We should feel very lucky this week. The games we wanted to be great, were the closest games of the week. How great was the Vikings/Lions game? I can’t wait to get into the Gridiron Voice studio and review the film on that one! So, for week seven, I went 9-3 on my picks so far with two games tonight. I have the Ravens and the Chargers winning tonight. On the season I’m 67-37 overall.

Quick impressions on week seven?

There are only a few teams that feel like they are playing at a high level. Good tackling on defense, good blocking on the offensive line, efficient passing, physical play, and a genuine play for each other mentality.

Quarterback play is down overall – there are quarterbacks out there that are going to get their wide receivers injured, throwing them into big hits, or throwing balls too high or too low for the receiver to be able to protect himself.

Tenured coaches with bad records are starting to feel the pressure to win now or get fired and first year coaches are getting exposed for their lack of experience. They aren’t making great decisions.

Of course we’ll get into more detail on this week’s Tale of the Tape and on the Gridiron Voice Podcast. For now, let’s get into my Hits and Misses:

Hit
Jayden Daniels shouldn’t be running so much. I was on this early, he hasn’t built up a frame that can handle the week in week out punishment of the NFL. He’s still built like a college kid. Hopefully the rib injury is minor and he won’t miss a significant amount of time. Even better, hopefully he learns from this and is more judicious about his running.

Miss
Giants/Eagles. The Giants defense played well, and the Eagles offense still struggled early to get going. But the Giants offense fell off a cliff and made the Eagles defense look like a Buddy Ryan unit. I thought that was a very winnable game for the Giants, but they proved me wrong.

Miss
Geno Smith. I’ve been pretty hard on him lately, but for this week he played a good game. Going cross country to win against a quality team like the Falcons is a great way for Seattle to reset their season.

Hit
Kansas City as a physical team. Last year they took the Super Bowl title from San Francisco, and yesterday they proved they are the most physical team in the league right now – a title that the 49ers have held for a couple of seasons.

Hit
Running game. We had three games this week that had a playoff feel and were matchups of six teams that all have a legitimate chance to make the Super Bowl. The thing that all six had in common? Explosive plays out of the running game. Detroit/Minnesota, Houston/Green Bay, Kansas City/San Francisco – all three games were dominated by the rushing performances. When the weather gets colder and the games are more important, the teams that can run the ball will be more successful. This week was just a taste.

Miss
Russell Wilson vs Justin Fields. I still think Fields has done a fantastic job as the starter for the Steelers. But Wilson showed up and proved he can stay within the game plan and play Steeler football. Adding that mid level passing game really opened up the offense Sunday night.

Hit
Aaron Rodgers. In the Gridiron Voice podcast, I blasted Rodgers for speaking out like he did. He was not holding himself accountable, he was making mistakes, and he threw his teammates under the bus. He blamed others. I blamed him. His throws aren’t accurate, and they don’t have the velocity they used to. He’s making the mistakes, and throwing the interceptions.

I wonder who the Jets will have to fire this week to try and make Rodgers look like a competent quarterback?