Top 10 matchups for Week 6 of the NFL season

Week 6 of the NFL season offers us a transition from the early part of the campaign to the midway point. It’s when contenders and pretenders are separated. Early-season surprises give way to mid-season reality.

It also provides us with some darn good matchups across the board.

Top-end wide receivers and cornerbacks will be duking it out in Seattle when the Atlanta Falcons travel to take on the Seahawks Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel Elliott takes his league-best rushing total to Lambeau to take on the Green Bay Packers and their No. 1-ranked run defense.

These are among the top-10 matchups for Week 6 of the NFL season.

1. Julio Jones vs Richard Sherman

Jones and the Atlanta Falcons face their second consecutive elite defense after dismantling the Carolina Panthers to the tune of nearly 600 total yards back in Week 4.

This time, it comes against the Legion of Boom immediately after Atlanta took out the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos in Denver.

Unfortunately for Jones, he didn’t play much of a role in that win. A week after putting up 300 receiving yards against Carolina, the Pro Bowler tallied just two catches for 29 yards on six targets. He did so against one of the league’s top corners in Aqib Talib.

Now set to face another dominant cover guy in Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, it’s going to be incredibly important for Jones to play a larger role here.

Sherman allowed a grand total of 23 passing yards in the first three weeks of the season. And while he was beat by Brandon Marshall a few times back in Week 4 (watch here), Sherman ended up getting the best of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s odd decision to keep targeting him.

Will Matt Ryan make the bold decision to do the same thing? If so, will Sherman also make him pay? That’s one of the biggest stories of what promises to be a tremendous game between two NFC division leaders.

2. Ezekiel Elliott vs Green Bay Packers run defense

This is another example of elite against elite. What Elliott has done for his Dallas Cowboys in is first five NFL games is nothing short of extraordinary. The rookie No. 4 pick is coming off a 134-yard performance against a previously stout Cincinnati Bengals defense last week.

It’s the third consecutive game that Elliott has gained 130-plus rushing yards. During that three-game span, the stud ball carrier has tallied 568 total yards and three touchdowns.

Now, five games into his rookie season, Elliott is on pace for over 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns. Yeah, that’s quite amazing.

On the other side of the field, Elliott will be lining up against a Packers run defense that has been absolutely dominating all season. In fact, this unit has yielded a total of 171 rushing yards and an average of 2.0 yards per rush.

To put this into perspective, that’s half the amount of yardage the league’s second-best run defense (New York Jets) have given up on the season.

Talk about elite taking on elite here. And to be clear, the stakes are incredibly high. At 4-1 on the season, Dallas maintains a half game lead over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East. Meanwhile, Green Bay finds itself two games behind the Minnesota Vikings in the win column in the North.

3. Brandon Marshall vs Patrick Peterson

No matter how ridiculous NFL passing stats may seem (and they are), the league’s top cornerbacks have been more than game. We’ve seen it on a consistent basis with the likes of Josh Norman, Desmond Trufant, Richard Sherman and Marcus Peters.

But there’s not one corner that’s been better than Peterson this season. Thus far, the Pro Bowler has allowed a total of 89 passing yards in four games and is yielding a sub 40 percent completion rate when targeted. These are absurd numbers right here.

Some may focus on the lack of true No. 1 receivers Peterson has gone up against. And that’s more than fair. After all, the top pass catchers on the teams Arizona has taken on over the past two weeks include names like Kenny Britt and Jeremy Kerley.

Facing his most-difficult task of the season, Peterson will be asked to line up against a New York Jets receiver that’s been targeted a whopping 27 times over the past two games. Needless to say, Peterson won’t be void of action in this one.

Despite their win against a hapless San Francisco 49ers team last week, the Cardinals are still not playing their best football. If they hope to take out an equally inferior Jets squad this week and start a winning streak of sorts, Peterson will have to be at his best. If nothing else, Marshall will make sure of that.

4. Larry Warford vs Aaron Donald

Trench battles don’t normally get most of the press. If we’re talking line of scrimmage, it’s usually about the Von Millers and J.J. Watts of the world going up against equally dominating offensive tackle.

In this game pitting two potential bottom-rung playoff contenders against one another, it’s all going to be about trench warfare along the interior of the lines.

As a guard, what Warford has done during the early stages of his career goes largely unnoticed. Not only has he started every game in which he’s appeared in three-plus seasons, the former Kentucky standout has been one of the top guards in the NFL.

Though, one of the issues that continually pops up on tape with him is an inability to fend off more athletic defensive tackles when it comes to the pass rush.

That’s a less-than-ideal scenario for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, especially with the Los Angeles Rams boasting legitimately one of the most athletic and physically dominating defensive tackles in the league.

Donald was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week after a dominating performance against the Arizona Cardinals two Sunday’s ago. He also leads all NFL players in quarterback hits. This comes in a league where it seems EDGE pressure is more important to teams.

In reality, that’s not the case against most of the league’s quarterbacks. The tendency of even the best signal callers is to struggle against interior pressure. This has defined Stafford through his largely up-and-down career.

When faced with pressure from the middle of the line, Stafford tends to struggle. His timing is thrown off, and he makes most of his mistakes in these situations. That’s what Donald and the Rams are hoping for come Sunday.

5. Amari Cooper vs Marcus Peters

Thrown into the fire early and often during his rookie season, Peters went up against the likes of DeAndre Hopkins, Demaryius Thomas, A.J. Green, Antonio Brown and Calvin Johnson throughout the year.

He also lined up opposite fellow 2015 NFL Draft class member Amari Cooper, who acted as the Oakland Raiders’ No. 1 receiver as a rookie.

Based on the level of competition Peters took on, it shouldn’t be a surprise the Kansas City Chiefs top cover guy dominated his division rival in two matchups.

Peters has been a bit less consistent thus far this season. He yielded a long catch to Sammie Coates back in Week 4, but also held Antonio Brown to just three catches in coverage in that game.

Meanwhile, Cooper continues to dazzle for what is quickly becoming a dynamic Raiders passing game. Teaming up with Michael Crabtree, the two have formed quite the dynamic duo.

The two have combined for 55 receptions, 811 yards and six touchdowns in just five games. That’s the second-best receiver tandem behind the one dominatng in Pittsburgh.

This is one of the primary reasons Oakland heads into Week 6 ranked fifth in the NFL in scoring (28.4) and fourth in total offense (391.6 yards).

Assuming it is Peters lining up against Cooper, it will be important for the Chiefs’ ball-hawking corner to shut his counterpart down without any help over the top. If that doesn’t happen, the .500 Chiefs will have a world of problems against the first-place Raiders.

6. Chip Kelly vs Rex Ryan

Two head coaches that find themselves at a crossroads in their careers. Ryan may have staved off early termination in Western New York by leading the Buffalo Bills to three consecutive wins. But he’s likely going to have to lead them to the playoffs in order to keep his job beyond this season.

Meanwhile, Kelly’s early tenure in San Francisco has been an utter disaster. The 49ers have lost their last four games by an average of two touchdowns per outing. They boast the worst quarterback situation in the NFC and the league’s second-worst offense.

All this has led to questions about Kelly’s scheme and whether it’s actually working in today’s NFL (more on that here).

We then have the entire quarterback situation in San Francisco. The team just named embattled veteran Colin Kaepernick the starter for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills (more on that here).

It’s a move that’s long been expected, and brings a bit of excitement to an otherwise downtrodden organization.

So there you have it. A previously highly-regarded offensive scheme taking on a defense led by Ryan that has come under fire in recent years. All this with the backdrop of the Bills looking to win their fourth consecutive game and the 49ers attempting to break a four-game losing streak.

7. Marcus Cannon vs Carlos Dunlap

With four sacks over the past three games, Dunlap has been on an absolute roll for the Cincinnati Bengals in recent weeks. Thus far this season, Dunlap also ranks in the top-three among 4-3 defensive ends in quarterback pressures. Taking it one step further, he’s been absolutely dominating since the start of last season.

Tom Brady may have thrown for over 400 yards and three touchdowns in his return from a four-game suspension last week. And it was one heck of a performance (more on that here).

But he was taking on a weak Cleveland Browns defense. That’s simply not going to be the case this week against a Bengals team that won’t be too happy following a blowout loss at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys last week.

Brady hasn’t yet had to face the pressure Cincinnati promises to bring in this one. It’s now going to be up to Cannon to provide him with the protection needed from the right side of the line.

Cannon showed this ability earlier in the season when he handled what turned out to be an injured J.J. Watt back in Week 3. Though, the right tackle himself missed last week’s game with a calf injury.

If he’s slowed down at all here, it’s going to be difficult for him to handle the speedy Dunlap off the edge. That’s most definitely something to watch here.

8. Antonio Brown vs Sammie Coates

Who is going to rack up more yards against an inept Miami Dolphins pass defense? Honestly, that’s the biggest matchup in an otherwise lopsided game between a conference title contender and a bottom feeder.

For their part, Brown and Coates have been absolutely dynamic through the first five games of the season. The two have combined for 56 receptions, 868 yards and seven touchdowns.

Brown is catching 64 percent of the passes thrown in his direction. Meanwhile, Coates is averaging an NFL-best 22.2 yards per reception on the year. It really has been amazing to watch these two catch passes from Ben Roethlisberger this year.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the Miami Dolphins have been absolutely atrocious against the pass, especially when it comes to covering wide receivers.

It’s not going to be about who will put up numbers in this game. Instead, it should be a competition surrounding who will put up the massive day against an increasingly embarrassing Dolphins defense.

9. King Dunlap vs Shane Ray

We already know that Von Miller should have himself a field day going up against San Diego Chargers right tackle Joe Barksdale. It’s at the point where teams will have to consistently throw double and triple teams to Miller’s way.

This means Dunlap and the left side of the line will have to take on the rest of a Denver Broncos defense that’s been dominating in the pass-rush category.

Through five games, Ray has racked up four sacks and ranks among the top-10 of EDGE players in quarterback pressures.

Should the Chargers fail to protect Philip Rivers on that side, it will be a long night for the team. Unfortunately for head coach Mike McCoy, it might also spell the end of his coaching career in San Diego.

10. Doug Baldwin vs Desmond Trufant

Dating back to Week 10 of last season, Baldwin has been among the most-productive pass catchers in the NFL.

The Seattle Seahawks’ top receiver has hauled in 71 passes for 1,044 yards and 13 touchdowns in 12 games during that span. He’s also catching an absurd 76 percent of the passes thrown in his direction.

On the other side of this matchup, Trufant remains one of the top cover guys in the entire NFL.

Over the course of the past three games, the likes of Brandin Cooks, Kelvin Benjamin and Demaryius Thomas are averaging 30 receiving yards per game against the Atlanta Falcons’ pass defense. That’s some downright dominating stuff right there.

In this game pitting two division leaders against one another, it’s the receiver-cornerback dynamic that’s likely going to play the largest role in the outcome.