Week 7 in the NFL is here, and you might be entering the weekend with your own preferences regarding which games to focus on, and which to place on the backburner.
Most of you have your favorites and fantasy players to track. But in case you’re completely neutral or need help breaking ties with regard to what to watch, we’ve ranked all 15 games from most appealing to least enticing.
1. Giants at Cowboys (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, FOX): Is Dallas for real? Another test, this time against a mess of a Giants team that always gives America’s Team trouble. Will be interesting to see how the Cowboys follow up that upset over Seattle, as well as how the G-Men look without injured star receiver Victor Cruz.
2. Panthers at Packers (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): Anytime you’ve got Aaron Rodgers vs. Cam Newton, it’s worth checking out. Two defending division champions in what should be a high-scoring NFC matchup. And Carolina’s been known to come up big on the road.
3. Bengals at Colts (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS): Another matchup between teams that won their respective divisions last season and could battle again this upcoming January. Indy’s won four straight and the Bengals sit atop the AFC North. Even without A.J. Green, there should be plenty of fireworks here, and it’s a great quarterback matchup.
4. 49ers at Broncos (Sunday night, NBC): I have a bad feeling the Niners will have problems here. Without yet another defensive star in Patrick Willis and traveling to play one of the best home teams in the league on short rest. This is an amazing matchup on paper, but don’t get your hopes up.
5. Saints at Lions (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): This would carry more weight if Calvin Johnson were healthy, but the Lions defense has been putting on a show and New Orleans hasn’t been right, especially on the road. That’s why Detroit is actually a small favorite. No reason to think this won’t have an exciting finish.
6. Dolphins at Bears (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS): Two talented teams that lack winning records but have some serious weapons on both sides of the ball. This should be a close battle between a pair of inconsistent teams coming off of solid performances.
7. Falcons at Ravens (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): The Joe Flacco-Matt Ryan battle is a good one, especially with so many weapons on both sides. But Flacco has outplayed the hell out of his 2008 draft peer thus far in 2014, and his Ravens are tough to beat at home. Atlanta is desperate here, but this could be a blowout.
8. Chiefs at Chargers (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, CBS): Here’s a chance to catch MVP front-runner Philip Rivers doing his thing in a semi-exclusive time slot and against the stiffest defense he’s had to deal with since Week 2. The Chiefs are desperate and fresh coming off the bye, so this should be a great game.
9. Jets at Patriots (Thursday night, CBS/NFL Network): So many injuries on both sides of the ball, but the Patriots haven’t been hit quite as hard and have been on a roll the last couple weeks. On short rest at home against a bad team, they should roll. So the blowout factor is strong here. However, New York slugged it out with New England in both of their meetings last season.
10. Seahawks at Rams (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS): Watch out here. The ‘Hawks have had some issues this season and they aren’t as strong traveling, especially across several time zones. And St. Louis knows this Seattle team well. The Rams are on short rest here but they did hang with Seattle at the Georgia Dome last October. Keep an eye on this one.
11. Texans at Steelers (Monday night, ESPN): Catch the J.J. Watt Show, which should be kind of fun with Ben Roethlisberger on the other side. Two average-at-best teams, though.
12. Cardinals at Raiders (Sunday, 4 p.m. ET, FOX): Oakland is just terrible, so unless the Raiders are flirting with an upset at home in the fourth quarter, stay away.
13. Browns at Jaguars (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS): Cleveland deserves some attention, but this probably isn’t the week to give it to them. The Jaguars suck and there are way too many good games in that early-Sunday time slot.
14. Titans at Redskins (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS): Now that we know Kirk Cousins isn’t the answer in Washington, there really isn’t much here. Neither team is very good and it’s not even a conference game. Boring stuff.
15. Vikings at Bills (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX): Let’s be real, neither team is going anywhere this season. And with no Adrian Peterson or EJ Manuel, there isn’t a lot to see in this cross-conference matchup of mediocrity.
