Vikings-Steelers and Other NFL Week 7 Predictions

After a two-week hiatus, I’m back on the case.

These past few weeks have been very tumultuous in the NFL. The Ravens lost three straight after looking to be sure-fire Super Bowl contenders.

The Titans, after going 13-3 in last year’s regular season, are now looking worse than ever at a miserable 0-6. 

Mark Sanchez is looking more and more like a USC quarterback than ever. 

And the supposedly shattered, oft-criticized Broncos are undefeated after beating the Chargers in a glorious Monday Night Football victory.

Week Seven looks to be just as hard to predict with the 49ers in Houston, the terrible Bills visiting the terrible Panthers, and an interesting matchup between the 3-2 Bears and the 4-2 Bengals.

The Game of the Week, however, should be the Minnesota Vikings against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with a “healthy” Troy Polamalu (he looked a little ragged by the end of the last game) against rocket-armed Brett Favre, and Jared Allen against the hard-to-sack Ben Roethlisberger.

Week Seven is also another bye week with six teams missing out on the action. Those teams are as follows: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, and Tennessee Titans.

 

Sunday, October 25, 1:00 PM EST

Indianapolis Colts at St. Louis Rams

Peyton Manning has been looking better than ever and he’s been able to use receivers that no one’s heard of before. The Colts defense has also been playing top-notch football, despite missing Bob Sanders.

The Rams are in need of some serious tuning-up. I feel sorry for Steve Spagnuolo, who deserves to be coaching a better team, and both Marc Bulger and Kyle Boller, who deserve better front lines.

This is a team that could really use a bye week. Something has to give here, but this is a bad game to start hoping. They almost beat the Jags last week. Maybe they can beat the Lions next week or the Titans in Week 14.

Winner: Indianapolis

 

New England Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

There’s no doubt about it … Tom Brady is back. The man broke the record for most touchdown passes in a quarter, and his team broke the record for largest spread while demolishing the Titans. Don’t look for them to slow down at all against the second worst team in the league.

The Bucs are in sad shape. Still reeling from their firing of John Gruden and Jeff Garcia, I suppose. This team needs a quarterback, a better coach, and some counseling, especially when they have to compete against one of the best offenses in the league.

Winner: New England

 

Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns

Green Bay is starting to worry me. Yes, they beat the Lions, but that’s not saying much. Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 25 times, and a quarterback like that needs protecting.

I’m not about to say that the Browns can win this game. They can’t. But if they had the D-Line that Denver has, or even a quarterback of mediocre caliber, they could.

If the Pack gets another big game out of Driver, however, this should be an easy win.

Winner: Green Bay

 

Minnesota Vikings at Pittsburgh Steelers

Minnesota looks better and better each week. The only reason they Ravens almost won in Week Six was because of a fourth quarter defensive breakdown. But not to worry.  All season, the Steelers have been suffering fourth quarter offensive breakdowns regularly.

If Jared Allen can actually catch the always-mobile Ben Roethlisberger while galloping through Pittsburgh’s porous O-Line, his big day will turn into a Viking rout.

The Steelers love to play at home, and they love having Troy Polamalu in the secondary. Brett won’t be able to gun-sling as much as he did last week or he’ll run into big problems.

With both these teams’ offensive and defensive power, this should be a huge game.  However, the Steelers had four turnovers last week. It was their luck that the Browns were unable to capitalize. With the Purple People Eaters, they won’t be so fortunate.

Winner: Minnesota

 

San Francisco 49ers at Houston Texans

The 49ers have had a week off to look into why they were crushed by the Atlanta Falcons and don’t think for a second that Mike Singletary has let the team rest. If there is anyone who can get this defense rolling again, it’s Mike.

However, the Texans are coming off a huge win against the overrated Bengals. Matt Schaub has thrown more TDs than any other starting quarterback (that’s right, I said Matt Schaub), and Andre Johnson wants to win … bad.

Here, Houston is more motivated and playing in front of the home crowd. As much as I love Singletary, this a bad team to come back against.

Winner: Houston

 

San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs

The Chargers are, for lack of a better word, pissed. They came off a bye and immediately lost to a fierce rival. Though I always enjoy watching the all-talk-no-walk Philip Rivers flounder, he is a man that easily holds a grudge, and is quick (and able) to carry it out.

The Kansas City Chiefs won their first game last week against the pathetic Redskins. Congratulations are in order. However, you’re going up against an angry team that can’t afford to lose any more division games than they already have. Good luck with that.

Winner: San Diego

 

Sunday, October 25, 4:05 PM EST

Buffalo Bills at Carolina Panthers

Buffalo is riding high off their overtime win over the Jets (forcing Mark Sanchez, Wonderboy, to throw five picks). However, they lost to the Browns the week before, the only team to do so. The Bills offense is still too up-and-down to pick them as outright the winner of a game.

That said, is there any quarterback more up-and-down than Jake Delhomme? Probably not. Needless to say, he did seem to get his act together after the bye-week and is looking to capitalize on a thrilling victory over the Bucs last week. That and the Panthers run game is much improved, allowing them to avoid all those terrible throws Jake would be forced to make.

Winner: Carolina

 

New York Jets at Oakland Raiders

Mark Sanchez finally got his “Welcome to the NFL” moment last week against the Bills, throwing five interceptions and looking, well, like a rookie from USC without enough experience under his belt to justify drafting him.

However, he has shown that he can hold his own in the pocket and the five picks are actually uncharacteristic for him. It seemed as though the Jets just weren’t taking the game seriously. This week, they will not make the same mistake.

Oakland probably thinks they can get to the Super Bowl after beating the Eagles last week. Unfortunately, both Tom Cable and JaMarcus Russell are still employed by the organization, so that dream was born crushed. Last week, the Raiders got lucky. This week they play a team so angry and desperate to get to the bye, they should just run the Raiders over.

Winner: New York Jets

 

Sunday, October 25, 4:15 PM EST

Atlanta Falcons at Dallas Cowboys

The Falcons looked great while pummeling the Chicago Bears to a pulp last Sunday night. They may have started a little slow but by the end of the game, Matt Ryan and Tony Gonzalez were on fire. Look for them to do the same thing this weekend.

Dallas had a week off to figure out what was wrong with their offense. Well, considering the two things wrong are Tony Romo and Jerry Jones, I don’t think they got rid of them. Their run game is the only thing saving them, but Atlanta showed that they can stop that easily.

Winner: Atlanta

 

New Orleans Saints at Miami Dolphins

Utterly destroying the Giants to remain undefeated proved that if there’s one thing the Saints can do, it’s score points. They also showed that their defense can hold their own against an amazing team, but can it hold up against the Wildcat?

The Dolphins had the week off to celebrate their victory over division rival New York Jets, but if they can’t get points on the board faster, they’ll have no chance against the high-flying Saints.

Winner: New Orleans

 

Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals

Jay Cutler is angry, very angry. His offensive collapse (or Atlanta’s defensive hold, depending on how you look at it) at the end of last week’s game is not something he wants to repeat. As much as I rag on Cutler for whining (and his last post-game press conference was hilarious), he is actually a very good quarterback.

After winning against the Ravens in Week Five, the Bengals look like they could use a cat nap (not unlike how the Ravens looked after their close loss to the Pats). It’s as if the Cardiac Cats used up all nine lives on four straight heart-pounding wins. That and Chad Ochenta-Y-Cinco is already talking about what his next TD celebration will be and … when was the last time we saw one of those?

Winner: Chicago

 

Sunday, October 25, 8:20 PM EST

Arizona Cardinals at New York Giants

This one is simple. The Giants got embarrassed last week. Eli Manning won’t let that happen again. All this talk about “I don’t know how their secondary will hold up against blah, blah, blah.” Kurt Warner, though great, is not Drew Brees, and the Cardinal offense is nowhere near that of the Saints, especially their run game. New York will own.

Winner: New York Giants

 

Monday, October 26, 8:30 PM EST

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins

This seems to be the week of teams that got embarrassed in Week Six going on the crush their Week Seven opponents. Monday night’s game is no different. The Eagles were dealt a harsh blow by the hapless Oakland Raiders and are looking to bounce back, hard, against their division rivals this week.

The Redskins were dealt a blow by the winless Chiefs in Week Six, but that’s not really embarrassing, just par-for-the-course for the Washington Redskins. Jim Zorn is a fine coach, but he should never have been given all the responsibilities he had at one time.

However, changing things in the middle of the season won’t help. In fact, it will probably just make things worse.

Winner: Philadelphia

 

Hopefully Tampa Bay can put up some kind of fight against New England this weekend.  If they don’t, what are our British cousins to think of our superior sport? It should be a contest just to intrigue them into accepting “football” as football and not soccer.

As always, I shall leave you with my Super Bowl prediction. In my opinion, these are the two best teams in the league … for now.

Super Bowl XLIV Pick: Indianapolis Colts over New Orleans Saints

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Ravens-Browns: Week Three Report Card

Ravens fans have never seen this before.  Their team scored 34 points?…in one game?…all by the offense? 

It can’t be. 

Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, it is undoubtedly true.  The Ravens, God be praised, have an offense.

Long gone are the ways of Brian Billick and running it up the middle 18 times in a row before throwing it once. 

Gone are the days when the Ravens couldn’t run a screen to save their lives, much less stop one. 

No ladies and gentlemen, the Ravens are better than ever, and though their 34-3 victory came against a struggling (to say the least) Cleveland Browns team, there is hope that this may last a bit longer.

Though I don’t remember the exact outcome of the coin-toss, the Ravens kicked the opener away to the Browns offense. Soon after, every aspect of the game seemed to fall into their hands.

Brady Quinn, ever so kindly, decided to give the ball back to the Ravens via an interception by Domonique Foxworth, who then lateraled the ball to Ray Lewis, who then ran back to the 31-yard line.

Six plays later, Willis McGahee ran into the endzone, nearly untouched, from the seven-yard line.  It was followed up nicely by a Steve Hauschka extra point, and all done before five minutes of game time had elapsed.

In the second quarter, the Ravens defense had little trouble forcing the Browns to give the ball back several times. The first offensive appearance in this quarter ended with the Ravens’ second field goal of the day (Steve Hauschka for 33 yards) after a 16-play, 82-yard, seven-minute drive. 

Baltimore once again forced a three-and-out by the Browns and then began an impressive 80-yard drive that was completed in under three minutes.  This one, however, was capped off with another Willis McGahee touchdown from the 15-yard line.

The third quarter saw Derek Anderson replacing Brady Quinn as the Browns quarterback, but he had no better luck against a pumped up Baltimore defense. Never before had the Ravens “D” seen their hard work pay-off in the form of so many Ravens offensive scoring drives.

And while that must have been a nice feeling for the defense, they wanted to prove that they were still the stars of the show.

Brendon Ayanbadejo was the first to intercept Anderson. His run-back set up the Ravens first successful offensive drive of the half. 

Only four plays later, Ray Rice got his first career rushing touchdown, untouched, into the endzone from nine yards out.  However, special teams play and lacksadaisical defensive play allowed the Cleveland offense to move down the field and set up a field goal.

That simultaneously started the fourth quarter and ended the Ravens’ hopes of a shutout.

However, giving up the field goal would be the only Browns score the Ravens would have to worry about. 

On the next Browns possession, Anderson was intercepted a second time, this time by Dawan Landry.  This turnover allowed Joe Flacco to throw a bomb pass to Derrick Mason, who made an amazing catch, followed by a quick cut-and-run into the endzone for the Ravens fourth touchdown of the game. 

After that play, the Ravens second-string offense would play the rest of the game.

End Result: Ravens 34, Browns 3

The fact that the game was a blowout doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement for Baltimore. The Ravens, though amazing this past week, need to seriously prepare for their upcoming battle in Foxborough against the Patriots.

First, let’s talk about the offense. 

Joe Flacco had his second career-day this season, throwing for 342 yards and a touchdown.  However, he threw many of his passes too high and far too close to defenders. 

If the Browns had even a half-decent defense, Flacco would have been picked-off at least once, if not more.  He needs to keep throwing the short, super-fast passes up the middle to avoid a loss in New England.

Running backs Ray Rice, and particularly Willis McGahee, had a great day this past Sunday.  McGahee looks to try and reclaim the No. 1 slot in the backfield (it was taken by Ray Rice in the off-season), and may just do it if he can have a repeat performance next week. 

Some, if not most, of the credit for the running, however, should go to the offensive line.  Their blocking, in particular that of Jared Gaither and Michael Oher, was impeccable.

For the first time in quite a while, I saw the wide receivers have an amazing day.  Though there was only one passing touchdown, the receivers were everywhere and allowed Flacco to have a great game.  Todd Heap has reemerged as a reliable receiver, and Kelly Washington is quite a pleasant surprise.

As for the defense, the line was, as always, amazing.  Though I can’t imagine any team’s D-line looking bad against the Browns, Terrell Suggs finally had a decent day, as did Trevor Pryce. 

The linebackers could still use a little work, as the Browns few completed passes were short and up the middle, and gains after catches were a little too long.  Also, the Ravens secondary was looking much improved, getting three interceptions and stopping the deep threat. 

Of course, again, let’s not forget, they were playing the Browns.

Lastly, we should look at the special teams.  Always a problem for Baltimore is covering kick and punt returns. 

Though Joshua Cribbs didn’t do as well as he normally does, he still gained far too many yards in my opinion.  The Ravens also still seem to have trouble getting anything going in terms of returning the ball themselves.  They also need to watch getting as many penalties as they did last week on special teams.

All-in-all, a great day for the Ravens and their many fans.  It looks like, hopefully, the offense is here to stay.  They will need to prepare long and hard for all their games between now and their Week Seven bye. 

They face the always tough Patriots in Foxborough, the surprisingly good Cincinnati Bengals at home, and then travel to the frozen North to meet Brett Favre and the Vikings.

 

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