RGIII’s first taste of an NFC East game will be this week
at Met Life Stadium. The NFC East is known for being fast and physical. The
Redskins have to be concerned with the number of hits that RGIII will take in
these types of games. While RGIII is unique because of his running abilities,
he has yet to face a defensive line as talented and athletic as the New York
Giants. Speed, mismatches, and trick plays will be the key here for the
Redskins as they face the Giants in week seven; especially with how well the
Giants offense played last week against the San Francisco 49ers. Expect Eli
Manning and the Giants offense to light up the 27th ranked Redskins
defense.
Washington- 24
NY Giants- 31
Tennessee at
Buffalo
Tennessee- 20
Buffalo- 30
Cleveland at
Indianapolis
This is one of many rookie v rookie quarterback games the
NFL has scheduled this season. While Brandon Weeden doesn’t exactly have the
same starpower that Andrew Luck does, he has proven himself fully capable of
leading this Browns team. He just has to bring them back to relevance a lot
quicker than Luck considering his age. Another interesting matchup to watch in
this game will be veteran receiver Reggie Wayne against young cornerback Joe
Haden. Without Wayne, Luck’s receiving options are limited and the Colts might
not be able to establish a consistent passing attack. Expect Haden and Weeden
to lead the Browns to consecutive wins as the Colts lose their second straight.
Cleveland- 24
Indianapolis- 21
New Orleans at
Tampa Bay
When the Saints go marching into Tampa Bay they will
have a serious chip on their shoulder. They have been completely forgotten
about in any conversation about the playoffs or the NFC South division title.
Granted, an 0-4 start doesn’t warrant any excitement, but this is still a
dangerous football team. Not one team in the league should feel comfortable
with the number of offensive weapons the Saints have. In speaking of offense,
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally demonstrated some semblance of an offensive
attack last week putting up 38 points on the lowly Kansas City chiefs. This
game will be determined by the Buccaneers ability (or inability) to contain
Darren Sproles. An aggressive and young defense could surrender big plays to
the quick passing attack and screen game of the Saints. Drew Brees will have a
monster game in this week 7 matchup against the Bucs.
New Orleans- 42
Tampa Bay- 27
Dallas at
Carolina
When experts discussed the possibility of a sophomore
slump for Cam Newton, they didn’t expect anything quite like this. Newton’s
free fall from Rookie of the Year honors continued before their bye week
completing 41% of his passes for an average of 4.9 yards per completion. His
worst throw came in the redzone with an opportunity to take the lead. Newton
rolled out to his right and threw the ball 5 yards short of a wide open
receiver. Newton’s lack of confidence throwing the ball is severely impacting
his mechanics creating extremely inaccurate throws. Hopefully, Ron Rivera and
the coaching staff were able to instill some sense of confidence in Newton and
fix his mechanical flaws. Week 7 is a must-win game for both the Panthers and
their opponent, the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys biggest enemy continues to be
themselves. They dominated time of possession against the Ravens, gained over
200 yards on the ground, and yet still found a way to lose the game. That won’t
happen this week. The Cowboys will contain Cam Newton and attack the Panthers
defense with a balanced offense. Dallas improves to 3-3 with a road win in
Carolina.
Dallas- 33
Carolina- 26
Baltimore at
Houston
Fear the Ravens, nevermore? It is a question worth asking
concerning the Ravens defense with the loss of Ray Lewis to a torn triceps. It
will not be Lewis’ play that the Ravens miss, but rather the irreplaceable
leadership that he has demonstrated for the last decade. Baltimore was already
struggling to stop opponent’s ground game and now they have to travel to
Houston where Arian Foster and Ben Tate await. The Texans recently suffered
their first loss of the season and will look to avenge that loss this week
against a conference foe. The matchup to watch in this game will be defensive
end J.J. Watt against Ravens tackles Bryant McKinnie and Michael Oher. If
Baltimore is able to contain Watt and the Texans pass rush, Joe Flacco should
have enough time to find open receivers. Watt, however, will not be contained
as the Houston Texans take advantage of
a depleted Ravens defense.
Baltimore- 20
Houston- 27
Green Bay at
St. Louis
The machine is back. Aaron Rodgers looked like his old
self against, statistically, the best defense in the league. His confidence was
back. His winning attitude was back. His mechanics inside the pocket were back.
That means the fear in other teams should be back as well. The next victim of
the number one rated passer will be the St. Louis Rams. While the Rams have
impressed so far this season, their offense will not be able to put up enough
points to keep up with the Packers. Green Bay keeps on rolling, improving to
4-3 with a road win in St. Louis
Green Bay- 40
St. Louis- 21
Arizona at
Minnesota
The Minnesota Vikings have won their four games this
year, including upset wins over the 49ers and Lions, by playing turnover free
football and exceptional defense. In week six against the Redskins, the Vikings
played poor defense, turned the ball over three times, and allowed a special
teams touchdown. A young team like Minnesota cannot afford to make serious
mistakes like it did last week. Minnesota looks to rebound in week seven
against the Arizona Cardinals. While the Cardinals have lost only two games so
far, their team is in a complete free fall. They cannot protect their
quarterback and therefore rank 28th in the league in both passing
and rushing offense. With Jared Allen applying pressure and a steady diet of
Adrian Peterson, the Vikings will improve to 5-2 with a win over the Cards.
Arizona- 17
Minnesota- 26
NY Jets at New
England
After talking with a lot of Jet fans this week, it is
obvious that not many people have a lot of faith in this Jets team. Even though
they lit up the Indianapolis Colts in week six and even though they are tied
with everyone else in the AFC East at 3-3, not one Jet fan said they have a shot this week at beating the Patriots. They are all right. The
Patriots are simply too talented and balanced on offense for the Jets to keep
up. The Jets efforts to confuse the Patriots
defense will be futile. The Tim Tebow at runningback experiment will be a short
and pointless one as the Jets lose to the Pats in Foxsborough.
NY Jets- 14
New England- 34
Jacksonville at
Oakland
The only item worth analyzing in this contest is how poor
the decision to get both starting quarterbacks on these teams was for these
organizations. The Raiders gave away two first round draft picks only to miss
the playoffs last year and start this season with a 1-4 record. The Jaguars
selected Blaine Gabbert with the 10th overall selection in the 2011
NFL draft. Gabbert has shown relatively no signs of improvement and the Jaguars
passing offense continues to rank last in the NFL. With both quarterbacks
struggling, these offenses weigh heavily on their pro-bowl runningbacks. Expect
Darren McFadden to break out in a big way Sunday, facing the 30th
ranked run defense.
Jacksonville- 23
Oakland- 29
Pittsburgh at
Cincinnati
There aren’t many defensive players in the league that
have the impact that Troy Polamalu has on the Pittsburgh Steelers. His
instincts, leadership skills, and knowledge of the game are unique. The Steelers
certainly have missed him this season and would not be 2-3 if he was completely
healthy. Without him this Sunday at Cincinnati, the Steelers will struggle to
stop A.J. Green. With two teams ahead of them in their division and a 2-3
record coming into this game, this is a must-win for the Steelers. Big Ben
plays best under the lights and in key games. He does just that this Sunday
night as the Steelers steal a win from the Bengals in a high-scoring contest.
Pittsburgh- 35
Cincinnati- 34
Detroit at
Chicago
The Detroit Lions are two miraculous come from behind
wins in weeks one and six from being 0-5. They are an undisciplined team with
no balance on offense. Without balance, opposing defenses know that Stafford
had to find a way to get the ball to Calvin Johnson, who is usually being
double-covered. They travel to Chicago in week seven for a division game with
the Bears in what is a must-win game for the Lions. The Lions will not get that
win. The Bears will eliminate Calvin Johnson from the Lions gameplan,
effectively eliminating any chance the Lions have of winning this game.
Detroit- 17
Chicago- 33
Seattle at San Francisco
In a matter of two years, the NFC West has gone from a
division that was once considered the laughing stock of the league to arguably
the most complete division in the NFL. The top two teams in the division, the
Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, meet on Thursday Night Football with
matching 4-2 records. Nobody had it better than Jim Harbaugh and the San
Francisco 49ers after demolishing the Jets and the Bills in weeks four and
five. However, the number one rushing team in the league only managed to muster
80 rushing yards against the Giants, turned the ball over three times, and
allowed over 4 yards per rush to Ahmad Bradshaw. Harbaugh and the 49ers need to
fix the running game on both sides of the ball quickly as they only have three
days to prepare for the Seahawks arrival at Candlestick Park. The Seahawks
rollercoaster ride of a season continued Sunday with another miraculous comeback
win over the Patriots orchestrated by rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. With
exceptional defenses on both sidelines, this game will be determined by the
team that can control the time of possession and convert on third downs with
the most efficiency. Expect Jim Harbaugh to have the 49ers motivated in a
divisional game at home as the 49ers take command of the NFC West and the
Seahawks fall to 0-3 in divisional games.
Seattle- 20
San Francisco- 28
