So my week 6 picks were not quite as magical as my week 5 picks. I came back down to earth after going 4-0 in week 5 and last week posted a 2-2 records. The saints failed to cover the -5.5 spread in tampa and buffalo couldn’t pull out the win in New York. Fitzpatrick’s last minute interception in the red-zone cost them the game and gave them a loss going into their bye week. Leaving my record at 6-2 after two weeks of predicting spreads. This week is going to be hard one to fantasy owners as many of the best offenses in the league are on bye weeks, The Bills, Bengals, Patriots, Giants, Eagles and 49ners. Either way there is still 26 teams in action rolling into week 7 and with several interesting divisional matchup’s. With the most intriguing in my opinion being the Oakland Kansas City game, due to Oakland’s acquisition of Carson Palmer from the Bengals bringing him out of his retirement.
Here’s the week 7 games and spread’s given from Proline.
San Diego (-2.5) @ NY Jets
Houston @ Tennessee (-3)
Washington @ Carolina (-3.5)
Denver @ Miami (-0.5)
Seattle @ Cleveland (-3.0)
Atlanta @ Detroit (-3.5)
Chicago (-1.5) @ Tampa (this game is actually played in London England)
Pittsburgh (-4.5) @ Arizona
Kansas City @ Oakland (-5.5)
Green Bay (-10.5) @ Minnesota
St. Louis @ Dallas (-14.5)
Indianapolis @ New Orleans (-14.5)
Baltimore @ Jacksonville (-9.5)
GAME 1
REDSKINS VS PANTHERS (-3.5)
My first pick of week 7 is the panthers to cover -3.5 given to them at home and carolina taking home their second win of season improving to 2-5 and the redskins falling to 3-3. The reason I chose this game was due to last weeks outcome. The Eagles covered the spread of -1.5 that was given to them in Washington and Cam Newton plays the same style of quarterback that Michael Vick does. Both love heavy downfield coverage because it translates into open room to utilize their speed and run to pick up first down’s with their legs. The second thing I looked at when choosing this pick was Rex Grossman’s 4 interceptions last week that saw him get pulled and replaced by John Beck. The redskins quarterback situation is up in the air right now and the panthers secondary ranks 11th in the league right behind the eagles.
In addition to this, I think the panthers a long past due for a win. Cam Newton is beginning to look more like the rookie he is, however this game I think we will see him back to the Cam of early passing for over 300 yards with 3 TD (2 passing, 1 rushing). The Redskins defense is one of the better in the league but I think playing away from home; along with the Panthers 5th ranked offense in the league should prove the difference in this one. I’m still not convinced the Redskins are an above .500 team this season even with their current 3-2 record. Chalk up the Panthers first since week 3.
Final Score – Redskins 17 – Panthers 31
GAME 2
BRONCOS VS MIAMI (-0.5)
Alright so this games spread is basically pic a winner, and I’m gonna go with the Denver in this one. Miami looked awful on monday night, their only bright spot was the fact that brandon marshall seems to be returning to the elite receiver he once was in Denver. Now I made this choice for a couple different reasons. #1 – Miami is playing a shortened week due to the monday night game they just played, this means less time for rest and they’re gonna be more banged up going into this 1pm game on sunday. #2 The Bronco’s are coming off their bye week and have had tons of time to prepare for this team, I’m sure Champ Bailey had more than enough time to analyze Brandon Marshall tape and should have no problem shutting him down on sunday much like Revis did on monday night. Last but not least, the reason I think Denver is going to win this game is because of Tim Tebow! The Broncos coaches have finally made a good choice this season and given fans what they wanted. To see their 1st round pick finally lead their offense.
Now I know that Tebow has not seen much playing time and primarily is brought in to play on short goal line carries and running plays, I can see him having a big impact on sunday against this Dolphins weak secondary. He showed up in week 5 that he is capable of playing at this level and deserves the starting job when he almost made the come back complete against the Chargers in a game that I thought would be an all out blowout. Even with Lloyd being traded to St. Louis earlier this week I don’t think that Denver is going to miss a beat. In this game expect to see a Tim Tebow coming out party with everyone on the offense benefiting from this move. Tebow fits in with the Vick/Newton style quarterbacks around the league as he is capable of running for those short yardage downs when needed.
Something else that should be meantioned is that Tebow played his college football in Maimi. This game immediately sold out over twenty thounsand tickets onces fan’s heard Tebow would be making the start for Denver. People in Florida love Tebow and don’t be surprised to see many fan’s cheering for their college hero. Expect to see Matt Moore struggling again this week against Denver’s Defense good for at least 1 pick.
Final Score – Broncos 24 – Miami 20
GAME 3
FALCONS VS LIONS (-3.5)
My third pick of the week is the Lions to cover -3.5 at home against the Falcons. The main reason I chose this pick was due to how terrible the falcons look this year. Yeah…Okay they beat the Panthers last week whoop-d-doo, they still looked as though they might lose that game last week at home. If it weren’t for Michael Turners 139 yards and 2 TD’s they would have lost this game. Roddy White was virtually invisible and this week should be no different against the leagues 6th ranked pass defense.
The Lions really flopped last week against the 49ners and I think this week they are gonna bounce back big-time. No way Megatron goes two weeks in a row without a touchdown as the Falcons defense is 27th in the league. Atlanta has only won 1 game on the road this season and that was against Seattle in week 4, no don’t get me wrong the Seahawks do have a 2-3 record but in my opinion they are still one of the worst teams in the league. Atlanta just hasn’t been the team they were in 2010 and Matt Ryan has really struggled this year against any team with a solid secondary. This week we should see no different and the Lion’s coming back with a vengeance after blowing the 4th quarter lead over San Fran to ruin their perfect record on the season. Matt Stafford is gonna come out hot and be looking for Megatron early and often all day long. Look for him to have 4 TD’s on the day against this Falcons terrible secondary and the Lion’s defense to do a surprisingly good job at closing Michael Turners running lanes.
Final Score – Falcons 21 – Lions 35
GAME 4
CHIEFS VS RAIDERS (-5.5)
My last pick of the week is the newly transformed Raiders offense to punish the chiefs on their home turf. I think the Raiders should run away with this one early. They made a blockbuster trade this week to bring Carson Palmer out of retirement from Cincinnati due to Jason Campbell’s season ending injury. Now we might not see Carson starting in this game due to his absence from football for so long and not touching a football until earlier this week, expect to see him play at some point during this game.
This game is going to be the Raiders 2nd ranked rushing offense against the Chiefs 23rd ranked rush defense. If Kansas City can’t find a way to stop the run, and I don’t think they will; look for Darren McFadden to have a huge day. The way that Oakland will have to separate this game is to find out how to get their 28th worst passing defense to stop Dwayne Bowe. He has been huge the last couple weeks posting back to back 100 yard games and 3 touchdowns between those games. If Oakland can isolate this man it should shut down the Chiefs offense and translate into covering this spread no problem. Look for McFadden to rush for over 100 yards and 1 TD during this sunday.
Final Score – Chiefs 17 – Raiders 30