We’re into the heart of the football season and we have only 13 games on the docket this week. There aren’t a lot of strong story lines this week. Mostly we have teams coming off byes trying to figure out whether their team is a legitimate contender this year. The featured games this week are Minnesota @ Pittsburgh, Chicago @ Cinci, Atlanta @ Dallas, and New Orleans @ Miami.

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NFL Week 7 2009 Picks

Straight Up

MATCHUP	Vegas Vinny	BostonMac	RJ	Peso	Actual
49ers @ Texans	Texans	Texans	Texans	Texans
Packers @ Browns	Packers	Packers	Packers	Packers
Vikings @ Steelers	Steelers	Steelers	Steelers	Steelers
Colts @ Rams	Colts	Colts	Colts	Colts
Patriots @ Bucs	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Bucs
Chargers @ Chiefs	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers
Jets @ Raiders	Jets	Raiders	Jets	Raiders
Bills @ Panthers	Panthers	Panthers	Panthers	Panthers
Bears @ Bengals	Bears	Bears	Bears	Bengals
Falcons @ Cowboys	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Cowboys
Saints @ Dolphins	Saints	Saints	Saints	Saints
Cards @ Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants
Eagles @ Redskins	Eagles	Eagles	Eagles	Redskins
Prev Week	8-6 (.571)	10-4 (.714)	5-9 (.357)	4-10 (.286)
Overall	60-30 (.667)	60-30 (.667)	53-37 (.589)	47-43 (.522)

Against the Spread

MATCHUP	Vegas Vinny	BostonMac	RJ	Peso	Actual
49ers @ Texans (-3)	Texans	Texans	Texans	Texans
Packers @ Browns (+7)	Packers	Packers	Packers	Packers
Vikings @ Steelers (-4.5)	Vikings	Vikings	Steelers	Vikings
Colts @ Rams (+13)	Colts	Rams	Colts	Rams
Patriots @ Bucs (+14.5)	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Bucs
Chargers @ Chiefs (+4.5)	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers	Chargers
Jets @ Raiders (+7)	Jets	Raiders	Jets	Raiders
Bills @ Panthers (-7)	Panthers	Bills	Bills	Panthers
Bears @ Bengals (-1)	Bears	Bears	Bears	Bengals
Falcons @ Cowboys (-4)	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Cowboys
Saints @ Dolphins (+6)	Saints	Saints	Dolphins	Dolphins
Cards @ Giants (-7)	Cards	Giants	Cards	Giants
Eagles @ Redskins (+7)	Eagles	Eagles	Eagles	Redskins
Prev Week	7-7 (.500)	8-6 (.571)	2-12 (.143)	7-7 (.500)
Overall	49-41 (.544)	45-45 (.500)	38-52 (.422)	45-45 (.500)

Locks of the Week

Vegas Vinny: (3-3, Balance =$840) After starting off 3-0, I’ve been on a three game slide. However, last week was the first time I was just completely wrong. How the hell did the Jamarcus Russell lead Raiders beat the Eagles? How? Anyway, onward and upward.

You know how the vegas line is based on what the bookies think the public will bet rather than their take on the actual skill of the teams involved. Well, there is a line that jumps out at me this week and it shows me that Cowboys fans might just be the dumbest fans in the NFL. How the Cowboys can be a 4 point favorite, even at home, against the Atlanta Falcons is mind boggling. This is a gift from the football betting gods here.

The last time we saw the Cowboys, they barely beat one of the worst teams in the league. Meanwhile, the Falcons, despite not playing quite up to their 2008 form, has looked more than decent, beating a good Bears team and destroying a good Niners team in San Francisco. The Cowboys are struggling on offense and the QB, who is mockingly called Mr October, isn’t even doing well in October. Look at their last few games against dreadful opponents and you’ll see an offense that is inconsistent at best. I’ll put $110 to win $100 on the Falcons (+4.5). I’ll take those points but I think the Falcons win straight up… so check out the money line on this folks.

BostonMac: (5-1, Balance = $1,295) The Saints looked damn near unstoppable last week. They took the Giants and worked them over like Falcon Heene and his family working over the national media. Coming off their big win over the Jets, it will be interesting to see if the Dolphins can throw a curveball at New Orleans with the Wildcat, but Mark Sanchez Drew Brees is not. (If you can follow my inverted sentence structure.) The Saints would be #1 or #2 in my NFL power rankings right now, with the Colts being the other one. Maybe followed by Broncos, Vikings, Patriots, Giants. Then maybe the Steelers, Packers, Ravens, Falcons, Bears. Everyone else sucks balls. Such is life in the NFL 2009. The good teams beat the bad teams. I’ll put $110 to win $100 on the probable best team in the NFL. Saints (-6) win and cover.

RJ: (1-5, Balance = $775) I was horrible last week (2-12) if there would’ve been 30 NFL games, I would have gone 2-28. My problem was –er, my excuse is– I picked up some college games on my tip sheet the last few weeks and nailed them, thus blowing my proverbial wad on Saturday. Just what the hell is a proverbial wad, anyway? Sounds like a horrible band name or a funny captcha when you’re trying to use ticketmaster or post a personal ad on Craigslist (not that I do those things). So, my focus is back on the professionals—and me being a homer.

Sometimes, I can just smell a team being in a good spot. Sounds kinda gross, but hear me out. The Steelers are coming off a few decent wins (not covers) and have the undefeated Mini-Vikes (RIP, Myron Cope) coming to town riding an emotional, last-second victory against the Ravens. So not only do I dislike the Vikings in their first true road test of the year, I love the Steelers in a big game in front of what should be an insane crowd. Their defense has been very average this year, but they like to treat these games like the Super Bowl and they will be blitzing Purple Jesus for a change and flying at 1000 mph all over the field. Plus, Ben and the offense has been clicking at a rate not seen since the Tommy Maddox Era (bad omen for the year but good for this game) and will be going against a struggling defense that will probably be missing Antoine Winfield. So now that I’m down big, (nothing new there) I’m putting a little extra on the Steelers -4. 110/100