The Gridiron Gentlemen Super Fun Prediction League: Week 7

Week 7 is here, and with it, the International Series rolls into town again. Add into it massively exciting AFC East match up and we’ve got a hell of week 7 ahead.

Let’s check out the scores:

Dan: 61-30

James: 59-32

Dylan: 57-34

Simon: 63-28

Duncan: 58-33

We missed it last week (sorry), but as you can see it’s still really close. Simon leads the way with a couple of gutsy calls going his way (something that Chuck Pagano would like to be boasting about right now), But Dylan is only 6 games behind. Time to see what we’ve got for week 7, which looks like it might be pretty tight, starting with a less tight Thursday night game.

 

Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers

A good start for the Gents predictions, but less good for Simon and his Niners (sorry dude).

 

Buffalo Bills @ Jacksonville Jaguars – in London

The 2nd of the international series match-ups and it’s set to be pretty close. Once again both teams come into the match-up on the back of losses. The Bills have half their offence out to injuries. No Harvin, Watkins means Woods is their number 1 receiver and no Tyrod Taylor means we’re watching EJ Manuel in the starting line up again. The Jags have had a few issues getting their game together, but there is obvious talent on this team. That being said, Bortles might struggle today against a Bills pass rush that is under an awful lot of pressure to perform. On paper this might not look like a decent game, but in reality this could be an exciting match-up.

 

Cleveland Browns @ St Louis Rams

Cleveland have so far been just good enough to lose close games and seem to be able to keep it close with some of the better teams in the league. Last week they should have taken advantage of a turnover happy Peyton Manning, but just couldn’t do it. It feels like the offence has been carrying the defence. Up until the last couple of weeks, the Rams had the opposite problem, seemingly unable to move the ball. However Todd Gurley has looked like a decent shout for offensive rookie of the year. A game that would have been thought to be a low scoring defensive battle could be a high scoring shoot out.

 

Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions

An NFC North match up that pre-season could have been the game of the day. As it is though the Vikings have looked much better than the Lions, with Teddy Bridgewater showing flashes of brilliance and Peterson getting yards despite telegraphing his run plays as soon as he lines up. The Lions won a game against a poor Bears team last week, but this should be a different game entirely. If the Lions are to win this one, they’ll need to keep Stafford upright.

 

Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins

Both teams bucked the trend last week last week and won games. Miami’s new head coach has to take some credit for their win, with the team seemingly looking like a completely different unit, to previous weeks (Cameron Wake… 4 sacks???). Houston still don’t look great but the QB carousel, brought in a fresh looking Brian Hoyer who took apart the Jags. Will either of these teams be able to play as well as last week though, with fresh changes now looking less fresh?

 

New Orleans Saints @ Indianapolis Colts

The Saints managed to embarrass a then unbeaten Falcons team and bore a remarkable resemblance to the superbowl winning team of a few years ago. Even the Saints defence looked good taking advantage of a predictable Falcons performance. The Colts looked better against the Patriots then they have all season, however a boneheaded trick play completely changed the feel of the game. Can the Colts perform for a whole game? Can the Saints take advantage of a poor Colts offensive line? This could be a fun match up.

 

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Kansas City Chiefs

If my weekly review hadn’t deleted itself (I deleted it), you’d have seen that I’m not fully on board with 3rd string QB Jarvis Landry. What we saw was a team, who’d prepared for a very different QB trying to deal with a total offensive change. As it was when he played, outside of a couple of anticipation plays, he didn’t do anything that impressive. He threw a ball that made Martavis Bryant, look more like Kobe, with how high he had to go up to get it and hit him on a short pass that saw Bryant do all the hard work for a touch down to pad out Landry’s stats. This week though they are up against a poor Chiefs team that can’t protect Smith or run the ball. The Steelers ‘better-than-expected’ defence should have a field day in this one.

 

New York Jets @ New England Patriots

Easily the game of the week. The Jets are hanging in there in the AFC East with a 4-1 record and could even the score with a win against the 5-0 Patriots. When we looked through the schedule, it was this game that looked like the biggest challenge for the Patriots, with the Jets defence looking like a top 5 unit and a Chris Ivory and Brandon Marshall that are surely Pro Bowl bound. The Patriots however have looked unstoppable, with Brady looking as good as ever. We at the Gents can’t wait for this one.

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Washington

These are 2 teams that have been up and down all season. Every time Washington look like they’ve got it together it becomes evident that Kirk Cousins isn’t a QB you can put the team on, which is an issue when they simply can’t run the ball. The Bucs defence has looked pretty decent so far will be a reasonable match for the Washington offence. The offence has played pretty well too, with Doug ‘you’re the muscle hamster, deal with it’ Martin, seemingly getting increasingly better. This could be a close game though.

 

Atlanta Falcons @ Tennessee Titans

Both teams last week looked like they’d come straight from the 2014 season, not doing a great deal of anything impressively. The Falcons will want to forget about last week and return to winning ways. Matt Ryan however will need to up his game and match what the defence and Devonta Freeman have done all season. The Titans have slowly started to revert back to last season’s form, largely down to a few key injuries, including a Marcus Mariota, who will sit this game out, in favour of Zach Mettenberger, who we might see throw a few picks to the talented Falcons secondary.

 

Oakland Raiders @ San Diego Chargers

A great battle here between 2 high powered offences, who’d have thought that a couple of years ago. Derek Carr will be up against a disappointing secondary that’s had a lot of money invested in it. The Chargers offence has been rolling though, with Rivers clocking up over 500 yards last week against the Packers defence. The Raiders defence has been functional and has had great success getting to the QB. Which is bad news for the Chargers weak offensive line. There could be a surprise on the cards here.

 

Dallas Cowboys @ New York Giants

Another exciting game here in a wide open NFC East. Dallas still have injury issues, but there is a chance that Matt Cassel can get the ball moving better than Brandon Weedon, which when coupled with a great defence could cause problems for the Giants, rollercoaster lineup. The offence has been explosive, but the defence has struggled to keep the score down on occassions. When they can get rolling they’ve caused serious problems.

 

Philadelphia Eagles @ Carolina Panthers

Philadelphia, so far this season have to be in the running for the most disappointing season, which is a huge issue for Chip Kelly, who pretty much blew up the entire team to get a unit together that he wants. They go up against the beaten up, yet somehow still unbeaten Carolina Panthers, who’s QB Cam Newton has single-handedly moved the offence at times. With the Eagles defence working pretty well though, this could be a rough match-up for the Panthers.

 

Baltimore Ravens @ Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore have been incredibly disappointing. For me the problems are fairly simple. The receivers and the corners. Unfortunately they go up against a high powered Cardinals defence that is having no problems moving the ball down with their receivers. This game could be a blood bath.