NFL Lucky Seven

It's Week Seven, so we try to get Lucky -


--------------------


Seahawks over CARDINALS -  The Cards have played better than expected, but that won't last.


DOLPHINS over Bills - Buffalo has actually played well overall and Thad Lewis showed something as raw as he is to the league.   But Miami now has too much firepower here.


PANTHERS over Rams - The Panthers have begun turning their program around while the Rams remain curiously inconsistent.


REDSKINS over Bears - The Skins have played rather poorly this season and the Bears come off another win, but the Bears didn't show particular inspiration in defeating a winless Giants team with no prospect of a turnaround.


LIONS over Bengals - Both teams are showing good muscle; this could be a high-scoring affair.


EAGLES over Cowboys - The Eagles have begun turning their program around and Nick Foles is starting to show he's for real.


Chargers over JAGUARS - San Diego ground out a somewhat sloppy win over the Colts; they should display some flash against the winless Jaguars.


Patriots over NY JETS - Though he's shown genuine promise, Geno Smith has thrown ten picks, and the Patriots are coming off their most inspiring win in years, the kind of win that launches a playoff run even with Rob Gronkowski jerking the team around; curiously rumors of a possible WR/TE trade to New England remain even as the rookies steadily step up their game.


FALCONS over Buccaneers - Neither team is good as far as making a playoff push goes.   The Falcons likely are out of the playoffs but will still fight.


TITANS over 49ers - The Titans have blown winnable games in back to back weeks with poor play from Ryan Fitzpatrick at the worst time; Jake Locker has returned to the practice field but is unlikely to suit up for this game.   Fitzpatrick needs to step up his game as the Titans are capable of stopping the Niners.


Ravens over STEELERS - The Ravens are mediocre, the Steelers are worse.   Neither team has a playoff shot.


PACKERS over Browns - Two of Green Bay's three wins have come at home.  Even with heavy odds and insifficient muscle against the Lions last week, the Browns are a team that can beat good opponents, especially a Packers team that overall has shown itself overrated.


CHIEFS over Texans - It gets uglier and uglier for Houston in a season most resembling the Oilers' brutal 1994 fiasco of a year.  Matt Schaub has to go now - he has fallen apart as a quarterback and fan hatred has gotten far out of hand.  


COLTS over Broncos - This sounds like a reach given Peyton Manning's rampage this season, but the Broncos aren't stopping anyone and Andrew Luck wants to put the ugly loss at San Diego behind him.   This looks like a shootout in the making.


Vikings over NY GIANTS - The Vikings were crushed big-time by the Panthers last week and have just one win.   It is looking like a lost year for the Vikings but it's already a lost cause for the winless Giants as Eli Manning's competence has flat deserted him.



So it goes for Week Seven.





UPDATE: POSTED OCTOBER 20 - The Patriots lost their game to the Jets 30-27 on a controversial penalty against them on a failed Jets FGA in overtime - and the controversy over the penalty gets even murkier with reports claiming the rule in question was hastily added to the rulebook after the game. Here also is Tom Curran's report on the issue.