After 7 weeks of play, the NFL season is starting to take shape.  After a summer long lockout, we entered the season with several questions.  And while we may not have all of the answers, we do have some.  Week 7 will probably go down as the worst week of football this season.  Several of the games deemed unwatchable, but nonetheless there were still a few things that caught my eye. Drumroll please as I present to you, "The Week 7 Recap."

For the better part of the last three months now, football fans across the country have been asking themselves, "Why the hell is Tavaris Jackson the Seahawks starting quarterback?"  Well folks, we now have our answer.  While no one will mistake Jackson's play this season as the second coming of Peyton Manning, Charlie Whitehurst's performance on Sunday would make even Ryan Leaf shake his head.  Seahawks fans who once saw Jackson's injury as a blessing in disguise, now know just how fast things can go from bad to worse.  Whitehurst played the entire game, attempted 30 passes, and still did not total 100 yards passing for the game.  Under Whitehurst's leadership, the Seahawks converted on only 2 of 12 third downs and managed to lose the time of possession battle 17to 43 (no that is not a typo, the Seahawks offense was only on the field for 17 minutes of a 60 minute game).  In a game that appeared no one wanted to win,the Browns handed the ball to their runningback 33 times and he still failed to go over 100 yards, yet won with a baseball score of 6-3.

At the start of the season if someone had told me a game between Titans and Texans would have two 100 yard rushers in it, I would said I know. What I wouldn't off expected was that they were both on the Texans. In Tennessee, the Texans ran all over the Titans in a game that was a blowout from the start.  But the bigger question remains: where is Chris Johnson?  Seven weeks into the season and Johnson isn't even in the top 30 in rushing yards.  His 2.9 yards a carry wouldn't even be good for a fullback, and he has yet to break off one of his homerun plays that he is famous for.  After spending the entire training camp saying he wanted to be paid like Peyton Manning, he has been just about as productive as Manning this season.  Since rushing for 2000 yards two years ago, Johnson's production has dropped significantly each season.  At this pace, he won't even rush for 1000 yards this year but he is well on his way to joining the long list of runningbacks who have slowed down after picking up their big pay day.

The Bears had to travel halfway across the world to pick up their 4th win on the season.  Many fans laughed at the notion that Matt Forte would be able to play the role of Marshall Faulk in Mike Martz's offense, but after 7 weeks, Forte is on pace to set the NFL single season record for yards from scrimmage.  Aside from Aaron Rodgers, Forte has been the MVP up until this point in the season. Meanwhile, after having a breakout season last year in just his second season as a starter, Josh Freeman has taken one if not three steps backwards.  Last season Freeman threw for three times as many touchdowns as interceptions.  At almost the halfway point of the season, he has more interceptions then touchdowns.  The Bucs, who were already without their starting runningback Legarette Blount, lost their back up Earnest Grahm for the season early in the game.  After winning 10 games last season with a young head coach and a young trio of superstars, Blount has been the only person who has lived up to expectations.  The Bucs, who lead the NFL in penalties (The Raiders actually have more but they dont count - they pride themselves on penalties) need to use this weeks bye to both get healthy and get focused if they want to make a serious playoff run in what is shaping up to be the best division in football.

In New York, Plaxico Burress showed that he is still one the best redzone targets in the game, by scoring three touchdowns as the Jets came from behind to beat the Chargers.  After being released from prison, Burress stated that he was the same receiver he was before he went in, and he is right.  The truth is Burress was no longer an elite receiver before he went to jail and he still isn't.  In his last season as a Giant, Burress played in 10 games and had 35 catches for 454 yards -
hardly number one wideout numbers.  While he wasn't the Pro Bowl receiver he was earlier in his career, standing 6'5" and weighing more than 230 pounds he still
provided Eli Manning with a reliable redzone target.  Burress, now a Jet is no longer the big play maker, but is a nightmare matchup for corners down near the
goaline.  He's quickly becoming Mark Sanchez's favorite redzone target just like he was Eli's.

After getting off to a 3-1 start, the Redskins had fans in the DC area thinking playoffs.  Just three weeks later, the playoffs look like nothing more then a pipe dream.  The Redskins have lost two in a row and with Buffalo and the 49ers as their next two opponents, things don't look to be getting easier anytime soon.  The Skins have already benched their starting quarterback, and it appears they announce there starting runningback week to week based on a coin flip.  Before losing Chris Cooley for the season, they didnt know who was their number one tightend. For the last two seasons, Santana Moss had been the only stable player on the offense and they now have lost him for at least a month.  With the injury bug striking hard in DC to a team that was already low on talent there is no reason to think the Redskins win anymore then 7 games this season.

The Panthers appeared to have hit the jackpot with Cam Newton, and no one can be happier than Steve Smith.  After becoming nothing more then an afterthought in the discussion of top wideouts in the league Smith now leads the league in receiving yards.  Many debated whether he was even the best Steve Smith in football, let alone the All-Pro he had been in the past.  After giving DeAngelo Williams a kings ransom this offseason, he is now part of a near 50-50 split with his back up Jonathan Stewart.

Update on the Suck for Luck campaign - I have said all season long that I think the Dolphins are the worst team in football.  I had them as the front runners in the race for the worst record and after watching them lose to Tim Tebow and the Broncos, I was certain the number one pick had their name written all over it.  That was until I watched the Colts Sunday night.  The Colts playing in primetime with the whole nation watching let fans across the country know not only are they in the race for the worst record in football, they are in it to win it.  To say that the Colts looked like a college football team on Sunday night would be unfair to college football.  As hard as the Saints tried not to run up the score, the Colts seemed as if they insisted they did.  While we all know you don't just replace a player like Peyton Manning, anyone who has seen the Colts play this year knows their problems are more then even Manning would be able to fix.

There are a lot things a NFL team can do with 5 million dollars.  The Colts used it to lure a 38 year old Kerry Collins out of retirement.  In return, Collins gave them a three game season and had the lowest passer rating in the NFL.

I was one of the several people who was wondering what in the world the Raiders were thinking when they gave up a first and second round pick to get Carson Palmer.  After last weekend, we all now know what they were thinking THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN LET KYLER BOLLER BE OUR STARTER period.  In a little over a half of football, Boller attempted 14 passes.  He completed 7 of them to Raiders and three of them to Chiefs defenders.  The only question that still remains is why Kyle Boller is still in the NFL.  With Palmer looking like a rusty version of the pickoff machine he had become in Cincy, Raidernation has to ask themselves would just waiting 5 weeks for Cambell to get healthy have been such a bad idea?

Alex Smith, Andy Dalton, Mark Sanchez, Curtis Painter, Jason Campbell, Donovan McNabb, and Cam Newton.  What do all of these quarterbacks have in common?  They all have higher QB ratings then Philip Rivers.  Add Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Cassel to the list and you will have a list of quarterback who all have higher ratings then Matt Ryan.  Coming into this season, many experts had Rivers as there favorite to win the league MVP.  With Vincent Jacskon for an entire season and a healthy Malcom Floyd, the sky was supposed to be the limit for Rivers and the Chargers offense.  Rivers has more interceptions then touchdowns and has looked like a lot things but league MVP isn't one of them.  In Atlanta, Ryan looks more like a mediocre quarterback then the franchise quarterback  the Falcons were banking on leading them to the superbowl.  The Falcons went out of their way to draft Julio Jones and pair him with Roddy White, giving Ryan the tools they thought he needed to reach that next level.  If the Falcons want to keep their super bowl dreams alive, Ryan is going to have to step his game up.

I will wait one more week to give my Tim Tebow report and address the Titanic - otherwise known as Andy Reid and the Eagles.  This concludes the week 7 wrap up.  See you all next week.

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