Taylor Heinicke outplays Aaron Rodgers starting in place of the injured Carson Wentz. Plus, let’s hear it for Andy Reid and the Chiefs, and P.J. Walker takes down the GOAT.
Week 7 on the NFL schedule is almost in the books (we still have Monday Night Football to go), and the best performances deserve to be recognized by our MMQB staff. Even if you’re feeling down because your team didn’t win, maybe one of your favorite players or coaches will get awarded a game ball. Let’s go!
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John Pluym: Taylor Heinicke, QB, Commanders. Maybe Ron Rivera should get my game ball after keeping this team focused on the job on the field after what’s been happening off the field with Commanders owner Daniel Snyder. But I’m going to go with Heinicke, who outplayed Aaron Rodgers in a huge 23–21 win for Washington. Heinicke faced constant pressure from the Packers but still threw for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns. One of his best passes of the day was his completion to Terry McLaurin on third down to help run the clock down and seal the victory. Heinicke had a Packer in his face and lofted a perfect pass to the sideline, where McLaurin was waiting to haul it in for a first down. The Commanders improved to 3–4 to match the Packers, who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since 2018. The big question now is whether Heinicke can play well enough to hold onto the starting job while Carson Wentz recovers from a broken finger on his throwing hand.
Mitch Goldich: The Chiefs’ wide receivers. My initial plan here was to single out Mecole Hardman, who scored two of his three touchdowns on rushing plays. My reasoning was simply that it’s fun to imagine Reid seeing the headlines the past few days about how Christian McCaffery would give the 49ers an even more versatile offense and saying, Let me show you something fun. But then I felt strange picking a guy who had 60 total yards when JuJu Smith-Schuster caught seven passes for 124 and Marquez Valdes-Scantling had three for 111. This was an important bounce-back win for Kansas City—after losing to the Bills last week—to remind everyone just how good they are. Patrick Mahomes threw for 423 yards, and I’ve already heard a fresh round of “This offense is better without Tyreek Hill” on TV on Sunday night!
Conor Orr: Andy Reid, coach, Chiefs. I don’t care who you are, but finding out that Kyle Shanahan got ahold of Christian McCaffrey in the middle of the week has to mess up the game plan. And yet, the Chiefs were bullying Sunday, logging consistent defensive pressure and refusing to yield massive chunk gains against the most versatile offense in the NFL. While they lost the regular-season Super Bowl to the Bills, they’re building a case as the second-best team in the NFL, featuring a better-than-ever Mahomes and a running game that finally seems to be showing some teeth.
Gary Gramling: Steve Wilks, coach, Panthers. Four years after getting hung out to dry by the Cardinals’ brass, Wilks is getting what would be described as “another chance” by only the most delusional among us as he takes over the ghost ship of a franchise that is the Panthers. On Sunday, he got on the board with a resounding 21–3 depantsing of Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, Carolina’s first win over Tampa Bay since 2019 (that was a Kyle Allen–vs.–Jameis Winston QB duel). Wilks will probably never get another shot as a head coach—that’s how these things tend to go—but he has a chance to prove that he deserves one.
Michael Fabiano: Josh Jacobs, RB, Raiders. Josh Jacobs went scorched earth on the Texans. Remember when fantasy fans were worried about Jacobs’ splitting the backfield work under new coach Josh McDaniels? Shame on us. The Raiders’ No. 1 back absolutely destroyed the Texans, rushing for 143 yards and three touchdowns in a 38–20 win. The veteran, who averaged 7.2 yards per rush, has scored 30-plus fantasy points in three consecutive games. With several big-name backs not living up to expectations, Jacobs has been a bright spot at the position for fantasy managers and one of the better draft bargains after the first seven weeks of the season.
Claire Kuwana: P.J. Walker, QB, Panthers. Yes, it’s slightly boring of me to be picking the backup quarterback who beat Brady, but it’s too good of a story line not to recognize it. Walker came out of the XFL (along with Heinecke, who got a game ball of his own this week) after going undrafted out of college. Two years later, and he’s handing Brady his worst loss of his Buccaneers career? Whether or not the biggest credit is due to interim coach Steve Wilks—or Tampa Bay’s complete lack of offense—Walker deserves some recognition for stepping up to the plate amid the Panthers’ player vacuum that was kicked off with the McCaffrey trade.
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