Those of you who have committed yourselves to reading our weekly NFL picks are likely aware that Doc and Del appear to be back on track. After struggling in the early going, Doc Brown has eclipsed the 50-percent mark with both his overall picks against the spread and top-3 picks of the week. Del’s top-3 picks continue to do well while his overall picks against the spread are creeping closer and closer into the 50-percent range. After another successful week in which he went 8-5 against the spread, Del brings you his Week 7 Expert NFL Picks. As you can see there are plenty of close spreads this week which means the match-ups were a little more challenging. Be sure to jump ahead after the picks sheet for top-3 analysis.
(ATS = Against the Spread, SU = Straight Up)
The first team I like this week is Tampa Bay favored by a point at the neutral site in London. Despite not having LeGarrette Blount, the Bucs came up with a huge upset victory over the Saints at home last weekend. Having won four of their last five and hung tough with Detroit Week 1, Tampa’s 48-3 loss to the Niners was an obvious fluke. They did exactly what they needed to do in bouncing back against New Orleans on Sunday and have looked like a better team than Chicago all year. Not to mention, the Bears are dealing with a number of in-house issues and traveling all the way to London for a game shouldn’t help their focus. Look for Josh Freeman and company to get it done in front of the British fans.
Another team with a favorable Week 7 match-up that is not laying many points is Carolina. The Panthers are favored by less than a field goal against a Redskins team that will use John Beck as its quarterback for the first time this season. Changing quarterbacks is never easy, let alone on the road against a team that has played a lot better than its record indicates. Washington’s defense is underrated but they should have a tough time stopping Cam Newton like everyone else has. The Redskins will rely heavily on their running game, but with Ryan Torain following up his monster debut with a dud last week and Tim Hightower still banged up that is hardly a slam dunk. Carolina has yet to be blown out this season and I see them keeping it close enough this week to pull out a late victory over the Redskins.
Finally, I’m rolling with the Packers on the road against the lowly Vikings. Minnesota was blown out by Chicago last weekend and will now look to rookie Christian Ponder to right the ship against the defending Super Bowl champions. The Vikings lost by 29 to the Bears with a veteran starter under center, so why should we think Green Bay can’t beat them by more than nine? Stranger things have happened, but this one seems like the lock of the month.
