Week 7 Picks

So my game picks were so popular last week that the rest of our staff wanted to get in on the action.  They are slackers so we didn’t get to make our picks before the Thursday Night game but trust me I picked the Seahawks.  Officially we won’t count that though and we will start a new tally to see who has the best record from here on out.

Bill at Jaguars: 

Jemp: Bills,  Reeb: Bills,  Pep: Jags 17-16

Pep picking the upset, I guess no one else respects home field advantage.  Well it may not be where they usually play, but there are probably more Jaguars fans in London than in Florida.  Fortunately the fans in London don’t know enough about the NFL to know that the Jaguars will let them down.  Pep loves to watch the Gus Bradley postgame speech, but I don’t think he will be fired up this week.  At least you will get to hear him preach about spirit.

Prediction:  Bills win 23-17

 Vikings at Lions:

Jemp: Lions,  Reeb: Vikings,  Pep: Vikings 32-20

Jemp is still sticking with his Lions.  I guess that victory over the Bears really boosted his confidence in them.  I guess he needed it after watching the Michigan game the day before.  Too bad we aren’t picking college games because I would probably pick Michigan over Minnesota, but I can’t pick against Adrian Peterson after Pep just traded him to me in fantasy.

Prediction:  Vikings win 27-16

 Falcons at Titans:

Jemp: Falcons,  Reeb: Falcons,  Pep: Falcons 45-0

Zach Mettenberger gets a chance to prove that he is the next Tom Brady.  They were both drafted in the 6th round, and… well the similarities pretty much end there.  Maybe in 15 years Mettenberger will have won the Titans their fourth super bowl, but all of our analysts seem a bit skeptical.  Don’t worry Zach, low expectations are the easiest to reach.

Prediction:  Falcons win 35-10

 Saints at Colts:

Jemp: Colts,  Reeb: Colts,  Pep: Colts 45-21

I can’t wait for Sean Payton to break out the fake punt against the Colts.  If it works maybe the Colts will trade their first round pick for him.  Still the Colts look like they are getting back on track, since they only lost to the Patriots by 7.  Although, they have already used 3 of their 6 automatic wins against the AFC South.  We all agree they get their first win out of the division this week.

Prediction:  Colts win 34-17

 Buccaneers at Redskins:

Jemp: Redskins,  Reeb: Redskins,  Pep: Bucs 35-21

Pep made his greatest joke by saying the Bucs could win this week.  Ok, maybe the Redskins fell a little short of my expectations last week but this week I will be a little more realistic.  Jemp and Reeb know who the best team in football is. HTTR

Prediction:  Redskins win 99-0

 Steelers at Chiefs:

Jemp: Steelers,  Reeb: Steelers,  Pep: Steelers 38-21

Leave it to Michael Vick to make Landry Jones look like Dan Marino by comparison.  Now Landry Jones gets to play a terrible Chiefs defense with Leveon Bell, Antonio Brown, and Martavis Bryant at his disposal.  Even he can’t believe his own luck.  As for the Chiefs, maybe Charcandrick West will do a little better this week.

Prediction:  Steelers win 35-9

 Texans at Dolphins:

Jemp: Dolphins, Reeb: Dolphins, Pep: Texans 28-27

I told you teams always seem to do well the week after they fire their coach.  Maybe teams should change coaches every week.  Jemp and Reeb seem to believe the Dan Campbell has actually turned the Dolphins around (okay, well maybe beating the Texans isn’t turning things around).  Pep and I know the Dolphins were riding a temporary high last week.  Oh yeah, and Pep of course believes in Hoyer Freakin’ Magic.

Prediction:  Texans win 24-13

 Browns at Rams:

Jemp: Rams,  Reeb: Rams,  Pep: Browns 56-0

Pep says Nick Foles will throw this game away to the Browns.  I don’t see why he should throw it at all, just keep giving the ball to Todd Gurley.  Maybe Pep is salty that I wouldn’t trade Gurley to him or maybe he actually believes in the Browns offense.  Well I guess you have to love Gary Barnidge.

Prediction: Rams win 19-9

 Jets at Patriots:

Jemp: Patriots,  Reeb: Jets,  Pep: Patriots 52-3

The Jets have a great run-stuffing front seven and arguably the best cornerback trio in football, with the Broncos being the only legitimate competition.  So if they shut down the run game and lock up the wide receivers, the Patriots will have to resort to throwing to Gronk and Dion Lewis.  Reeb obviously thinks the Patriots can’t win with those losers leading the way, but I think they just might step up this game.

Prediction:  Patriots win 37-24

 Raiders at Chargers:

Jemp: Chargers,  Reeb: Raiders,  Pep: Raiders 13-10

So I predicted Philip Rivers to lead the Chargers to the upset last week and he just barely let me down.  This week Reeb and Pep don’t even think he can make it past the Raiders.  I guess throwing 65 passes could take a toll on him, and on his receivers since Keenan Allen and Antonio Gates are both questionable for this game.  But Phily Riv has been throwing to subpar receivers his whole career and he also has more wins against the Raiders than any QB in NFL history.

Prediction:  Chargers win 27-24

Cowboys at Giants:

Jemp: Giants,  Reeb: Giants,  Pep: Giants 20-3

“Matt Cassel is the Brady Quinn of the NFL”- Pep.  Well Brady Quinn was actually in the NFL too, but Pep’s point was that they both suck. However, Eli Manning wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire on Monday night.  Could Christine Michael lead the Cowboys to a win?  Most likely no, and Eli is probably due for a good game this week.

Prediction:  Giants win 21-7

Editor's note: I know Brady was in the NFL but Matt Cassel has now become the official "Oh crap we need a warm body to fill our quarterback position so let's sign this guy" guy because Brady Quinn isn't around to do that anymore...and let's hope it stays that way. While we're here we may as well get this one out of the way too: Hey Brady, don't you ever cover a Redskins game again. You suck, man. 
Sincerely,
Pep

Eagles at Panthers:

Jemp: Panthers,  Reeb: Panthers,  Pep: Panthers 20-10

No one is taking the Eagles?  They had a brilliant gameplan against the Giants.  Chip Kelly realized that the defense was the strength of the team, so Sam Bradford tried to make sure they could get back out there as soon as possible.  I can’t wait to see the Bradford to Josh Norman connection this week.  I really wonder if people would be surprised if Bradford played like this when he was on the Rams.

Prediction:  Panthers win 27-7

Ravens at Cardinals:

Jemp: Cardinals,  Reeb: Cardinals,  Pep: Cardinals 25-23

So I picked the Ravens to win last week by default, and they couldn’t even get past the 49ers.  Carson Palmer struggled against the Steelers last week, but this is a defense that made Colin Kaepernick look good.  You watched him on Thursday Night right?

Prediction:  Cardinals win 42-17


Main Takeaways
Kind of a predictable week in terms of picks, but the NFL always throws us a few curveballs. Brady Quinn sucks at everything and Gus Bradley brings spirit to London.

Have a great weekend, PFJ fans.