NFC West Week 7 Preview & Picks

NFL NFC West Week 7 Preview

As we approach nearly two months of regular season action, Week 7 of the 2010-11 NFL NFC West gives us a couple interesting match ups. Among them is my pick for Game of the Week, St Louis at Tampa Bay. The game is likely to produce on of the weekend’s biggest moments when Rams’ running back Steven Jackson, shatter’s Eric Dickerson franchise rushing record.

He is just 32-yards shy and I look for it to happen this weekend.

Now let’s take a quick look at each NFC West Week 7 match up. Don’t forget to check back every week, as I will be giving you my free picks for the NFC West all season long right here on sportbooklists.com.

Teams with byes this week are Detroit, Indianapolis, NY Jets, and Houston.

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SUN, OCT 24 TIME (ET)

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St. Louis at Tampa Bay 1:00 PM FOX – The Rams rebounded nicely last week against the Chargers and have now registered as many wins as they had in any of the last three seasons, and are within striking distance of Arizona and Seattle for the NFC West lead. Their defense had seven sacks against one of the better offenses in the league last weekend. You can expect the Bucs to try and do the same thing, sending the entire front seven after rookie quarterback Sam Bradford in an effort to force him into costly turnovers and mistakes. However, Bradford has demonstrated his ability to keep his cool under pressure. Besides, the Tampa Bay defenders will probably be too busy trying to contain two-time Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson, who is now just 32 rushing yards shy of Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s franchise record of 7,246. That won’t be easy for a defense that second worst against the run. I just don’t see how the Bucs succeed where the Chargers didn’t as Bradford leads the Rams to two in a row.

PREDICTION: Rams

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San Francisco at Carolina 1:00 PM FOX – The Niners have been awful this season but did get a gift as they picked up their first win over the Raiders in Week 6. It was an ugly win, led by beleaguered quarterback Alex Smith, but a win nonetheless. Meanwhile, the Panthers are a train wreck.  It appears that they are switching back to Matt Moore at quarterback. Horrific idea. Not only does that set back Jimmy Clausen’s progress, but it also creates chemistry problems with the WR’s. How do they ever expect Steve Smith to produce? Well it doesn’t matter as whoever is in the pivot spot will likely be spending most of his time running away from Niner’s linebacker Patrick Willis who recorded six tackles (three solo) when the 49ers beat the Raiders on Sunday. He is yet to really get on track with just one sack this season, but look for opportunities to improve those stats against Carolina. The Panthers’ running game is yet to utilize power running back DeAngelo Williams who has just one TD and 317 yards. Look for a 49ers win in a very low-scoring affair.

PREDICTION: San Francisco

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Arizona at Seattle 4:05 PM FOX –The Cardinals are making the right decision to start Max Hall in lieu of Derek Anderson. The Arizona running game is improving, and the defense is creating turnovers. They are coming off a huge win over the defending champion Saints and fresh off a bye week as they prepare to battle against divisional foe the Seattle Seahawks who will look to open 3-0 at home for the first time since 2005. Their first call of duty will be to shut down newly acquired running back Marshawn Lynch who made an immediate impact in his Seattle debut and should be in for a big game against a Cardinals’ defense that is fourth worst in the NFL. Hall did alright in his first career start, and should put up better numbers against Seattle’s 30th-ranked pass defense. I think they slow down the resurgent passing game of the Seahawks and win the battle of turnovers. The rookie QB wins his first road game on the wet carpet of Qwest Field.

PREDICTION: Arizona

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