Top 10 matchups for NFL Week 12

Thanksgiving weekend presents us with a tremendous amount of important games around the NFL world. With that, comes some of the best individual matchups we have seen thus far this season.

Julio Jones and his Atlanta Falcons take their high-flying offensive attack and put it to the test against an Arizona Cardinals pass defense that enters Week 12 as the best in the league. Can Jones break through against Patrick Peterson in this important NFC battle?

Remaining in the NFC, the Washinton Redskins look to snap the Dallas Cowboys’ nine-game winning

streak. Their ability to do that will depend heavily on whether Josh Norman can shut down Dez Bryant. It will also rely on rookie Robert Kelley backing up his off-field chatter with a solid performance against an elite run defense.

These are just a few of the top-10 matchups for NFL Week 12.

1. Julio Jones vs Patrick Peterson

This is just tremendous. With both the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals struggling to find their groove recently, this week’s outing between the two teams has wide-ranging playoff implications in the NFC. It’s in this that one specific matchup could help dictate where the teams are headed as we enter December.

To say that Jones is having himself a splendid season for the Falcons would be a dramatic understatement. Through 10 games, the All Pro receiver has caught 61 passes for 1,105 yards and is averaging a ridiculous 18.1 yards per reception.

This comes on the heels of Jones leading the NFL in both receptions and receiving yards a season ago.

But unlike 2015, Jones is doing this on a Falcons team that’s been successful as a unit. Despite losing their last game before a Week 10 bye, Atlanta heads into this weekend’s action with a 6-4 record an in first place in the NFC South. It also boasts the league’s top scoring offense.

Jones and the Falcons will surely be tested against what has to be a desperate Cardinals team that’s coming off  a disastrous loss to the Minnesota Vikings last week.

Though, none of that had to do with Peterson, who continues to prove himself among the game’s best.

Peterson allowed just five catches for 35 yards to young Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs this past Sunday. Overall this season, Peterson has yielded a sub 50 quarterback rating when targeted while picking off two passes. He’s the primary reason an otherwise struggling Cardinals team heads into Week 12 with the league’s best pass defense.

2. Mike Remmers vs Khalil Mack

It most definitely is an interesting dynamic to look at here. Despite boasting a 4-6 record, the Carolina Panthers find themselves just two games out of first place in the NFC South. Though, any hope the defending conference champs might have of squeaking into the playoffs rests on the pass protection Cam Newton has yet to receive this season.

Newton has been sacked 25 times in nine games this season. In fact, his sack rate of 6.9 percent ranks in the bottom five of the NFL. That’s a ridiculously absurd number considering Newton’s ability to escape pressure in the offensive backfield.

Now, set to take on a first-place Oakland Raiders team that boasts an 8-2 record heading into Week 12, Carolina faces one of its most difficult tests of the season. Unfortunately, there’s also a mismatch at play here.

We remember just how poorly Remmers played against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. He’s facing a similar foe in Raiders pass rusher Khalil Mack Sunday. The former first-round pick has racked up eight sacks and ranks in the top six at his position in quarterback pressures this season.

The biggest key for Oakland recently has been its decision to let Mack pin his ears back and go after the quarterback. The team had flirted with dropping him into coverage too often over the first three games of the season. That led directly to struggles from a pass-rush standpoint.

Since then, that simply hasn’t been the case. Mack has recorded all eight of his sacks over the past seven games and five in his past three outings.

This doesn’t bode well for Newton behind what has been a disastrous offensive line. Continued struggles there coupled with more domination from Mack could put the Panthers’ season on the brink while pushing the Raiders to their first winning record since 2002.

3. Saints offensive line vs Rams defensive line 

For as much as Drew Brees has passed the ball this season, the New Orleans Saints’ offensive line has stood up pretty well. The future Hall of Fame quarterback has been sacked a grand total of 16 times in 420 pass attempts. That’s a sack rate of just 3.7 percent, which ranks the Saints in the top three of the NFL in this category.

One of the primary reasons for Brees’ protection has been the play of the Saints’ two starting tackles, Zach Strief and Terron Armstead. A small-school product out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Armstead took to the starting left tackle position as a rookie in 2013 and hasn’t looked back. He’s now among the top overall players at his position.

Though, Armstead missed the Saints’ previous game and is dealing with both a quad and knee injury. If he’s able to go in this one, expect the dominant pass protector to be slowed down a tad. If not, Strief will get the start at left tackle.

On the other side, the Rams’ defensive line continues to be among the best in the business. Starting on the outside with Robert Quinn and moving inside with Aaron Donald, the Rams can put a massive amount of pressure on quarterbacks.

Quinn, who has put up just three sacks on the season, seems to be getting back to full health after missing two games earlier in the season. He took down Ryan Tannehill once in the Rams’ Week 11 loss to the Miami Dolphins, putting pressure on the signal caller another three times. Whether it’s Armstead or Strief called on to protect Brees’ blindside, that’s going to be a huge matchup.

Inside, Donald boasts the highest pressure rate of any defensive tackle in the NFL this season. He’ll be going up against veteran guard Jahri Evans, who returned to the Saints this season after being released during the spring. Much like the team’s entire offensive line, Evans has played well this season.

4. Demaryius Thomas vs Marcus Peters

Prior to last week’s injury, Peters had been target a combined 12 times in his past three games. That’s the true definition of a shut-down guy. Unfortunately, that very same span saw him beat by the likes of Allen Robinson and Devin Funchess on some pretty big plays.

This has led some to believe Peters, who leads the NFL in takeaways, is more of a big-play threat than an actual shut-down guy. The verdict is still out on that.

What we do know is that Peters struggled considerably against Thomas and the Denver Broncos as a rookie last season. All said, Thomas caught 14-of-21 targets for 177 yards in two games against Kansas City in 2015.

In the team’s first matchup of the 2016 season, it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out. It could also help dictate who heads into Week 13 within earshot of the Raiders in the AFC West.

5. Robert Kelley vs Dallas Cowboys run defense

There’s absolutely no stopping this Washington Redskins un-drafted rookie free agent. What Kelley has done since replacing an ineffective Matt Jones at running back has been nothing short of amazing.

The Tulane product is coming off a Week 11 performance that saw him put up 137 yards and three touchdowns on 24 attempts. This has Kelley himself on the verge of becoming one of the season’s biggest surprises.

It’s also helped a previously pass-happy Redskins offense become a bit more balanced in recent weeks. In Kelley’s first three NFL starts, the Skins are averaging 31.7 points per game.

As has been the case with pretty much every team that’s taken on Dallas this season, Kelley and the Redskins will be in for their most difficult matchup of the year. Dallas has yielded the third-fewest rushing yards in the NFL this season and have given up a grand total of 194 yards on the ground over the past three games.

If Dallas is able to make the Redskins’ offense one-dimensional come Thanksgiving, it could potentially lead to some mistakes from Kirk Cousins under center. While Cousins himself is playing the best football of his career, it must be noted that he’s nowhere near the same quarterback on the road as he is at home.

That’s where the Cowboys’ run defense will come into play here. If it is able to stop Kelley and the Redskins’ ground game, we are likely looking at a mistake-filled performance from Cousins under center.

6. Mike Evans vs Richard Sherman

It’s now getting to the point where we might consider the Jameis Winston and Mike Evans duo in Tampa Bay to be one of the top quarterback-receiver tandems in the NFL. Including last week’s 105-yard performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, Evans has put up 21 receptions for 321 yards and two touchdowns over the past three games.

And it’s not like the former first-round pick is catching opposing defenses by surprise. They know exactly what’s coming, but have been unable to stop it as of late. Overall this season, Evans is averaging 12.1 targets per game and ranks No. 2 behind A.J. Green in target distribution.

Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, if Seattle Seahawks corner Richard Sherman knows what’s coming, it will likely lead to a couple takeaways on Sunday. Sherman has been involved in five forced turnovers in 10 games this season. To put that into perspective, Seattle has turned the ball over just six times this season.

Unlike other corners that rely simply on play-making ability, Sherman remains one of the top cover guys in the NFL. That was only magnified during last week’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now facing another young quarterback, Sherman will be looking to continue this domination. That’s going to be the biggest key for each of these two teams come Sunday. Tampa Bay has been winning on a consistent basis primarily due to Winston’s ability to avoid the turnovers that plagued him earlier in the season.

On the other hand, Seattle has forced five total turnovers in the three games since it last lost. With the Seahawks looking to remain a top-two seed in the NFC, this one matchup will be key. The same can be said for a Bucs squad that’s looking to remain in the NFC Playoff race and get to over .500 on the season.

7. Trent Brown vs Cam Wake

Brown has been one of the few pleasant surprises on an otherwise disastrous San Francisco 49ers team this season. The second-year right tackle has simply been a bully in the run game, continually throwing smaller defenders out of the way like they were paper weights.

He’s also held up extremely well in pass protection thus far this season. That part of Brown’s game will really be tested against Miami Dolphins EDGE rusher Cam Wake, who still has one of the quickest first moves in the NFL.

And that right there is the NFL gods pitting strength against strength. While Wake and his 7.5 sacks may have the upper-hand from a pass-rush perspective, Brown has the clear advantage in the run game. After all, the 49ers are averaging nearly five yards per run when going behind Brown on the season.

That right there could be the difference between Miami winning a sixth consecutive game and the 49ers finding a way to win their first game since Week 1.

8. Larry Fitzgerald vs Desmond Trufant

Despite his team’s recent struggles, Fitzgerald continues to play at an exceedingly high level for the Arizona Cardinals. Over the past six games, he’s caught 49-of-67 passes for a solid 73 percent catch rate. Though, when we look further at the tape and his stats, there’s an alarming trend for Arizona.

As we’ve seen throughout the entire season, the Cardinals’ passing attack simply doesn’t look to be in sync right now. This reared its ugly head last week against the Minnesota Vikings. For reasons unknown to mankind, Carson Palmer and Fitzgerald found themselves mixed up multiple times throughout the game.

One play in particular late in the fourth quarter stands out. On third and long from inside their own 10 in a seven-point game, Arizona drew up what looked to be a bubble screen to Fitzgerald from the slot. Instead of hanging back and letting Minnesota’s defensive line run past him, Fitzgerald turned up field. The play was dead from the get-go, resulting in another hit on Palmer and an incomplete pass.

This seems to be happening far too often in the desert these days. And Fitzgerald’s performance has taken a hit. While he is catching 73 percent of the passes thrown his way over the past six games, the future Hall of Famer is averaging just 9.6 yards per reception and seven yards per target during that span. This has led to a major down-tick in production from Arizona’s passing game.

It won’t get much easier Sunday against one of the top corners in the NFL. Trufant had been dominating early in the season, yielding a sub 50 percent quarterback rating when targeted prior to a pedestrian performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in Week 9. He then missed the following game with a shoulder injury before last week’s bye.

Assuming Trufant’s struggles against Mike Evans in his last game had more to do with injury than regression. And assuming he’s 100 percent here. Two big assumptions. Trufant should be able to limit what Fitzgerald does. If that’s the case, the free-falling Cardinals will be in a world of trouble.

9. Matt Ryan vs Arizona Cardinals pass defense

We focused on the Julio Jones and Patrick Peterson dynamic at the top of this article, but there’s a lot more to look at here. Sure Peterson is one of the primary reasons Arizona heads into Week 12 with the league’s top-ranked pass defense. There’s a number of reasons for this, and they might end up playing a role if Arizona is able to upset Atlanta come Sunday.

Both running backs and tight ends have failed to do much against the Cards in the passing game this season. In fact, running backs are averaging just 20.8 receiving yards per game and less than four yards per target against Arizona through 10 games.

For comparison’s sake, Matt Ryan continues to go to his running backs at a tremendous clip. All said, they represent 24.5 percent of his completions and boast an 81 percent catch rate. Something has to give there.

On the other hand, it’s not necessarily too surprising that Ryan has involved tight ends a lot in the passing games. Dating back to his days with Tony Gonzalez, the MVP candidate has always found this position to be a tremendous safety valve. Between Jacob Tamme and Austin Hopper, Falcons tight ends have caught 37-of-51 targets through 10 games.

Again, this is going to be strength vs strength, as the Cardinals have yielded just 29 receptions on 55 targets against tight ends on the season.

If Peterson is able to shut Jones down (a big if), these two areas are going to become even more important. Whoever comes out on top here should head into December on a high note.

10. Dez Bryant vs Josh Norman

As if the NFL needed to worry about another Dallas Cowboys player performing at an elite level, Bryant seems to be rounding into form after suffering through an injury-plagued start to the season. The former Pro Bowler has caught 12-of-17 targets for 196 yards and three touchdowns over the past two games.

In fact, it could be said that Bryant has now taken over the mantle as Dak Prescott’s favorite target. If that’s the case, the Washington Redskins are sure to see a lot of him on Thanksgiving.

Though, Washington has a force itself. Norman has been tremendous thus far this season in an otherwise pedestrian Redskins secondary. That was evident in Washington’s blowout win over the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday night.

If Norman is able to shut Bryant down, it will force Prescott to look in the direction of Cole Beasley from the slot more often. That’s an area of the field Washington has been pretty strong defending on the season. It could lead to a rare mistake from the rookie quarterback.

And in reality, that’s the only way a surging Redskins squad is going to be able to keep up with the top team in the NFL. It’s most definitely something to watch as you prepare for turkey dinner.