Hello all, and happy Thursday to you. Today’s “No Huddle” has a few different topics to cover. I’ll be talking about the latest injury news, previewing Packers-Bears, setting up the rest of Week 7, and giving my picks against the spread to finish up.

It has certainly not been a slow news week in the NFL. Today saw more running back injuries will be affecting this week and beyond for a few teams. I said earlier in the season that injuries come in bunches in the NFL and while last Sunday didn’t see many people leave games injured, the lasting effects have been putting guys out left and right. Ben Roethlisberger looked like the only big name that would be missing significant time with a torn meniscus.

Boy did that all change within the last 24 hours. As of now, two more starting running backs will be joining Big Ben on the sidelines for the next few weeks. Bills running back Lesean McCoy left practice yesterday with a hamstring injury, and there didn’t seem to be much concern out of Buffalo. Today, it was reported that McCoy could be out for a few weeks with this hamstring injury. That is a huge hit to the red-hot rushing attack in Buffalo led by McCoy.

Just around the same time as the McCoy news came a report about Packers running back Eddie Lacy, who was already going to miss tonight’s game with an ankle injury. Well that ankle injury turned out to be much more serious than initially thought. Lacy underwent surgery to repair his injured ankle. With backup running back James Starks already injured, the Packers will be thin at running back tonight against the Bears.

The ever-developing Lacy story only added to the mess in Green Bay, going into what has become a must-win divisional game at home. To put it politely, the Packers are struggling this season. This offense just doesn’t look right and it starts with Aaron Rodgers (wow, never thought I would type that).

Opposing defenses are sitting back in coverage and are making Rodgers force passes into tight windows. You saw that last Sunday especially as Dallas forced turnovers with a three-man rush. Considering the NFL is a copycat league, I could imagine that the Bears will employ a similar strategy in order to keep Green Bay offense in check.

Lacy’s injury already did not help matters much tonight, but the surgery news is more about the long-term effect in that backfield. As far as tonight goes, the Packers are turning to practice squad call-up Don Jackson to carry the load. Don’t be surprised to see receiver Ty Montgomery work out of the backfield as well.

Defensively, Green Bay could be in a lot of trouble trying to cover Alshon Jeffrey and Cameron Meredith. The Packers secondary is depleted right now and will be missing a few starters tonight.

Now, Chicago is 1-5 for a reason. This is just not a good football team right now, despite some of the talent they have on offense. I was never a fan of this defense at the beginning of the season and I still have not seen anything to change my opinion there.

So what does all of this mean for the outcome of tonight’s game. Well it means it will probably be an ugly game, but I don’t think it means we’re going to see an upset in Lambeau tonight. Green Bay is still the better team and despite his struggles, I’ll take Aaron Rodgers over Brian Hoyer every day of the week and twice on Sundays. My pick will surprise you a bit though. I’m going to take the Bears (+7.5) but only because I don’t think the Packers will cover. This season they are 0-2-1 against the spread at home, although the Bears aren’t much better against the spread.

Now let’s breakdown some of the best games that are on the slate in Week 7. We’ll start where NFL Sunday will finish. Sunday Night Football features a great rivalry game between two of the NFC’s best teams. Arizona and Seattle square off in the first of two games that will ultimately decide the fate of the NFC West.

The Cardinals seemed to have recovered from a slow start and have fought their way back to .500. Seattle started slow as well, but was able to win when they weren’t playing their best. This will be a great matchup of two of the best defenses in the league.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the Arizona defense against the Seattle offense. This is where this game will be either won or lost in my opinion. The Seahawks lit up the Jets prior to their bye week, but aside from that they haven’t exactly been the offensive juggernaut most experts thought it could be. Arizona is a big play defense and loves to send pressure against opposing QBs. A lot is riding on the performance of Russell Wilson on Sunday night.

Elsewhere in the NFL on Sunday is another huge NFC matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles. Expect there to be no love lost in the city of brotherly love as the Eagles welcome Sam Bradford back to town.

Philadelphia is riding a two-game losing streak into this game and could not have drawn a tougher matchup to try to get out of this current slide. Fletcher Cox and company will have to step up and go tit for tat with the Minnesota defense. To use a boxing analogy here, styles make fights. Points will be at a premium in this game as both defenses rank 1 and 2 in points allowed.

The battle in the trenches will likely dictate how this game will play out. The Eagles are still trying to figure out how to replace suspended right tackle Lane Johnson after allowing five sacks last week. Minnesota’s offensive line hasn’t been great this year either. This should put both defenses in control of this game and likely enhance the importance of special teams on Sunday.

Rightfully so, the experts are not giving the Eagles much of a chance, but don’t count out Philadelphia so easily.

Some other games to keep a close eye on Sunday are the Patriots-Steelers, Redskins-Lions, and Chargers-Falcons. Obviously the Patriots-Steelers would have lead the “best of” portion prior to the Big Ben injury, but this will still be an entertaining game even if there isn’t much chance the Patriots lose. Pittsburgh still has the weapons to keep things close, but I just can’t see Brady losing to Landry Jones.

Washington-Detroit could turn into a shootout on Sunday, which is a big reason I’m mentioning it here. I’ll be very interested to see if the Redskins can continue this hot streak they are on, having won four in a row after an 0-2 start.

I’m putting the Falcons on upset alert this week, despite the fact that I think they’ll be able to score on a weak San Diego secondary. After a tough loss last week to the Seahawks, there is always a chance for a let down. Don’t be shocked if the Chargers are hanging around for a while in this game.

Before I get to my game picks for this week, I just want to remind everyone that football gets started early on Sunday. The Giants-Rams game is the second London game of the year so plan your day accordingly and also make sure to set your fantasy lineups on time.

Now, let’s get to the game picks for Week 7. My streak of five weeks above .500 ended last week with three backdoor covers, which put me in quite the hole going into the late games. Any given Sunday right? Well its time to start a new streak, so I’m shooting to make this my best one yet. Here are my picks for this week (Winners in Bold)

Last Week: 7-8       2016 Season: 48-44

9:30 AM (London)

NY Giants (-3) vs. Los Angeles

 

1:00 PM

New Orleans vs. Kansas City (-6.5)

Indianapolis vs. Tennessee (-3)

Minnesota (-3) vs. Philadelphia

Cleveland (+10) vs. Cincinnati

Washington (+1.5) vs. Detroit

Oakland (+1) vs. Jacksonville

Buffalo vs. Miami (+3)

Baltimore (+2) vs. NY Jets

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Tampa Bay (EVEN) vs. San Francisco

San Diego (+6.5) vs. Atlanta

New England (-7.5) vs. Pittsburgh

 

Sunday Night Football

Seattle vs. Arizona (-1.5)

Enjoy all of the games tonight everyone! Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.