Week 7 of the 2021 NFL season didn't have the usual drama that we enjoy on Sundays. Just one game finished with a margin of victory within one possession and four teams failed to put up more than five points.

With that being said, there were still a lot of noteworthy performances that are worth discussing as we near the midway point of the season:

Overachieving Team: New York Giants

The New York Giants entered Sunday as home underdogs, but emerged as the latest beneficiaries of the Sam Darnold Giveaway Tour. The Giants averaged just 4.5 yards per play and had just one possession travel further than 40 yards, but Darnold's inability to make throws rendered Carolina uncompetitive until he was mercifully benched for P.J. Walker.

Offensively, the Giants managed just one explosive play in the passing game and averaged just 3.3 yards per carry on 31 rushing attempts. Daniel Jones did most of his damage completing short passes to the right side of the field. 11 of his 23 completions and 93 of his 203 yards went to that area and he completed zero passes over 20 yards downfield.

While we can credit the Giants defense for allowing just 2.8 yards per play and keeping the Panthers out of the red zone all day, save for one drive, it's clear this type of performance won't be sufficient against better competition. New York's next three games are against Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr, and Tom Brady.

New York's passing defense ranked in the bottom-five of the NFL in EPA coming into Week 8 and their performance against Darnold should be considered more of an anomaly than a step in the right direction.

Underachieving Team: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles had 10 days to figure things out after falling to the Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football last week and things looked promising from the beginning. An eight-play, 59-yard, game-opening drive ended with a touchdown and it seemed like Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts figured some things out during the extended layoff.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the positives for the three-point road underdogs. The Eagles allowed 30 straight points to the Raiders and 16 straight completions to Derek Carr en route to a 33-22 defeat.

Save for a whacky win over the Panthers (see above), the Eagles have now five of their last six games and have been outscored by 52 points in the process. And as bad as the offense has been, the defense has somehow been worse, allowed four quarterbacks complete over 80 percent of their passes.

In fact, Carr attempted just one deep pass against the Eagles coverage–a 43-yard completion–but it didn't matter. He completed 30 of his 33 other attempts and the Raiders didn't even need to convert a single third down on their first two touchdown drives, possessions that lasted nine and 10 plays, respectively.

Philadelphia is already favored by three against the winless Detroit Lions next week, but the Eagles haven't won in Detroit since Michael Vick's first start with the team.

Overachieving Player: Ja'Marr Chase

Remember in August when Ja'Marr Chase was dropping everything in training camp and was already being labeled a bust? He even discussed how the ball was bigger than the one he played with at LSU and that was the source of his struggles.

Well, it seems like he's adjusted to “The Duke” and after six productive games, Chase became the latest LSU receiver to explode in the NFL, catching eight passes for 201 yards in a blowout win over the Ravens. Chase now ranks second in the NFL in receiving yards behind only Cooper Kupp.

Where Chase has done most of his damage is after the catch, he averaged over 14 yards after the catch on Sunday and his 4.8 YAC over expected is first in the NFL by over half a yard.

But not only is he smoking his contemporaries, Chase is setting a historic pass, earning 133 more yards than any NFL receiver in their first seven career games and his six touchdowns rank second behind Martavis Bryant.

Perhaps the craziest thing about Chase's start is how he's doing it in a competitive offense. Hell, Tee Higgins had five more targets than the rookie against the Ravens and Joe Mixon has 100 more touches than Chase this season despite being limited with an injury in Week 5.

Chase has another favorable matchup in Week 7 against the Jets.

Underachieving Player: Justin Fields

Expectations certainly weren't high for Justin Fields heading into this week against Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers boasted the NFL's top run defense and blitzed at the highest rate in the league heading into Sunday, a recipe for disaster for a rookie quarterback.

Six quarterback hits and four sacks later, Fields and his Bears are licking their wounds after losing 38-3.

The rushing attack was fairly successful, Khalil Herbert earned 79 yards on his 10 carries outside the left tackle. And even with the litany of sacks and quarterback hits, Fields did rank 12th among quarterbacks in time to throw for Week 7.

Fields has struggled all season, ranking ahead of only Zach Wilson in EPA/play this season. We could get a matchup of rookie quarterbacks in Week 8 when the Bears play the 49ers, although Trey Lance missed Week 7 due to an ankle injury.

Bad Beat: Colts/49ers Under 41.5

The weather was expected to wreak havoc on Sunday Night Football in Santa Clara. Heavy rains and winds pushed the total down nearly five points from the beginning of the week.

The weather did create a sloppy game, both teams lost a pair of fumbles and the 49ers also threw two interceptions.

However, all those turnovers set up a lot of points. The Colts scored three touchdowns off turnovers and the 49ers kicked a field goal after recovering a fumble in the first quarter.

Even with all that help, it still took a garbage time touchdown to Michael Pittman set up by an Xavier Rhodes interception to achieve the over.