Week 7 begins with a crisis summit in Arizona and ends with a crisis summit in Atlanta – in between: the second London game of this season, the Bears receive the Patriots and the Rams have to go to San Francisco. Also: Eagles vs. Panthers and a firecracker in Baltimore. SPOX takes a quick look at all games of the upcoming matchday – including the forecast by NFL editor Adrian Franke, the Sunday games are as usual in the RedZone conference live on DAZN.
Bye-Week: Packers, Raiders, Seahawks, Steelers.
The Cardinals have the most uncreative and one-dimensional run game of the NFL, the Broncos Run Defense looked completely holey over the past two weeks. However, this on the Line of Scrimmage is again a massive mismatch for the Cardinals, where perhaps both starting guards fail additionally. Problem for Denver: Arizona’s Pass-Rush has also been hot for the last weeks, Case Keenum could be good for some turnovers once again and has to get along without Guard Ronald Leary for the rest of the season. The Broncos are likely to try hard to test Arizona’s susceptible run-defense from the start. Do the Cardinals have any answers? Or do turnovers decide the game anyway?
Tip: Cardinals vs. Broncos 23:20.
The Chargers Open, especially over Rivers and also over the two Running Backs, is quietly one of the top offences of the league and against Cleveland the Pass-Rush also woke up – with the help of more Blitzing, which the Chargers should continue at least as long as Joey Bosa is out. This is especially true for the game against the Titans, who were completely destroyed by the lightning packages of the Ravens and allowed more sacks (11) than their own completions (10). The offense is totally inconsistent in all areas, the hope for Tennessee in London must be that their own aggressive defense can hold the game tight. A difficult task against Rivers and Co.
Tip: Chargers vs. Titans 27:13.
Fantastic Sunday Night game against the Chiefs – can the Patriots continue? The defensive approach with hidden speed cameras, creative rush packages and complex coverages could look very similar against the Bears, so Trubisky has to deal with it first. And the Patriots Open looks better and better in all areas: The short pass game, also with Gordon, works better, just like the Power Run game – and with Gordon and Gronkowski the Patriots have two real deep threads. Can the Bears Pass rush, who surprisingly lost to Miami, become more dominant again with a battered Khalil Mack?
Tip: Bears vs. Patriots 20:24.
The Bills defense is becoming more and more the top 12 unit for which it has the potential – this applies to the pass rush as well as to the secondary. This is the most promising approach for the Bills against a Colts-O-Line that is by no means saddle-fixed, and conversely they are virtually no factor in the passing game. It plays only a subordinate role that Josh Allen (elbow injury) can not participate and routine Derek Anderson (instead of the turnover-prone Nathan Peterman) takes over. On the other hand, Andrew Luck has constantly improved since Week 1, which at least gives the Colts a chance in many games. In this, even more than that, especially since T.Y. Hilton is on the mend and was able to train fully on Wednesday.
Tip: Colts vs. Bills 17:13.
Impressive victory of the Dolphins against the Bears with Brock Osweiler and without the injured Ryan Tannehill, who will also be missing against Detroit. The bottom line: The Dolphins Open is designed to collect explosive plays from short completions and often hide the quarterback. This will also be the means of choice against the Lions Defense, the problem for Miami: if these big plays generated by the scheme fail to materialize, then the offense lacks an alternative. And Detroit, on the other hand, should be able to score against a solid Dolphin defense.
Tip: Dolphins vs. Lions 20:23.
Over the past two games, the jets have clearly shown positive tendencies in play calling and play designs, especially with regard to the big plays of the offense in passing. The Vikings were susceptible to this early in the season, but were able to stabilize defensively – and the fact that the jets in Pass-Protection can withstand this can be doubted. Then it could quickly become an ugly or at least very difficult game for Darnold, possibly making the jets more cautious in their approach. And vice versa, Minnesota’s passing offense with cousins, diggs and thielen is one of the most difficult to defend, especially as the jets don’t bring the dominant pass rush to the start to take advantage of the Vikings’ line problems.
Tip: Jets vs. Vikings 17:24.
Philadelphia increasingly finds its rhythm, at least in large parts – the pass protection is and remains a problem, now Left Tackle Jason Peters is also stricken. Against the Giants Wentz had enormous problems against Pressure, the Panthers are at least able to put Wentz under pressure and the run game of the Eagles without Jay Ajayi has yet to be found. And vice versa? The Panthers are too inconstant in the passing game and have to come through the run game, which didn’t work out last time against Washington; Philly undoubtedly has the qualities to stop Carolina’s run game as well – and should be able to put Newton under constant pressure, with which he also has bigger problems this year.
Tip: Eagles vs. Panthers 17:16.
Tampas Defense is and remains the worst in the NFL against the pass, which is why Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith had to leave during the week. So do we see more aggressiveness and creativity in play calling now? It would be helpful against a Browns-Offense, which doesn’t stand on stable legs yet, but can create Big Plays in passing. Clevelands Play-Calling is still questionable, the Browns also work a lot with isolation routes and too little with play action and Mayfield is currently running out of receivers. This should at least simplify Tampa’s task. The offense around Jameis Winston must then be able to attack the Browns deeply and use Cleveland’s aggressiveness with screens and play action against the Browns.
Tip: Buccaneers vs. Browns 27:23.
The defeat in Dallas was disappointing for the Jags in several ways, but the fact that you got 40 points from one of the NFL’s more harmless offenses – if something like that happens even rudimentarily, it will be very difficult for the Jags in most games, because for that your own offense, still without Leonard Fournette, is simply not good enough. Now a duel is waiting, which should also dominate Jacksonville’s Defense on paper, at least at the Line of Scrimmage: The Texans-Protection is the worst of the NFL, the Jags should cause big problems for Watson over the Pass-Rush. However, this also applies vice versa to Watt, Clowney and Co. against Bortles and the susceptible Jaguars-Line.
Tip: Jaguars vs. Texans 20:17.
Exciting duel, especially between the Saints-Offense and the Ravens-Defense. Baltimore is complex in his coverages, especially with the safetys, and aggressive in his pass-rush. They will also have to do that against a strong Saints line, and at the same time defend the screens and the generally excellent short pass game of the Saints. On the other side of the ball, Baltimore should offer some opportunities, the passing offense this year is aggressive and individually strong enough. New Orleans’ defense, however, has stabilized noticeably over the last few weeks.
Tip: Ravens vs. Saints 23:24.
Impressive presentation of the 49ers in Green Bay on Monday evening. San Francisco’s offense designs are highly dangerous, no team is so strong from its 2-RB sets and at the same time you have to praise C.J. Beathard, who found gaps in the Packers defense again and again and was quite aggressive. The Rams have allowed some big plays in passing over the past few weeks, do they manage better to eliminate San Francisco’s tight ends and running backs? On the other hand, San Francisco’s front had a good day against Green Bay, but the Rams-Line has been spectacular so far – and L.A. should be able to schematically uncover San Francisco’s problems in the secondary with its offensive play designs even without the injured Cooper Kupp.
Tip: 49ers vs. Rams 20:30.
Perhaps the most difficult game to type this week. Washington showed again impressively against Carolina how unpleasant this team is – if you take the lead early. Dallas is very similar in this respect, so the exciting question is: who gets better into the game? Because neither of these two NFC East teams is built to catch up. In the passing game, the Redskins should be better offensively positioned than Dallas, can Dallas take over the game with an increasingly versatile, flexible run game? Or do the defensive lines dominate the game on both sides?
Tip: Redskins vs. Cowboys 14:17.
The Chiefs-Offense’s performance in the second half against the Patriots was impressive, next the Bengals may try to stop Kansas Citys Offense. With a strong front – which was rather deregistered against Pittsburgh, though – and a talented secondary, Cincinnati should at least not be lost defensively. But Kansas City should be able to attack the Bengals with Kelce and could take some of the Steelers’ screen designs from the previous week. Also the Chiefs have a good line – vice versa Cincinnatis Offense should be able to score against this defense as well. Can the Bengals focus their game plan even more on Joe Mixon and attack Kansas City’s desolate run-defense?
Tip: Chiefs vs. Bengals 30:27.
Despite an outstanding evening by Saquon Barkley, the Giants had no chance against Philadelphia – once again Eli Manning has to be the centre of attention. The good news: Against this Falcons defense, which still hopes for the return of Grady Jarrett, the Giants line in Protection shouldn’t have too much trouble either, while New York’s weapons – then probably again with Evan Engram – are a tough test for one of the most vulnerable secondaries ever. But the reverse is also true, and Matt Ryan has been outstanding this season, especially at home.
Tip: Falcons vs. Giants 33:27.