In what has been a relatively unpredictable NFL season to this point, a handful of teams will look to continue to prove that they’re for real, while a few others will look to turn their season around in FOX’s five-game slate for Week 7.
Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams-Baltimore Ravens tilt is one of the headline matchups for the five-game slate. Tom Brady, Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be on the call as both teams are looking to avenge Week 5 losses.
Let’s dive in more into that game and the other four matchups on FOX this weekend.
Baltimore’s defense, decimated by injuries, is the worst in the NFL, giving up 35.4 points per game – four more than any other team. The Ravens are also 31st in total defense, 31st in red zone defense, 32nd in sack percentage and 30th in interceptions.
A loss would drop the Ravens to 1-5, which would likely require a 9-2 finish to make the playoffs, but what helps them is they’re 1-0 in the division and have both games against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final five weeks of the season.
How many catches can Puka Nacua get against the Jaguars? He has an NFL-best 52 (for 588 yards) in five games, a record-setting pace. With Baltimore giving up 262 passing yards per game, anything is possible.
Puka Nacua is on a record pace to start the season. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Arizona has lost three straight games by a combined five points, but there’s no relief in sight. The Cardinals don’t face a team with a losing record until Week 15, with four 4-1 teams in their next eight games.
That could be trouble for Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon. This week, they face a Colts team that ranks second in the NFL in scoring and an offense ranking in the top five in total offense, passing offense and third-down offense. Arizona’s defense has the biggest disparity between its scoring defense — No. 4 in the league — and its total defense, ranking 21st in yards allowed. A top-five red-zone defense helps with that, but Indy’s Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL in red-zone carries (25) and red-zone rushing touchdowns (five), with a receiving touchdown in there as well.
The Colts will want to stock up on wins now. Their division games with the Jaguars and Texans represent four of their final six games, so the AFC South could hinge on those head-to-head meetings late in the season.
Rico Dowdle revenge game! That would not have meant a lot a week ago, but Dowdle earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after rushing for 206 yards in Carolina’s victory over the Miami Dolphins. He stepped up with Chuba Hubbard out with injury. Cowboys opponents are 8-1 since the start of 2022 when a player rushes for 100 or more yards, though the lone loss was the Jets last week.
Rico Dowdle rushed for 206 yards in the Panthers’ victory over the Dolphins last week. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Carolina’s defense has been much improved this season. It was dead last in scoring defense and total defense last year, but the Panthers are up to 20th in scoring defense and 12th in total defense.
Dallas has been prolific on offense, ranking first in yards, fourth in scoring and third in passing behind Dak Prescott. Prescott has a 2-1 career record against Carolina, with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
Jacksonville’s offense has already spiked under first-year coach Liam Coen — from 26th last year to 10th now in scoring, and from 26th to fifth in rushing offense. The Seahawks’ run defense kept the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in check last week, holding them to 56 yards on 24 carries, but for the season, Seahawks opponents are averaging 4.55 yards per carry, 10th-highest in the league.
The Jaguars made a mid-week cornerback trade, sending Tyson Campbell to the Cleveland Browns for Greg Newsome, so the challenge will be getting Newsome ready in basically 72 hours to hold his own against a dangerous Seattle passing game. But the worst game Sam Darnold had last season with the Vikings was a 12-7 loss at Jacksonville, with no touchdowns and three interceptions.
Seahawks rookie Tory Horton, a fifth-round pick from Colorado State, has been a pleasant surprise with three touchdowns in his first five NFL games.
Is it too early to say it’s a matchup with draft implications? Both teams are 1-4, with the Titans riding high after a wild comeback win against the Cardinals, and the Raiders coming off a 40-6 loss to the Colts.
Titans rookie Cam Ward is completing only 52% of his passes through five games. The only quarterback to throw at least 200 passes in a season in the past decade with a lower completion rate was the Colts’ Anthony Richardson last season. The glass-half-full spin? The next-closest was 53% from a 2018 rookie named … Josh Allen.
Cam Ward’s rookie season hasn’t gotten off to the best start, but he was able to help the Titans pick up their first win of the season last week. (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
How sustainable is Raiders quarterback Geno Smith’s interception-laden start? He has nine in five games, and if he throws two this week, the only season since 2010 with more picks in the first six games was Eli Manning throwing 15 in 2013. Manning finished with 27 that year. When Jameis Winston famously threw 30 interceptions in 2019, he had only five after five games.
If the Raiders lose on Sunday, it will be Pete Carroll’s worst start in 19 seasons as a head coach. He’s been 2-4 twice before, and went 10-6 in one of those seasons.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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