Courtesy of Kelvin Kuo, USA Today Sports
It was another interesting week in what has been an interesting season thus far in the NFL. Here are our studs and duds for Week 7.
Studs
1. Ezekiel Elliot, RB, Dallas Cowboys: Elliott had arguably the best game of his young career racking up 219 all purpose yards (147 rushing, 72 receiving) and scoring three touchdowns in the Cowboys 40-10 thrashing of the 49ers.
2. Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders: If you gave up on Cooper, sorry. Cooper busted out in a big way Thursday night catching 11 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper used his size and route running to create seperation all night and he took advantage of a bad secondary.
3. Bears Defense: The Bears defense carried them to a 17-3 win over the Panthers. Free safety Eddie Jackson had a fumble return for a touchdown and a pick six. The Bears effort on defense is even more impressive when you consider the fact that the Panthers held a 38:35 to 21:25 advantage in time of possession.
4. Dak Prescott, QB, San Francisco 49ers: Prescott went 16/25 for 234 yards and 3 touchdown passes. He was effective both as a runner and receiver. Prescott has struggled at times this season but he put together his best performance of the season and in the process made his owners very happy.
5. Todd Gurley, RB, Los Angeles Rams: After a couple of subpar weeks by his standards, Gurley bounced back with an impressive performance in London. He carried the ball 22 times for 106 yards and a touchdown. He also caught four passes for 48 yards.
6. Aaron Jones, RB, Green Bay Packers:Given how bad Brett Hundley looked yesterday, the Packers are going to rely on their running backs to add more balance to their attack. Jones had 17 carries for 131 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Look for him to get even more work moving forward.
Duds
1. Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers: Newton was flat out awful yesterday. He fumbled early and then threw a costly pick six that put the Bears up 14-0. He looked all out of sorts for most of the game. In fairness to him, the Bears got pretty good pressure on him and hit him throughout the game. He was rattled and it showed.
2. Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons: Ryan’s final stat line of 23/33 for 233 yards and a touchdown pass isn’t terrible. The problem is, more was expected of Ryan this week. He was facing a Patriots defense that has been historically bad this season and he did not capitalize. Ryan’s performance was underwhelming to say the least.
3. Packers Receivers: Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Davante Adams combined to catch 5 passes for 40 yards against the Saints. THAT’S IT! If you own any of these guys, you are getting hit hard right now. Unfortunately, Aaron Rodgers isn’t coming back anytime soon and Brett Hundley is not the answer in Green Bay.
4. Adrian Peterson, RB, Arizona Cardinals: What a difference a week makes. Last week we were talking about the revival of Adrian Peterson after he gashed the Bucs. This week, Peterson looked like he did earlier this season with the Saints. Going into yesterday, the Rams were 29th in the league against the run. Somehow, they limited Peterson to 11 carries for 21 yards. Not good if you are counting on Peterson for production.
5. Marshawn Lynch, RB, Oakland Raiders: Lynch hasn’t done anything in weeks. Of course, it is hard to be productive when you come off the sideline to defend your quarterback, shove an official and get ejected from the game. Oh and by the way. Lynch could be suspended this week.
6. Marcus Mariota, QB,Tennessee Titans: After an impressive Monday night performance against the Colts, Mariota came back to earth yesterday. AGAINST THE BROWNS! So much for Mariota being a top five producer at the quarterback position this season. It is not going to happen. The offense he plays in limits him and he cannot stay healthy.