NFL Week 7 Picks: Predicting the Winner and Score for All Upcoming Matchups

After an exciting Week 6, the NFL is set up for some excellent playoff races. Five AFC teams have 4-2 records, and they're all staring up at the 5-1 Kansas City Chiefs, who sit in the conference's penthouse.

Not all of those teams will make the postseason, though. Only six make the playoffs in each conference, and four of those spots are reserved for division winners. That means one of the teams in the AFC South, which has three teams tied for first at 3-3, could knock out one of those 4-2 squads.

The rest of the regular season should be fun to watch, but until then, here's a look at some Week 7 picks as well as deeper dives into two games on the ledger.

Week 7 Picks

Denver Broncos at Arizona Cardinals: ARI 17, DEN 16

Tennessee Titans vs. Los Angeles Chargers at Wembley Stadium in London: LAC 27, TEN 10

New England Patriots at Chicago Bears: NE 24, CHI 23

Cleveland Browns at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: CLE 24, TB 23

Carolina Panthers at Philadelphia Eagles: PHI 27, CAR 24

Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets: MIN 20, NYJ 13

Detroit Lions at Miami Dolphins: MIA 24, DET 20

Buffalo Bills at Indianapolis Colts: BUF 17, IND 16

Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars: HOU 17, JAX 13

New Orleans Saints at Baltimore Ravens: NO 27, BAL 24

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins: DAL 24, WAS 20

Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers: LAR 31, SF 13

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs: KC 34, CIN 27

New York Giants at Atlanta Falcons: ATL 34, NYG 24

Tennessee Titans vs. Los Angeles Chargers

The Tennessee Titans' offense is on life support after two lackluster performances. They haven't scored a touchdown in two weeks, hitting four field goals in a 13-12 loss to the Buffalo Bills before falling 21-0 at home to the Baltimore Ravens.

Now they are tasked with traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to face the red-hot Los Angeles Chargers at Wembley Stadium in London. The Bolts have won three straight and held their last two opponents (the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns) to 24 combined points.

Of note, the pass rush came to life against the Browns with six sacks of quarterback Baker Mayfield. If the Bolts keep that trend up against Tennessee, it could be another long day for Marcus Mariota, who was just sacked 11 times versus Baltimore.

While the Titans defense has fared well (the team is third in fewest points allowed per game), Tennessee needs to be lights out against a Chargers team that hasn't scored fewer than 23 points all season. That may be a problem if Tennessee continues to have trouble wrapping up defenders.

Head coach Mike Vrabel pointed this issue out in his Monday press conference recapping the Ravens game:

The Chargers also just posted their best offensive performance of the season, highlighted by one fact Robert Mays of The Ringer relayed:

DVOA is a Football Outsiders statistic that stands for defense-adjusted value over average. The Browns' defense was ranked second in team efficiency prior to Sunday, but the Chargers dropped 38 points and 449 yards in what seemed like a difficult matchup.

In sum, the Titans' margin of error is too small, and the Bolts are hard to bet against given their recent run.

Pick: Chargers 27, Titans 10

Cleveland Browns at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Browns are coming off their ugliest loss of the season. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith after the team allowed 30-plus points for the fourth time in five games in a 34-29 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

The Bucs have given up the most points per game in the league, and while Smith was in charge of the team's defense, how much more can it improve under new leadership? The Bucs defense is also last in DVOA, per Football Outsiders, and the team can't get a consistent pass rush out of defensive end Jason-Pierre Paul. The ex-New York Giants man has five sacks, or one more than the rest of his team combined.

The Browns' blocking struggled in allowing those aforementioned six sacks. However, the Bucs' pass rush isn't as formidable, so Mayfield may have more time to get comfortable.

Cleveland has struggled offensively this year (through six games, the team has eclipsed 21 points just once), but this is a spot to course correct. Of note, wideout Damion Ratley emerged as a pleasant surprise Sunday when he caught six passes (on eight targets) for 82 yards.

Tight end David Njoku has also come on strong in his second NFL season after snatching 18 passes (on a whopping 30 targets) in his last three games.

Graham Barfield of NFL.com went a little more in depth about Njoku's opportunities since Mayfield took over for Tyrod Taylor under center in September:

The 22-year-old is emerging as one of the game's best tight ends, and Tampa Bay will need a top effort to stop him.

The question is whether the Browns defense can hang with the Bucs' pass game. Tampa Bay doesn't have a formidable rushing attack (the team rushes for just 3.6 yards per carry), but quarterback Jameis Winston has four formidable wideouts (Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, Chris Godwin and Adam Humphries) and two solid tight ends (O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate) to look for on a given play.

Furthermore, Browns linebacker Joe Schobert, who leads the team with 49 tackles, is "week to week" with a hamstring injury, per head coach Hue Jackson.

His production will be tough to replace, but backing the Bucs and their last-ranked defense is a tough proposition. Look for Cleveland to win a close one thanks to Mayfield, Njoku and a rejuvenated Browns offense.