total TDs on the season, one more than the record set by then- running back LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006. In an era flush with dual-threat, pa s-catching backs, Gurley has stood out over the past two seasons as the most consistent and dominant, and that extends to his end zone prowe s. It's a lost season for San Francisco. Now six games behind the division-leading , the Niners have proven week after week that they do not belong in the playoff conversation -- with or without the injured . Blame it on a roster besieged by injuries. The Niners were without big-money signings Garoppolo and and safety heading into Sunday. They lost their other star safety to a nasty lower leg injury. Second-year stud exited with a shoulder injury at one point. So did breakout back (ankle) -- again. It's time to pack it in, San Francisco, and play for pride and draft picks, but little else. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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