The Week 7 bye offered a clean checkpoint for four teams at very different points on the map.
Buffalo is still winning, Jacksonville has surged into real contention, Los Angeles is staring at a mess, and Washington sits in a frustrating middle ground where a few numbers shine and others drag everything down. Here’s where each club stands after seven weeks.
The Bills are 5-1 and still look like one of the NFL’s most dangerous offenses. Buffalo leads the league in scoring at 32.8 points per game, and Joe Brady’s group has found the end zone 23 times in six games. Josh Allen, James Cook and the rest of that attack keep piling up points, but the other side of the ball has kept this from feeling complete.
Buffalo is allowing 28.5 points per game, a figure topped only by the Arizona Cardinals at 29.7 and the Washington Commanders at 28.7. The Bills have given up 21 offensive touchdowns, and Allen and Cook have combined for seven of the team’s nine turnovers.
Jim Leonhard’s defense has also been beaten up in the yardage battle, ranking next-to-last in both total yards allowed per game and passing yards allowed per game. Gregory Rousseau has been the standout on that unit, with six sacks, three forced fumbles and five passes knocked down.
Grade: B+
Jacksonville has been one of the league’s sharpest turnaround stories under Liam Coen. He took over a team that went 4-13 in 2024 and guided it to a 13-4 finish and an AFC South title this past season. Even after a 34-31 loss to the Houston Texans in London in Week 6, the Jaguars are 4-2 and sitting with one fewer win than the rest of the division combined, which adds up to 5-16.
Trevor Lawrence has been efficient, completing 65.2 percent of his passes with 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Parker Washington is emerging as a real weapon, and Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. have given the backfield an underrated 1-2 punch.
Jacksonville’s defense tells a split story: it has allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the league, but it has also surrendered the third-most passing yards per game. Even so, the Jaguars have given up only seven touchdown passes and have also picked off seven balls.
Grade: A-
The Chargers, by contrast, have gone from stability to full-blown trouble. Jim Harbaugh’s first two seasons produced 11-6 records and wild card trips, and even in 2025 Justin Herbert still made the Pro Bowl despite taking 54 sacks and turning it over 15 times behind a battered offensive line. It looked like Joe Hortiz and the front office had addressed those issues, but the season quickly went sideways.
Back-to-back home losses to the Cardinals and Raiders set the tone, and Los Angeles has never recovered. The offense has unraveled under Mike McDaniel, and Herbert looks like he still hasn’t shaken off the punishment he took in 2025. At 0-6, the Chargers are the NFL’s only winless team, and the big question now is what happens next for Harbaugh, McDaniel and a roster that still has some talent on it.
Grade: D-
Washington is the odd one out in a different way. Dan Quinn’s team meets the Philadelphia Eagles again this Sunday, and the Commanders’ lone win came against the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. Since opening 3-2 a season ago, Washington is 3-14-2 over its last 19 games.
There are a couple of eye-catching positives. The Commanders own a plus-6 turnover differential, second only to the undefeated Minnesota Vikings at plus-7, and they have turned the ball over only twice, an NFL low.
But the defense has been leaking yards through the air, ranking 28th in passing yards allowed per game, and it has already given up 15 touchdown passes in six games. Add in some shaky clock-management decisions from Jayden Daniels, and Washington remains tough to trust from week to week.
In Other News...
Commanders Suddenly Face A Big Trade Deadline Decision At Wide Receiver
The wide receiver market is starting to loom over Washington as the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 10 approaches, and the Commanders are at least being linked to a move that could help deepen their passing game. ESPN has put three names in the conversation: Clevelands Jerry Jeudy, Baltimores Rashod Bateman and Tampa Bays Chris Godwin, giving the front office a short list of options with very different levels of appeal.
Each candidate comes with a different type of fit and a different level of realism, which is what makes this such a tricky decision for Washington. Bateman appears to be the cleanest match for what the Commanders might want, while Godwin is the most complicated swing of the group because of his injury history and age, leaving the team to weigh upside against the kind of certainty it can actually get before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Trade Debate Just Got Real On The Offensive Line
Washingtons offensive line has been a point of concern this season, with the unit sitting 20th in the NFL by PFFs grading. That backdrop is what makes the latest trade chatter worth watching, because any move up front would be aimed at stabilizing a group that has not consistently given the offense the kind of protection and flexibility it needs.
ESPN has floated the Commanders as a possible landing spot for New Orleans guard Cesar Ruiz, a player whose appeal goes beyond one spot on the interior. Ruiz brings the kind of versatility teams covet along the line, and a deal would make sense on paper for both sides, but for now it remains only a projection rather than an actual transaction. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Season Could Decide How Soon Laremy Tunsil Returns
Laremy Tunsils road back to the field is still in the early stages, but there is at least some encouraging news for the Commanders. The veteran left tackle tore his triceps in training camp and had surgery, leaving Washington to move forward without one of its biggest offseason additions while he works through the rehab process.
Dan Quinn said Tunsil is still a few weeks away from his next medical check to see how the healing is progressing, and the signs so far have been described as on track. Even so, whether Tunsil plays again this season may end up depending as much on where the Commanders stand in the standings as on the next round of evaluations. [Read more 🡒]