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Top 10 matchups for NFL Week 11

Ezekiel Elliott suspension

Week 11 of the NFL season is unlikely to top what we saw this past Sunday. Drama-filled games, late heroics and epic home-team meltdowns is what defined this past week around the league.

Though, there surely are some tremendous individual matchups set for this upcoming week of NFL football. Ezekiel Elliott takes his MVP candidacy and puts it on the line against the league’s top run defense.

In Mexico, Derek Carr leads his surprising Oakland Raiders into a Monday Night Football tilt with the first-place Houston Texans and their elite-level pass defense.

These are among the top-10 matchups for Week 11 of the NFL season.

1. Ezekiel Elliott vs Baltimore Ravens run defense

Coming off the best performance of an MVP-caliber rookie season, Elliott has his Dallas Cowboys in the midst of an eight-game winning streak. Last week alone, the rookie No. 4 pick scored three touchdowns, including an 83-yard pass and catch as well as a 32-yard game-winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers (watch here and here).

Through nine games, Elliott is on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season rookie rushing mark and has already put up 1,255 total yards. These are just absurd numbers right here.

To make matters more interesting for Zeke and his Cowboys, the rookie ball carrier has already dominated some of the top run defenses in the NFL. In three games against top-10 run defenses, Elliott has put up a total of 384 yards and is averaing 4.6 yards per rush.

Now set to take on the league’s top run defense, Elliott will be facing the most-difficult test of his young career. Thus far this season, Baltimore is yielding 71.3 rushing yards per game and an average of 3.3 yards per attempt. Over the course of the past two games, against Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the Ravens have given up a total of 69 rushing yards. Needless to say, this is the top matchup around the NFL in Week 11.

2. Jordy Nelson vs Josh Norman

After struggling to return to form early in the season, Nelson has picked it up big time for the Green Bay Packers over the past three games. During that span, the former Pro Bowler has caught 23 passes for 314 yards and has scored a touchdown in each game. Interestingly enough, and potentially nothing more than a coincidence, the Packers have lost all three games.

Whether this means Aaron Rodgers is relying too much on his top receiver remains to be seen. But we do know that Nelson will have to continue performing at pre-ACL injury form if Green Bay is to have a chance to turn its season around.

It most definitely won’t be easy against a Washington Redskins corner in Josh Norman who continues to prove himself among the best cover guys in the entire NFL.

While Green Bay continues to struggle, the Redskins have lost a grand total of one game since Week 2. Norman is one of the primary reasons for this, as he continues to act as a steady force in an otherwise questionable secondary. Should he shut Nelson down, the trajectories of these two teams will likely continue on their current paths.

3. Jason Peters vs Cliff Avril

Two of the most underrated players at their respective positions taking on one another in a huge conference game with wide-ranging playoff ramifications. It really doesn’t get much better than this.

Peters is one of the primary reasons Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz has only been sacked 19 times in nine games this season. Not tremendous numbers, but pretty darn good in a league where rookie quarterbacks tend to go down to the turf more than their veteran counterparts.

Right up there with Joe Thomas as the best left tackle in the NFL over the past decade or so, Peters continues to prove he is Canton bound. His last game is a prime example of this.

Meanwhile, Avril leads the Seattle Seahawks with nine sacks in as many games this season. Should Avril put consistent pressure on Wentz, Seattle’s Legion of Boom will be more than prepared to create a couple takeaways here. And in reality, that would doom the Eagles in the face of what is increasingly becoming a dangerous Seahawks team.

4. Derek Carr vs Houston Texans pass defense

Sure Carr has taken advantage of some weak pass defenses en route to entering the NFL MVP fray in his third season as the Oakland Raiders’ starter.

In fact, he’s already taken on four of the 10 worst pass defenses in the league thus far this season. In those four games, Carr is completing 67 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and one interception for a 104.8 rating. That will lead some to believe he’s simply taking advantage of weaker competition.

This is true to an extent. But also important to note, Carr has gone up against two top-five pass defenses. In those two games, he’s thrown four touchdowns and zero interceptions. It might be at the point that we simply stop trying to count the reasons Carr is succeeding for the first-place Raiders and start looking at him as an elite-level quarterback.

Carr’s next opportunity to prove his worth among the game’s best will come Monday night in Mexico against a Houston Texans pass defense that heads into Week 11 ranked third in the NFL. Thus far this season, Houston has yielded a total of eight touchdown passes in nine games and is giving up less than 200 passing yards per game.

This is the one matchup that could help dictate the outcome of a game between two first-place teams. Should Houston’s defense shut Carr down, it will definitely put the first-place Raiders behind the proverbial eight ball. On the other hand, continued excellence from Carr would force the Texans to rely on a quarterback in Brock Osweiler who threw for 99 yards on 27 attempts last week.

5. Mike Evans vs Marcus Peters

Marcus Peters

With the level of competition Marcus Peters has gone up against thus far in his young career, it’s absolutely amazing what the former first-round pick has accomplished. After forcing and recovering a late-game fumble against the Carolina Panthers last week (watch here), Peters now has to be considered the top ball hawk in the NFL. Yes, that’s right. Better than Richard Sherman and those of his ilk.

Thus far this season, Peters has been involved in eight takeaways in nine games. That’s five interceptions, a forced fumble and three more fumble recoveries. These are absurd stats. And to put it into perspective, both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions have forced less turnovers on the season. Think about that for a second.

On the other hand, Evans continues to be among the most relied upon receivers in the NFL. His 30.9 target percentage ranks second in the league behind only Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green. And while Jameis Winston and Evans were struggling to connect on a consistent basis earlier in the season, it’s been a completely different story as of late.

It’s not a coincidence that during this same five-game span, Winston has thrown 11 touchdowns compared to one interception. In fact, he has a 121.5 quarterback rating when targeting Evans in these five games.

We can surely expect Winston to rely on Evans a great deal come Sunday. Though, based on what we’ve seen from Peters, that could be at his own peril. This is a tremendous individual matchup, and it could help decide whether Tampa Bay, currently 4-5 on the season, is a playoff contender heading into late November.

6. Laremy Tunsil vs Aaron Donald

More so than any other quarterback in the NFL, Miami Dolphins signal caller Ryan Tannehill tends to struggle with pressure up the middle. He has a bad routine of seeing balls batted down at the line, and ranks in the bottom 10 of the NFL in quarterback rating when facing pressure from the interior of the line.

The positive news here is that Tannehill has seen much better protection from this area than in previous seasons. And in reality, the primary reason for this is the presence of Tunsil, a converted tackle, taking over the starting left guard position. Thus far on the season, Tannehill has been sacked 20 times in nine games. In fact, Miami ranks in the bottom five of the NFL in sack rate.

Though, that’s primarily coming from the outside. In fact, Tunsil has not given up a quarterback pressure in any of the Dolphins’ past three games.

This could very well change Sunday against one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL. Not only is Donald the best defensive player on the Los Angeles Rams, one could make the argument that he’s the top defender in the entire league this season.

With Miami riding high and in the midst of a four-game winning streak, the key here is going to be pass protection in the trenches. That’s been a key component to the team’s recent success.

7. Larry Fitzgerald vs Xavier Rhodes

Despite suffering an apparent knee injury that required an MRI last week, Fitzgerald is good to go Sunday against a struggling Minnesota Vikings team. He enters this game having caught 22 passes for 207 yards over the past two games. Boy, it really does seem like Fitz is like wine … getting better with age.

Larry FItzgerald

Nonetheless, the future Hall of Famer isn’t taking on a Carolina Panthers or San Francisco 49ers pass defense this week. Instead, he’s going up against one of the top corners the NFL has to offer.

Despite the Vikings’ recent struggles, No. 1 receivers have done next to nothing against Rhodes and the Vikings’ pass defense this season.

Including the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., DeAndre Hopkins and Alshon Jeffery, top receivers have tallied a combined 49 percent catch rate and just 238 yards over the past six games against Minnesota.

Carson Palmer may be a veteran quarterback, but he’s been more mistake prone this season than any since his disastrous short tenure with the Oakland Raiders.

In fact, Palmer is on pace to throw 16 picks this year. It’s in this that relying on Fitzgerald too much could hurt the Cardinals’ chances of building off last week’s strong performance.

8. Cincinnati Bengals offensive line vs Buffalo Bills defensive line

There’s a lot going wrong with the Bengals right now. Their defense is nowhere near as dominant as we’ve seen in the past. The coaching continues to struggle with in-game adjustments.  And on offense, pass protection for Andy Dalton has been downright disastrous.

This has led to some tremendous struggles and inconsistency on offense. Despite putting up the eighth-most yards in the NFL, Cincinnati ranks 22nd in scoring. That’s not only a sign of Dalton’s struggles in the red zone, it goes to show us how much the team is missing the mark from a pass-protection standpoint.

It won’t get any easier for the free-falling Bengals on Sunday against a Bills defense that knows how to get to the quarterback. With 30 sacks on the season, Rex Ryan’s squad ranks first in the NFL. It also boasts two players, Jerry Hughes and Lorenzo Alexander, who rank in the top five at their respective positions in quarterback hurries.

The biggest key for Cincinnati here will be finding a way to fight off this pass rush while not going max protect on a consistent basis. We saw how that worked out against the New York Giants on Monday night. It simplifies the team’s playbook and leads to long stretches of ineptitude. This is where the likes of Andrew Whitworth and Cedric Ogbuehi come into play at tackle.

Within the confines of the larger matchup, this one area could very well dictate which of these two teams will have any type of playoff hopes heading into late November. Cincinnati boasts a 3-5-1 record and has won a grand total of one game since late September. Meanwhile, Buffalo is coming off a bye with a 4-5 mark.

9. Antonio Brown vs Joe Haden

NFL, Antonio Brown

This isn’t as much a tremendous matchup as it is the Cleveland Browns attempting to do anything possible to win their first game of the season. And in reality, it all starts here. Should Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers passing attack go off, Cleveland will be looking at another lopsided defeat.

In his past six games against Haden and the Browns, the All Pro receiver has caught 50-of-69 passes for 739 yards and seven touchdowns. No, these are not typos.

Unfortunately for the Browns, there’s not much else looking up for the winless squad. Cleveland boasts the sixth-worst pass defense in the NFL and has yielded a 105.8 quarterback rating on the season. To make matters seem more bleak, receivers are averaging over 15 yards per catch against the team through 10 games.

In order for the Browns to defy conventional wisdom and come out on top here, Haden will have to return to Pro Bowl form. It might be asking too much based on his recent track record, but it really is the only thing standing between the Browns and an 0-11 record.

10. Dez Bryant vs Jimmy Smith

The Baltimore Ravens’ defense actually matches up well with Dallas. As we noted above, this unit ranks first in the NFL against the run. Should the Ravens find a way to contain Ezekiel Elliott, the onus will then by on rookie Dak Prescott to find his playmakers on the outside. While Prescott has shown an ability to do just this, he’s still not connecting at a high clip with Dez.

Despite a solid six-catch performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, Bryant is hauling in just 44 percent of the passes thrown in his direction this season. Amazingly enough, Prescott boasts a 71 percent completion mark when targeting the Cowboys’ other receivers.

The onus for Smith here will be to shut Bryant down in one-on-one coverage in order to enable the rest of the Ravens’ secondary to focus on slippery vet Cole Beasley. Should that happen, Baltimore will be in good position to end the Cowboys’ eight-game winning streak. Though, that’s a whole heck of a lot to ask against the best team in the NFL through 10 weeks.

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