Watch the Detroit Lions against the Minnesota Vikings from 6pm Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of February's Super Bowl, which saw the Chiefs win their second straight title
Friday 18 October 2024 08:24, UK
Las Vegas flashbacks can vary. Some are of lucrative joy, some are an amnesia-stricken blur, some are a haunting nightmare. Which of those apply to the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, I'll let you decide. It's Week Seven in the NFL, let's get it...
A Super Bowl rematch always makes for a tantalising headline, the easiest and ultimate sell to a game between the NFL's big - often biggest - hitters as champions flex their ring-glittered fingers and runners-up measure themselves against their despised conqueror. It's provocative, it gets the people going, even if nobody quite knows what it means mid-way through the season.
But while Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, the Chiefs and 49ers prepare to meet once more, Sunday's 4D chess match between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions beckons as every football nerd's latest dream. Brian Flores and his purple firing squad defense against Ben Johnson's Pandora's Box of offensive lunacy-meets-genius.
Johnson went wild in Week Six, answering NFC East calls to light up the Dallas Cowboys during a 47-9 win that would leave Jerry Jones to answer more uncomfortable questions over the future of head coach Mike McCarthy. He targeted left tackle Taylor Decker in the end zone, sent fellow offensive lineman Dan Skipper out to run routes (seriously, he did) and dialled up a hook-and-ladder red zone play culminating in right tackle Penei Sewell diving into the end zone for a touchdown, only for it to be ruled out by a penalty - much to the fury of a merciless Johnson.
Flores is meanwhile two weeks removed from inciting chaos in New York, blitzing Aaron Rodgers into London despair and Robert Saleh out of a job as he and Kevin O'Connell celebrated victory over the Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He has turned Andrew Van Ginkel into a pick-six menace, Josh Metellus into a defensive Rubik's Cube and is squeezing out every ounce of football left in 36-year-old safety Harrison Smith.
Johnson is another 40 burger away from letting 315lb defensive tackle Alim McNeill loose on a Sewell-led screen; Flores is a rule change away from sending himself as part of a zero blitz. Okay, neither are true, but Sunday sees two of the NFL's most gloriously-unhinged footballing philosophies trade blows.
"I mean, I try to fight fire with fire," said Flores. "That's just me. Some other people are different."
Detroit have scored at least 40 points in each of their last two games as the league's leading scoring offense, while the Vikings are ranked third in scoring having produced a tied-third-most 20 sacks with the highest pressure rate in the league. Were it a boxing card, it would be a double main-event on Sky Sports NFL this weekend.
And with that, back to the Super Bowl rematch. Mahomes returns from a bye week to face the 49ers having won two of his three Super Bowl rings against Kyle Shanahan's side, including February's 25-22 overtime victory at Allegiant Stadium.
Mahomes iced the win with a greatness-amplifying overtime drive capped by a walk-off touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to break San Francisco hearts, but it was Steve Spagnuolo's defense - as it had been all year - that would play a defining role in Kansas City's dynasty-sealing triumph. In the end, it had always been Spagnuolo vs Shanahan as the Chiefs defensive coordinator kept a Christian McCaffrey-led attack at bay just long enough to give Mahomes and Reid their chance, paving the way to back-to-back Championships to defy their regular-season struggles.
All is not smooth sailing for either side through six weeks: the Chiefs are an imperfect perfect 5-0 while adjusting to life without star receiver Rashee Rice, and the 49ers 3-3 having been marred by marquee injuries of their own, including the still-absent McCaffrey. From an efficiency standpoint, Mahomes is off to his worst start to a season, and yet he and Spagnuolo remain great levellers in the face of a 49ers roster boasting far more talent and with Brock Purdy playing some of the best football in the league.
Two blockbuster matchups cap one of the busiest weeks of the season so far, headlined by Davante Adams reuniting with Aaron Rodgers in a trade from the Las Vegas Raiders to the Jets. A shortage of elite mouths to feed was a familiar gripe for Rodgers in Green Bay; now he has Adams, Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall wanting the ball - the first taste of which will come against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills meanwhile loaded up on their limping offense by trading for Cleveland Browns wideout Amari Cooper, in turn quashing the prospect of the Chiefs making a splash for the veteran receiver.
Elsewhere, an under-pressure Doug Pederson and his Jacksonville Jaguars host the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium in the final London game of the season, CJ Stroud and Jordan Love exchange excellence as two of the league's young quarterback stars, and speaking of New York reunions - Saquon Barkley makes his return to face the Giants with the Philadelphia Eagles.
And in welcome news, 49ers rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall returned to practice this week for the first time since being shot in the chest during an attempted robbery nine days before the start of the season.
Sunday, 6pm - Detroit Lions (4-1) @ Minnesota Vikings (5-0): The beauty of the Flores defense is the pot-luck of defining contributors on a week-to-week basis, and thereby no shortage of names with whom to shower praise. Safety Cam Bynum is shining in a contract year in Minnesota with two interceptions, five pass deflections and a fumble recovery alongside veteran Harrison Smith, roaming within a rotating secondary as a bruising downhill tackler, trusted coverage asset and one of many features to a blitz that veils its second-level rushers better than any unit in the league.
Among the newest revelations in Motor City this week was that Detroit Lions running back duo David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs now wish to be known as 'Sonic & Knuckles', in reference to the cartoon hedgehog and his trusty sidekick. Montgomery has embraced the role of Knuckles as Detroit's bone-crunching runner, while Gibbs is the more natural fit for Sonic such is the home-run speed. Between them, they have amassed 699 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground as part of a rushing attack ranked fourth in yards and first in rush EPA. Their fiercest test of the season awaits Sunday against a Vikings defense second against the run and third in rush EPA.
Sunday, 9.25pm - Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) @ San Francisco 49ers (3-3): Purdy the playmaker! The 49ers quarterback was outstanding against the Seattle Seahawks in Week Six, throwing for 255 yards and three touchdowns to steer his side to a 36-24 victory. With it came the latest reminder of his growth as a scrambling threat, Purdy using his legs to keep plays alive, to set up off-platform throws out of structure and even to move the chains himself to frustrate a Seattle pass rush ranked third in pressure rate. In doing so he would again swat away at claims of a perfectly-tailored system teeing him up for success, with Purdy having also taken a step forward in his aggressive downfield. He currently leads the league in completed and attempted air yards per completion, while scrambling the fourth most times among quarterbacks.
For the Chiefs, it is another acid test for their makeshift assembly of weapons on offense in the absence of Rice, Hollywood Brown and Isiah Pacheco. Kareem Hunt posted his first 100-yard rushing game in four years while JuJu Smith-Schuster managed 100 receiving yards for the first time since October 2022 to lead the champions to a 26-13 win over the New Orleans Saints before their bye week; if they win a third straight Super Bowl behind prominent roles for Hunt and Smith-Schuster then Andy Reid should be knighted. These days you are almost bracing an offensive collapse such is the uncertainty on the outside, but they find a way. Mahomes is ranked dead last in air yards per completion this season, Sunday another insight into how the Chiefs seek to utilise the vertical threat of Xavier Worthy, whose route-tree may need to be expanded earlier than anticipated in light of the injury to Rice.
Sunday Night Football, 1.20am - New York Jets (2-4) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2): There can be only one place to start in Pittsburgh, and that is the Rodgers-Adams reunion. Davante Adams is primed to make his Jets debut this weekend following his trade from the Raiders, he and Rodgers having connected 615 times for 7,517 yards and 68 touchdowns during their time together with the Packers, with 5,257 yards and 47 touchdowns coming between 2018 and 2021. Nonetheless, the Jets offensive line remains a defining weakness having allowed a tied-fifth-most 16 sacks on Rodgers through six weeks and a tied-eighth-most pressures... with TJ Watt awaiting next.
It continues to be a strange season for the Steelers, who are 4-2 through six games despite continued question marks on offense. The questions continued this week, with Russell Wilson expected to start in place of Justin Fields at quarterback against the Jets. Wilson had been set to begin the season as starter before injury opened the door for Fields, who has since completed 106 of 160 passes for 1,106 yards and five touchdowns to one interception while rushing for 231 yards and five scores. Fields admitted this week he didn't feel like he had played well enough to keep his job; Wilson certainly didn't play well enough with the Denver Broncos in 2023 to warrant a start.
Monday Night Football, 1.15am - Baltimore Ravens (4-2) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2): Who are the two players in the NFL you would, one, least like to tackle, and two, be tackled by? And why is the answer, one, Derrick Henry, and two, Vita Vea? Monday Night Football offers a matchup of giants as Baltimore's steamrolling running back encounters Tampa Bay's brick wall nose tackle; give us at least one direct collision between the pair, please.
Henry currently leads the NFL with 704 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns and 36 rushing first downs, while ranking second in broken tackles among backs and second in yards after contact as the identity of the Ravens offense alongside Lamar Jackson. The Bucs offense contained Alvin Kamara to just 40 yards last time out, though does rank just 25th in rush EPA and 12th in rushing yards allowed. On the other side of the ball, the Bucs offense is ranked first in scoring behind Baker Mayfield's league-leading 15 touchdown passes having just put up a franchise-record 594 yards of total offense against the Saints.
Monday Night Football, 2am - Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) @ Arizona Cardinals (2-4): It is as if Jim Harbaugh is making a point of ironing out everything Brandon Staley could not do with the Chargers. He has installed a top-10 rushing attack behind J.K. Dobbins and offensive coordinator Greg Roman, while establishing a sixth-ranked rushing defense notably sitting first in rush EPA through six weeks. He has completely transformed the identity of the team, fortifying the trenches in view of building from in to out as he looks to set up Justin Herbert for long-term success.
While there remains some uncertainty over Marvin Harrison Jr following his concussion, it awaits as another opportunity for Arizona's Trey McBride to continue his rise among the most effective pass-catching tight end options in the league. McBride is coming off his busiest game of the season having caught all eight of his targets for 96 yards in a 34-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on the Chiefs: "I thought last year it was the best defense that we played all year. And I feel that way this year so far."
Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich on the reunion of Rodgers and Adams: "I was fortunate enough in San Francisco to be around Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice and to see firsthand all that Jerry taught T.O. Jerry was so established and understood the game at the highest level. I think Davante's going to provide that same thing for Garrett and for all of our receivers. He's done this at an elite level for a long time, and on top of all of it, you're going to see exactly the reflection of a relationship with Aaron, the synergy that they've had for so long. So, it's an exciting time to be a Jet in that way."
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes on his receiving options: "I have extreme confidence with the guys that are on that football field. They've won games, they've won Super Bowls, they've made plays in big moments and [General Manager] Brett Veach has done a great job of bringing players in that can step up whenever their number is called."
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley on his return to face the Giants: "I don't expect a great reaction. I don't expect to be booed. I look at it like this: The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Football Giants probably played in over 200 games. This rivalry was there before me, and it's going to be there after me."
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel on Tua Tagovailao's recovery from a concussion: "There's still information that he's seeking this week, and as far as timelines go, I know that he's not playing this week, and I do expect to see him playing football in 2024, but where that is exactly, we'll let the process continue since we still have time before you could even entertain anything. We'll make sure that he's diligent this week and assess after that."
It was around this time in 2022 that Louis Rees-Zammit and his brother were in attendance as mere spectators to watch the New York Giants against the Green Bay Packers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Come October 2024, the 23-year-old finds himself part of a Jacksonville Jaguars organisation playing back-to-back games in the UK.
"I was watching as a fan on the side hoping one day I'd be able to go out there and be a part of a team. It's amazing to be here now," Rees-Zammit said.
Scott Pioli was partly responsible for the defining moment in New England Patriots' history when he drafted a skinny Michigan quarterback by the name of Tom Brady with the 199th pick at the 2000 NFL Draft.
That skinny quarterback would go on to win six Super Bowls with the Patriots alongside Bill Belichick as the faces of one of the league's greatest-ever dynasty teams.
But Pioli could yet have delivered another defining moment for the Boston franchise, having drafted linebacker Jerod Mayo with the 10th overall pick in 2008.
Sky Sports NFL editor Cam Hogwood speaks to three-time Super Bowl champion executive Scott Pioli...
There is that old 'you'll know' adage when it comes to the house-hunting process, the instant feel of belonging within a property ticking all the natural light, double-glazing and downstairs bathroom boxes - maybe even a kitchen island if you are extra plush. The NFL knew it had found its house, and didn't waste any time in making it a home.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has become the league's forever home of sorts, offering a retractable pitch and spacious locker rooms fit for hundreds of pounds of footballing brawn as its double-glazing box tickers, while sweetening the deal with a tourist-privy Skywalk as its conversation-piece kitchen island.
The powers that be have since also renovated with the instillation of a Formula 1-backed go-kart experience underneath the stadium. The house-warming party began in October 2019 and, nine NFL games later, refuses to turn down the music.
Is London red or blue? Arsenal and Chelsea fans may have wandered into the capital earlier this month to realise it is a concoction of the two (we see you, art teachers!) For London is, in fact, purple - and so too, perhaps, is the UK.
How the NFL and its teams measure success can vary according to preference. Swarming four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers on the way to victory over the New York Jets at a sold-out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium leaves a lasting impression.
But convincing beautifully-grumpy, greeting-repellent Londoners to partake in SKOL chanting at 10am is quite the feat. Some may say miracle.
Sky Sports NFL editor Cam Hogwood explores Minnesota's London takeover, on and off the field...
The wait is over and the 2024 NFL London games are here! Here is your quick guide to one of the biggest months on the UK sporting calendar...
A star-studded cast of Aaron Rodgers, Justin Jefferson, Caleb Williams and Trevor Lawrence will cross the pond this month as the league continues its dramatic start to the 2024 campaign in the capital at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Read all you need to know about the 2024 NFL London games...
From fresh quarterback hope for the New England Patriots to a new running back in San Francisco, we look at some of the NFL's top Fantasy Football waiver wire targets ahead of Week Seven in the 2024 season...
Watch the Detroit Lions against the Minnesota Vikings from 6pm Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of February's Super Bowl, which saw the Chiefs win their second straight title; Also stream with NOW.
