NFL Picks Week 7: Dallas Cowboys and Teams That Will Atone for Week 6 Losses

After what was a particularly wild Week 6, most NFL teams are already looking ahead to Week 7. Many top teams suffered losses this past weekend, so they will certainly want to bounce back as the hallmark of a good team is to never lose consecutive games.

Week 7 will go a long way in proving which teams are contenders and which are pretenders. Here are three teams that will atone for Week 6 defeats with wins in Week 7.

Houston Texans

After an extremely hot start, the Houston Texans have cooled down considerably over the past couple weeks. The Texans have lost to the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens in consecutive weeks and it is no surprise that those losses coincided with stud wide receiver Andre Johnson's hamstring injury.

The Texans have a vital matchup in Week 7 against the 3-2 Tennessee Titans who hold a half-game lead over Houston in the AFC South. Seeing as the division has turned into a two-horse race already, this game will be absolutely vital for both teams.

Overall, I consider the Texans to be the better team with or without Johnson. Houston was able to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers without Johnson for a good chunk of the game and the Steelers crushed the Titans, so I think the Texans will be able to establish their dominance in this one.

New Orleans Saints

In what looked to be an extremely difficult game going in, the New Orleans Saints dropped a tough one on the road last week to the division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The loss would seem to be a momentary bump in the road during New Orleans' season, though.

Some may say that the loss exposed deficiencies in New Orleans' defense and running game, but I think those weaknesses were already quite apparent. Quarterback Drew Brees didn't play particularly well, and when he isn't at his best the Saints will lose more often than not.

Brees and the Saints as a whole have a great opponent to bounce back against, though, in the Indianapolis Colts. The disparity between the two teams is so large that I doubt the Saints will have any trouble, even if Sean Payton can't coach from the sidelines due to MCL and leg injuries.

Dallas Cowboys

I think it's safe to say that no 2-3 team has been more impressive this season than the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys could conceivably be 5-0 if not for late blown leads against the New York Jets and Detroit Lions and a very narrow loss to the New England Patriots this past Sunday.

The Cowboys played the Patriots tough and held a late lead, but head coach Jason Garrett didn't show much confidence in quarterback Tony Romo as they played for the field goal. This may have been an indictment of Romo's late-game play in recent weeks.

Even so, the Cowboys should have little trouble if they play to their full potential this week against the hapless, 0-5 St. Louis Rams. Luckily for Romo the game shouldn't come down to the wire either as the Cowboys should even their record at 3-3.