NFL Pointspread Contest: Week 7

[Anthony]

Sunday, October 22:

N.Y. JETS 3 1/2 over Detroit (1:00 PM ET)
New England 5 1/2 over BUFFALO
Pittsburgh 1 1/2 over ATLANTA
MIAMI 3 1/2 over Green Bay
Philadelphia 4 over TAMPA BAY
CINCINNATI 3 over Carolina
Jacksonville 9 over HOUSTON
San Diego 5 over KANSAS CITY
Denver 5 1/2 over CLEVELAND (4:05 PM ET)
INDIANAPOLIS 9 1/2 over Washington (4:15 PM ET)
Arizona 3 over OAKLAND
SEATTLE 7 over Minnesota


Monday, October 23:

DALLAS 3 over N.Y. Giants (5:30 PM ET)


BYES: Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco, Tennessee

Home team in CAPS; tie-breaker games in red.

Don't forget to designate three picks as Best Bets.

For complete contest rules, click here.

[Anthony]

1

Last week: 7-5-1. Season totals: 43-39-5, Pct. .523. Best Bets: 6-9-3, Pct. .417.

Home team in capital letters; point spreads (opening line) in parentheses after underdog team; selections with point spreads in bold.

SUNDAY

Detroit 20 (+3 1/2), N.Y. JETS 14 - The Jets nearly ran out of gas at the end against Miami last week and the home team here has non-covered four in a row; in fact, in their last visit the Lions won on the road for the last time in what turned out to be nearly four years, during which Detroit lost an NFL-record 24 consecutive road games.

New England 17, BUFFALO 7 (+5 1/2) - Patriots are rather limited on offense right now but have beaten Buffalo in eleven of the last twelve and Bill Belichick will make sure they don't take the Bills too lightly the way they did at home in the season opener.

Carolina 35 (+3), CINCINNATI 24 - The Panthers are back on the right track offensively and the Bengals are predictably finding life a lot more difficult this year with their much tougher schedule. In addition, Carolina is a stellar 12-4-1 against the line on artificial turf since 2003.

MIAMI 23, Green Bay 16 (+3 1/2) - Slumbering Miami offense finally woke up in the fourth quarter of last week's game and Green Bay's next win in South Florida will be its first ever (0-6 straight up lifetime).

TAMPA BAY 20 (+4), Philadelphia 9 - Could Bruce Gradkowski be this year's Kyle Orton? The 1-4 Bucs (Chicago got off to a 1-3 start a year ago) have played the league's toughest schedule (their first five opponents are 19-9, with four of the nine losses coming in games against one another) but will have all the momentum on their side in this one and should pull off an upset which hardly would have been considered such before the season began.

Pittsburgh 23, ATLANTA 13 (+1 1/2) - Big Ben finally heard the alarm clock last week and Pittsburgh's current nine-game winning streak over NFC teams is the longest for any team in interconference play. The Steelers also haven't lost to the Falcons since 1970 and are 11-1-1 straight up in the lifetime series.

San Diego 24, KANSAS CITY 20 (+5) - This is a game best stayed away from. Trent Green may finally return here from his opening-day concussion, and if he does the Chiefs should at least keep it close.

Jacksonville 16, HOUSTON 13 (+9) - Don't be fooled by Jacksonville's 41-0 win over the Jets two weeks ago, as they gained a rather ordinary 312 total yards; and rain (which is forecast for Houston this weekend) would further enhance the home underdog's attractiveness in this spot (by mandating the closure of Reliant Stadium's retractable roof; the Jaguars have dropped four in a row indoors).

Denver 10, CLEVELAND 6 (+5 1/2) - At this point the Broncos have almost no offense and Romeo Crennel has Cleveland's defense hustling, so taking the points and the "under" (the total opened at 33) looks like a foolproof built-in parlay.

INDIANAPOLIS 23, Washington 20 (+9 1/2) - Indy's near upset loss to the lowly Titans at home should serve as a big-time red flag and the Skins have covered six straight inside NFL domes (and won them all outright as well), and also their last four versus the Colts; definitely taking.

SEATTLE 17, Minnesota 6 (+7) - The Seahawks may have broken the back of the Super Bowl Runner-Up Jinx with their win last week as only one of the previous seven Super Bowl losers started 4-1 after five games the following year, and that was the 2000 Titans, the only one of the septet to evade a losing season. The Vikings are probably now regretting their offseason decision to stand pat at the quarterback position, and Seattle's active twelve-game home winning streak - the NFL's longest - includes a 10-2 spread record.

OAKLAND 34 (+3), Arizona 10 - How do you come back from what the Cardinals have pulled the last two weeks? The stock answer is that you don't - for a long, long time. Warts and all (and that's the eternal understatement), the Raiders are the best bet of the week.

MONDAY NIGHT

N.Y. Giants 21 (+3), DALLAS 17 - One thing stands out here above all else: Both teams are 3-2, but the Giants have done it against five teams with a combined record of 18-9 while Dallas' five opponents are 11-17. This figures to give the Giants an important competitive edge.

BEST BETS: CAROLINA, TAMPA BAY, OAKLAND

[bama4256]

2

N.Y. JETS
BUFFALO
ATLANTA
MIAMI
Philadelphia -BB
Carolina
Jacksonville
San Diego
Denver
INDIANAPOLIS -BB
Arizona
SEATTLE


Monday, October 23:

N.Y. Giants-BB

[The Pirate Bob]

3

N.Y. JETS
New England BB
Pittsburgh BB
MIAMI
Philadelphia
CINCINNATI
Jacksonville
San Diego
Denver
INDIANAPOLIS
Arizona BB
SEATTLE

DALLAS

[themush]

4

Detroit
New England (BB)
ATLANTA
Green Bay
TAMPA BAY
Carolina (BB)
Jacksonville
San Diego
Denver
Washington
Arizona (BB)
Minnesota
N.Y. Giants

[#99]

5

N.Y. JETS
New England
Pittsburgh
MIAMI
Philadelphia
Carolina (BB)
Jacksonville
San Diego (BB)
CLEVELAND
Washington
OAKLAND
Minnesota
N.Y. Giants (BB)

[Ellis]

6

N.Y. JETS
New England
Pittsburgh
Green Bay BB
Philadelphia
Carolina
Jacksonville
San Diego
Denver
INDIANAPOLIS BB
Arizona BB
SEATTLE
N.Y. Giants

[Marc]

7

N.Y. JETS
New England (BB)
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Philadelphia (BB)
CINCINNATI
Jacksonville
San Diego
Denver (BB)
INDIANAPOLIS
Arizona
SEATTLE
N.Y. Giants

[Jeff Boswell]

8

NY Jets
New England (BB)
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Jacksonville
San Diego (BB)
Cleveland
Washington
Oakland
Minnesota (BB)
NY Giants

[Nate]

9

N.Y. JETS
New England
ATLANTA
MIAMI
Philadelphia
Carolina (BB)
Jacksonville
San Diego (BB)
Denver (BB)
INDIANAPOLIS
Arizona
SEATTLE
DALLAS

[Bran]

10

N.Y. JETS
New England (BB)
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Philadelphia
CINCINNATI
Jacksonville
San Diego (BB)
Denver (BB)
INDIANAPOLIS
Arizona
SEATTLE
N.Y. Giants

[Dublin Mike]

11

Detroit
New England bb
ATLANTA bb
MIAMI
TAMPA BAY
CINCINNATI
jacksonville
San Diego
Denver
Washington
Arizona bb
SEATTLE

DALLAS

[Seth D]

12

N.Y. JETS
New England (BB)
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Philadelphia
Carolina (BB)
HOUSTON
San Diego (BB)
CLEVELAND
INDIANAPOLIS
Arizona
SEATTLE
N.Y. Giants

[Anthony]

Even though he went just 6-5-1 in Sunday's games, Jeff Boswell is assured of his third win in four weeks - and he even did it without his lucky number 10, which he rode to back-to-back victories in Weeks 4 and 5. themush gets second with either a Giants cover or a push; if Dallas covers, Nate completes the Week 7 exacta.

Complete results and the updated standings - which will show Jeff running away with it - after Monday night's NFC East first-place showdown.

[Anthony]

1st 8 Jeff Boswell: 7-5-1 (2-1) ... 55 points
2nd 4 themush: 7-5-1 (1-1-1) ... 18 points
3rd 1 Anthony: 6-6-1 (2-0-1) ... 10 points
4th 6 Ellis: 6-6-1 (2-1) [2-2-1] {1-0} ... 4 points
5th 7 Marc: 6-6-1 (2-1) [2-2-1] {0-0} ... 3 points
6th 10 Bran: 6-6-1 (2-1) [2-2-1] {0-1} ... 2.5 points
7th 12 Seth D: 6-6-1 (1-1-1) ... 2 points
8th 2 bama4256: 5-7-1 (2-1) ... 1.5 points
9th 5 #99: 5-7-1 (1-1-1) [2-2-1] ... 1 point
10th 9 Nate: 5-7-1 (1-1-1) [1-3-1] ... 1 point
11th 11 Dublin Mike: 4-8-1 (2-1) ... 1 point
12th 3 The Pirate Bob: 4-8-1 (1-2) ... 1 point

(Best Bet Record)
[Record in Tie-Breaker Games]
{Best Bets in Tie-Breaker Games}

For current standings, click here.