Through six weeks of football, the NFC East has been a shifting pile of garbage, with none of its banged up, inconsistent teams have been able to stay on top of the heap long enough to dry. According to our panel of NFL experts, the turmoil is gonna keep on churning in Week 7.
It starts with the second installment of Giants vs. Cowboys, which our crew is giving to New York with a narrow 4-3 split. Dallas needed a Tom Coughlin time management debacle and a last-minute touchdown to sneak by the Giants in Week 1, and that was with the now-injured Tony Romo leading the offense. But Dallas could have Dez Bryant back by Sunday and it's certainly hard to trust Coughlin's crew after the egg it laid in Philly on Monday night. This one's definitely a toss-up.
Speaking of the Eagles, our experts have them falling to the undefeated Panthers in Carolina, which would knock them out of their current tie with the Giants atop the division. That would give Washington a chance to pull into a second-place tie with Philadelphia if it can, like our panel predicts, knock off a bad Tampa Bay team (the tiebreaker would currently go to Washington, who beat Philly in Week 4).
So if our panel picks correctly, the NFC East will look like this heading into Week 8:
New York, 4-3
Washington, 3-4
Philadelphia, 3-4
Dallas, 2-4
The NFC West standings could take another turn this week. Thursday night's game between the Seahawks and the 49ers will put the loser in last place in that division. Our panel is nearly unanimous in picking the Seahawks to win this one, and they certainly have history on their side. Vegas say the Seahawks are seven-point favorites. The 49ers' win over the Ravens last week apparently hasn't convinced many that they're a better team than they were two weeks ago.
Then you have the Rams hosting the Browns on Sunday. St. Louis is a big favorite in that game, but the Rams are 1-1-1 coming off bye weeks over the last three seasons. However, the Browns have been playing better than they've gotten credit for lately, nearly beating the undefeated Broncos last week. If St. Louis loses that game, the NFC West will have three teams under .500.
Whatever happens in those two games, the Arizona Cardinals will still be on top of the standings in that division. They have a good chance of expanding their lead with a terrible Ravens team coming to the desert on Monday night. And Bruce Arians will no doubt have his team hungry after a loss in Pittsburgh last week.
On a more positive note, our experts have all of the NFL's remaining unbeatens staying that way. There's no doubt that the Bengals, Broncos and Packers will come out of the weekend undefeated -- they all have byes in Week 7. But the 5-0 Patriots, just off a cathartic win over Indy, are a unanimous pick to get past the Jets, while the Panthers are 5-2 favorites over the Eagles.
Here are the full picks for the week:
Week 7 | Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark |
SEA vs SF | SEA | SEA | SEA | SEA | SEA | FML | SEA | SEA |
BUF vs JAX | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | BUF | TIE | JAX |
TB vs WAS | WAS | TB | WAS | WAS | WAS | WAS | WAS | WAS |
ATL vs TEN | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | ATL | TEN |
NO vs IND | IND | IND | IND | IND | IND | NO | NO | IND |
MIN vs DET | MIN | DET | MIN | MIN | MIN | DET | DET | DET |
PIT vs KC | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | KC | KC |
CLE vs STL | CLE | STL | STL | STL | STL | STL | STL | STL |
HOU vs MIA | MIA | HOU | MIA | MIA | MIA | MIA | MIA | MIA |
NYJ vs NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE | NE |
OAK vs SD | SD | OAK | SD | SD | SD | SD | SD | SD |
DAL vs NYG | NYG | DAL | DAL | NYG | NYG | NYG | DAL | NYG |
PHI vs CAR | CAR | CAR | PHI | CAR | CAR | PHI | CAR | CAR |
BAL vs ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ | ARZ |
Records to date
Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark | |
Last week | 9-5 | 10-4 | 8-6 | 8-6 | 9-5 | 7-7 | 8-6 | 8-6 |
To date | 53-38 | 60-31 | 50-41 | 57-34 | 58-33 | 53-38 | 50-41 | 54-37 |
Our panel consists of: David Fucillo, SB Nation's fantasy guru; Danny Kelly, SB Nation NFL contributor; PFT Commenter, SB Nation's hot takes expert; Joel Thorman, SB Nation NFL blogs manager; Matt Ufford, editorial producer; Ryan Van Bibber, SB Nation's NFL editor; and Stephen White, retired NFL defensive end and SB Nation NFL contributor.
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