Who’ll win the weekend in NFL’s Week 7: Trubisky vs. Belichick, old-school rivalry and proving time for Eagles
Yahoo Sports NFL senior writers Terez Paylor, Kimberley A. Martin and Charles Robinson select games this week that will leave us buzzing heading into Monday.
Paylor’s pick
New England Patriots at Chicago Bears
Tom Brady. Mitchell Trubisky. It’s the best game on the NFL’s Week 7 slate!
Back in July, no one would have predicted that those words would come to fruition. The Pats are the Pats, of course, but many expected some rough waters ahead for the Bears, especially with a new head coach in Matt Nagy and a still-developing Trubisky at quarterback.
Then the Raiders traded the best defensive player in football to the Bears, making a good defense great. And Trubisky started showing people why he was taken No. 2 overall, courtesy of a ridiculous six-touchdown game a few weeks ago. And now, even though the Bears fell to 3-2 with an overtime loss to the Dolphins on Sunday, there’s little doubt that this game offers intrigue.
I, for one, can’t wait to compare how the defensive master, Bill Belichick, schemes to stop Trubisky one week after he managed to (somewhat) get to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Should be a blast.
Martin’s pick
Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins
The bitter rivalry between these two franchises runs deep. Emotions will be high on the field — and in the stands — and bragging rights are on the line. At least for now.
The Redskins are relevant in the NFC East, currently atop the division at 3-2. But Sunday’s game against the Cowboys (3-3) will be their first division matchup this season. So which Redskins team will show up — the team that was embarrassed on “Monday Night Football” by New Orleans? Or will it be the crew that outpaced the Green Bay Packers and kept Cam Newton off his game?
The same question can be asked of Dallas, which has demonstrated an inconsistent temperament as well this season. The Cowboys offense still flows through quarterback Dak Prescott and Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott, and last week’s romp of Jacksonville was the latest proof.
NFL players often downplay the “rivalry” angle, but in Ashburn, Virginia, there was an added buzz in the building because players and coaches alike know what time it is: It’s Cowboys Week.
“It’s a game that everybody circles on their calendar,” coach Jay Gruden said this week.
Both teams have been inconsistent, but they each have enough weapons to keep their opponents off balance. So expect this division showdown to be a close contest.
Of their past 114 regular-season meetings, 58 have been decided by seven points or less.
Robinson’s pick
Carolina Panthers at Philadelphia Eagles
This feels like one of those early season games that could be a turning point for one of these franchises, sparking some momentum into the second half of the schedule.
Both have dealt with a swath of injuries while alternating between progress and disappointment. While some of the defensive shortcomings have been glaring, most of the pressure for both teams appears to stem from offenses that can’t quite figure out their identity. Each has an elite-level quarterback and both have been seeking balance, but neither has really achieved it consistently.
At some point, one of these two units has to take a leap forward. Is this the Panthers offense that ran over the Cincinnati Bengals? Is this the Eagles offense that efficiently picked apart the New York Giants?
This is an important opportunity for both of these teams to answer that question.
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