As the NFL nears the halfway point of its first 17-game season, the NFC features one unbeaten team and four with one loss.
The challenge facing the Packers became greater this week as wide receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard were put on the reserve/COVID-19 list, which means that unless Marquez Valdes-Scantling can come off injured reserve — he’s missed the last four games with a hamstring injury — the Packers could be without their top three wideouts.
It’s only the third prime-time matchup in NFL history between two teams riding winning streaks of six or more games in that season.
Why the Bucs are a legitimate Super Bowl contender: Their +86 point differential is the third-highest in the NFL, despite being without tight end Rob Gronkowski.
But as we saw with quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams in Week 3, teams that don’t rely on the run or use it to set up their play-action can still get by them, especially if their secondary doesn’t bounce back from all these injuries.
Watt, Isaiah Simmons and Budda Baker, is allowing the fewest points in the NFL — while the offense is the fourth highest-scoring unit in the league, scoring more than 30 in all but one game this season — and is the best on third down.
We’ve already seen the Cards’ defense pick up the slack when Jones was out with COVID-19 — he’s been activated for Thursday’s game — and win two games in his absence, so that side of the ball has enough bodies and a strong enough rotation to withstand an injury or two and keep on rolling.
Why the Rams are a legitimate Super Bowl contender: The Rams completed an offseason blockbuster trade that sent quarterback Jared Goff — and draft picks — to Detroit in exchange for Matthew Stafford with the hope Stafford would provide the needed upgrade to power an explosive offense.
After scoring on the opening drive, the Lions recovered an onside kick and later that series faked a punt to convert a 17-yard pass for a first down, and later in the game they converted another fake punt for a 28-yard gain and first down.
If teams want to load up to stop the run, quarterback Dak Prescott can pick them apart with pass catchers Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Dalton Schultz, plus Michael Gallup will return soon.
While the Cowboys are confident Prescott will play against Minnesota despite a calf strain, if it is something that limits him or nags him the rest of the way, that will affect the offense greatly.
Their offense hasn’t been quite as potent — the scoring numbers are down — but Davante Adams has been as productive as ever and has gotten just enough help along the way from the likes of Allen Lazard, Robert Tonyan, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon.
On offense, they’ve been shuffling their line almost every week, although things could stabilize when All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari returns following his January ACL surgery.