Only the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys are on bye in Week 7, which means we’ll get our busiest slate of football until Thanksgiving week. This week features another Monday Night Football doubleheader in addition to the usual Thursday Night Football game and Sunday slate.
Looking at the NFL coverage map, let’s see which games will be broadcast in different areas of the country in Week 7.
NFL Coverage Map for Week 7
The people at 506 Sports provide fans with weekly NFL coverage maps. They color-code the maps based on where each game will air across the major networks, and these maps are subject to change during the week.
CBS Single NFL TV Coverage Map
Red: Houston Texans (5-1) at Green Bay Packers (4-2)
This should be an incredibly fun matchup between two of the game’s most exciting young quarterbacks. C.J. Stroud has largely excelled apart from the team’s Week 3 loss vs. the Minnesota Vikings, ranking fifth in touchdown passes and sixth in passing yards. Stroud threw for a season-high three touchdowns last week vs. the New England Patriots in his first game since superstar receiver Nico Collins was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, Jordan Love looks fully recovered from his Week 1 MCL injury after a four-touchdown performance last week vs. the Arizona Cardinals. Love has thrown for 12 touchdowns and six interceptions in just four games, reflecting a boom-or-bust style so far. The Packers quarterback has the highest touchdown rate in the NFL (8.2%), but also the second-highest interception rate (4.1%) behind only Will Levis.
Yellow: Tennessee Titans (1-4) at Buffalo Bills (4-2)
The Bills got back on track with a Monday night win at the New York Jets and will be heavy favorites against the Titans even on a short week. Josh Allen is the only starting quarterback yet to throw an interception this season, and he’s accounted for 13 total touchdowns (10 passing, three rushing). Allen’s six-game streak without an interception is the longest of his career.
Will Levis is certainly the polar opposite of that in terms of ball security. Despite already having his bye and missing nearly all of the Titans’ Week 4 game vs. the Miami Dolphins due to a shoulder injury, Levis still leads the NFL with 10 turnovers. That’s three more than any other player entering Week 7.
Orange: Cincinnati Bengals (2-4) at Cleveland Browns (1-5)
The Bengals continue their quest to climb out of their early-season hole with another winnable road matchup. Both of Cincinnati’s wins have come away from Paycor Stadium, but Cleveland has traditionally been their house of horrors. The Bengals have lost six straight games at Cleveland, with Joe Burrow being the quarterback for half of those losses.
Of course, the current version of the Browns looks incapable of beating the University of Cincinnati. The Deshaun Watson-led squad is the first team since the 2014 Jaguars to score fewer than 20 points in their first six games of a season.
Blue: Carolina Panthers (1-5) at Washington Commanders (4-2)
The Ron Rivera Former Employers Bowl features teams going in drastically different directions. Washington has the best offense in the league this season by EPA per play and looks like the favorite in the NFC East despite last week’s loss at Baltimore.
Their numbers will likely look better after facing the worst defense in the league, as the Panthers are hemorrhaging 33.8 points per game on defense.
Green: Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) at Los Angeles Rams (1-4)
The post-Davante Adams era for the Raiders will begin in the city they used to call home. The Raiders offense didn’t look much spunkier last week with Aidan O’Connell replacing Gardner Minshew at quarterback, and it’s hard to imagine how permanently removing Adams from that equation will help matters.
The injury-plagued Rams are coming off a sorely needed bye week with their season already on life support. Cooper Kupp is nearing a return, but Matthew Stafford and Kyren Williams may need to drag the Rams offense to the finish line on their own in this game.
FOX Early-Game NFL TV Coverage Map
Red: Detroit Lions (4-1) at Minnesota Vikings (5-0)
The game of the week based on combined record will be played in the 1 p.m. ET window. The Lions are coming off a total dismantling of the Dallas Cowboys and now have the second-best point differential in the NFL at +60. The only team ahead of them is the unbeaten Vikings, who are +62 in point differential for the season.
The chess match between the Lions’ explosive defense and Brian Flores-led Vikings defense should be fascinating. Detroit has the top-ranked scoring offense (30.2 PPG), while the Vikings have the third-ranked scoring defense (15.2 PPG). Of course, the game’s outcome could be determined by how well the Lions adjust to the loss of Aidan Hutchinson following his gruesome leg injury last week.
Blue: Philadelphia Eagles (3-2) at New York Giants (2-4)
The Eagles continue to tread water in the NFC playoff picture, but the vibes are poor around head coach Nick Sirianni. Philadelphia has a minus-six point differential despite its winning record, indicative of a team that has largely skated by on the strength of star performances from A.J. Brown, Saquon Barkley, and DeVonta Smith.
Meanwhile, Daniel Jones is searching for his first home win AND his first touchdown pass at home since the 2022 season. To be fair, that only encompasses a span of five games due to Jones’ torn ACL last season. But the quarterback’s home futility is becoming historic, as he’s tied for the longest streak of home starts without a touchdown pass this century.
Green: Seattle Seahawks (3-3) at Atlanta Falcons (4-2)
The Seahawks have lost three straight games since a 3-0 start and now head on the road for the always tricky 1 p.m. ET start for a Pacific time-zone team. Geno Smith leads the NFL with 1,778 passing yards, but he also has six interceptions after throwing nine all of last season.
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons offense are up to eighth in EPA per play following a slow start and are in great position following three straight division wins. A fourth straight win would be Atlanta’s longest win streak within a single season since 2019.
Yellow: Miami Dolphins (2-3) at Indianapolis Colts (3-3)
Tua Tagovailoa will have to miss at least one more game on injured reserve, meaning the Dolphins will try to scratch out another ugly win with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. Miami has the worst scoring offense in the NFL this season (12.0 PPG), and only the woeful Browns have averaged fewer EPA per play on offense.
The Colts should see second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson return to the starting lineup this week. Richardson suffered an oblique injury in Week 4 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers but is expected to start this week after serving as the emergency third quarterback last week.
NFL Week 7 National TV Broadcasts
Thursday Night
Denver Broncos (3-3) at New Orleans Saints (2-4) (Amazon Prime)
The Saints have lost four straight since a historic offensive output their first two weeks, which feels like a distant memory. In fairness, New Orleans has been ravaged by injuries and could play this game without Derek Carr, Chris Olave, or Rashid Shaheed. Rookie fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler will likely make his second start in this game.
The Broncos have the 29th-ranked offense by EPA per play but have hung around the playoff race thanks to their fourth-ranked scoring defense. Denver likely won’t have cornerback Patrick Surtain II for this game, as he was concussed in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
International Series
New England Patriots (1-5) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5) (NFL Network)
This game kicks off at 9:30 a.m. ET, so you better love this sport to wake up early for this monstrosity. The Patriots and Jaguars currently share the worst record in the NFL with the Browns and Panthers. so this game could play a significant role in who ends up with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Drake Maye did demonstrate promise in his starting debut last week, throwing three touchdowns after New England had two touchdown passes combined in their first five games. Meanwhile, another loss could spell doom for Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, whose players openly talked about how the team quit in their Week 6 loss to the Chicago Bears.
"a lot of quit" – Andre Cisco on the #Jaguars performance in a loss to the Bears in London pic.twitter.com/eDYaH609tf
— BrentDanStuartMarcelAlivia (@ActionSportsJax) October 13, 2024
Sunday Afternoon
Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) at San Francisco 49ers (3-3) (FOX)
The Super Bowl rematch was always going to be one of the most anticipated games of the season. Neither Kansas City nor San Francisco is in peak form yet. Although the Chiefs remain one of two unbeaten teams this year, Kansas City only ranks eighth in point differential, ninth in offensive EPA per play, and 11th in defensive EPA per play.
Meanwhile, the Niners actually have nearly the exact same point differential as the Chiefs (+32, compared to +33 for Kansas City), despite having three more losses. San Francisco sits atop the NFC West after beating the Seahawks last week but has not been above .500 since Week 1. They’ll have to beat Patrick Mahomes for the first time in five tries to accomplish that.
Sunday Night
New York Jets (2-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) (NBC)
The Jets may not be a contender, but they’re certainly interesting. This will be the debut for Davante Adams after his Tuesday trade from Las Vegas to New York, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Adams should be sufficiently healed from the hamstring injury that caused him to miss the last three games (along with his general discontent with the Raiders):
And after missing the past three games with an hamstring injury, Adams also is planning to make his Jets’ debut Sunday night vs. the Steelers, per source. https://t.co/7X1CJNaOzQ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 15, 2024
The Steelers could also see a notable debut of their own, as Russell Wilson appears primed to supplant Justin Fields as the team’s starting quarterback. Wilson has missed the first six games with a calf injury, and though Fields has performed capably in his stead, it appears Pittsburgh is opting for the veteran under center.
Monday Night
Baltimore Ravens (4-2) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2), ESPN/ABC
The first Monday night game will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET with the usual Joe Buck/Troy Aikman crew. Baltimore has won four straight since an 0-2 start, while Tampa Bay is coming off a 51-point explosion in New Orleans.
This game features the Ravens’ fourth-ranked scoring offense against the Buccaneers’ second-ranked scoring offense, which promises plenty of fireworks. Tampa Bay and Baltimore have both struggled to stop opposing quarterbacks this season, which could mean big nights for Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield.
Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) at Arizona Cardinals (2-4), ESPN+
This will be the first Monday Night Football game to air exclusively on ESPN+, which is the network’s streaming service. ESPN has put one game on ESPN+ in each of the last two seasons, but those have both been Sunday morning London games.
The Chargers feature the league’s best scoring defense, a stark change from the Justin Herbert-carried team that they’ve been in recent seasons. Arizona has had statement wins over the Rams and 49ers this season but is 0-4 outside the division.
This will also be Kyler Murray’s first Monday Night Football appearance since tearing his ACL vs. the New England Patriots on Dec. 12, 2022.