Xie also had another Chargers matchup right behind, however, ranking their trip to Miami as the 15th-best game on the schedule.
Of course, that matchup includes two of the top quarterbacks from the 2020 draft class in Chargers' Justin Herbert and Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa, who will play in Miami for the first time since 2020 — and a battle between two AFC playoff hopefuls that could have stakes.
Xie wrote:
Picked back-to-back in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert will always be compared and linked. This would be the fourth career head-to-head matchup, with the Dolphins winning two of the first three and every game being decided by one score… The Dolphins and Chargers figure to occupy the same Wild-Card-contention neighborhood this season, so this should also have significant playoff implications.
And finally, the Bolts also made Iyer's rankings at No. 22 for their home game against the Minnesota Vikings.
The battle between Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter and the rest of the Michigan connections against their former college quarterback J.J. McCarthy is one to watch for and one of the best storyline games.
Iyer wrote:
The Vikings are headed toward starting J.J. McCarthy at QB after his rookie season was wiped out by a knee injury. Minnesota has plenty of notable games, including the six inside the NFC North, but this has some extra punch with McCarthy facing off vs. his former Michigan coach and also facing Jesse Minter's Michigan-adjacent defense.