Browns, Bills, Bears pile up wins despite being outscored

Cleveland, Buffalo and Chicago have piled up wins early this season, even if y haven't come in dominating fashion.

Those three teams are all 5-2 after seven games despite being outscored by opposition. Browns have been outscored by 21 points thanks to blowout losses to Pittsburgh and Baltimore, while Bills have been outscored by four points and Bears by two.

Before this trio, last team to begin season by winning at least five of first seven games despite being outscored was 2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were outscored by 27 points. Bucs finished that season 10-6, but missed playoffs on a tiebreaker.

It's first time since merger that three teams have done this in same season. Jacksonville and Atlanta did it in 2004, Rams and Falcons in 1995, and Chicago and Detroit in 1991.

Of 15 teams that have done it since merger, six made playoffs, including eventual Super Bowl champion Raiders in 1976. or nine fell short of postseason.

COVERING GROUND: Seattle’s D.J. Metcalf might have had play of year when he tracked down Arizona’s Budda Baker on a 90-yard interception return and made tackle short of end zone despite Baker having a head start of several yards. Metcalf raced 108.8 yards on play, according to NextGen stats, and reached a top speed of 22.64 mph. That was second-fastest speed for a player on a tackle this season, behind Seattle teammate Shaquill Griffin’s 22.75 mph chasing down Dallas’ Michael Gallup in Week 3.

Metcalf didn’t cover longest distance in Week 7. San Francisco’s Emmanuel Moseley ran 129.6 yards on a play in which he intercepted New England’s Cam Newton and returned it 51 yards.

TRADING PLACES: Tom Brady threw four TD passes last week for Tampa Bay to move past New Orleans’ Drew Brees for most in NFL history with 559. Brees passed Peyton Manning last season for most TD passes only to lose record, at least temporarily, to Brady this season. two could trade it back and forth rest of season.

ROOKIE QBS: Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa is set to become third rookie quarterback to start this season when Dolphins face Rams. or two have had quite an impressive start to ir careers that Tagovailoa will try to follow as fifth overall draft pick.

. 1 pick Joe Burrow began season as starter in Cincinnati and became first rookie in NFL history to throw for at least 400 yards and three TDs and run for a score in last week’s loss to Cleveland. Burrow has five 300-yard passing games already this season, one shy of Andrew Luck’s rookie record.

Justin Herbert, . 6 pick, has been playing at an extremely high level after taking over as starter for Chargers in Week 2. Herbert’s 1,542 yards passing are second most for a QB in his first five starts to Cam Newton’s 1,610. Herbert has 12 TD passes, including 10 in his past three starts.

AR WEEK, AR COMEBACK: For seventh straight week, a team rallied from at least 13 points down to win a game, with Arizona doing it against Seattle. This is just third season since merger that featured a 13-point comeback in each of first seven weeks, after it also happening in 2003 and 2015.

re have been 22 double-digit comebacks this season, second most through seven weeks to 23 in 1987, which featured three weeks with replacement players.

Im credits: AP