The battle of the rookie quarterbacks in the AFC East will hopefully
be something to watch for years to come. Both Mac
Jones and Zach
Wilson were promising quarterbacks in college and are learning
the ropes under fire.
This game is in New England and these teams are pretty much the
same on paper. Their running games aren’t exactly scary,
their passing games are “passable” and neither defense
has played exceptionally well.
As a divisional game, these teams will pull out any trick play,
and a turnover will most likely be the difference. But how does
Vegas have a touchdown spread for the home team when the Jets
have the ability to pull off this upset?
#3: LA Rams over Detroit: (5-1: buf, TB, AZ, GB, MN, PIT)
The NFL scheduling coordinators are really having fun with the
storylines this year. First you had Tom Brady returning to Gillette
Stadium for a Monday night game, and this week the Rams host the
Lions in a game billed as the “QBT rade Bowl” between
Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford.
For years, Lions fans knew that they had a good quarterback, but
management could never fill in enough pieces around him to make
the team better. Imagine if Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods had played
for Detroit?
The Rams paid a pretty penny to get Stafford and it looks like
it’s paying off. His QB rating is No.1 with 16 TDs in his
first six games (most by any QB after a trade) and has made Kupp
and Woods even better than what they were with Goff.
So, for those tortured Lions fans, this week you will get to see
what could’ve been as the Rams roll over Detroit in the
late marquee game on Sunday.
P.S. The only reason this is my #3 is that this week the Cardinals
play their easiest game of the year against Houston (see below).
#2: Baltimore over Cincinnati: (5-1: TB, GB, DEN, no,
NE, LAR)
Normally I avoid divisional matchups, especially ones between
the top two teams in the division. But as they say in science,
“prove it”.
The Ravens have been a consistent powerhouse in the AFC Central
for years, and the Bengals, just this year, are starting to put
it all together. Joe
Burrow is playing well after coming back from his season ending
knee injury last year, and is enjoying his new receiver, Ja’Marr
Chase. Combine that with Joe
Mixon who is currently a top 10 running back, and there seems
to be a balance in the Bengals offense that they haven’t had since
the days of Carson Palmer and Ickey Woods.
But make no mistake, Lamar
Jackson is the real deal as a double duty threat who is playing
with the 2016 RB studs of Latavius
Murray, Le’Veon
Bell, and Devonta
Freeman. Yes, you can’t count on one of those backs for your
fantasy team, but you can count on the Ravens using them well
enough to keep the other team’s offense off the field.
It’s on the defensive side of the ball that this game gets
interesting. These teams were built to beat their opponent (directly)
and for that reason, I say “prove it”. Until the Bengals
can beat the Ravens on the road, it should be safe to take the
home team if you have already used the other great matchups this
week.
It’s Week 7 of the NFL season, and the Arizona Cardinals
are the last undefeated team. The last time these Cardinals looked
this good, was in 2015 when they went 13-3, earned a bye in the
first round, but ultimately lost to Carolina (15-1) in the NFC
Championship.
Since then, the Cardinals have had three quarterbacks, but clearly
have found the star of the franchise. Kyler Murray is on pace
for a 5000-yard season, 40 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, with
a completion percentage of 73%, and a QB rating of 114. Is this
sustainable? Possibly.
Zach Ertz was
recently acquired from Philadelphia and immediately provides a
surehanded target in the middle of the field adding to the plethora
of weapons that he already had. With DeAndre
Hopkins, A.J.
Green (who is having a nice resurgence), rookie Rondale
Moore and Christian
Kirk, defenses are hard pressed to cover this spread offense,
that allows Murray to run the ball when his receivers are covered.
On top of that, the balance of hard-hitting James
Conner and scat back Chase
Edmonds make it difficult to blitz when play-action is a real
possibility.
For Houston fans, the worst part is that they’ll get to
see their old star receiver running routes for a team that most
certainly has a chance to go deep in the playoffs, while Deshaun Watson trade rumors continue to circulate.
Last year’s 4-12 record may dwarf the number of wins that
they have this year and Davis Mills is not enough to give the
Cardinals defense anything to worry about. As such, take the undefeated
team and look to next week.
