Whew! 10-4 in Week 7. Not great, but certainly an improvement over four wonky near .500 weeks.
Perhaps now, we have this crazy National Football League figured out.
There are plenty of big stories this week. The Chargers and Saints will play in London, England; the Giants will meet the Steelers as Eli Manning goes toe-to-toe with Ben Roethlisberger; and the Tennessee Titans will try to get to 7-0.
In his 15th season, Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL and his undefeated team is off to the best start in franchise history at 6-0.
With a win on Monday night against his team’s arch-rivals, the Indianapolis Colts, Fisher can join Pro Football Hall of Famers Tom Landry and Don Shula as the only head coaches in history to start a season 7-0 in their 15th year of coaching or later. In fact, Fisher could seal his trip to Canton with a win this week.
With all that going on, let’s take a close look at Week 8…
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Oakland (2-4) at Baltimore (3-3)
Oakland is 1-1 under head coach Tom Cable, but they aren’t in Baltimore’s league.
Take Baltimore
Arizona Cardinals (4-2) at Carolina Panthers (5-2)
It’s hard to ignore Arizona’s offence, but you can bet Carolina won’t ignore Arizona’s dreadful defence.
Take Carolina
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) at Dallas Cowboys (4-3)
No Tony Romo, no chance. Jeff Garcia can handle the Cowboys defence.
Take Tampa Bay
Washington Redskins (5-2) at Detroit Lions (0-6)
Washington has struggled the past two weeks, losing to St. Louis at home and then barely beating Cleveland, also at home. Detroit will not go 0-16. Will they?
Take Detroit
Buffalo Bills (5-1) at Miami Dolphins (2-4)
Trent Edwards is turning into one of the top quarterbacks in the game while Buffalo defence is among the league’s best.
Take Buffalo
St. Louis (2-4) at New England (4-2)
If there is going to be an upset this week, this could be it. The Rams have won two straight and looked great blitzing the Cowboys last week. Still, it’s hard to ignore the Matt Cassel-led Patriots.
Take New England
San Diego Chargers (3-4) vs. New Orleans Saints (3-4)
at London, England
Both San Diego and New Orleans go on the road this week. The Saints are without Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister. I liked the Saints until McAllister got nabbed for steroid use. Still, Drew Brees has lots to play for and Sean Payton is a better coach than Norv Turner.
Take New Orleans
Kansas City Chiefs (1-5) at New York Jets (3-3)
This should be a big week for old Brett Favre against that Swiss-cheese-like Chiefs defence.
Take New York Jets
Atlanta Falcons (4-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (3-3)
Donovan McNabb needs a big game while Matt Ryan could prove that he’s the next great one.
Take Philadelphia
Cleveland Browns (2-4) at Jacksonville Jaguars (3-3)
Cleveland should be better than they are, but they aren’t. The Browns aren’t very well coached,
Take Jacksonville
Cincinnati Bengals (0-7) at Houston Texans (2-4)
Houston isn’t very good, but they’re a lot better than the Bungals.
Take Houston
New York Giants (5-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-1)
This will be the game of the week. Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have met once before and Big Ben won 33-30. This will be one of the best games of the year.
Take Pittsburgh
Seattle Seahawks (1-5) at San Francisco 49ers (2-5)
It’s Seneca Wallace vs. J.T. O’Sullivan. At least J.T. gets to play at home.
Take San Francisco
NO SUNDAY NIGHT GAME THIS WEEK
MONDAY NIGHT
Indianapolis Colts (3-3) at Tennessee Titans (6-0)
This intra-divisional matchup is always pretty good, but it’s hard to bet against a home team that is unbeaten.
Take Tennessee
Last week: 10-4
Season: 55-47
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