Week 7 Picks and Preview

Sorry no 8 In the Box this week...meant to do it this weekend and never got around to it. I'll try and give you a bonus sized Picks column though to compensate.

Only 13 games this week? Do I get credited for this on my Sunday Ticket bill? This is weak. Let's start with the early games.

(3-2) PACKERS AT (1-5) BROWNS

The Packers beat up on the Lions last week, shutting out a team that is awful with their 2 best players, who were missing those 2 best players. Now they get the Browns, who have traded all of their best players, and start a quarterback who completes about 5 passes a game. And half their team has swine flu. The Browns, if you've been paying attention, and I don't see why you would be, have been pretty competitive the last 3 weeks, with a win sandwiched by a couple of games against the Bengals and Steelers where they didn't get blown out.  They're still very horrible though, so I can't pick them to win.

PACKERS 20, BROWNS 10

(2-3) CHARGERS AT (1-5) CHIEFS

San Diego's loss at home to the Broncos on Monday Night dropped them 3 1/2 games out of first place in a division that pretty much everyone was handing them by default going into the season. This team is a mess. And they're soft, by the admission of their own GM.  KC is clearly a team that is getting better, they finally broke thru with a win against the Deadskins last week after playing the Giants and Cowboys tough the previous two weeks. Two ships passing in the night here.

CHIEFS 23, CHARGERS 20

(5-0) COLTS AT (0-6) RAMS

The Rams 23-20 loss to the Jaguars last week was their 16th in a row. Here comes 17!

COLTS 31, RAMS 16

(6-0) VIKINGS AT (4-2) STEELERS

Thanks to Steven Hauschka blowing a 44 yard field goal as time expired last week, the Vikings are still undefeated despite their defense getting worse and worse every week.  I think Ben Roethlisberger goes Roethlisbonkers today against what's been a pretty bad pass defense the last few weeks, and the Steelers authoritatively besoil the Vikings record.

STEELERS 33, VIKINGS 20

(4-2) PATRIOTS AT (0-6) BUCS

Cheerio England! Here's the Tampa Bay Bucs! Enjoy! 

PATRIOTS 37, BUCS 13

(3-2) 49ERS AT (3-3) TEXANS

An interesting matchup of two teams who are trying to be taken seriously. The Texans are coming off a big win on the road over the Bengals where Matt Schaub and company completely butchered the Bengals defense. San Francisco got embarrassed at home their last time out, against the Falcons.  It's completely bizarre how the Texans were just getting gashed by opposing running backs the first 3 weeks, and now they have allowed less than 50 rushing yards each of the last 3 weeks. If the Niners can't run the ball, which judging purely by the way the notoriously inconsistent Texans have played lately, they won't be able to, then they have no chance.

TEXANS 27, NINERS 13