2026 NFL Season ~ Week Seven
Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices
Healthy quarterbacks. Injured quarterbacks.
Teams striking out hot at the start and perhaps now returning to the pack. Teams arriving to the opening weeks cold and wondering if it’s too late.
Divisions that may be over. Divisions where incompetence creates opportunity.
Examples? We’ve got examples.
No one in the NFC West can defeat the 49ers. No one in the NFC East wants to win a game at all. San Francisco is 6-0, which includes a victory over each divisional opponent. Over the past two weeks, the teams in the NFC East – which included a game where two teams faced off against each other – have gone 0-6-2.
It’s time to begin the sorting, do the heavy lifting, and maybe even begin believing what your eyes are telling you.
First up, the three of us.
Did you know that in sports betting, breaking even on your picks isn’t good enough to break even?
True.
Basically, instead of the normal dollar-to-dollar rate – think one dollar bet to one on a winning wager – that the even-money opportunities have in a casino, the wagers in a sportsbook usually are subject to what we could call a commission or fee for the honor of placing the bet. Sportsbook slang calls it the vigorish… the vig.
Usually that means a rate where you need to wager $110 in order to win $100 on a successful bet. At that rate, if you placed two $110 bets, won one and lost one, you would still be down $10.
It means that in order to just break even in picking against the spread, you need to be right a bit shy of 52.4% of the time.
Canasta won last week. It’s getting closer between us.
Once again, we’ve got four teams off this week, giving us a total of fourteen games to select. Odds drawn from USA Today.
New England at Chicago (-3)
There’s a good chance this is going to be the best game of the week. Neither team is too beat up. (Seriously, I know you may be thinking otherwise if you like one of these teams and follow them deeply. But the Rams have placed half their roster onto injured reserve in just the past few days, and still wonder if they’ll ever have the stacked juggernaut everyone expected on the field this season. Both of these teams arrive here doing ok.) Both in decent shape for the year. Both with some moments they’d like to replay.
I’m taking the Patriots, but either wager is a good bet in this one.
Bob: New England
Emmie: Chicago
Canasta: New England
Pittsburgh (-3.5) at New Orleans
I would like to point out that I’ve been trying to tell you the Pittsburgh Steelers are at best an 8 or 9-win team finishing outside the playoffs. At best.
I would also like to point out people are pretending that at 4-2, they’re wonderful.
People are wrong. The Steelers needed overtime to defeat a Buccaneers club that has looked worse this season than they did finishing the 2025 campaign.
This is exactly the type of trap game that is going to trip them up.
Bob: New Orleans
Emmie: Pittsburgh
Canasta: Pittsburgh
San Francisco (-3) at Atlanta
If you picked some random NFL fan off the street, didn’t let them use anything to look up information, and asked about the Falcons, they’d probably be stunned they are 2-4. The hype has been that they’re playing well and on the verge of something good.
Raise your hands if you’ve seen those clippings for the Falcons in multiple recent seasons. And once again, given evidence such as taking the Ravens to overtime, the Falcons are getting a lot of smiles and positive thoughts for a team that hasn’t done much except thump the Saints.
Do I think the 49ers can’t lose this year? No. Actually, even though they’ve played the best, I put them behind what I’ve seen from Buffalo and Kansas City, as two teams in my immediate thoughts. But I do think they’re more than three points better in this game.
Bob: San Francisco
Emmie: San Francisco
Canasta: San Francisco
Cincinnati (-1) at Baltimore
Ugh.
Lamar Jackson has been out with an ankle injury, and his availability this week is up in the air. Add in that it’s an ankle injury, and if he plays, he’ll either burn us all and rush for over 100 yards or burn us all and look miserable.
The Bengals are 3-2 and enter the game coming off the bye week. I’m not comfortable with the pick, but I’ll take a bit of a team to do what I expect over a team where I have no clue.
Bob: Cincinnati
Emmie: Baltimore
Canasta: Baltimore
Tampa Bay at Carolina (-3)
Nope.
Tampa Bay has been awful, inconsistent, playing poorly on the field and being coached poorly off the field for too many weeks over multiple years to buy into this one.
Bob: Carolina
Emmie: Carolina
Canasta: Tampa Bay
New York (Giants) at Houston (-10.5)
Asking for a friend. Did the fourth-quarter Giants from last week raise a few eyebrows? I mean, not take the division in a surprise resurgence-to-greatness way. But in a they’re 3-2-1 and might be a handful for an opponent way. Again, asking for a friend.
No way I can take the Texans by 10-plus against anyone right now.
Bob: New York
Emmie: New York
Canasta: New York
Indianapolis at Minnesota (-6.5)
The Colts are surrendering points at an alarming rate, with the opposition putting up more than 27 a week. The Vikings aren’t playing much offense, but their defense has been strong.
Bob: Minnesota
Emmie: Indianapolis
Canasta: Minnesota
Miami at New York (Jets) (-4.5)
One of these teams is going to win.
Seriously. Despite all of their best efforts to lose in what should be a miserable game to watch, one of these teams is going to win.
Bet on the team that is averaging more than 14 points each week.
Bob: New York
Emmie: Miami
Canasta: Miami
Cleveland (-1.5) at Tennessee
Nice job getting a victory, Tennessee. The problem is, you can’t win at home, and you’re facing a team that hasn’t done much on the road.
Bob: Tennessee
Emmie: Cleveland
Canasta: Cleveland
Denver (-4) at Arizona
Arizona has won two games. Both on the road. Both in Los Angeles. Both were awesome upsets at the time.
This game will be played at home, where they’re 0-2. That’s 0-2, and in each game they were outscored by 24.
Bob: Denver
Emmie: Arizona
Canasta: Arizona
Green Bay at Detroit (-3)
I made fun of Green Bay and how lost they looked early on. The past two weeks they’ve been stronger, good on offense, and have placed themselves nicely at 4-2.
The Lions, despite getting less impressive attention than the Falcons seem to attract, have still been potent on offense.
I’ll take Detroit. I think this is going to be a 35-30, last possession will matter, entertaining divisional game.
Bob: Detroit
Emmie: Detroit
Canasta: Detroit
Los Angeles (Rams) (-4) at Las Vegas
When the season ends, and the Rams are in the playoffs as the team no one wants to play or heading home as the team that never found itself, this will be the game where the outcome of one game predicted the outcome of the season.
I still like the Rams. Do not want to give up on the Rams.
But the Raiders are playing well. Consistent. Better than advertised, but perhaps where they should have been expected all along considering some of the veterans they put in place. Reliable and scoring points.
Bob: Las Vegas
Emmie: Las Vegas
Canasta: Los Angeles
Kansas City at Seattle (-2.5)
I get it. Seattle is 3-3 and the defending champs. But occasionally, teams win titles because of circumstance and great play over a set period of time, and not because they are a great team.
The Chiefs look scary already in a season where many thought it would take two months or so to get rolling.
Bob: Kansas City
Emmie: Seattle
Canasta: Kansas City
Dallas (-4.5) at Philadelphia
Over the past many seasons, Dallas and Dak Prescott have impressed early to break hearts late. Big wins. Big offense. Dynamic.
This year they’re 2-4, scoring pretty well at about 25 points per game. Not outstanding. But decent. Only five teams have scored more in six weeks. Unfortunately, they’re giving up 26 points per game. Only six teams have surrendered more in six weeks.
You have to like the Cowboys in this game. You have to. And yet, everyone liked them in week one against the Giants, and that went well for them.
The thing to look at is the Eagles, who have zero pieces in place to score. Zero.
Bob: Dallas
Emmie: Dallas
Canasta: Dallas
WEEK SIX RESULTS
Bob: 5-8-1
Emmie: 6-7-1
Canasta: 7-6-1
OVERALL
Bob: 43-46-4
Emmie: 44-45-4
Canasta: 38-51-4