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Week 7 game balls: Blake Bortles, Ryan Tannehill, Teddy Bridgewater among Sunday's stars

Each week NFL Nation team reporters award a game ball to a player, coach or unit. Here are the game balls for Week 7:


JAGUARS 34, BILLS 31 | ANALYSISVideo

Robert Woods. Without Sammy Watkins and Percy Harvin, the Bills needed another receiver to step up. Woods did just that, leading the team with nine catches for 84 yards and touchdown. He might have had another touchdown early in the fourth quarter when Manuel overthrew tight end Chris Gragg in the end zone; it looked like Woods might have been open on the play. -- Mike Rodak

Blake Bortles. He started the fourth quarter by missing his first six passes and then throwing a pick-six on his seventh attempt, but he then completed 4 of 6 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown on the scoring drive. Bortles rolled left to escape pressure and laid the ball out perfectly for Allen Hurns for a 31-yard touchdown. -- Michael DiRocco


REDSKINS 31, BUCCANEERS 30 | ANALYSISVideo

Jameis Winston. For long stretches Sunday, the rookie quarterback had his best afternoon as a professional. In the first half, he completed 10 of 14 passes for 156 yards with a 147.6 passer rating as Tampa Bay raced to a 24-7 halftime lead. He finished 21-of-29 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. -- Jim Corbett

Kirk Cousins. He drove the Redskins 80 yards in the final 2:24 to cap the Redskins’ biggest comeback in franchise history. He completed 33 of 40 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. -- John Keim


FALCONS 10, TITANS 7 | ANALYSISVideo

Devonta Freeman. He is the first Falcons player with 100 or more rushing yards (116) in three straight games since Michael Turner in 2009. It was also his fourth in seven games this season. -- Vaughn McClure

Wesley Woodyard. He was the team leader in tackles with nine. He set the tone for the Titans' defense when it did more than enough to win and the offense couldn’t do its part. -- Paul Kuharsky


SAINTS 27, COLTS 21 | ANALYSISVideo

Kyle Wilson. On a day when the Saints were missing two of their top four cornerbacks with injuries, the defense came up huge. Wilson intercepted a pass in the end zone before halftime and also recovered a fumble on a kickoff as New Orleans won the turnover battle 3-1. -- Mike Triplett

T.Y. Hilton. He ended his careerlong streak of not having 100 yards receiving at eight games with four catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns. His last 100-yard receiving game prior to Sunday was against Cleveland in Week 14 last season. -- Mike Wells


VIKINGS 28, LIONS 19 | ANALYSISVideo

Teddy Bridgewater. We’ve been waiting to see a game in which Bridgewater played well enough to carry the Vikings. He delivered Sunday, throwing for 316 yards and a pair of touchdowns despite the Vikings’ ongoing protection problems. Bridgewater made the safe throws for much of the day, gave his receivers room to run and didn’t turn the ball over. More often than not, that’s going to be enough for the Vikings to win. -- Ben Goessling

Matthew Stafford. After a perfect first quarter – he completed all six of his passes and threw for two touchdowns – he was pummeled the rest of the day. He finished 18-of-26 for 256 yards with those two scores and no interceptions, but he’ll be feeling this one Sunday night and on the flight to London on Monday. -- Mike Rothstein


CHIEFS 23, STEELERS 13 | ANALYSISVideo

Antonio Brown. After three consecutive subpar performances (mostly because of quarterback flux), Brown returned in a big way with 124 yards, including two impressive long gains fueled by his footwork. -- Jeremy Fowler

Charcandrick West. He recorded his first career TD and his first career 100-yard game. He finished with 22 carries for 110 yards. -- Adam Teicher


RAMS 24, BROWNS 6 | ANALYSISVideo

Travis Coons. He has made all 14 of his field goal attempts and had all six of the Browns' points in the 24-6 loss to the Rams. -- Pat McManamon

Todd Gurley. He actually finished with fewer rushing yards than either of his past two games but he still managed to become the first Rams runner with three consecutive 100-yard games since Steven Jackson in 2011. More importantly, he scored his first two NFL rushing touchdowns to put the Browns away in the second half. -- Nick Wagoner


DOLPHINS 44, TEXANS 26 | ANALYSISVideo

Brian Hoyer. After getting outscored 41-0 in the first half, Houston found its offense in the second half against a soft Miami defense. Hoyer completed 23 of 49 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns and one interception on a day the Texans might have lost Arian Foster to an Achilles injury. -- Tania Ganguli

Ryan Tannehill. He tossed four touchdown passes in the first half, three of which were of 50 yards or more. He completed his first 18 passes and finished with 282 yards, four touchdowns and a 158.3 passer rating. -- James Walker


PATRIOTS 30, JETS 23 | ANALYSISVideo

Eric Decker. He led the Jets’ passing attack with six catches for 94 yards, including four third-down conversions. The Patriots rolled their coverage to Brandon Marshall, all but neutralizing him. That made Decker the primary option on many pass plays and he delivered with a handful of clutch plays. -- Rich Cimini

Tom Brady. He continues to find ways to beat the Jets despite his receivers dropping passes. Brady finished 34-of-54 for 355 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the team in rushing with 15 yards on four carries. -- Mike Reiss


RAIDERS 37, CHARGERS 29 | ANALYSISVideo

Malcolm Smith. We could have gone in any number of directions in the Raiders’ first blowout win of the season. This win started with stopping Philip Rivers. Smith set the tone with an interception and return to the 2-yard line on the opening drive of the game. He also was good in coverage and he had a sack. It was just a monster game for the former Super Bowl MVP for Seattle. -- Bill Williamson

Keenan Allen. He continued his dominant season with nine receptions for 89 yards, and now has 62 catches. According to Elias, 62 receptions are the most through a team's first seven games of a season. -- Eric Williams


GIANTS 27, COWBOYS 20 | ANALYSISVideo

Darren McFadden. He is the first Cowboys running back to have more than 100 yards in a game this season, something DeMarco Murray did 12 times last year. McFadden took over the every-down role when Joseph Randle suffered a back strain on the first series of the game. This is McFadden’s first 100-yard game since Sept. 15, 2013, when he had 129 yards on 19 carries for the Oakland Raiders against the Jacksonville Jaguars. -- Todd Archer

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. He had two interceptions and ran one back for a touchdown. The Giants possessed the ball for only 22 of the game’s 60 minutes but won it by winning the turnover battle (three takeaways, no giveaways) and scoring on special teams. This was a sloppy game that was begging for someone to play great, and Rodgers-Cromartie delivered. -- Dan Graziano


PANTHERS 27, EAGLES 16 | ANALYSISVideo

Secondary. The Eagles secondary was a focus of Chip Kelly’s offseason makeover of the roster. Three of the starters -- Nolan Carroll, Byron Maxwell and Malcolm Jenkins -- intercepted Cam Newton passes. Carroll’s pick in the red zone kept points off the board, while the other two led to Eagles field goals. -- Phil Sheridan

Kawann Short. The defensive tackle followed his NFC Defensive Player of the Week award with an even better performance. He had seven tackles, two sacks and a deflected pass. -- David Newton


CARDINALS 26, RAVENS 18 | ANALYSISVideo

Wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. On a night when the offense sputtered, Smith was the only spark. He continues to fight to get open and get yards after the catch despite playing with four micro fractures in his back. The oldest current receiver in the league led the Ravens in receiving for the fourth time this season with five catches for 78 yards. -- Jamison Hensley

Chris Johnson. Johnson picked up the Cardinals’ run game after it struggled last week with 122 yards a touchdown, including two impressive runs -- a 26-yard TD run on which he reversed the field and a 62-run during which he was tackled but never hit the ground. -- Josh Weinfuss