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  Casino City's Week 7 NFL Circa Million V 2023 Pro Football Contest Picks20 October 2023
Cleveland -3 over Indianapolis After pulling off their biggest upset victory since 2010, the Browns take their 3-2 overall record to face the Colts. Yes, it took, San Francisco to miss a field goal at the end of the game to secure the 19-17 win, but what a win it was, as Cleveland, which entered the game as 9.5 underdogs, came back from 10-0 down to hand the 49ers their first loss of the season. What makes it even more impressive for the Browns is that they did so with backup quarterback PJ Walker as starter Deshaun Watson missed his second consecutive game with a shoulder injury. Now, Walker didn’t exactly cement his place in Canton during the victory, but he did enough to allow the top defense in the NFL to do its jobs. The Browns have only allowed 1,002 combined yards through the first five games, good for an average of 200.4 per game, which is the third fewest through a team’s first five games of the season since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The Colts, too, played last week with a backup signal caller, but their day didn’t go as well as Gardner Minshew turned the ball over four times in the 37-20 loss at Jacksonville. Minshew will definitely be under center again this week for the 3-3 team, which lost rookie starter Anthony Richardson two weeks ago with a season-ending injury. Barring a resurgence from Minshew this week, Indianapolis will rely on its two-headed running back tandem of Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss. Taylor is still working into form after starting the season on the PUP list and thus far he’s only rushed for 37 yards on 14 carries, but one can expect the workload to increase this week. Moss, meanwhile, took full advantage of Taylor’s absence and including last week’s score he’s got four on the year to go along with 466 rushing yards. Regardless if Watson takes the home field this weekend or not, look for the Browns defense to continue its dominance.
Detroit +3 over Baltimore It seems like every week the Lions are making history and this week will be no different. Detroit, following last week’s 20-6 road win at Tampa Bay, is 5-1, which ties it for the best record through the first six weeks of the season, something it hasn’t done since 1993 when it won a division title. Leading the way for the third best offense in the NFL is quarterback Jared Goff, who’s thrown nine touchdowns for 1,618 yards to go along with two scores on the ground. His league-leading 29 passes of 20 yards or more, usually to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, opens up the offense for running backs David Montgomery, who is questionable for this week with a rib injury, and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, who have combined for 564 yards and six scores. Not to be outdone, is Detroit’s defense, which ranks ninth in scoring and seventh in total defense. Talk about a resurgence, last season the Lions were the fourth worst defense in the league, but this year they haven’t allowed an opponent to rush for 100 yards. The Ravens are no slouches either, as they enter this week’s game with a 4-2 overall record, following last week’s 24-16 home victory over Tennessee. Despite what feels like a pedestrian-type start to the season, quarterback Lamar Jackson still has put up 1,253 yards to go along with nine touchdowns, of which four were with his legs as he’s the team’s leading rusher. Where Baltimore has really shined this year thus far is on defense. The Ravens hold the second-best overall defense in the NFL this season as they’ve only allowed 1,565 overall yards, which is good for an average of 163 and 97 yards in the air and on the ground per game this season. Even though history is on the side of Jackson as he’s 15-1 against NFC opponents, look for the Lions to continue their own hot streak of 7-1 ATS in their past eight road games.
Washington -3 over New York Giants The injury bug hasn’t been kind to the New York Giants as both Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley are still questionable to make their returns to the playing field. Even when these two have been on the field, the offense has not been very productive and a lot of that has to do with the pass protection. The offensive line for both teams have struggled all season. In fact, they are the worst two in football when it comes to giving up sacks. The Giants have given up 33, while the Commanders have allowed 34. Since the Arizona game, over a month ago, the Giants offense has failed to put up more than 16 points in a game. Without any major changes seeming to be on the horizon, there is little reason to suspect that number will skyrocket or drastically change within a week, especially with the existing injury problems. As for Washington, despite losing three of the last four, the offense has shown signs of life with solid weapons Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel. Last game, QB Sam Howell threw three passing touchdowns for the first time in his career, and on the season he has nearly a 68% completion rate. There is promise behind this QB and the Commanders’ offense, but not seeing the same from their division rival.
Los Angeles Rams -3 over Pittsburgh Getting Cooper Kupp back couldn’t have come soon enough for the Los Angeles Rams. In his first game back, the Rams suffered a 23-14 loss to the then undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, but last week, the offense looked more like its normal self with a 26-9 victory over Arizona. Cupp has averaged 133 yards per game since his return and many thought that could mean we won’t see Puka Nacua as much, but he is still getting plenty of targets. Over the last two games, Nacua still hauled in 11 receptions and one receiving touchdown. With the ability these two have of getting open, it takes a lot of pressure off QB Matthew Stafford and opens up the run game for Kyren Williams. However with Williams out Sunday with an ankle injury, the majority of rushing attempts will fall on backup Zach Evans, who only has four carries on the season. The good thing for the Rams is that the Steelers defense is not what it has been in recent years. Pittsburgh sits at 30th in the league for yards given up per game and the offense is in the exact same place. A struggling offense and defense are a bad combination.
Green Bay -1.5 over Denver After a promising opening week win, the Green Bay Packers have lost three out of four and the offense hasn’t had the explosiveness we are accustomed to seeing. The main reason for that is because Aaron Rodgers is no longer the QB in Green Bay; however, another major part of that has been Aaron Jones being on the sideline due to a hamstring injury. It’s no coincidence that in the Week 1 win, Jones rushed for over 120 yards from scrimmage and a pair of scores for the Packers offense. Jones is still questionable for Sunday, but adding him back to the lineup would be a major boost for QB Jordan Love. Love really struggled two weeks ago against the Las Vegas Raiders throwing three picks, but Jones would give him one of his favorite targets back. Luckily for Love, this week, the Packers offense will go up against the worst defense in football, the Denver Broncos, who allow nearly 450 yards of offense per game. The ground attack could be the difference in this game as Denver gives up 172 yards rushing per contest, and the RB duo of a possible Jones and A.J. Dillon could be a force against this defense.
Week 6 Results: 2-3 Season Record: 11-17-2
Casino City's Week 7 NFL Circa Million V 2023 Pro Football Contest Picks
is republished from Online.CasinoCity.com.
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