It’s hard to believe, but week seven of the National Football League began Thursday night, with Jacksonville’s 31-24 win at New Orleans.
And this weekend’s schedule doesn’t have the full roster. Six teams – Dallas, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Carolina, Houston and the New York Jets – all have open dates.
This week, what looks like the marquee game, 5-1 Miami at 5-1 Philadelphia, is actually in prime time: Sunday night on NBC.
Here’s the rest of the schedule, all times Central Standard time, with a preview of each game, thanks to the Associated Press. After that, the picks for this week, made by our staff here at TFB.
Sunday’s games
Las Vegas (3-3) at Chicago (1-5), noon, FOX (Bears turn to Bagent; Raiders will also go with a backup QB with Garoppolo out)
Cleveland (3-2) at Indianapolis (3-3), noon, CBS (Gardner Minshew takes over as Colts QB while Browns face more uncertainty with Deshaun Watson)
Buffalo (4-2) at New England (1-5), noon, CBS (Bills hope to sharpen their offense, add to recent success over floundering Patriots)
Washington (3-3) at New York Giants (1-5), noon, CBS (Commanders will have a chance to bury the NFC East-rival Giants even deeper)
Atlanta (3-3) at Tampa Bay (3-2), noon, FOX (NFC South lead on the line when first-place Buccaneers host division rival Falcons)
Detroit (5-1) at Baltimore (4-2), noon, FOX (The Lions face Baltimore this weekend, having come a long way since Justin Tucker’s 66-yard kick)
Pittsburgh (3-2) at L.A. Rams (3-3), 3:05 p.m., FOX (Aaron Donald is still a Steelers fan. He’ll try to beat them when his hometown team visits his Rams)
Arizona (1-5) at Seattle (3-2), 3:05 p.m., FOX (Aaron Donald is still a Steelers fan. He’ll try to beat them when his hometown team visits his Rams)
Green Bay (2-3) at Denver (1-5), 3:25 p.m., CBS (Packers’ Jordan Love and Broncos’ Russell Wilson have gone ice cold after hot starts to the season)
L.A. Chargers (2-3) at Kansas City (5-1), 3:25 p.m., CBS (Tale of 2 defenses: Chiefs have been brilliant, Chargers awful ahead of AFC West showdown)
Miami (5-1) at Philadelphia (5-1), 7:20 p.m., NBC (Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa forever linked, forge respect for tenure at Alabama)
Monday’s game
San Francisco (5-1) at Minnesota (2-4), 7:15 p.m., ABC (For Purdy and the 49ers, the pressure’s literally on vs. Flores’ blitz-wild Vikings)
Staff picks
Our staff, plus my daughter, attempt to guess the outcomes of all of the NFL games each week – one of us (ahem, me) is doing much better in our college picks this year. I can’t seem to find my groove in the NFL. I’m normally pretty good. Maybe I’ll put it together this week, although I did miss on Jacksonville at New Orleans on Thursday night.
Staff prognosticators, if you will, are associate editor Clayton Fletcher, my wife and correspondent Jenna Lucas, videographer Jacob Lucas, photographer Alex Nabor, correspondents Mitchell Molandes and Shelby Thompson Molandes, and apparent expert picker Ashtyn Lucas, who seems to be at or near the top in both our college and NFL picks each week.
Jacksonville at New Orleans: For the record, myself, Fletch and Jacob took the home team and lost; everyone else had Jacksonville, so the pick was a 5-3 split, in favor of the Jaguars, who, of course, won 31-24.
Las Vegas at Chicago: The battle of the backup quarterbacks. Neither Jimmy Garoppolo of the Raiders nor Justin Fields of the Bears will play Sunday. And without NFL Sunday Ticket, this is the game that a lot of people will get. Bless your hearts, and I mean that. The pick: a 6-2 split in favor of the Raiders, with Jenna and I taking the Bears.
Cleveland at Indianapolis: Late news says quarterback Deshaun Watson will get the start for the Browns after missing a couple of games with a shoulder injury. If I had known that, I might’ve picked Cleveland. But if Coca-Cola had known how bad it would go over, “new Coke” would’ve never made it out of the lab. The pick: Cleveland, by a 6-2 split, Jenna and I taking Indy.
Buffalo at New England: Unless coach Bill Belichick pulls some sort of rabbit out of his hat, he may be stuck on win number 299 for quite a while. New England is shockingly bad. Since I said that, I probably jinxed the Bills. The pick: the Bills, a unanimous 8-0.
Washington at New York Giants: Ditto on the Giants, and you almost get the feeling they would still be bad, even if they hadn’t had injuries to quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley. The pick: the Bills, unanimous (8-0).
Atlanta at Tampa Bay: Well, Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder has one believer on our staff: Ashtyn, who was the only one who picked them to win this game. (She may not be a believer in Ridder, to be fair). The pick: 7-1 for Tampa, with Ashtyn the one who took the Falcons.
Detroit at Baltimore: The Lions have done nothing to make anyone want to pick against them so far this season after upsetting Kansas City on the road. But three of us still aren’t convinced, apparently, even though they’re 5-1. Jenna, Fletch and myself took the Ravens to win this game; everyone else took Detroit. The pick: Detroit, in a 5-3 split.
Pittsburgh at L.A. Rams: The Steelers’ fan base is everywhere, and they’ll probably be “the home team” in this game. Everyone is the home team in SoFi Stadium, apparently, EXCEPT the actual home teams, the Chargers and the Rams. The pick: Ashtyn and Clayton took the Steelers, and everyone else picked the Rams.
Arizona at Seattle: The Seahawks always have a tremendous home field advantage, with their crowd. When they have a winning record and are playing for something, it’s usually even louder. Arizona is a one-win team, and they’ll leave Seattle today still a one-win team, according to the staff. The pick: unanimous, 8-0 for Seattle.
Green Bay at Denver: Jordan Love and Russell Wilson both had good starts to the season. Since then: not so much. The pick: Jenna and I are on the same wavelength this weekend, for some reason. We both took the Broncos, and everyone else took Green Bay, a 6-2 split.
L.A. Chargers at Kansas City: Even though I love Justin Herbert, I have to admit I don’t believe in the Chargers’ coaching staff whatsoever. I know they’ve had success at Kansas City, but I just can’t pick it. The pick: Kansas City, unanimously (8-0).
Miami at Philadelphia: The big game of the week, although if Miami can’t protect Tua Tagovailoa, I could see this being out of hand in Philadelphia’s favor. If Tua is in the game and protected, it could be a long night for the Eagles’ secondary. The pick: a 5-3 split in Miami’s favor, with Clayton, Jenna and Shelby taking the Eagles.
San Francisco at Minnesota: Deebo Samuel is out for this game with a shoulder injury, and even though they look to be playing, Christian McCaffrey and left tackle Trent Williams are banged up. I just have a bad feeling about this game, and that the 49ers will have a second straight loss. The pick: I took the Vikings to pull the upset; everyone else took the 49ers.
