Week 7 Picks

Last week I was burnt by four favored teams losing at home and one squeaker of an upset pick gone wrong. My only true surprising loss was the Eagles losing to the Raiders. It was surprising, but not terribly harmful, as only one person in our pool picked the Raiders and he is – um, to be polite he is “not competitive”. 8-6 for the week was enough to drop me to a .622 winning percentage. (That still doesn’t make any sense to me – shouldn’t it be 62.2%???)

This week I am following the same unsuccessful formula because that’s what I do. My one upset this week will be the 4-1 Falcons over the 3.5 point favorite Cowboys (3-2) in Dallas. The Cowboys fail to impress me. They struggled in their last game against the Chiefs (who appear to be making quite a few teams struggle this year). Their offense is extremely productive in yardage, but not so much in points. Enter the A-T-L’s defense that appears to give up plenty of yards, but not the points. Atlanta’s schedule has been tough this year. Each of their wins has been impressive. Their wins were Miami, Carolina, Chicago and @ San Francisco (in extreme-stomping fashion). Their one loss came on the road @ The Patties.

The Patties have the biggest point spread (-15) this week, and it’s no surprise after their 59-0 whooping of the Tennessee Titans. They are facing the Tampa Bay Bucs, the worst team in the NFL. The Bucs retain this title, as they have the easier schedule of all the winless teams thus far. Their schedule is actually pretty tough for the whole year, but they failed to pull one out against the Redskins, and they allowed 33 points to the anemic Jauron’s Team. Could we have both the Rams and the Bucs go winless this year? Wouldn’t that be something!

The closest spread this week is the Bears @ the Bengals (-1.5). Giving a road team one-and-a-half points is like having the odds-makers throw their hands up. It doesn’t do much for my philosophy of picking the favorite either. I’m just going with an old time formula: never count on Jay Cutler to win a close one. Unless it’s against the Chargers and you have an official with a quick whistle. I picked the Bengals. Oh, and for those of you who don’t pay attention like me, the Bengals happen to be in first place, and are undefeated in their division after playing each team.

I’d say I’m excited about Week 7 in the NFL, but I fly home the next day. I get to watch Week 8 in the comfort of home with my kids rolling their eyes when I shout at the TV and make fun of Dan Dierdorf. I just can’t wait for Week 7 to be over.