NFL Week Seven Betting: Good chance to assess Wembley-bound Chargers and Saints

NFL / Andy Richmond / 18 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Andy Richmond previews all five fixtures to be shown on Sky Sports this Sunday including appearances from San Diego and New Orleans.

This season's Superbowl race is shaping up to be as open as the big Saturday handicap so beloved by the high street bookmakers - I can't remember the last time I saw all 32 teams trading at double figures approaching week seven and quite frankly NFL betting this season should carry a health warning.

Nevertheless we'll plough on with this week's challenge and look at the magnificent five live games that SKY bring us on Sunday - the week before the NFL bandwagon rolls into London town for the San Diego Chargers-New Orleans Saints match-up (a full in-depth preview of that game next week)


San Diego @ Buffalo

Back from their bye week, a record of 4-1 suggests the Bills are a decent outfit but they recently suffered a humbling loss to the Cardinals and here meet a talented Chargers squad that, after a stumbling start to the season, got back on track by shredding the Brady-less New England Patriots.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers has a more balanced offence to work with now, and does not rely so heavily on LaDainian Tomlinson since the emergence of massive WR Vincent Jackson, his top target this season.

The Bills welcome back QB Trent Edwards and that will help a stuttering offence - their defence and special teams have contributed almost as many points as that unit this year.

This is a good chance to assess the form of the Chargers before next week and I think they'll have too much for a Bills team which whilst improving is still a work in progress.

Recommendation: Back the Chargers at [2.04].


New Orleans @ Carolina

The Saints gave their fans a good send off in the Superdome with a 34-3 dismantling of the woeful Raiders and set off on a four game road trip which first of all takes them to divisional rivals the Panthers. Carolina were humbled by the Bucs last week in their worst performance of the season.

Pass, pass, and more pass is the Saints' offensive mantra and in QB Drew Brees they have a man who can get the job done especially with the array of targets that he has, most notably WR Marques Colston and TE Jeremy Shockey, both expected to return this week. The Saints will need to be a little more balanced this week and use RB Deuce McAllister more but may still have too much firepower for a wounded Panthers outfit.

Recommendation: Back the Saints (+2.5) at [2.2].


Indianapolis @ Green Bay

Two sides who got their seasons back on track meet at Lambeau Field and boy this is a tricky one to call. Both sides have had injury problems and to a certain extent have under performed, particularly the Packers defence which despite injuries is not the fearsome unit I expected this year, capable of winning games for the Pack.

One notable feature of the Packers' win at the Seahawks last week was their determination to get RB Ryan Grant into the game. This week, against an undersized Colts defensive line, he could play a big part in the game plan as the Colts have had difficulty in stopping the run this year.

A difficult game to call but I expect Grant to have a big game on offence.

Recommendation: Back Ryan Grant over 75.5 Rushing Yards at [1.8].


NY Jets @ Oakland

The song remains the same for the Raiders despite the change of coach - the chorus line is still defeat and here they meet a Jets side who have beaten them in three straight meetings and come into this game on their best winning streak since the 2006 season.

Unsurprisingly, the Brett Favre-inspired Jets have an offence in which the power of the pass outweighs that of the run and Favre-clone Drew Brees shredded the Raiders' secondary last week. It could be a similar story here, although Favre will need to make some smart decisions against the Raiders' pass rush which has been strong on occasions this season.

Oakland lack balance on offence because young QB JaMarcus Russell (as was shown last week) struggles to run a pass orientated offence meaning that we will see the Raiders rely far more on their rushing attack, which is more reliable if a little predictable at times and won't carry element of surprise that the Jets could be vulnerable to.

Special teams are an underrated part of the game but the Jets have one of the best units and return man Leon Washington constantly puts Favre in a good position to start each drive.

Recommendation: Back NY Jets (-3.5) at [2.16]


Seattle @ Tampa Bay

Seattle were awful against the Packers last week, but with the offence still lacking injured QB Matt Hasselbeck, things don't look any better this week, especially against a strong Bucs side.

Veteran Tampa QB Jeff Garcia ran a beautifully balanced offence last week using eight different receivers and the veteran RB Warrick Dunn to good effect in a very similar offence to the one that the Packers used so successfully against a struggling Seahawks "D".

Expect more of the same this week and another balanced offence beating up the 'Hawks.

Recommendations: Back Tampa Bay Bucs (-10.5) at [2.06] and Back over Tampa Bay match points (24.5) at [1.98]