Week 7 NFL Picks: Surefire Upsets You'll Never Expect

Week 7 in the NFL is littered with good matchups. Not all may be intriguing, but they are all pretty interesting.

Home Team	Away Team	Kickoff Time (Broadcast Network)	Prediction
Cardinals	Seahawks (-7)	Thursday, Oct.17, 8:25 p.m. ET (NFL Network)	Seahawks
Redskins	Bears (-1)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (Fox)	Bears
Lions (-3)	Bengals	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (CBS)	Bengals
Falcons (-7)	Buccaneers	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (Fox)	Buccaneers
Dolphins (-7)	Bills	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (CBS)	Dolphins
Jets	Patriots (-4)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (CBS)	Patriots
Eagles (-3)	Cowboys	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (Fox)	Cowboys
Panthers (-6)	Rams	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (Fox)	Rams
Jaguars	Chargers (-7)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET (CBS)	Chargers
Titans	49ers (-4)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 4:05 p.m. ET(Fox)	49ers
Packers (-10)	Browns	Sunday, Oct. 20, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)	Browns
Chiefs (-6.5)	Texans	Sunday, Oct. 20, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)	Chiefs
Ravens	Steelers (-1.5)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)	Ravens
Colts	Broncos (-7)	Sunday, Oct. 20, 8:30 p.m. ET (NBC)	Colts
Giants	Vikings (-3)	Monday, Oct. 21, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)	Vikings

Some of the most enticing games this week are between teams playing opponents outside of their division, but let's start with a pick featuring two NFC South cellar dwellers.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+7 at Atlanta Falcons)

Yes, the Buccaneers are 0-5 and the Falcons are a much better team than their 1-4 record indicates. But with an injury to star receiver Julio Jones that likely has him out for the season, along with Steven Jackson not likely to make his return this week, the Falcons are once again short-handed coming off the bye week.

The Buccaneers have shown life over the last two games, losing to the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles by an average of just seven points. Quarterback Mike Glennon emerged last week as a much more confident signal-caller and will look to build on his 273-yard, two touchdown and one interception performance against the Falcons.

St. Louis Rams (+6 at Carolina Panthers)

When talking about erratic teams, the Panthers are likely to be the first that come to mind. The Panthers are 2-3 and hold a plus-41 point differential through five games. Go back and look at that, the numbers just don't add up.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Rams have not exactly been a model for consistency themselves, but are coming off two blowout wins against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans by a combined point differential of 39. Whichever team's offense shows up on Sunday could dictate who's on the wrong end of a dismantling loss.

Indianapolis Colts (+7 vs. Denver Broncos)

Hope you're reading this, Jim Irsay. After a week of demolishing the legacy that Peyton Manning left with the Colts, the 37-year-old quarterback seems likely to do some more offensive gymnastics against the Colts—but he's not the only player with something to prove.

Andrew Luck, the heir-apparent to Manning's throne, is coming off of one of his worst performances as a pro, passing for just 202 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Aside from Luck, look for receiver Reggie Wayne to show Manning what he's missing and have one of his best games of the year.

Betting lines provided by Vegas Insider.