NFL Teams On Upset Alert In Week 7

Which NFL teams are on upset alert in Week 7?

Week 7 of the 2014 NFL season kicked off with an AFC East divisional rivalry, and we’ve still got 14 more games on the slate.

At 9.5 point underdogs, the New York Jets almost defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, but the Pats’ defense came up big when Nick Folk’s attempt at a 58-yard game winning field goal was blocked to end the game.

That said, there aren’t a whole lot of other potential upset picks this week, with three home teams being donned as underdogs.

I’ll be honest in telling you that I don’t have much confidence in any of the upset picks this week, but for the sake of making things interesting, here’s my argument for why the below teams could pull the upset this weekend.

*Spreads via Yahoo Sports

Detroit Lions (-3.0) vs. New Orleans Saints

This Week 7 matchup pins one of the NFL’s best offenses against one of the league’s best defenses. Which will prevail?

Both teams are coming off a win last week, and despite New Orleans being winless on the road, I can’t help but like the idea of Drew Brees leading the Saints to their first road win this season, especially since they’ll be playing in a dome (and yes, I know that two of the Saints’ losses have come in road domes already).

The thing is that Detroit’s offense hasn’t looked as explosive as it can be, with the Lions averaging only 15.5 points per game during the last two weeks, with the Saints putting up an average of 27 their last two games.

Also going against me is the fact that Jimmy Graham won’t play for the Saints, but hey, Brees has won football games without his 6’7” tight end. Right now it looks like Calvin Johnson will be a no-go too, so I have that going for me.

At least Gregg Rosenthal agrees with me.

All jokes aside, I feel like the Saints have to turn it on sooner or later, so why not against a banged up Detroit squad?

Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.0) vs. Houston Texans Last week I picked the Steelers over the favorite Cleveland Browns and got burned, so now I’m turning the tables on Pittsburgh. T he Steelers have looked awful in a lot of games this year. Last week was especially ugly vs. the rival Browns. Pittsburgh mustered a mere 10 points on offense while allowing running back Ben Tate to find the end zone twice. The Steelers’ offensive woes have been well documented.

That definitely makes for a favorable matchup for Arian Foster, who’s coming off a two-touchdown game himself in a loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

All of the statistics say that the Steelers are the better team on both sides of the football in this matchup, yet I still don’t trust them. I don’t think Le’Veon Bell is utilized as much as he should be–he’s only carried the ball 20 times or more in two games this season–and the second year back has just one touchdown (from Week 1).

Sunday would make for a perfect day to get Bell going–the Texans rank 22nd against the run–but Todd Haley will probably under use his star back again.

All in all, I like Houston’s wide receiver matchups with Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins, and with it sporting the best defensive player in J.J. Watt, I think Watt disrupts Ben Roethlisberger and the entire Steelers’ offensive scheme to deliver a big L to the Pittsburgh faithful on Monday night.

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