What a week we’ve got coming up. It’s time to head off to Gay Paris for one of the last of this season’s international games, and it comes in a week of real turmoil around the NFL.
The Jalen Hurts news has rocked the league, and a bunch of other injuries are starting to leak through at this point in the season. We’re getting to that point of the year where we’re going to find out who the sellers are and who the buyers are as we hurdle towards the trade deadline.
Here are my tips and predictions for Week 7 of the NFL.
Thursday Night Football has been kind of spoiled when it comes to the matchups lately, not that all of them have lived up to the hype, but I actually expect this one to live up to some expectations. The Chicago offense runs pretty high when Caleb’s on the field, even though he’s only played a couple of games this year, and they’ve managed to really run up the points.
Caleb’s passing yards might be a bit harder to come by against this defense and Drake Maye will probably continue his run too.
With Romeo Doubs now out for an extended period on IR and that receiving room needing AJ Brown to catch some of these passes. He would have had six receptions last week if he hadn’t kept dropping the ball, so I’m backing him for five plus receptions too. Look for other receivers to step up for Pats.
For the first time ever, the NFL is off to Gay Paris, with the Steelers taking on the Saints.
Tyler Shough’s had some pretty up and down moments, but I put a lot of that down to the New Orleans offensive line.
As for the Steelers, they’re surprising us yet again with just how frisky they’re being in what is still the toughest division in football, the AFC North.
I really like the Saints in a tight one here, so I’m taking them plus 3.5 points, and I’m backing the under at 44.5, because international games tend to slow things down, and both teams are probably going to want to lean on their running backs.
For a bit of flavour though, I’m loving what Germie Bernard’s been putting out lately, back to back games of 80 plus receiving yards, so I’ll back him to get 60 plus this week, which is juicy.
The line is heavily favouring Houston, despite the fact they’ve only just recorded their first back to back wins of the season.
They come up against a Giants side that’s had its own internal turmoil, especially around the running back position, issues with Cam Skattebo, and dropping Najee Harris this week too after he complained about how the running back rotation was being handled. They’ve also gone with J.J. McCarthy over Jameis Winston, which means the Jameis stand in me cannot back this Giants side.
Where I find some value is in the touchdown scorer markets. Cam Skattebo hasn’t scored a touchdown in five games, and he’s sitting above $4 at the time of this blog, so I’m chucking a little bit of money on that as a nice side bet.
On the other side of the ball, a really nice story with Tank Dell returning to the field after that gruesome injury, I’m backing him for one plus receptions on his big return. And the other receiver I’m intrigued by is Marvin Harrison Jr., now with the Texans, who has a history with Stroud, three catches last week, I think that trend continues, so I’m taking him for three catches too
The Colts are a basket case. They’ve just fired their GM and are probably heavily regretting not having a first round pick this year, because all the rumours are that this is a team sitting in the cellar, potentially even willing to move Jonathan Taylor. Yikes.
I think this Vikings defense is one of the most stifling units in the league for frustrating opposition quarterbacks, and Daniel Jones is awful right now, so I see him throwing a couple of picks in this one.
It’s a nice, easy game for Kyler Murray to ease back into form too. I’m backing the Vikings -6.5. here.
It’s trending that Jordan Addison’s going to be back, so I’m chucking him in for a touchdown as well, and I’ll take a low rushing total for Jonathan Taylor at 40+ yards.
Is Bryce Young in the MVP chat right now? Isn’t that crazy? Purdy, Allen, Bryce Young. If you’d told me that at the start of the year, I would have checked you into a mental hospital. But here we are.
Carolina’s riding a two game win streak with Young drawing that kind of buzz, and they come up against a Bucs side getting Baker Mayfield back, so you’d think there’s going to be an uptick in the passing game.
Chuba Hubbard’s the real story for me, he’s on back to back 120 yard rushing games. I think he gets there again, backing him for 100+ rushing yards at juicy odds.
And I’m backing my boy Bryce Young to continue his hot streak over 250 passing yards too.
Cleveland have to be one of the most confusing teams for sports fandom right now, because you kind of love to see them win, but then you hate to see them win because of who’s under centre.
Regardless, they’re top of the AFC North right now, and they just seem to know what to do against a lot of these teams, even if they haven’t been able to clock more than 30 points all year.
They’re up against what is, in my opinion, the worst team in the league, yes, that’s right, I’m letting Miami off the hook there, the Titans.
I can’t see a way they stop this Cleveland pass rush and the man coverage this defense plays, which Cam Ward has genuinely struggled against all season, averaging just 4.5 yards an attempt against it, 29th in the league, they’ve also conceded 24 sacks.
I’m backing Denzel Boston to score a touchdown for Cleveland here, and I’m taking Cleveland in the race to 28 points market, I think they score a bit in this one.
At the time of writing this blog, we still don’t know what the status of Lamar Jackson is, and whether it’ll be him or Tyler Huntley taking over the reins at the Ravens.
It’s hard to split this one, right down the middle on the odds, with the line sitting at just one point and without knowing if Lamar’s going to be out there, I’m leaning more towards the Bengals here for a win.
I’m also backing Derrick Henry to go over 100 rushing yards regardless, because even if Lamar’s back, I think they’re going to lean on King Henry to ease the burden.
Chase Brown hasn’t scored a touchdown in his last four starts, and I’d like that to happen again, partly for my own fantasy team, so give me Chase Brown for a touchdown too.
It takes a brave man to tip against the San Francisco 49ers this season so that makes me a coward.
They’re undefeated and haven’t looked like slowing down. But the injuries are still an issue. At the time of writing, Mike Evans is listed as questionable, and I feel like an Achilles injury to your star receiver is enough to see him sit this one out, which means Purdy’s going to be leaning a lot more on George Kittle, hence why I love a George Kittle touchdown in this game.
With less in the receiving room, Christian McCaffrey should pick up some of that slack too, so I’m adding him for six plus receptions. On the other side of the ball, I’m backing Drake London to get fed the ball as much as possible against a pretty stout Niners defense, six catches to go his way as well.
This is always the S*** bowl between these two teams, but Miami’s bringing a new level to it this year. Not only are they winless, they haven’t even led a game all season.
But I’m going to do something crazy this week and back Miami to win outright. Here’s my logic.
Miami’s coming into this off the bye with their best opening odds of the season, so for the first time in 2026 they’re not even expected to be blown out, small steps. That extra rest should help clean up the protection around Malik Willis and give the running game a chance to heal up too, against a Jets team that’s banged up coming off a tough loss.
The Jets are also allowing 123 rushing yards a game, 23rd in the league, 4.2 yards a carry, so Miami’s ground game, even shorthanded, could lean into that soft run defense. I’m a believer in Ollie Gordon, so I’m backing him for 60 plus rushing yards and a touchdown in this one.
Denver’s offense sucks, and Bo Nix is the problem. As someone who was trying to defend Bo Nix for quite some time, I’m finding it too hard to defend.
Granted there have been some tougher opponents, but the decision making has been poor, and despite adding Jaylen Waddle to this side, it hasn’t become the downfield attack we were expecting.
I think Sean Payton’s going to lose his patience very quickly with what’s going on in Denver. Can they bounce back against the Cardinals? Maybe, I still think Denver’s defense is going to have a handle on this game.
The question is whether Bo Nix can do anything to steer this offense. I still think Denver wins this, but I’m not confident enough to pick a margin.
I’m taking Trey McBride to have a bit of fun and get himself a touchdown, he’s been the form tight end in the league this year, and I’ll take the under on Bo Nix’s passing yards.
What happened to the super team we were all talking about? As an Aussie NFL fan, I’m kind of revelling in the demise of the Rams, this is what you get for disrespecting our nation by sitting ahead of the 49ers early in the season.
The injury list for Los Angeles is extensive Davante Adams (hamstring, out 6-10 weeks), Kobie Turner (out 4-6 weeks), Poona Ford (season-ending), and Blake Grupe (torn ACL, out for season, and Stafford had a genuinely un-Stafford-like performance against the Cardinals in one of the biggest upsets of the year, though truth be told he hasn’t been playing all that great regardless. (Ty Simpson watch soon?)
Myles Garrett must be sick watching how good the Browns are doing without him. On the other side, Vegas has been overachieving, Kirk Cousins has thrown just one interception all season, which is wild for him, and with the Rams missing pieces up front, he should have time in the pocket to find Brock Bowers and Tre Tucker.
I’m backing the Raiders to win this one.
What a dream two game run for Green Bay here, taking on two of the worst defenses in the league. Detroit’s actually been the worst defense in the league for total yardage, allowing around 424 yards a game, the most points allowed in the NFL at 127, and dead last against the pass.
Despite Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Jordan Love all appearing on the injury report this week, they’re all expected to play, and I think they have yet another big day in them.
These two love playing good little battles against each other, so backing yards and backing touchdowns feels like the move, because a shootout, and we all love one, could be on the cards.
You can already hear the talking heads on ESPN asking whether Darnold’s Super Bowl run was only because of Kenneth Walker, and honestly, the stats kind of back that up. Walker’s playing at an MVP level this year, if running backs even got a look in for that award.
Meanwhile Sam Darnold’s starting to look like a ghost of himself again, with seven interceptions already this season. And now the team that’s desperate for a running back is facing the guy who used to be theirs.
I’m jumping on this nice and early, because at the time of this blog the undefeated Chiefs are plus 220 underdogs. Give me the Chiefs, and give me Kenneth Walker.
It would be so Cowboys like to lose this game against the Philadelphia Eagles. And the way both sides of the ball are playing, they probably should. It’d be the giant wake up call that Jerry will no doubt ignore yet again. But the Cowboys fan in me cannot bet against my team against the old enemy. So I’m backing a bounce back for the defense and the offense, taking Dak Prescott for two plus touchdowns, with CeeDee Lamb to score one of them, in what is hopefully a Cowboys blowout.