If it wasn’t evident previous to last weekend, it is crystal clear now that some of the perennial minnows in the National Football League (NFL) are making a big splash this year and stirring the puddle of mud.

Even single game winners — the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers — were able to carve out victories over the Dallas Cowboys and the steadily rising Houston Texans, respectively, in recent weeks.

Of course, the marquee games last weekend didn’t disappoint, but the Miami Dolphins were held scoreless in the first half for the first time in 40 games, before rallying in the second half, only to lose 14-21 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Germany.

The Philadelphia Eagles battled tooth and nail against the Cowboys before emerging 28-23 winners, and the Buffalo Bills continued their dismal away record, losing 18-24 to the improving Cincinnati Bengals.

The top performers last weekend were the defence of the Cleveland Browns and the play of rookie quarterback (QB) Coleridge Bernard “CJ” Stroud IV for the Houston Texans. The Cleveland defence held the Arizona offence to just 31 total yards in the first half — only nine passing yards — and 58 total yards for the game, in a 27-0 shutout.

The Cardinals achieved only seven first downs, allowed seven sacks and gave up two interceptions in what turned out to be a wipeout. Looking back, it’s strange to think these Cardinals beat the Cowboys in Week 3.

The 22-year-old Stroud went berserk last Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, throwing for a rookie record 470 yards while completing 71.4 per cent of his passes, including five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Stroud’s 470 passing yards were also the most by any quarterback in a game this season — Tua Tagovailoa (466 in Week 1), Patrick Mahomes (424 in Week 7) and Justin Herbert (405 in Week 3) — and he is just the sixth QB in history to have a game with at least 450 passing yards, at least five touchdowns and no interceptions.

More importantly, Stroud engineered a perfect, last-minute, game-winning drive to lead the Texans past the Buccaneers for the 39-37 win. After Tampa Bay scored a go-ahead touchdown with 46 seconds left, Stroud navigated his team with precision, completing five consecutive passes, including a 26-yard gain to Tank Dell and the eventual 15-yard winning touchdown, also to Dell.

Shroud will take his 14 touchdown, one interception record, along with the Texans (4-4) — who last made the play-offs in 2019 — into Paul Brown Stadium to face the Bengals (5-3) on Sunday, for one of the weekend’s anticipated matchups.

Heading into this weekend, Houston’s passing game is fourth in the NFL with 264.1 passing yards per game and Cincinnati’s offence is now clicking on all cylinders, as they have turned a 1-3 start into a four-game winning streak, including victories over the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills.

The Bengals’ QB Joe Burrow seems to be back to his normal self after starting the year injured and the Cincinnati defence has held opponents to 20 or less points in six of their eight games. Shroud has put the NFL on notice, but with targets like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals should make it five in a row in what is expected to be a high-scoring affair.

The Browns (5-3), who have had only three winning seasons since 1999 (2002, 2007, and 2020) and went winless in 2017, have the Baltimore Ravens (7-2) on the card this Sunday, in a rematch of Week 4 where they were humiliated 28-3.

The Browns have had 36 different starting QBs since 1999, but Deshaun Watson is now their play caller and appears to be bringing some stability to the franchise. He has played five games this season, losing only one and enters this encounter high on confidence that his defence can contain the Ravens just enough to give them a chance.

Baltimore is highly favoured by JustBet after they rolled over the Seahawks last weekend (37-3) and won four straight games, but the NFL’s best defense in terms of yards given up per game will come into M&T Bank Stadium with a chip on their shoulder.

The American Football Conference (AFC) North is the only division in the NFL with all four teams having winning records, and if the season ended today, all four would be in the play-offs. The Browns are the big surprise here and they have a point to prove. Baltimore leads the division, but the Cleveland defence is more than capable of registering an upset.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2) are leading the AFC South, and they welcome the 49ers (5-3) into north-east Florida early Sunday afternoon for an expected thriller. The Jaguars enter the weekend as JustBet home underdogs as very few expect San Francisco to lose four straight — after their 5-0 start turned into a three-game skid — especially having had their bye last weekend. Jacksonville is also coming off their bye and their young squad is on a five-game win streak that has them sitting near the top of the AFC.

These teams appear to be on different trajectories, but just a few weeks ago the 49ers were being touted as the best team in the league and their recent slide should not be used as a yardstick to measure their readiness for a Super Bowel run. The result of the game will largely come down to the number one player taken in the 2020 NFL Draft (QB Trevor Lawrence) and the final player chosen in the 2022 NFL Draft (QB Brock Purdy).

If Purdy can get back into his 2022-form and recent defensive signing Chase Young can find early footing, this should be a really good watch.

The other overperformer this season has been the Detroit Lions (6-2) and they travel late Sunday afternoon to California and tackle the Los Angeles Chargers (4-4).

The Chargers return home after defeating the New York Jets (27-6) on the road last Monday night, while the Lions enter the weekend fresh off their bye — one had a short week while the other is coming off a mini vacation. Los Angeles got a big boost from its defence, who registered eight sacks last Monday and they will come face-to-face with the NFL’s second-ranked offence on Sunday evening.

The Lions last made the play-offs in 2016 and had their last play-off win in 1991, but they are on a good run and the trajectory is for them to be in the post-season this year.

They are JustBet favourites for this meeting and their QB Jared Goff returns to his home state, where he played college and professional ball with the University of California and the Los Angeles Rams. There are really no guarantees in sports, but the expectation is for the Lions to win this clash in a high-scoring, close encounter.

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