NFL Week 7 picks: Cowboys edge 49ers, Falcons upset Patriots

Niner Noise takes a look at the upcoming NFL Week 7 matchups and makes our picks based off the latest info and our latest in-depth “analysis.” Can the San Francisco 49ers pull off their first win over the Dallas Cowboys?

Again, you shouldn’t take these NFL Week 7 predictions and head off to your bookie in Vegas.

Besides, I’m in last place over at 49ers Webzone’s staff pick-em challenge through six weeks, so my advice is about as good as its humor value.

Regardless, let’s take a look at this week’s slate of games and try to figure out which teams come away with victories and why.

San Francisco 49ers /

San Francisco 49ers

Oh, and we’ll throw in scores for good value, starting off with a Thursday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders.

Chiefs 34, Raiders 17

The Raiders haven’t beaten their division rivals, the Chiefs since 2014. And at 2-14, Oakland’s turnaround isn’t going to come against a Kansas City team angry about what happened against the Pittsburgh Steelers on their home turf a week ago.

Panthers 24, Bears 14

Quarterback Cam Newton didn’t look good last week, but his previous two efforts suggested he’s putting things back on track. The Bears defense is good enough to frustrate him, but Chicago is going to have to rely heavily on running back Jordan Howard to take pressure off rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

Carolina owns the No. 5-ranked run defense this season.

Titans 33, Browns 13

Cleveland is terrible. No quarterback changes can fix that.

Saints 36, Packers 16

Losing quarterback Aaron Rodgers absolutely sucks for the Packers. His backup, Brett Hundley, isn’t going to pick up where Rodgers left off.

Meanwhile, the Saints are coming off dropping 52 points against a good Lions defense a week ago. They won’t score as much this week, but they’ll handle Green Bay easily.

Rams 28, Cardinals 24

If this game were in Arizona, I’d give it to the Cardinals, who actually looked like a playoff-caliber team against the Buccaneers a week ago. Since it’s in L.A., though, all I can think of is Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald shredding a porous Cardinals offensive line and making quarterback Carson Palmer’s life hell.

Dolphins 21, Jets 16

The Jets have proven to be quite the feisty bunch, haven’t they. I’m not sure if that trend continues after losing to the Patriots last week, and Miami’s defense is good enough to put the feel-good notions to rest.

New York comes back to earth this week, even though the Dolphins have offensive questions of their own outside running back Jay Ajayi.

Vikings 21, Ravens 10

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco is going to be outplayed by Minnesota quarterback Case Keenum.

Why? Well, Flacco is terrible. Just watch this.

Bills 24, Buccaneers 17

Each week I keep waiting for the Buccaneers to show why everyone thought them a playoff contender, and I’m still waiting.

Jameis Winston likely comes back from his shoulder injury, but weird things happen to opposing quarterbacks in Buffalo. And that was the case long before the Bills defense was good, like it is this year.

Jaguars 28, Colts 16

Flip a win-loss coin, and that’s what you get with the Jaguars. They’re perhaps the most inconsistent team in the NFL right now. At least they have the ability to shut down opponents’ offenses.

The Colts are consistent, well, consistently bad at least. Where’s Andrew Luck again?

Cowboys 28, 49ers 21

Well, the 49ers streak of five-straight games lost by three-or-less points comes to a close in Week 7, although the Niners remain competitive in what winds up a one-score game. That’s been the nature of Kyle Shanahan’s Niners this season.

The Cowboys aren’t going to lose running back Ezekiel Elliott to suspension anytime soon, and that spells problems for a San Francisco defense.

Third downs will be the difference in this old rivalry, and those are numbers clearly benefiting the Cowboys.

Steelers 21, Bengals 17

Believe it or not, the Bengals defense is actually pretty good this year — No. 2 in both scoring and yards allowed, in fact. They’ve just had a tough time moving the ball.

Likewise, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Co. have had offensive issues this season. Fortunately, Pittsburgh’s defense is ranked fourth and third in the same respective defensive categories.

It seems like a relatively equal matchup, so we’ll go with the home team.

Oh, and the Steelers have the Bengals’ number anyway.

Seahawks 17, Giants 10

Forget what you saw of the Giants upending the Broncos on Sunday Night Football last week. That was an anomaly. While the Seahawks have plenty of offensive question marks, their defense remains one of the best in the game.

They’ll head into New Jersey and remind why the Giants will hurt from all those key wide receiver losses.

Falcons 35, Patriots 28

This one was tough, as the Falcons have absolutely flopped their last two games, while the Patriots battled back against a gritty Jets team a week ago. But in this rematch of Super Bowl LI, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Co. take full advantage of a Pats defense full of holes and question marks.

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The key X-factor, of course, will be how much damage Atlanta lets Tom Brady do.

Eagles 27, Redskins 14

The Redskins barely squeaked by the 49ers at home last week, and many view the Eagles as the best team in the NFC right now. And they’ll have home-field advantage in this NFC East rivalry game.

Teams can’t run the ball against the Eagles this season, which puts the game entirely on the shoulders of Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Next: Making the call on 49ers' 2018 free agents

That’s not a matchup I’d give to Washington.