Are you ready for 14 hours of football? The second London game of the year has NFL Week 7 Sunday football kicking off at 9:30 a.m. ET as the Los Angeles Chargers play host to the Tennessee Titans across the pond.
The 5 best NFL games of Week 7 to spend all Sunday watching
NFL Sunday begins at 9:30 a.m. ET today, so there’s a whole lot of football to watch beginning in London and ending in Kansas City.
Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
Sorry Chargers fans, (do Chargers fans in L.A. exist?) as it looks like you’ll be waking up at 6:30 a.m. PT for this game. That’s not one of the five games we’re predicting to be Sunday’s best, but the following five matchups are.
After beating the Chiefs last week, the Patriots firmly established themselves as a top contender, once again. The Bears started the season hot, but cooled off last week in a loss to Brock Osweiler and the Dolphins. Chicago will be looking to bounce-back this week against Tom Brady and Co.
Khalil Mack is currently dealing with an ankle injury and though he’s questionable to play, we’re expecting to see him out there. He’ll be looking to get after Brady all game long and shut down a Patriots offense that ranks first in third-and-long percentage and second in third-and-short percentage. The Bears defense ranks 6th and 11th in those areas respectively and they’ll be looking to get hot against the Pats. The Bears also have 19 sacks so far this season, good for seventh in the league. But, the Patriots offensive line has been protecting Brady well; he’s only been sacked eight times this year, among the lowest rates in the league. This game should tell us a lot more about how legitimate the NFC North-leading Bears really are, especially since the Bears have never beaten Brady.
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The Panthers have been up-and-down this year and while the Eagles notched a big win against the Giants last week, that’s not a particularly difficult achievement. The Panthers just beat the Giants (though far less decisively) two weeks ago.
Both of these teams still have a lot to prove and will be trying to get their fourth wins of the season against each other. Among the things to watch for is Eagles tight end Zack Ertz who is looking for his third game in row with a touchdown catch. Only three teams have allowed more touchdown passes to tight ends this season than the Panthers, and Carolina has already had its bye week. Ertz could be in for a big game.
As for the Panthers’ star tight end, Greg Olsen returned last week after missing Weeks 2-5 with a broken foot. The Eagles have allowed only one touchdown to a tight end this year, and Olsen will be seeking his first score of the year in Philadelphia.
Cowboys at Washington (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS)
The NFC East appears to be one of the worst divisions (if not the worst) in football but these two teams are coming off nice wins and are looking for an edge with a division win. It will be the first time the Cowboys face Washington with Alex Smith at quarterback and it looks linebacker like Sean Lee will return to help limit Smith’s effectiveness. The Cowboys offense surprisingly put up 40 on the Jaguars last week after struggling to score in most of their other games. Can they do it again (or come close) against a Washington defense that ranks second in the league in yards allowed and eighth in points per game? The Cowboys have won the last four straight games in this rivalry, meaning Washington has never beaten Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, who came into the league together in 2016. Washington will be looking to change that this afternoon and get to 4-2, which would secure them a temporary lead in the NFC East.
Drew Brees is one touchdown away from reaching 500 in his career and one win over the Ravens away from having beaten all 32 NFL teams. Brees is 0-4 against the Ravens in his career, and he’ll be looking to get to 1-4 today in Baltimore to help lead the Saints to 5-1 this season in the process. It won’t be easy for Brees to achieve either of those things as the Ravens have not allowed a passing touchdown in Baltimore this season. On top of that, the Ravens defense has been ferocious, notching 11 sacks against the Titans last week. Baltimore ranks first in sacks in the league with 26.0, which is four more than the next best team coming into today’s slate of games. The Ravens also rank first in scoring defense and second in passing defense. If anyone on the Ravens’ schedule can slow the defense down, maybe it’s the record-breaking Brees and the Saints.
Bengals at Chiefs (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC)
Two of the AFC’s top teams face off on Sunday Night Football after both teams lost tough battles last week. The Chiefs defense has allowed the most yards in the NFL and the Bengals’ defense has allowed the fifth most, while being on pace to allow the most yards in franchise history. Expect a high-scoring game where the first team to score 40 points will likely win. The Bengals will be without starting slot cornerback Darqueze Dennard and starting linebacker Nick Vigil while starting safety Shawn Williams is questionable while recovering from a concussion. Considering how poorly Cincinnati’s defense was playing with the starters in the lineup and how explosive Patrick Mahomes has been (scoring 30+ in all but one game) the Chiefs should thrive on Sunday night. And in case you forgot how bad the Bengals are in primetime, Cincinnati is 8-24 under Marvin Lewis in primetime and 1-8 on Sunday Night Football with Lewis as head coach. Will the Bengals break from that trend tonight?
NFL Week 7 Sunday schedule
Tennessee at Los Angeles Chargers (London), 9:30 a.m. (CBS)
Carolina at Philadelphia, 1:00 p.m. (FOX)
Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. (FOX)
New England at Chicago, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Buffalo at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Houston at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Detroit at Miami, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Minnesota at New York Jets, 1 p.m. (FOX)
New Orleans at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Dallas at Washington, 4:25 p.m. (CBS)
Cincinnati at Kansas City, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
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