{"id":19501,"date":"2021-10-22T05:40:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T05:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=19501"},"modified":"2021-10-22T05:40:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T05:40:45","slug":"friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-week-7-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-week-7-2\/","title":{"rendered":"FRIDAY AFTERNOON QUARTERBACK: NFL WEEK 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be easy to talk about Thursday night\u2019s game and make the gag that the Cleveland Browns now have a quarterback controversy considering Case Keenum stopped their two-game skid with a 17-14 win over the Denver Broncos. But the fact is, the offense that Kevin Stefanski has created, and the running backs he keeps on the roster, doesn\u2019t need elite QB play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayfield is certainly better than Keenum, but the Browns need to keep this performance in mind when it comes time to iron out that second Mayfield contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real surprise was third year running back D\u2019Ernest Johnson, who got the start thanks to both Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb being hurt. Johnson had a total of 40 career carries coming into Thursday night\u2019s game. He had 22 against Denver alone, picking up 146 yards and a touchdown in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he also did was put the team on his back, both teams really, as he drug Broncos defenders down the field in Cleveland\u2019s final possession to ice the win and likely put Denver head coach Vic Fangio firmly atop the hot seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an ugly loss for Fangio and the Broncos, looking every bit like the wrap on Fangio\u2019s head coaching tenure it should be. This is his third season at the helm in Denver and this is easily the best team he\u2019s fielded. They\u2019ll probably be lucky to get to eight wins. If they can\u2019t match up against a Browns team with nearly every offensive skill starter out or limited, that\u2019s reason enough to scrap it, shove Fangio overboard, and start over. There are too many good potential head coaching prospects entering the market in 2022 to screw around anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you play fantasy football, this week is kind of a disaster as some of the best performers available are sitting out with byes. Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins and Justin Herbert alone have likely stacked up fantasy football victories for their managers this season. Let\u2019s hope those managers, for their sake if they have something embarrassing they have to do if they finish last in their leagues, have a deep bench. No one wants to wear a sandwich board proclaiming their fantasy football ineptitude in Victoria\u2019s Secret lingerie during the winter in a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byes: <\/em><\/strong>Buffalo<\/em> Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CINCINNATI<\/strong> BENGALS AT BALTIMORE RAVENS (-6.5, O\/U: 46.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alright, here are some no fun stats if you\u2019re rooting for Cincinnati. Lamar Jackson is 5-0 against the Bengals lifetime and, with him at QB, has outscored Cincy 84-19 over their last three meetings. Cincinnati is significantly better this year, maybe a playoff team, but Baltimore might be the best team in the AFC. Ravens 33, Bengals 24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAROLINA<\/strong> PANTHERS AT NEW YORK GIANTS (+3. O\/U: O\/U: 43.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This game is so bad I can\u2019t believe they didn\u2019t accidentally ship it over to London. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will just have to do without as the hapless Panthers take on the helpless Giants in a game Scott Hanson is already prepping apologies for queuing up on NFL RedZone. New York head coach Joe Judge publicly said Thursday that the team\u2019s poor start is all on him, stating, \u201cthe fish stinks from the head down.\u201d That\u2019s an odd analogy to make, because fish stink is pretty pervasive all over and I\u2019ve never heard of anyone specifically shoving the head of a mackerel toward their nose. It\u2019s a cod, not a casaba melon. Anyway, he\u2019s right. His team is terrible and he should be fired. Panthers 21, Giants 17<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON<\/strong> FOOTBALL TEAM AT GREEN BAY PACKERS (-7.5, O\/U: 49)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This line has dropped a little as apparently bettors were liking WFT at -8.5, I did not. At all. And probably would have picked Green Bay to cover at -10 considering that Aaron Rodgers is finishing up his final season with the Pack claiming paternity over every lackluster franchise the in the league. Washington has given up over 30 points a game over their last five and that won\u2019t change Sunday. Packers 33, WFT 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KANSAS CITY<\/strong> CHIEFS AT TENNESSEE TITANS (+4.5, O\/U: 57.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably the best game of the week. The Chiefs haven\u2019t stopped a good team from scoring all season and the Titans, most weeks, look halfway decent. Derrick Henry is a human cheat code and Kansas City has the sixth worst rushing defense in the league. If there\u2019s an issue, it\u2019s Ryan Tannehill who\u2019s been compared to Patrick Mahomes since he took over in Tennessee. It was for good reason, but this year Tannehill\u2019s looked more like Jackson Mahomes. Julio Jones probably won\u2019t play because that\u2019s his thing now and A.J. Brown has been sick this week. More than that, I can\u2019t see Tennessee pulling off two monster upsets in a row. Not if any part of this game falls on Tannehill\u2019s shoulders. Chiefs 38, Titans 30<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ATLANTA<\/strong> FALCONS AT MIAMI DOLPHINS (+2.5, O\/U: 47.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Falcons are coming into this game off a bye and the Dolphins probably wish they had one as they\u2019re in heated negotiations to add Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson to the roster and ship former first round pick Tua Tagovailoa out of town. It\u2019s not the best atmosphere to start a game. It\u2019s a huge distraction and if they were playing any team other than Atlanta, it would spell blowout doom. I\u2019m still picking the Falcons, but I\u2019m like that sweatshirt you put on this morning by noontime, not comfortable. Falcons 23, Dolphins 20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW YORK<\/strong> JETS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-7, O\/U: 42.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of New England\u2019s wins this season came against teams starting rookie quarterbacks and one of them was against these same Jets. I see no reason for that to change. Mac Jones is statistically having a decent season, but he\u2019s got a significant coaching advantage over Zach Wilson. And, also an experience advantage since Jones is used to throwing to NFL receivers at Alabama and everyone Wilson tossed balls to in college is currently wrapping up their Subway Sandwich Artist certifications. Patriots 24, Jets 13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETROIT<\/strong> LIONS AT LOS ANGELES RAMS (-16.5, O\/U: 50.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m writing this on Thursday night and this line jumped a point and a half since I started the column. Jared Goff makes his not so triumphant return to SoFi Stadium to take on his former team and a coach that knows all his weaknesses so well he spent two first round picks and a third to ship him to Detroit for Matthew Stafford. That probably explains the line and while it might be higher than this by the time this article runs. Rams 45, Lions 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHILADELPHIA<\/strong> EAGLES AT LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (-3, O\/U: 49)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw an interesting quote Thursday from Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs discussing last week\u2019s win over the Denver Broncos. Jacobs said<\/a>, \u201cMan, the sideline was so, it was like, it wasn\u2019t no anxiety. It was weird. It was like everybody was clam. You didn\u2019t have somebody cussing at you or going crazy at the refs. None of that. Something bad happened it (was) like, \u2018Ok, next play.\u201d Jon Gruden was a cancer and that cancer has been removed. I think Las Vegas will keep playing like it. Raiders 37, Eagles 23<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHICAGO<\/strong> BEARS AT TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (-12.5, O\/U: 47)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We come to our second college football line of the week as Justin Fields gets his first shot at Tom Brady and Brady gets the opportunity to add one more QB\u2019s head to the wall of his trophy room. Tampa has only covered twice this season, but both times have been at home. It\u2019s a safe bet it will happen again here. Bucs 34, Bears 20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOUSTON<\/strong> TEXANS AT ARIZONA CARDINALS (-17.5, O\/U: 47)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As funny as it was to see the Lions at Rams line jump in less than an hour, I\u2019m not shocked to see this one sit there unmoved. The Texans are abysmal, battling for the No. 1 overall pick (and likely stockpiling plenty more draft selections after the proposed Watson trade with the Dolphins) and Arizona is playing like a franchise on a mission. One side note to this game, this will be the first time Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt has faced his old team and probably the only time it\u2019ll happen since they don\u2019t play often and are very unlikely to meet up in the Super Bowl before Watt retires or the Sun burns out, taking the solar system with it to finish out eternity as a faint white dwarf star, shinning its pale light on whatever planet remnants still encircle it that weren\u2019t consumed by its red giant expansion phase. Anyway, Cardinals 45, Texans 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 10-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 10-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 63-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 50-44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NFL season is rolling along and the Week 7 Schedule is up and taking bets at BetOnline.AG<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow our BetOnline Twitter accoun<\/a>t for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE It would be easy to talk about Thursday night\u2019s game and make the gag that the Cleveland…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":13474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19509,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19501\/revisions\/19509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}