Top 10 matchups for Week 7 of the NFL season

As we enter the midway point of the 2016 season, some teams are pretty much in do-or-die mode. In Arizona, the Cardinals will attempt to remain competitive in the NFC West against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday night. There are some tremendous matchups in that rivalry game. We focus on three.

Meanwhile, in Brock Osweiler’s return to Denver, the Houston Texans will look to remain in first place in the AFC South. A lot of that will be dependent on DeAndre Hopkins’ ability to break out of his season-long funk against top Broncos corner Aqib Talib.

These are among the top-10 matchups for Week 7 of the NFL season.

1. Larry Fitzgerald vs Richard Sherman

This has been a lovely matchup for the better part of the this decade. Two future Hall of Famers going at it. Both doing so while they are in the heights of their careers.  It all taking place within the same division and between two teams that have Super Bowl aspirations.

This season’s first matchup between Fitzgerald and Sherman takes on even more importance. The Arizona Cardinals head into Week 7 two games behind Sherman’s Seattle Seahawks in the loss column. A loss at home Sunday night would likely crush any hopes Arizona has of repeating as division champs. Heck, at 3-3 on the year, it could impact the team’s ability to even make the playoffs.

For his part, Fitzgerald has continued to dominate the opposition. He’s on pace for nearly 100 receptions and 1,100 yards. The eight-time Pro Bowler also leads all NFL receivers with five touchdown catches.

Meanwhile, an argument could be made that Sherman is having the best season of his already legendary career. Last week’s drama aside, the All Pro has performed well this season. Though, there has to be some concern over recent struggles in Seattle.

Sherman doesn’t always tail the other team’s top receiver, but he has in the past followed Fitzgerald around. Expect that to continue in the desert Sunday night. If so, it promises to be an epic matchup.

That’s a rare level of success we’ve seen against Sherman during his stellar NFL career. Should Fitzgerald continue this Sunday, it could help Arizona pull closer in the NFC West. If not, Seattle will prove itself to be the class of the division once again.

2. Marcus Mariota vs Andrew Luck

We normally don’t preview matchups of this ilk. That’s to say, two players at the same position taking on one another in a game. But we had to break the rule here. This Week 7 game is absolutely huge for numerous reasons.

First off, the Tennessee Titans find themselves just one game out of first place after winning their past two outings. During that span, Mariota has put up seven touchdowns compared to one interception en route to leading the Titans to 29 points per game.

Now, set to take on a struggling Indianapolis Colts team, Mariota has an opportunity to further the torture of a quarterback in Andrew Luck that promises to be his nemesis for the next decade.

Following their late-game meltdown against the Houston Texans on Sunday night, the Colts find themselves at 2-4 on the season and two games out in the AFC South. A loss here against Tennessee would pretty much end any hope that the Colts could contend for a playoff spot, let alone a division title.

It’s in this that Luck has to find a way to outplay his counterpart on the Titans. Unfortunately, Luck himself is coming off a less-than-stellar Week 6 performance that saw him throw just one touchdown and an interception of his own.

Short of the Colts’ franchise quarterback vastly outplaying his rival here, the team will fall to 2-5 on the season, furthering calls for Chuck Pagano to be shown the door (more on that here).

3. DeAndre Hopkins vs Aqib Talib

Here’s two players going in vastly different directions. It seems that Hopkins is producing at a decent level for the Houston Texans simply because Brock Osweiler is forcing him the ball.

This came out in droves Sunday night against the Colts. Hopkins did catch nine passes, but he was targeted a grand total of 15 times and came away with just 71 receiving yards.  Over the course of the past three games, things just haven’t been clicking between the receiver and his much-maligned quarterback.

It doesn’t promise to get much easier this week with Osweiler making his return to the Denver. Top Broncos corner Aqib Talib has allowed a 25.3 quarterback rating and just over five yards per target thus far this season.

Needless to say, Osweiler and Hopkins have to find their connection if the Texans are going to hand Denver its third consecutive loss while remaining in first place themselves. That’s a mighty tall task.

4. Jason Peters vs Everson Griffen

Coming off a bye, Griffen and the Minnesota Vikings look to remain the only undefeated team in the NFL. They will be doing so against a Philadelphia Eagles squad that has lost two consecutive games.

Sure Sam Bradford making his return to Philly after a preseason trade from the Eagles will be the biggest story here. Though, it’s the matchups within the game itself that will better decide the outcome.

It’s in this that Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has an opportunity to cement his status as one of the most-surprising players in the NFL this season.

Through the first five games of the year, Griffen has racked up four sacks and ranks among the top-five defensive ends in the NFL in quarterback hurries. His ability to get to Eagles rookie signal caller Carson Wentz will be huge here.

It won’t be an easy task against one of the top left tackles of his generation. Peters has yet to allow a single sack on the season and has consistently graded out as one of Philadelphia’s top players.

In no way is this a surprise, especially considering Peters is already likely headed to Canton at some point in the not-so-distant future.

Should Peters find a way to fend off Griffen, it will give Wentz an opportunity to find seams in what has been the best secondary in football. No small task, but something the rookie needs in order to have success here.

5. Jimmy Graham vs Tyrann Mathieu

The second of three matchups from what has to be considered the game of the week. Both Graham and Mathieu are playing at All Pro levels through the first six weeks of the season.

And while we expected the Arizona Cardinals’ elite defender to be among the top of his group of players, Graham’s performance for the Seattle Seahawks has been surprising.

The former Pro Bowl tight end suffered a Patellar tendon rupture last season, his first with Seattle. The injury itself was so severe it led some to believe Graham would never be the same (more on that here).

It might have taken longer than some expected, but Graham is back up to his old tricks. He’s recorded 18 receptions for over 300 yards in the past three games. During that very same span, the tight end has caught an absurd 70 percent of the balls thrown in his direction.

Graham and the Seahawks will, however, have an incredibly difficult matchup come Sunday night. Mathieu has proven himself to be among the best cover defensive backs in the game over the past couple seasons. And in reality, he’s not disappointing this season.

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Thus far on the year, Honey Badger has recorded 24 tackles, a forced fumble and the above-mentioned interception in six games. More than that, he’s absolutely dominating from a coverage perspective. He’s allowing a sub 50 quarterback rating when targeted. With Graham’s recent success, it’s going to be important for Mathieu to continue performing up to this level Sunday night.

6. Brandin Cooks vs Marcus Peters

Cooks broke out of a three-game funk for the New Orleans Saints this past week, compiling seven receptions for 173 yards against the downtrodden Carolina Panthers. Prior to that outing, the third-year receiver had put up just 12 catches for 112 yards in the previous three games.

Coupled with Drew Brees’ huge outing, the Saints were able to win their second consecutive game to move somewhere near the playoff conversation in the NFC.

It’s going to be a mighty test for Cooks to repeat this performance on Sunday against a Kansas City Chiefs squad that’s coming off a blowout win over the Raiders in Oakland. This is only magnified with the Saints’ No. 1 receiver taking on a corner in Marcus Peters who has been absolutely spectacular through the first six weeks.

Overall this season, Peters has racked up a league-high five interceptions to go with nine passes defended in just five games. He’s now the record holder for the most picks in a players’ first 21 career NFL games (13). That’s an astounding stat right there.

With that said, Peters has still proven himself to be somewhat vulnerable.

These stats may be somewhat skewed considering Peters shadows the opposition’s No. 1 receiver on a consistent basis. Few corners can say the same thing. Even then, he’s yielded just one touchdown compared to those five picks.

In the grand scheme of things, Sunday’s game is huge for both the Chiefs and the Saints. Kansas City is just a half game out of first place, while New Orleans is looking to hit .500 on the season. This one matchup will surely help dictate the outcome.

7. Amari Cooper vs Jalen Ramsey

Cooper has put up two monstrous games in a row, recording 16 receptions for 267 yards during that span. He’s also been targeted a whopping 25 times in these two games. Needless to say, Derek Carr has been relying on his second-year receiver a great deal recently.

And while Cooper did put up the stats against the aforementioned Peters last week, it didn’t result in any real success for Oakland’s offense.

Riding a two-game winning streak of their own, the Jacksonville Jaguars would like nothing more than to continue that streak while sending the Raiders to a second consecutive loss. If this is going to happen, Ramsey will have to continue the tremendous early-season play we’ve seen from him as a rookie.

Yes, that was Ramsey sealing Jacksonville’s win last week with a break up on a pass intended for Chicago Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery. This isn’t a mirage of some sorts. The rookie top-five pick has been lining up against the other team’s No. 1 receiver throughout the season. And he’s done extremely well all things considered.

This is a titanic matchup between two budding young stars. The winner of this one-on-one duel will give us an idea of which team will head into mid season on a high note.

8. Doug Baldwin vs Patrick Peterson

There’s so many elite-level matchups set to take place Sunday night in the desert. This is the third and final one we’ll cover in this article. And it’s a dandy.

Baldwin has proven himself to the among the most-consistent receivers in the NFL over the past 16 games. Really, it is a sight to behold.

For his part, Peterson continues to prove his worth among the game’s best. He’s allowed just 11 receptions on 29 targets for an opposing 34.2 quarterback rating. This is yet another one-on-one duel that will help dictate how the NFC West looks heading into the midway point of the season.

9. Brock Osweiler vs Denver Broncos

This is definitely one of those games we checked on the calendar at the start of the season. Osweiler returning to Mile High, where he played a minimal role in helping the Broncos to the Super Bowl title last season. He’s doing so while in the midst of an up-and-down season that has seen him criticized on all fronts.

Despite this, Osweiler has his Texans in first place heading into what promises to be a defensive slug fest come Sunday. He will be taking on a Broncos team that’s also in first place, but has quarterback issues of its own.

The backdrop here is what was seemingly an ugly divorce between Osweiler and the Broncos this past spring. We’ve heard Broncos officials call Osweiler out, as we’ve seen the quarterback respond to these criticisms in public.

Now heading into this all-important inter-conference game, players themselves have started to speak up. Whether it was tongue-in-cheek or something completely different, Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall seemed to throw some shade in the direction of his ex-teammate. That promises to be the beginning of what should end up being a hotly-contested affair between the two first-place teams.

It will surely be interesting to see how Osweiler responds to playing in Denver as a visitor. It will also be intriguing to see what Wade Phillips’ defense decides to throw his way in terms of pressure. Get your popcorn, this promises to be fun.

10. Josh Sitton vs Mike Daniels

Speaking of ugly divorces, it’s readily apparent Sitton fell out of favor with the Green Bay Packers relatively quickly. The Pro Bowl guard was jettisoned from Wisconsin during the summer, at which point he decided to sign with the team’s biggest rival. That tells us a story of a player that wants to stick it to his former club.

Situations like these don’t arrive too often. That is to say, heated trench warfare between ex-teammates in an important mid-season divisional game.

Passions will be at an all-time high here. Skirmishes promise to break out. And whoever doesn’t lose his cool will likely help his team come out on top. Maybe for the first time all season, this week’s Thursday Night Football matchup might be a must see .