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10 matchups to watch during NFL Week 4
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10 matchups to watch during NFL Week 4


It's hard to imagine that Week 4 of the NFL season will mark the quarter point of the schedule for each team around the league. It really does go by pretty darn fast.

This upcoming week presents teams with an opportunity to move on from early-season struggles and prepare for what is going to be a daunting middle part of the schedule. Other squads will look to continue their excellent early-season play.

Here are the top-10 individual matchups for Week 4 of the NFL season.

1. Calvin Johnson vs Richard Sherman

Who doesn't want to see this go down? Unless Seattle decides to throw Sherman into the slot at times on Monday night, he will be tasked with going up against one of the best receivers of this generation. It's a task that Sherman himself is yearning for, especially after being criticized so much for playing one side of the field in the past.

On the surface, Johnson has had a decent season. He's on pace for both 100 receptions and over 1,000 receiving yards. But when we delve further into it, he's struggled big time with a below-average Matthew Stafford under center. Johnson is averaging just 10 yards per reception and less than six yards per target this season.

On the other hand, Sherman isn't necessarily playing up to his capabilities thus far this year. Pro Football Focus currently has him graded out as the 72nd-best corner in the NFL through three weeks.

If Sherman is able to return to form and shut down Johnson — a real possibility with the way Stafford has been playing — Detroit will fall to 0-4 on the season. That makes this a huge matchup.

2. Adrian Peterson vs Denver Broncos run defense

This is all sorts of sexy. Peterson, who has put up a ridiculous 318 total yards and two touchdowns over the past two games, will have his biggest test of the season to date. The league's best running back will venture into Denver to take on a Broncos defense that is yielding 3.5 yards per rush and has given up the sixth-fewest rushing yards to opposing offenses through three games.

The way Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is playing right now, the onus is going to be on Peterson to get the job done. That's only magnified by Denver's elite performance (one touchdown, six interceptions) against opposing quarterbacks. If Peterson can't get it going, the Vikings will fall to 2-2 while Denver will remain undefeated.

3. Jake Matthews vs J.J. Watt

Watt may not be putting up the gaudy stats we have seen in previous seasons, but he's still on pace to record 16 sacks and well over 20 quarterback hits. Most defensive ends would take those numbers and run with them. Not Watt. He's clearly looking for one of those signature performances that become the talk of NFL water coolers on the Monday following game day.

Normally, Watt going up against a second-year offensive tackle would be a mismatch of epic proportions. However, Atlanta Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews has performed at a ridiculously high clip through three games. He's yet to allow either a sack or a quarterback hit thus far.

If Houston is going to even its record, Watt will need to throw an elite Falcons passing game off balance by putting consistent pressure on Matt Ryan. And if the Falcons want to remain undefeated, Matthews is going to have to do a bang-up job against the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

4. Cam Newton vs Jameis Winston 

In the first of what promises to be many high-stakes games between these two former No. 1 overall picks, there seems to be a lot on the line. Tampa Bay opened up the season with a loss against the Tennessee Titans before a big upset of the Saints in New Orleans. Unfortunately, the young squad couldn't overcome mistakes in a loss to the Houston Texans this past Sunday.

At 1-2 on the season, any minor chance the Buccaneers have at surprising in the NFC South will depend on a win against the 3-0 Panthers.

5. Antonio Brown vs Jimmy Smith 

The assumption here is that Smith will man his normal right corner spot with Lardarius Webb mixing it up between the left corner spot and the slot. If that's the case, we are going to get the best inter-divisional matchup the AFC North has to offer to the ultra-talented Brown.

Smith has allowed a 18-of-28 passes to be completed in his direction through three games. Going up against the best receiver he has thus far this season, the Baltimore Ravens corner needs to step up big time. After all, they can't rely on a player in Webb to pick up the slack.

If Brown goes off with Michael Vick under center, the Ravens will be starting at a 0-4 record. That's obviously not the scenario this team had in mind entering the season.

6. A.J. Green vs Marcus Peters 

As green as they come, Peters has shown absolutely no hesitation putting himself out there against the best the NFL has to offer in the first three games of his rookie campaign. This year's first-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs has locked heads with a multitude of receiving stars, including DeAndre Hopkins, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and Randall Cobb thus far.

It's a reasonable expectation that he will, at some point during the game, go up against a receiver in A.J. Green who is coming off a Week 3 performance that saw him put up 10 receptions for 227 yards and two touchdowns. It will definitely be interesting to see how this turns out.

7. Odell Beckham Jr. vs Stephon Gilmore

Under offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, the New York Giants have done a tremendous job moving Beckham Jr. around this season. Unless an opposing defense has a corner that's capable of shadowing the explosive second-year receiver, this can cause a tremendous mismatch through the game.

Fortunately for the Buffalo Bills, they have a player in Gilmore that has this capability. And while, the Bills have only played the former first-round pick at his left corner spot, there's a chance he might shadow Beckham Jr. If that doesn't happen (the stronger likelihood), Gilmore will still go up against the 2014 Offensive Rookie of the Year when OBJ isn't moving all over the field.

Even then, the Bills have a player in Nickell Robey who has been among the best slot corners in the NFL since the start of the 2014 season. It also has an impressive rookie in Ronald Darby to help limit the damage. This is actually a decent matchup for the 2-1 Bills.

8. Ryan Tannehill vs New York Jets pass defense

Even with the struggles the Jets had in pass defense last season, Ryan Tannehill struggled more against this team than any other AFC East squad. The Miami Dolphins quarterback completed 65 percent of his passes for less than 500 yards with a touchdown and in interception against the division rivals. In the process, Miami went 1-1 against the then last place Jets while averaging just 20 points per game.

Now that the Jets are statistically the fourth-ranked defense in the NFL (first in points allowed) and the Dolphins have tallied 51 points in three games, this becomes a mismatch in the road team's favor.

With the New England Patriots undefeated on the season and both the Jets and Bills playing stellar football, Miami simply needs to find a way to get to .500 on the season in order to remain competitive in the division. That's going to come down to Tannehill beating an elite-level Jets defense under first-year head coach Todd Bowles.

9. Colin Kaepernick vs Green Bay Packers

Following a disastrous four-interception performance against the Arizona Cardinals last week, Kaepernick finds himself at a crossroads in his career. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback struggled big time last year — his last under a big supporter in Jim Harbaugh. He then followed that up with two solid performances to start the 2015 campaign prior to a meltdown in Arizona last week.

With his primary supporter currently coaching Michigan, Kaepernick's future in San Francisco beyond this season is up in the air. In order to get back on track, the much-maligned signal caller will have to rehash the dominance he has shown against Green Bay in three careers starts against the team.

Including two playoff wins, Kaepernick has gained 1,203 total yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions in three games against the Packers (all wins). He's going to have to come somewhere near his career averages if San Francisco is going to pull off a major upset against a dominating Aaron Rodgers-led Packers team.

Based on his recent performance against Arizona, this may be Kaepernick's best chance to prove that what we saw last week was an aberration. If not, San Francisco will fall to 1-3 on the season and more questions will be raised about the quarterback's future with the only franchise he's suited up for.

10. Brandon Weeden vs New Orleans Saints defense

Bad against badder (wait, that is a word). If Weeden — a loser of nine consecutive starts — can't have success against a horrid Saints defense, it might very well be time for the Cowboys to call on Matt Cassel. That last sentence has to be some sort of evil nightmare for Cowboys fans, probably perpetrated by football gods aligned with the Philadelphia Eagles. But I digress.

The good news here for Cowboys fans, outside of the fact that they are playing the Saints, is that there is not another team in the NFC East that will run away with the division while both Tony Romo and Dez Bryant are sidelined. The bad news here is that it's hard to imagine Weeden putting his team in position to win a game in Romo's stead.

This means that the likes of Joseph Randle and a plethora of unknown receivers must step up if the Cowboys are going to tread water until Week 11. If it doesn't happen against a Saints defense that is yielding a 119.0 quarterback rating this season, it might not come to fruition with him under center.

Check out Vincent's other work on eDraft.com and follow him on Twitter @VincentFrankNFL

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