NFL Week 7 Picks: Indianapolis Colts and More Teams That Will Keep on Losing

With some of the league’s biggest winners—New England, San Francisco—on byes, Week 7 should be an opportunity for some of the league’s downtrodden to pick up victories. Not so with this trio, whose bad luck will just keep getting worse after losses a week ago:

Indianapolis Colts (at New Orleans)

The good news for Indy is that New Orleans’ backfield-by-committee probably isn’t equipped to take full advantage of the Colts’ appalling run defense. The bad news is that, while their pass defense is the strongest unit on the team (18th in the league), it’s no match for Drew Brees at the Superdome.

New Orleans’ own defense has been a middle-of-the-pack group this season, but that’s all they’ll have to be in this matchup. Curtis Painter may get a couple of big plays, but Brees and the Saints just have too many weapons for Painter to outscore them over 60 minutes.

Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. Baltimore)

Jacksonville’s defense put in a worthy effort against the Steelers last week, but Maurice Jones-Drew and the anemic offense just couldn’t put up enough points to get them a win. Look for more of the same on Monday night, with the mighty Ravens' defense coming to town.

Joe Flacco and Ray Rice will certainly test the Jaguars' D, but they’re no guarantee to put up big numbers against a unit that’s held three of its six opponents under 20 points. Unfortunately, with rookie Blaine Gabbert facing the league’s seventh-ranked pass defense (and with an even better run defense shutting down Jones-Drew), a Jaguars win is too much to hope for.

Minnesota Vikings (vs. Green Bay)

After the Vikes’ breakout win over the Cardinals, everything went back to business as usual in last week’s slaughter at Chicago. The defense couldn’t stop a Bears' attack that had been wildly inconsistent, and the passing game was toothless enough to get Donovan McNabb benched.

Christian Ponder will have the benefit of a home crowd for his first NFL start, but asking him to outscore Aaron Rodgers is too much to expect of the untested rookie. Minnesota’s porous pass defense is no match for the Green Bay aerial assault, and the Vikings’ greatest offensive weapon—Adrian Peterson—will be kept under wraps by the punishing Green Bay run defense.