Another week is in the books and we're now firmly in the mid-season period of the 2024 NFL campaign, with Week 7 providing another action-filled slate of games.
It's much easier now to identify the real contenders for this season, although there's still lots of time left for underachievers to put things right before it's too late.
As usual, the weekend's action gave us some answers as well as some more questions as the season continues to unfold.
Here are a few of the things from the weekend's games that may (or may not) have slid under the radar.
Lamar Jackson: MVP leader?
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To no one's surprise, the Baltimore Ravens are once again among the best teams in the AFC. Additionally, it should come as no surprise that Lamar Jackson is a big reason for Baltimore's success.
Jackson had another huge game to lead the Ravens to victory in Week 7, racking up 281 passing yards and zero interceptions with a whopping five touchdown passes as Baltimore stormed to a 41-31 victory over Tampa Bay on Monday night.
The performance was more of the same from Jackson, who leads the entire NFL with a 118.0 passer rating and should be strongly considered as the league's MVP front-runner right now.
Browns are now a QB by committee team
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From one of the best teams in the NFL to one of its worst, things got more grim for Cleveland in Week 7 as Deshaun Watson went down with an apparent Achilles injury.
Not that Watson has been very good under center in northern Ohio, of course. But losing their starting quarterback is just another nail in the coffin for a team that already seems dead and buried.
With Watson out, it looks like Dorian Thompson-Robinson will assume the starter's job, but during Sunday's 21-14 loss to inter-state rival Cincinnati both Thompson-Robinson and Jameis Winston took a substantial amount of snaps in Watson's stead.
In fact, Sunday's game was the first instance in 16 years that a team had three players throw at least 10 passes in a single game, so perhaps the Browns' coaching staff are still figuring out the pecking order.
Russell Wilson: QB 1
Speaking of quarterback debates, Russell Wilson may have ended the one in Pittsburgh.
The veteran QB led the Steelers to a 37-15 victory over the New York Jets with 264 passing yards and two touchdowns, with a rushing TD of his own thrown in for good measure.
Wilson started the year as the backup to Justin Fields, who didn't do enough to impress head coach Mike Tomlin through the first six games. Enter Wilson, who surely earned himself a start in Week 8.
History-making Patriots
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The Patriots' woes migrated from New England to regular old England this past weekend as they travelled to London and lost 32-16 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, extending their losing streak to six games.
It's the longest such streak for the Pats in over 30 years, and it comes after they won their season opener to give their fans what has now been proven to be false hope.
The rebuild in Foxborough is taking longer than the organization would've wanted, but at least Drake Maye has shown that he belongs on an NFL field.
Is Bryce Young on the way out in Carolina?
Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
Bryce Young has already lost his spot as the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, with Andy Dalton taking most of the snaps in the team's 40-7 defeat to the Washington Commanders.
But while the team has publicly supported the young QB through his struggles, their actions during the Week 7 loss say otherwise. Young was kept out of the game until extremely late, despite the Panthers going down by 37 points near the end of the third quarter.
At that point it would have just made sense to pull Dalton and allow Young to run the offense, but it wasn't until the closing stages of the game that head coach Dave Canales sent the 2023 No. 1 pick out onto the field, with Young making just two passes (for -4 yards).
Is Young on the trading block? Keep Dalton out well after the game was decided lends credence to rumours that the Panthers are shopping their young QB and keeping him injury-free to maximize his value.
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