NFL 2026-2027: Week 7

The Game Room
1

Week 6 results:

Broncos 17, Seahawks 14 (OT)
Texans 34, Jags 31
Bears 31, Falcons 23
Browns 13, Ravens 10
Titans 26, Colts 20
Patriots 26, Jets 19
Saints 34, Giants 27
Panthers 25, Eagles 14
Steelers 26, Bucs 19 (OT)
Cardinals 18, Rams 16
Chiefs 22, Chargers 6
Bills 33, Raiders 30
Packers 23, Cowboys 13
49ers 23, Commanders 17

This week’s lines. All spreads taken from DraftKings on Tuesday the 20th at 10:15 am CT.

Thursday night:
Patriots @ Bears (-3)

Sunday early thirty:
Steelers v Saints (+3.5) Game played in France, 8:30 am CT kickoff

Sunday early:
49ers @ Falcons (+3)
Browns @ Titans (+1.5)
Colts @ Vikings (-6.5)
Dolphins @ Jets (-4.5)
Bucs @ Panthers (-3.5)
Bengals @ Ravens (-3)
Giants @ Texans (-10)

Sunday late:
Broncos @ Cardinals (+4.5)
Packers @ Lions (-3)
Rams @ Raiders (+4.5)

Sunday night:
Chiefs @ Seahawks (-2.5)

Monday night:
Cowboys @ Eagles (+4.5)

Byes:
Bills, Chargers, Commanders, Jaguars

After 6 weeks, the Niners are 6-0, while the Vikings and Chiefs are 5-0.
The Chargers are 0-6 and the Dolphins are 0-5.

Division leaders in the AFC are the Bills, Browns, Jaguars, and Chiefs.
Division leaders in the NFC are the Giants, Vikings, Panthers, and 49ers.

Link to standings.

NFL 2026-2027: Week 6
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CJ Gardner-Johnson has been suspended a game for spitting at Raider’s players last Sunday for which he was ejected during the game. Pending appeal but I don’t think he’s going to win that one.

Since they’re on the bye this week, it’s probably more relevant for Week 8 though.

Stay classy, Bills!

3

I subscribe to The Athletic, and they send multiple emails each day. This is a quote from the latest one:

After the Commanders’ 23-17 loss to the 49ers last night, they joined the Cowboys, Eagles and Giants to form the first division in modern history to go winless (0-6-2) in consecutive weeks. Generational run.

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That’s a good one, especially with that division game played last week that ended in ignominy

5

Let’s see…Commanders have a bye this week, and the Giants are big underdogs to the Texans on the road. Maybe the Cowboys and Eagles will play to a tie on Sunday?

6

With Jalen Hurts out for the season with blood clots in his lungs, it looks like the NFL’s insistence on playing games in London is partly to blame. Getting on a long trans-Atlantic flight with those clots was one of the worst things his body could have done.

7

I wonder how rioting in Paris will impact the Steelers v Saints game. Is security at all a concern?

8

The league claims the Paris game will go on as planned and that they’re confident in their security plans.

The Stade de France is in a suburb (Saint-Denis) just outside the city itself to the north and quite a ways from the bigger protests and damage and not really along any routes I would expect protesters to march. I would think they’re ok for the game. I don’t know about attendance, though. It is on the main RER train route, so we’ll see.

NFL teams usually need a lot of individual rooms and meeting space, so they’re probably actually staying well outside the city center, anyway, in an area that accommodate large groups.

9

I can’t believe it’s even a question who the Giants will start at quarterback this week. That has to be gamesmanship, right? So the opposing team has to prepare for both? To me it is clear as day that this is JJ’s team now. If Winston gets the start, my faith in Harbaugh will be badly shaken.

Any Vikings fans here? Did McCarthy ever look actually good in Minnesota, or was last week new? He looked actually good, and the entire team rallied around him, though it’s not like the Saints came in with a dominant defense. (They sure dominated Winston, though.)

10

Patriots are up Thursday against the Bears, and this Pats fan is pessimistic of their chances on the short week, despite Drake Maye being on a hot streak after starting the season ice cold. The reason: injury after injury after injury. After a very lucky injury season last year, the worm has turned and the players are dropping like flies this season. They spent a lot of money and draft capital to bring in WRs A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs. Brown has missed most of the season on IR and came back last week with rock hands, putting in one of the worst performances by a WR I’ve ever seen. Doubs has been up and down, also prone to drops, but was the Pats leading receiver to date, and is now out with a shoulder injury. Mack Hollins, who stepped up while Brown was out, is now on IR.

The offensive line is in even worse shape, if that’s possible. Both starting guards are out. RT Morgan Moses is questionable and did not practice yesterday after leaving Sunday’s game with a walking boot. LT Will Campbell is also dinged, though it looks like he might be able to start after exiting last week’s game as well.

At least they got CB Christian Gonzalez back from IR!

All in all, I think it’s going to be a long night for the Pats. Hopefully the poor-decision-making version of Caleb Williams will show up :slight_smile:

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Not a Vikings fan but from the limited samples I’ve seen, he showed flashes and short periods when he looked like a potential starter. But he was never able to string game(s) plural where that happened.

It doesn’t surprise me if had a good showing in relief. It would surprise me if he rattled off 3 or 4 good games in a row. So if he doesn’t start, it would not shock me. There were legitimate reasons he was traded in the first place that included his injury history and inconsistent week to week performance.

12

Huh…even though it’s at Ford Field, I’m surprised the Lions are 3 point favorites over the Packers. Especially when the Packers seem to be getting in a groove with a 2 game winning streak, including an absolute takedown of the Bears in the week 5 game that I caught most of on TV.

13

McCarthy’s biggest problem has been he can’t stay on the field. He had the season-ending knee problem in training camp his rookie season. He appeared in 10 regular season games last year, and sustained 3 injuries (ankle, concussion and thumb, I believe) that took him out of the 7 other games. He was injured in a preseason game this year (hand again.) He’s had flashes of greatness, and stretches of awfulness. IMO, it was that injury in preseason that got him dropped to QB3 behind Murray and Wentz.

So, 5 injuries over 2 plus seasons. 6-4 record. (He doesn’t get tagged with the loss in NY, does he?)

I’d have liked to see him stay in Minnesota, but the Vikings can’t seem to decide if it’s time to rebuild, or win now.

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After their overtime loss to the Bills in Week 5, the Rams released their kicker, Harrison Mevis, and signed Blake Grupe. On Sunday in the game against the Cardinals, Grupe made his first field-goal attempt, but tore his ACL while making the tackle on the ensuing kickoff. Yesterday the Rams signed veteran kicker Brandon McManus.

Six games into the season, the Rams have had more kickers on their roster than they have wins.

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Count me as a JJ McCarthy skeptic. I was surprised that any team who watched his film with the Vikings would give up a pick for him, but it was just a fifth rounder, so the Vikings got more than he was worth.

McCarthy could develop into an average, dual threat, game manager QB. That’s what he was at UM. But I’d be floored if he ever becomes a win-because-of QB. He has some rushing upside, and he’ll appeal to the Giants’ fans who love Dart’s “Rah Rah, FOOTBAAAALLLL!!!” schtick, but he’s woefully inaccurate, had more INTs than TDs, and couldnt find success with one of the best WRs in the game.

His success last week was, to my eye, attributable more to playing against a “protect a big lead” defensive situation than the sudden blossoming of a young QB.

But, as always, we will see.

16

Not my area of expertise but would the effect of a flight from Philly to London be that much different to a flight to somewhere like LA?

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Yes, but a lot depends on the travel arrangements/itineraries. For example, the Rams caught a lot of flak after they got trounced by the Niners in their game in Australia. The Niners went early, and spent 6 days before gametime, while the Rams showed up just 28 hours before gametime. It quickly became obvious which team made the right decision. Hint: not the Rams.

18

The travel question was probably about Hurts’ blood clot. And how safe it is and whether a shorter flight makes a difference is a question for the doctors. It’s not necessarily dangerous especially for an athlete in good physical shape, but it can be.

A good question I saw raised was “where is Philly’s medical staff on this and why haven’t they been answering press questions?” Were they even consulted or aware? And it looks like the league is perfectly willing to throw the team and Hurts’ agent under the bus on this.

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I wondered that myself. Google tells me that flight time from Philly to London is 7 hours 5 minutes. A flight from Philly to LA is 5 hours 55 minutes. So a bit of a difference, but not that much, IMO.

NFL has played games in London since 2007, with assumedly no prior issues due to the longer flights.

20

Three points is generally the default home-field advantage assumption in an NFL spread, which suggests that the betting line is pretty even.

The Packers have, indeed, played well in the past two games, but they still have some glaring deficiencies on the offensive line and the running game (and Josh Jacobs has just returned to practice after his time on the exempt list, and it’s not clear if he’ll be active this week).