Week 7 of NFL action is upon us. It kicked off with a thriller on Thursday Night Football at Soldier Field as the Chicago Bears took down the New England Patriots. Now, it’s time to turn our attention to the rest of Week 7. Let’s see if we can crack The Opening Script and find the NFL first-half best bets for Week 7.
We’ve had a lot of success in this article over the past few weeks. Once again last week, three of our four bets came home as the Patriots and 49ers both covered in the first half of their games. Then the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers came home. Buffalo was the only team to let us down.
Steelers/Saints Under 22.5 (-110)
Set those alarms for this one. The Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints head to France for the first-ever NFL game in the country. Stade de France, located in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, is where the action takes place. We’ve dropped one first half under on this card the last few weeks, and it’s been very successful. Hitting each time we’ve played one.
Pittsburgh was part of last week’s success, along with an NFC South team, so let’s run it back. It’s the same story here. Pittsburgh’s defense is tough; they want to slow the game down and aren’t looking to get into shootouts. Pittsburgh averages just 10.5 points per game in the first half. New Orleans is one of the lowest-scoring teams in the entire league in the first half, scoring just 7.2 points per game. Add in jet lag with international travel. It’s a great way to kick off a Sunday.
Houston Texans -6.5 (-105)
I have a lot of love for the Houston Texans in Week 7. They are a desperate team. They were pinned down early last season. Started this year 0-4, then fought back with back-to-back wins. They are a scrappy team that has gone up against elite teams and battled in each game.
Now, needing to keep winning to right the ship, they not only get a New York Giants team that celebrates ties like they just won the World Series. But they are also starting JJ McCarthy at quarterback. This tough Houston defense has to be licking their chops at this opportunity. The game spread is at or north of 10; I could see a late backdoor cover where McCarthy looks “good” against prevent defense. But Houston will make it known who is the better team early and often.
Carolina Panthers -1.5 (+102)
Back to the NFC South. We saw last week Tampa start slow, helping us hit the under. They’ve been a slow-starting team, averaging just 9.3 points per game in the first half. Granted, most of that has been with Jalon Daniels, and it looks like Baker Mayfield will be back this week. However, a rusty Baker, returning from injury, missing his top wide receiver, doesn’t spark a lot of faith in me.
Carolina has been firing out of the gates. They have scored 14.6 points per game in the first half this season. Other than minor bumps in the road against the Cleveland Browns, this Panthers team has been firing on all cylinders. Look for them to start quickly against the Buccaneers.
Cleveland Browns -.5 (+102)
I honestly cannot believe how much I’ve fluffed up the Cleveland Browns in my articles this week. But once again, we’re getting a discount here. The books are scared to move the numbers too much because it’s the Browns; it’s Deshaun Watson. But let’s be honest. Both the Browns and Watson have looked tremendously better than we thought they would this season.
You can’t say the same for the Tennessee Titans. It’s between them and the Dolphins for worst team in the league this year. Tennessee got a win over the Colts last week in a game that was more handed to them than taken. Tennessee is the worst first-half team in the entire league, averaging just 3.2 points per game. We just need any team in the league to be up by one single point over Tennessee? Sign me up.
