Eagles Find Their Wings? NFL Week 7 Preview

By Noah Mason

Noah Mason brings you four things to keep an eye on this weekend as the 2025 NFL season hits Week 7:

Dynamic Duo take on Denver

Optimism is well and truly alive in the Big Apple, and it’s due to two players playing with an outrageous amount of swagger. This dynamic duo is first and fourth-round rookies Jackson Dart and Cam Skattebo. They are bringing a combination of old-school rough football and modern-day flair, which makes for excellent viewing. Jackson Dart was most people’s QB3 coming into this draft, and many expected him to sit and learn under the experienced Russell Wilson; it hasn’t panned out like that, much to the excitement of Giants fans.

Dart has shown flashes in the passing game, but where he has excelled is as a runner, being able to take off and make explosive plays with his legs. Cam Skattebo might already be an icon in New York, as his contact balance and head-first running style make him an easy player to love. No one should ever let Cam on a mechanical bull, as his balance is so good that the bull might fall over first. Dart and Skattebo led the Giants to a massive upset against the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, last week. This duo won’t have an easy assignment on Sunday, however, as they are going up against arguably the best defense in the NFL. I don’t believe there will be a tougher test in the league than going up against the league’s sack leaders, starring the defensive MVP favourite Nik Bonitto and last year’s winner Patrick Surtain III.

Denver struggled in London last week against the New York Jets, as their offense faltered and had to watch from the sidelines as their defense stopped any Jets hopes of an upset in a narrow 13–11 win. Having said this, Denver ranks 6th in rushing yards per game and will hope to get back to having a solid run game on Sunday against a great Giants defensive line. I could see this being a very close game, but I expect an upset and the Giants to come out with a win.

The London Showdown

As this is on a UK-based American Football platform, you may think this segment of the preview is somewhat obligatory. However, this is not the case. I think this is the best matchup of the week in terms of quality, and I’m very excited to see who will come out on top in this matchup. The Jaguars are not the same team that they have been for the last couple of years, and they are no longer in rebuild mode. They have rebuilt. Trevor Lawrence is coming off the back of a very solid week for him personally, as he threw for two touchdowns and over 200 yards passing against the Seahawks. The Jags will be disappointed in losing their matchup last week against a very good Seahawks team. However I do believe that many good teams will lose to Seattle this year, and the Jags will continue to be a good side.

This season the Jags have been stellar in one particular metric, interceptions. Their defense is exceptional at undercutting passes and getting their offense back on the field with haste, as they lead the league in interceptions with 10. Devin Lloyd personally has four, which is exceptional at this stage in the season, and he will look to make his mark on this game. On the other side of the ball, their offense is well-balanced, striking a healthy balance between running and throwing the rock.

They will have plenty of opportunities to pick off the ball, as Sean McVay’s offense tends to throw the ball a lot. As any play caller would when you have Matthew Stafford throwing to Puka Nacua, which is arguably the most lethal combination in the league. This shows on the stat sheet, with them being placed second in the league in passing yards with 280.2 yards per game. So even if Puka doesn’t play, I’m sure Stafford will find other players and still show off his impressive deep ball. The Rams are coming off a blowout win against the beaten-up Ravens. This passing game, paired with a very solid defense, I believe, will be enough to see off an impressive Jaguars side.

Eagles Looking to Find Their Wings

The Eagles’ loss to the Giants last week sent shockwaves across the nation, as they went into the game as massive favorites, and many thought it would be a routine win for the Eagles. The performance level this year from the Eagles has been an obvious step back from their dominant 2024 side, which, at times last year, felt invincible. This is common in the NFL as it is apparent that retaining a championship-level side is the hardest task of them all. Does this mean the Eagles are now bad? Of course not. I think that they need to let go of the memory of the Super Bowl and understand that games they could win in first gear last year are going to be dogfights this year.

Jalen Hurts will have to regain some confidence and form if they intend to beat the Vikings this weekend. The key to his being able to do this is setting the tempo through Saquon Barkley; this was essential to their success in 2024. Saquon is having a slow start to the 2025 season for his own lofty standards, but I am not going to bet against him picking up some form towards the end of October. The disappointing loss against the Vikings has left question marks about the once supremely respected defensive line. Cam Skattebo had the best game of his young career, and I’m sure Vikings running back Aaron Jones is excited at the prospect of causing similar issues.

The Vikings will go into this game looking for their first statement win of this young season. They were undoubtedly one of the best regular-season teams in 2024, and although they lost quarterback Sam Darnold, I’m sure there is belief in the camp that they can replicate those heights this season. One player I’d watch out for on Sunday is Isaiah Rodgers. He was electric against the Bengals, putting up the best display I’ve ever seen from a cornerback and may limit A. J. Brown massively when these two NFC titans face off. I predict a bounce-back win for the Eagles, as they’ll be eager to right the wrongs of their previous two outings.

Battle for the Number One Pick

The Browns face off against the Dolphins on Sunday, and I believe there may be some fans of both teams hoping their side gets beat. Although it’s only October, I can’t imagine that there is much optimism floating around either of these programs due to their identical 1–5 starts to the year. If you combined both these sides, I genuinely think you have a very solid playoff contender; however, unfortunately for them, this is not how football works.

The Browns’ defense has been, at times, exceptional- especially at limiting yards to offenses. However, the burden on the defense is tremendous, as they find themselves on the field so much due to their incompetent offense. Their offense has failed to score over 18 points this season and has been faltering on all fronts. Young Dillon Gabriel may not be turning over the ball as much as Joe Flacco, but he’s leaving so many explosive plays on the field since stepping into the fold. Quinshon Judkins has looked like the one bright spark for this offense, as he has been able to replicate his strengths that made him so much of a problem in college.

On the other hand, the Dolphins’ offense has looked electric, scoring over 24 points in four of their last five games and being the shining light at the end of a bleak Miami tunnel. Tua has been playing at a pretty high level, and the addition of Darren Waller to the offense has also been a nice pickup for the Dolphins. The offense has led this team to so many game-winning drives, or what should be game-winning drives. Their defense cannot get a critical stop if their lives depended on it, or at least it looks that way at times this year. A prime example was last week, as the Chargers got the ball with comfortably less than a minute on the clock, and the Dolphins still couldn’t keep them out of field goal range. I predict this game to actually be quite an interesting battle, but Miami’s offense will be the difference-maker in this one.

Noah Mason

NFL/CFB Writer

Noah is an aspiring journalist who shares some interesting takes on this great game, whether it be College or the NFL. Born and based in London, but developed a love for American Football in the States, follow Noah on Twitter @NoahMasonn

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