Week 7 of the NFL season is in the books. There are nine teams with winning records in the NFC, and only four teams with losing records. We are starting to see some separation from the bad teams and the rest of the conference, and we have our first obituary in a while, the Arizona Cardinals.
Obituary: Cardinals (2-5)
The Cardinals started the season 2-0, but proceeded to lose five straight and are now buried in the basement of the NFC West, as usual.
NFC WestRecord Div record GB 49ers 5-2 3-0 – Seahawks 5-2 1-1 – Rams 5-2 0-1 – Cardinals 2-5 0-2 3
The first three games of their losing streak were all via walk-off field goals. The last two were via offensive drives that ended in a turnover on downs, followed by opposing kneeldowns. All five losses were by four points or fewer, and by a combined 16 points. On the one hand, they’ve been competitive, I guess 🎉. Their point differential is -1, which isn’t as bad as you’d expect a 2-5 team to be. On the other hand, maybe they just don’t know how to win.
Jonathan Gannon was hired to be the head coach during the 2023 offseason. The Cardinals’ record during his tenure:
Jonathan GannonRecord NFC West finish 2023 4-13 Last 2024 8-9 3rd 2025 2-5 Probably last
That would be a career record of 14-27 (0.341). Along the way, Gannon has had more than his share of cringeworthy moments, like when he made up a bunch of weird stuff that didn’t happen when he was in Philly during his initial press conference with the Cardinals.
Or this infamous moment:
Or this weird “bus” speech from “Cardinals Flight Plan,” which was basically a Hard Knocks ripoff:
Or when he hit a player, lol:
The Cardinals’ head coaching hires prior to Gannon were Kliff Kingsbury, who lasted four seasons, and Steve Wilks, who lasted one season. Hiring Gannon to be the head coach in the first place never made any sense. I mean, did owner Michael Bidwell not watch him basically give a Super Bowl away? Did he not talk to him? How and when did Bidwell decide, “Oh hell yes, this guy is a leader”?
Gannon is going to get canned at some point, whether that’s during the season or after it. And spoiler, they’re going to make another bad hire after he’s gone.
Graveyard
Hierarchy
14) Giants (2-5): Remember when the Sixers were in full-on tank mode and they’d play some decent team tough, but lose on something like a three-pointer at the buzzer? You’d be like, “Good loss! Good loss!”
Well, even though the Giants are very much not tanking, as the head coach and general manager are desperately seeking wins for the sake of job preservation, Sunday’s loss to the Broncos was, you know, “a good loss.”
I mean, sure, watching your team blow an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter while also giving up 33 (!) points in the fourth quarter is rage-inducing football and certainly not fun in the moment, but there are three things to feel good about in the aftermath:
1) Though he threw a bad INT in the fourth quarter and completed less than 50% of his passes, Jaxson Dart made plays throughout the day against a great defense and furthered his status as the team’s “franchise quarterback.”
2) Draft positioning.
3) This game can be blamed on defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, or the backup kicker (who missed two PATs), or any number of things other than Brian Daboll. But ultimately, Giants fans can’t possibly want Daboll as the head coach in 2026 and beyond, right? I mean… right?! So, any win that Daboll gets along the way is going to be a feather in his cap. Giants fans should want Daboll’s cap to not have enough feathers at the end of the season to keep his job.
Last week: 14
13) Commanders (3-4): As we noted in our Commanders dumpster fire post this summer, the idea that “Jayden Daniels will only continue to get better” was not a given. I’ll copy/paste for your convenience:
Jayden Daniels was a star player as a rookie. It would be stupid to suggest otherwise. A common sentiment surrounding the Commanders is that he “is only going to get better.”
Mehhhh. The following is a list of quarterbacks who recently won Rookie of the Year honors, showing their QBR in their rookie seasons, and their QBR in their follow-up seasons. Disclaimer: Yes, QBR is a rudimentary measure of a quarterback, but we’ll use it here for snapshot purposes. (Sample size, last 20 seasons).
Player RoY QBR Next year QBR Vince Young 56.1 46.9 📉Matt Ryan 68.8 67.7 📉Sam Bradford 46.9 31.4 📉Cam Newton 56.6 58.3 📈Robert Griffin III 69.4 50.4 📉Dak Prescott 77.6 70.0 📉Kyler Murray 57.7 61.9 📈Justin Herbert 62.6 70.9 📈C.J. Stroud 57.5 49.8 📉Jayden Daniels 70.6 ???
Three of those quarterbacks had upticks in QBR, six had downticks.
Daniels could very well improve. However, teams around the league are going to have a year’s worth of tape to scrutinize his strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies.
OK, so fast forward to today. Daniels has missed two games due to injury, and the Commanders are 2-3 in the five games he has started. He has a QBR of 51.8, which ranks 21st in the NFL. The player he most resembles from the chart above, just in terms of rookie year QBR vs. second-year QBR? Uhhh…
Player RoY QBR Next year QBR Robert Griffin III 69.4 50.4 Jayden Daniels 70.6 51.8 Last week: 11
12) Falcons (3-3): The Falcons are the type of team that sportsbooks love, because of how wildly inconsistent they are. Just when you think, “Oh, maybe they’re good,” they very quickly show that they aren’t.
For example, In Week 2, they completely dominated the Vikings in Minnesota. The next week, they lose 30-0 to the Panthers.
And then in Week 6, they beat the Bills at home. The next week, they get nothing going at all against a Niners team almost completely stripped of its best players.
Last week: 10
11) Cowboys (3-3-1): If this team still had Micah Parsons, their defense wouldn’t be as atrocious as it is, and they’d almost certainly be getting Super Bowl hype. Their offense has been awesome this season.
One trade that they made that HAS worked out has been the acquisition of George Pickens, who has 36 catches for 607 yards and 6 TDs. He’s ranked fourth in the NFL in receiving yards and he’s tied for second in TDs.
Also, here are Dak Prescott’s stats in his last four games: 95 of 133 (71.4%), 1081 yards (10.1 YPA), 13 TDs, 0 INTs, 128.1 QB rating. The Cowboys are averaging 37.0 points per game during that stretch.
10) Panthers (4-3): “Pleasant surprises power rankings” of the 2025 season so far:
- Colts
- Panthers
- Patri*ts
- Jaguars
- Bears
The Panthers have a winning record after Week 7. This season is already a success. They’ll be without Bryce Young with a high ankle sprain for a while, though. Andy Dalton will take over.
Last week: 12
9) Bears (4-2): The Bears lead the NFL in turnover differential, and by a decent margin:
- Bears: +11
- Jaguars: +8
- Colts: +7
Oh hey, there’s some overlap here with my “Pleasant surprise power rankings” above.
Last week: 9
8) Vikings (3-3): I can’t stop watching this intentional grounding play by Carson Wentz, lol.
This is such a good roster, and they’re well coached, but they just don’t have a quarterback.
My “Tanner McKee 2026 team power rankings,” if he’s not with the Eagles.
- Steelers
- Vikings
- Browns
- Cardinals
- Saints
Last week: 8
7) 49ers (5-2): The Niners are averaging 20.7 points per game, which puts them in the bottom 10 in the NFL:
Rank Team (Record) PPG T-23 49ers (5-2) 20.7 T-23 Panthers (4-3) 20.7 25 Dolphins (1-6)20.0 26 Bengals (3-4) 19.4 27 Jets (0-7)18.4 28 Falcons (3-3)18.3 29 Saints (1-6)17.9 30 Browns (2-5)16.1 31 Raiders (2-5)14.7 32 Titans (1-6)13.7
There’s a heavy correlation between not scoring a lot of points and losing a lot of football games (#analysis), but the Niners have found ways to win ugly games. Obligatory: Credit them for that.
And also, their schedule will continue to be easy for the next two months, as their next seven games are against teams with a combined record of 18-29 (0.383).
Last week: 7
6) Eagles (5-2): Jalen Hurts’ 4 incompletions against the Vikings:
- On target 20-yard back shoulder throw to DeVonta Smith, who mistimed his jump. It looked like Hurts purposely threw high with DeVonta working on a shorter CB in Isaiah Rodgers, but the ball had a little more loft on it than DeVonta was expecting, so he jumped a little too early, thinking that the throw had more heat on it. But it was a good ball.
- He hit A.J. Brown in the chest on a 10-yard dig. Brown was hit by Harrison Smith as the ball arrived. Ball on target.
- He escaped pressure, and threw to the sideline where only DeVonta had a shot at it. Quasi throwaway.
- He threw behind Brown on a slant. That was his only off-target incompletion of the day.
He otherwise completed 19 passes for 326 yards and 3 TDs. Stellar performance.
Last week: 6
5) Seahawks (5-2): Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s game log is pretty ridiculous this year:
Opponent Rec Yards YPC TD 49ers 9 124 13.8 0 Steelers 8 103 12.9 0 Saints 5 96 19.2 1 Cardinals 4 79 19.8 0 Buccaneers 8 132 16.5 1 Jaguars 8 162 20.3 1 Texans 8 123 15.4 1 TOTAL 50 819 16.4 4
He’s on pace for 121 catches for 1989 yards and 10 TDs.
Last week: 5
4) Rams (5-2): My perception is that when we think of the Rams, we think of Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, and their receivers. But, the Rams have allowed the fewest points per game in the NFC so far this season, and the second-fewest in the NFL:
- Texans: 14.7
- Rams: 16.7
- Chiefs: 17.7
- Broncos: 18.1
- Patri*ts: 19.0
Side note: The Eagles faced the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 teams on that list.
Last week: 4
3) Buccaneers (5-2): Football is brutal:
I like Troy Aikman as a commentator and generally think he does a great job, but my man, a hamstring injury?
Last week: 1
2) Packers (4-1-1): Micah Parsons had three sacks against the Cardinals, all in high-leverage situations:
- 3rd and Goal from the 8, field goal.
- 3rd and Goal from the 10, field goal.
- 1st and 10 from the GB26, loss of 9, eventual turnover on downs on the Cardinals’ final drive of the game.
Parsons may have won them that game. Credit the Packers for identifying another team making a HUGE mistake by making Parsons available and capitalizing on it.
Last week: 3
1) Lions (5-2): Jahmyr Gibbs had 17 carries for 136 yards (8.0 YPC) and 2 TDs, plus 3 catches for 82 yards (27.3 YPC). Little hesitation, and then… goodbye.
It feels a lot like if you can slow down Gibbs, the Lions are beatable. In the Lions’ two losses, Gibbs had a combined 26 carries for 84 yards (3.2 YPC), and 12 targets in the passing game for 31 yards.
But if you don’t slow him down, good luck.
