NFL - Week Seven Preview

The NFL travels to London, England to play a game this week as the Chicago Bears mix it up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the annual trek "across the pond" in what is a big game for both teams.
The Bucs are tied for first place in the NFC South with the New Orleans Saints at 4-2 and the Bears are 3-3 and looking up at both the Green Bay Packers (6-0) and Detroit Lions (5-1) in the NFC North division.
In an up-and-down year so far, the New York Jets will host the San Diego Chargers in a key AFC match up. The Jets are 3-3 and have struggled on offense, particularly in the running game while the Chargers offense has been erratic as well, including quarterback Philip Rivers, who so far has not looked like his usual consistent self through the first five games.
This game should be a good one and both teams have solid defenses.
San Diego is fourth overall on defense and number two in the NFL against the pass. The Jets are solid against the pass as well, but have uncharacteristically struggled against the run so far in the 2011 season.
The Oakland Raiders, with quarterback Carson Palmer now in tow, face the Kansas City Chiefs in a big AFC West battle in the "Black Hole."
There were rumors that Palmer would start this game after being traded to the Raiders from the Cincinnati Bengals early in the week, but don't count on Palmer even playing this weekend unless Kyle Boller goes down with an injury.
 The Green Bay Packers play up in Minnesota against the Vikings and rookie QB Christian Ponder, so that's a mismatch right?
We will see because the Packers strolled to an easy win last week against NFC weak sister St. Louis and now face the 1-5 Vikings in the Metro Dome. This game is a division battle and could be closer than people might think.
The Tim Tebow "era" is set to go in south Florida for the  Denver Broncos as they travel to face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Broncos (1-4) and the Dolphins (0-5) both stink so this game will not have anything to offer other than Tebow running around and occasionally floating a pass to a bunch of no name receivers because the Broncos dealt away their best wideout (Brandon Lloyd) to St. Louis at the trade deadline this week.
The two "prime time" games this weekend feature mismatches (at least on paper) as the Indianapolis Colts (0-6) travel to the Super Dome to face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday night in a far cry from the Super Bowl rematch of two years ago.
Meanwhile, the Monday Night Football game has the Baltimore Ravens (4-1) playing the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5) in Florida.
Two other games that should be good ones this week have the Atlanta Falcons (3-3) playing at the Detroit Lions, who are coming off their first loss of the season last week while the Houston Texans (3-3) travel to face the Tennessee Titans (3-2) in a battle for first place in the AFC South.

Here are the Heftyinfo NFL picks for this week... (Home teams are listed in BOLD)


Chicago over Tampa Bay (game played in London, England)
Carolina over Washington
San Diego over NY Jets
Miami over Denver
Dallas over St. Louis
Cleveland over Seattle
Detroit over Atlanta
Houston over Tennessee
Oakland over Kansas City 
Pittsburgh over Arizona
Green Bay over Minnesota
New Orleans over Indianapolis
Baltimore over Jacksonville

Last Week's Record: 11-2

SEASON RECORD: 61-29