Historic and dramatic comebacks, second-year QB breaks Tom Brady record and high-profile benchings: NFL Week 7 Sunday review

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — The theme of the NFL season so far has been the uncertainty of results, with late comebacks or collapses happening more and more.

And Week 7 was no different, with teams overturning seemingly insurmountable leads to somehow rescue results from the most unlikely of situations.

Through the first seven weeks of the campaign, there have been 26 games with a lead change in the final two minutes of regulation this season, the most in NFL history over that span.

There were also records broken and several starting quarterbacks benched for struggling squads.

Here’s everything you need to know from Sunday’s action in Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season.

Down, but not out

Like other weeks, Sunday was punctuated with comebacks from the most unlikely of positions.

The most dramatic of those came in Denver where the Broncos overturned a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun the New York Giants 33-32.

The Broncos offense had been largely lifeless through the first three quarters at Empower Field, even leading to some boos from the home crowd. The Giants, meanwhile, had rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart moving the ball and putting points on the board, throwing two touchdown passes and running back Tyrone Tracy rushing in another.

That’s when everything went out the window.

Second-year passer Bo Nix exploded from his slumber, throwing 16-of-25 for 174 yards and two touchdowns while also running for two scores in the fourth quarter.

Having scored four TDs in the final quarter, the Broncos still trailed by two points following a one-yard Dart touchdown run with just 37 seconds remaining.

But Nix connected with Marvin Mims and Courtland Sutton on deep passes to set up a Wil Lutz field goal as time expired to hand Denver a remarkable victory.

According to the NFL, teams were 161-0 since 2007 when shutting out their opponent and leading by 18 points or more after first three quarters before Sunday. The Broncos are now the first team to overcome that deficit in NFL history.

After the game, Nix reflected on the dramatic comeback.

“I was thinking about how I was going to answer questions if we got shut out. It’s not where you want to be,” he told reporters. “At some point, I knew we’ve done it before in the fourth quarter.

“We know at some point we are going to go ahead and score. It may be too late and we may not score enough, but at some point, we are going to do it. We did. We had a good drive there at the end of the third and scored quickly in the fourth. It’s almost like once we scored and got the two-point conversion we knew how to play all of a sudden. I don’t have many answers but we just kept fighting.”

It wasn’t the only late comeback on Sunday though.

The Green Bay Packers also scored two touchdowns in the final quarter, including one with just under two minutes left, and forced a late turnover on downs deep in their own territory to beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23.

The Cardinals, led by backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, needed a touchdown on their final drive of the game to secure an unlikely victory.

But, as had been the case throughout the game, Brissett was disrupted by a swarming Packers defense led by Micah Parsons, who was a terror all game.

Parsons, who was traded to Green Bay from the Dallas Cowboys in a blockbuster trade ahead of the season, had his third sack of the game on Arizona’s last drive and was disruptive throughout as the Packers improved to 4-1-1 on the season and first in the NFC North division.

Patriots QB breaks Tom Brady record

Following Tom Brady’s departure from New England and the end of his Super Bowl-laden spell with the Patriots, the franchise has been searching for its next cornerstone quarterback.

And if this season’s displays are anything to go by, they might’ve just found him in the form of Drake Maye.

Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, had arguably his best performance yet in a Patriots jersey on Sunday, going almost perfect in the team’s 31-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans.

The 23-year-old threw 21-of-23 for 222 yards and two touchdowns, while also running for 62 yards on eight carries. He was poised in the pocket and made vital throws at key moments, while he was helped out by a solid running game.

Perhaps even more impressively, Maye fell to the ground and took a hard hit to the head in the second quarter, leaving the game and returning a few moments later to throw a touchdown pass to Austin Hooper.

In his excellent performance, Maye hit two historic milestones.

He became first player in the Super Bowl era to complete 90% of his passes, throw for over 200 yards and rush for over 50 yards in a single game.

More notably for the Patriots, his 91.3 completion percentage broke Brady’s franchise record of 88.5%, which he set against the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009.

Maye said after the game that it comes as a result of the whole team improving together.

“I think we’ve just grown as an organization. I think with (head) coach (Mike) Vrabel and his staff I think we’re just buying into each other and build an identity,” Maye told reporters. “And I think that’s what’s kind of the biggest thing for me is trying to be the same player every week.”

Sunday’s performance continues Maye’s breakout season with the Patriots and gave head coach Mike Vrabel a victory in his first game against the franchise who fired him in January 2024.

Some Titans fans could be heard chanting Vrabel’s name as the game went on, with some even holding up signs apologizing to him for how his time in Tennessee ended.

“I didn’t get that many tickets, I don’t know …,” Vrabel said of the chants. “I’m happy for our players. I think these guys they’re figuring out how to win, they’re figuring out how to practice. I guess it’s humbling to have these people whoever that is cheer for us whether that’s the Patriots or Drake Maye or me or anybody else.”

Benchings

While some teams are on the up, for others, the season might already be over.

Take the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets for instance. The two AFC East rivals are a combined 1-13 after each suffered a humbling loss Sunday to the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers, respectively.

For Miami, it was a disaster from start to finish, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa throwing three interceptions for the second straight week, including one which was returned for a touchdown.

Tagovailoa’s performance was so catastrophic that he was benched in the fourth quarter for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers.

There were very few positives to take from the 31-6 defeat to the Browns for head coach Mike McDaniel – the team suffered errors on defense, turnovers on offense and key penalties throughout – with pressure ramping up on his position.

The vibes are arguably worse with the Jets who remained the only winless team at 0-7 in the NFL after their 13-6 home loss to the Panthers.

Once again, the Jets defense showed up, but the offense failed to pick up its end of the bargain. It got so bad that New York quarterback Justin Fields was benched at halftime after struggling in the first half.

Over the first two quarters against Carolina, Fields went 6-of-12 on his pass attempts for 46 yards and added 22 rushing yards on four carries, leading an offense which totaled 97 yards during his time on the field.

Fields was replaced by Tyrod Taylor who was able to move the ball more effectively but threw two costly interceptions.

When asked about the quarterback change after the game, head coach Aaron Glenn said his team “needed a spark.”

“I felt that it was the right time to do it,” Glenn explained. “It’s a tough situation for both of those guys, but it was my call. It was my call and I felt it was the right time to do it.”

The loss was even more damning for first-year head coach Glenn given the fact that Carolina lost starting QB Bryce Young to an ankle injury midway through the second half and was still able to hold out for a first win on the road this season.

Fields signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Jets in the offseason but Glenn was noncommittal about who the team’s starting quarterback going forward will be.

“I’ll make the call,” Glenn said, “but there’s a lot of conversation I got to have with myself to see what can I do to make sure that we give us a chance to win.

“We’ll make the right decision. Whatever the decision is, I’m going to go with it and we’re going to move forward.”

Full Week 7 Sunday scores

Home vs. away (winners in bold)

Jacksonville Jaguars 7-35 Los Angeles Rams (in London, UK)

Chicago Bears 26-14 New Orleans Saints

Cleveland Browns 31-6 Miami Dolphins

Kansas City Chiefs 31-0 Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings 22-28 Philadelphia Eagles

New York Jets 6-13 Carolina Panthers

Tennessee Titans 13-31 New England Patriots

Denver Broncos 33-32 New York Giants

Los Angeles Chargers 24-38 Indianapolis Colts

Arizona Cardinals 23-27 Green Bay Packers

Dallas Cowboys 44-22 Washington Commanders

San Francisco 49ers 20-10 Atlanta Falcons

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.