Cold Open
Whether it's a macho attitude of showing just how much you believe in your offense or an over-analytical approach, it's shocking to me how many people supported Bills head coach Sean McDermott's idiotic decision to play for the touchdown and not overtime on Monday night. Football existed five-plus years ago, and teams that tied games late in regulation did, you know, win in overtime. In college football, a big underdog needs to seize the moment and play for the win. The Bills? They just beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead last week, had struggled in short yardage against the Titans on Monday, but still have the better team. Take your chances in overtime.
Analytics are cool until the AFC title game isn't in Buffalo because the Bills came one win short of home field advantage. The difference between 5-1 and 4-2 with a tiebreaker loss to another potential division winner is an enormous moment in the season, and the Bills choked that away with idiocy.
Ten-Yard Gain
No. 1: How can you feel confident in Baker Mayfield surviving this season? He reaggravated the torn labrum in his left shoulder during the Browns' loss to the Cardinals on Sunday, and now he's out for Thursday night's game against the Broncos. Mayfield's in a critical year for his contract and now Cleveland -- with Super Bowl hopes -- has an already questionable QB clearly becoming more fragile by the week. The AFC North may already be slipping away.
No. 2: Urban Meyer compared his locker room and their emotions after winning in London to winning a national championship. Every single thing Urban has seen in the NFL has been publicly compared to college. He's like the frat bro who can't stop talking about the Halloween parties they attended 20 years ago. If beating Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins across the pond is the same as winning a national title in your locker room, why should I watch college football anymore, Urb?
No. 3: CeeDee Lamb is an emotional player, but waving bye to the Patriots in New England after winning in overtime is so ridiculous. The Cowboys have some clueless media members calling them Super Bowl contenders, yet they just struggled against a mediocre team which, somehow, has yet to win at home this season. The reaction should be back to the locker room, thankful you didn't just lose the biggest upset of the weekend.
No. 4: Speaking of Lamb, a hat tip to ESPN legend Chris Berman during the 'Fastest Three Minutes' at halftime on Monday. Berman's A-B-Cee-Dee-F-G alphabet 'songy' nickname made it feel like we were watching NFL Primetime in 1998 again. I'm here for it.
No. 5: The bloom may be coming off Matt Rhule and Sam Darnold's early season rose. Darnold is seemingly shrinking back to his Jets self, despite rallying and forcing overtime against the Vikings. Rhule's follow up to the game was that the team needs to go back to playing football in 1994 and prioritizing the run. Yeah, that'll do it. Problem solved.
No. 6: The Broncos are who we thought they were back in the preseason. They rattled off three wins to start the season against arguably three of the four worst teams in football. Now Teddy Bridgewater stinks, their defense is overrated, and they got blown out at home against a team that basically didn't have a head coach in place all week.
No. 7: Aaron Rodgers has owned the Bears since becoming the Packers quarterback. But letting the fans at Solder Field know that so vocally after a touchdown once again wreaks of a quarterback knowing the end is near. Watching Rodgers do this is like watching your divorced dad buy a fancy sports car. A midlife crisis, football style.
No. 8: Pete Carroll has admitted the Seahawks have reached out to Cam Newton. The problem is, is he really better than Geno Smith at this stage? Cam did the right thing in getting vaccinated, but there can't be much left in his tank that gives Seattle value over what Smith has shown in five quarters.
No. 9: The Giants are in no position to assume any game on their schedule is a win. But when celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Super Bowl 46 win, maybe don't schedule the ceremony when one of the best teams in football comes to town? The result: empty seats and booing during a happy moment, because the team is down 28-3 against the Rams. Sheesh.
No. 10: Rumors of Deshaun Watson to the Dolphins have heated this week. Before you quickly add Watson to your fantasy rosters, I'm still wondering when Roger Goodell will finally come out and place the Texans' quarterback on the commissioner's exempt list.
Five Games to Chew On
Lions at Rams: Look, this is a very bad week of football. This game makes the top-5 for a couple of reasons. The first being the swap of quarterbacks in Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford. How bad will Rams head coach Sean McVay want to make Goff look like a puddle? And Lions head coach Dan Campbell is already too emotional after the last two losses, so, what will he sound like postgame after the Rams win this game by 30?
Colts at 49ers: This isn't a sexy Sunday night game by any means, but two teams with preseason playoff dreams find themselves under .500. Carson Wentz is starting to look like the Wentz of three years ago, and if he can pull off a win on the road here, this Colts team can begin to dream of a wild card hunt again. As for the 49ers, the NFC West division race is probably already over, considering the red-hot starts from Arizona and Los Angeles.
Bears at Bucs: Last year, Tampa Bay inexplicably lost to Nick Foles and the Bears in primetime. The game will always be remembered for Tom Brady not remembering what down it was. Now the Bears, a surprising 3-3, start to hit the very difficult part of their. The Bucs seem to play down to opponents, so Justin Fields could put himself on the map with an electric performance in a game most of the country will get to see on TV.
Bengals at Ravens: The Bengals are burying bad teams, which is what you want to see if you're not playoff frauds. Just two weeks ago, they went toe-to- toe with the Packers in one of the wildest games of the season. Now the Ravens, current owners of the AFC's top seed, will try to take full command of the AFC North. Can Joe Burrow start to plant a flag for becoming the best QB in the division?
Chiefs at Titans: Derrick Henry's show on Monday night was breathtaking, and the Titans will need more of that to keep the Chiefs' offense off the field. Was the second half against Washington a sign that Kansas City is now back? Perhaps, but the defense will have its hands full with Henry and Tennessee's offense. It's a shame that this game is buried in the early window.
My Picks: 2-1 last week means 13-5 on the season. Profits have been plenty. For this week:
Raiders (-3) vs. Eagles: The betting trend that'd make you swim away from this pick? The Raiders are 1-5 against the spread in their last six games as home favorites. Here's the problem: the Eagles suck. Seriously, they suck. The Raiders had an emotional win in Denver, but we forget they were actually a talented roster before the Jon Gruden controversy struck. Their pass rush should give Jalen Hurts fits, and the Raiders should take control during the second half of this game.
Cardinals (-17.5) vs. Texans: Come Sunday, I'll likely buy this down a point to -16.5, but for the sake of fairness, I'll stick with the number here. This is enormous -- this is Bama laying points against Mississippi State big -- but the Texans are that lousy, and the Cardinals have done enough to prove how great they are. The Texans are beginning to auction off pieces, leaving that locker room weakening and unfocused. The Cardinals don't give off the vibe of a team that's yet felt themselves through arrogance. They remain focused and cruise at home.
Colts (+4) at 49ers: Wentz is the hot hand right now, as the Colts head to California on Sunday night. The 49ers defense hasn't been as outstanding as it was in 2019, and they're not sizzling everyone offensively with Jimmy G and a beat-up George Kittle. You may find good value in the money line with the Colts if you're digging out of a weekend hole. Colts won't lose this game by more than a field goal.
Football Food of the Week
French Onion Dip with Bacon, but with Dipsy Doodles! I was crushed on the air last year for putting bacon in French onion dip and calling it a food of the week. People need to wake up and realize that sometimes the perfect couch food is a French onion dip. The extra saltiness and crunch of well-done bacon should be applauded. So, for this year's twist on this, buy yourself some Dipsy Doodles -- they're basically Fritos with waves. That corn chip taste, as opposed to potato chip taste, will give you the perfect mouth combination you didn't know you were looking for.
Thanks for reading as always, and enjoy Week 7. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @MrazCBS.