NFL Week 7 Viewer's Guide: Top Matchups Plus SI Team Pub Predictions
Each week we count down the Sunday-Monday games in terms of viewer appeal, and the best matchup for Week 7 was a game that was supposed to already have been played.
13. Dallas at Washington, 1 p.m. — The Cowboys looks to get back into first place in the fiercely competitive NFC East ... who am I kidding? It's two bad teams going at it.
12. Detroit at Atlanta, 1 p.m. — The Falcons look to make it two in a row under interim head coach Raheem Morris, while we're still not sure what to make of Brian Flores' former coaching colleague in New England, Matt Patricia.
11. Buffalo at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. — The slumping Bills will look to get back on track against the dysfunctional Jets in a game Dolphins fans will want to watch.
10. Jacksonville at L.A. Chargers, 4:25 p.m. — Chargers games always are going to be interesting for Dolphins fans as long as Justin Herbert is in the lineup and he gets to go here against a Jaguars team getting worse by the week.
9. Carolina at New Orleans, 1 p.m. — The Panthers have become surprisingly competitive in Matt Ruhle's first year as head coach, while the Saints will be looking to keep up with the Buccaneers.
8. Kansas City at Denver, 4:25 p.m. — Drew Lock or no Drew Lock, it's tough to envision the Broncos being able to put up much of a fight in this one. It will be interesting to see whether Le'Veon Bell makes his debut for the Chiefs and how they utilize him if he does.
7. Green Bay at Houston, 1 p.m. — Aaron Rodgers will look to bounce back after a tough outing at Tampa Bay and at the same time continue to help the Dolphins' draft position. The Rodgers-Deshaun Watson battle alone should be fun.
6. Cleveland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. — We can only hope this game turns out to be as entertaining as when they faced each other on Thursday night in Week 2.
5. Chicago at L.A. Rams, 8:15 p.m. Monday — The Bears somehow have one of the best records in the league at 5-1 and now they get a chance to validate themselves as legitimate contenders against the Rams, who will be heading to Hard Rock Stadium the following Sunday for the NFL starting debut of Tua Tagovailoa.
4. Tampa Bay at Las Vegas, 4:05 p.m. — Let's first start off by saying it came as a big surprise here for the NFL to take Tom Brady and the Bucs off the Sunday night game. This actually has the makings of a good matchup, with both teams coming off impressive wins against previously unbeaten opponents (Green Bay for Tampa Bay and K.C. for the Raiders).
3. San Francisco at New England, 4:25 p.m. — The Patriots are fast approaching crisis time for the first time in about two decades, and it's not going to be an easy task to handle a 49ers team that got back on track last week against the Rams after the Dolphins easily won in San Francisco.
2. Seattle at Arizona, 8:20 p.m. — This game was flexed to prime time and it's a great showcase for the Cardinals to prove they are legit. They're coming off a convincing Monday night win at Dallas, but now move up in competition against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, one of the three unbeaten teams heading into Week 7.
1. Pittsburgh at Tennessee, 1 p.m. — This is the game that had to be postponed a couple of weeks back because of positive COVID-19 tests among the Titans, and now we've got two 5-0 teams ready to go at it. It will be fascinating to see whether Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry can continue their success against what arguably is the best defense in the NFL.
And here are the SI team publisher predictions:
