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After a couple of so-so weeks predicting NFL games, week 7 turned out to be a good one, as I nearly pulled off perfection, picking 12 correct winners out of 13. The lone incorrect pick was the Buffalo Bills’ loss to Tennessee, which really should have been a win, but the Bills managed, once again, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. For the season, I have 50 correct picks and 25 wrong. Here are my predictions for week 8:

Tampa Bay at Minnesota – the Vikings are truly one of the season’s surprise teams, while Tampa  has played well but had some hard luck. I’m going to pick the Buccaneers to pull an upset here on the road.

Carolina at Chicago – the Panthers are reeling, while the Bears, one of the few NFL teams actually playing defense,  have played well on both sides of the ball this year with the addition of Brandon Marshall to their offense. The Bears will win at home.

San Diego at Cleveland – it’s tough to side with the unpredictable Chargers, but they have enough firepower to take down a struggling Browns’ club. San Diego wins a close one.

Seattle at Detroit – both of these teams have playoff aspirations, but have had ups and downs. I feel that the Lions need the win more, and will eek out a close win at home.

Jacksonville at Green Bay – the Packers have ironed out their early-season problems, and will win this game going away, putting away the Jaguars early at home.

Miami at New York Jets – rookie Dolphin QB Ryan Tannehill has played well, but will face a real test against a strong Jet defense. New York wins at home behind a punishing ground game.

Atlanta at Philadelphia – Michael Vick faces his former team. The Falcons have been a much more consistent club than Philly this year, but I’m going to pick the Eagles at home, again, because they need the win more.

Washington at Pittsburgh – the Steelers are still a team to be reckoned with in the AFC North, but they’re not the power they’ve been the last few decades. I’m picking Robert Griffin III and the ‘Skins to engineer an upset here.

New England at St. Louis – the Patriots haven’t beaten an NFC West team yet this year, suffering upset losses to the Cardinals and Seahawks. Their passing game, however, will be too much for the young Rams to handle. New England wins on the road to stay atop the AFC East standings.

Indianapolis at Tennessee – the Colts used to own the AFC South, but not this year. With Chris Johnson rounding into form and Matt Hasselbeck providing a steady hand at QB, I’ll pick the Titans to win.

Oakland at Kansas City – another edition of a great old AFL rivalry. Brady Quinn gets the start at QB for the Chiefs, and his teammates will rally around him and get a much-needed victory.

New York Giants at Dallas – without a doubt the Giants are the better team, but this appears to be the week that the more desperate team outplays the favorite. The Cowboys win at home.

New Orleans at Denver – at quarterback, it’s Drew Brees vs. Peyton Manning. Unfortunately for Brees, the Saints’ defense has to play also. The Broncos win big at home.

San Francisco at Arizona – a month ago, this looked like it would be a great matchup, but the Cardinals are fading fast. San Francisco will win this one easily.

Sunday afternoon’s NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans was certainly an entertaining one, but in the end proved to be just another heartbreak for the Bills’ fan base, as they handed the Titans the ball and basically gifted them the winning touchdown, as Tennessee won, 35-34. For the second week in a row, the Bills’ coaching staff decided to gamble and pass the ball instead of trying to run out the clock at the end of the game, even though their running game is one of the club’s major positives so far this season. And for the second week in a row, the gamble resulted in a turnover. The Bills dodged a bullet in Arizona last week, but not this Sunday. When a coach decides to “go for it” and put the ball in the air in a game-deciding situation, it’s usually a sign that he has a dominating defense that he trusts if something should go wrong. Bills’ coach Chan Gailey apparently still doesn’t get it – that is, the fact that this current Bills’ defense, despite the big contracts and a number of high draft picks, is the worst in team history, and among the worst in the NFL in the 2012 season. They don’t put any pressure on opposing QBs, rarely blitz, can’t stop the run, can’t cover and/or are constantly blowing coverages and worst of all, can’t execute the most basic fundamental of defensive football – tackling. It would be one thing if Gailey decided to throw in those critical situations because his team had no running game, but this current Bills’ team has a pair of game-breaking backs in Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller. That’s what makes it so maddening. Jackson averaged almost 8 yards a carry on Sunday, yet only had 9 carries. Spiller had almost 6 yards per attempt, but only carried 12 times.

Gailey seems to have total faith in Fitzpatrick, even though he turns the ball over more than any starting NFL quarterback, and trusts his defense, even though they’ve been pathetic. Yet he reigns in the most effective part of the team, the running game. The Bills now go into their bye week with the taste of an ugly loss in their mouths that they have to endure for 2 weeks. They’ll do the usual bye week evaluation and try to fix what’s gone wrong in the first 7 games. There’s been no evidence that the coaching staff has any idea how to stop Fitzpatrick’s turnover problems or plug up the porous defense over the seven games, if anything, it’s gotten worse, especially the defensive woes. Is there a Bills’ fan out there who actually believes that an extra week will do anything to provide any answers? Brace yourselves, Bills’ fans, for a couple of crushing, monumental, embarrassing, unwatchable road losses, against Houston and New England, coming out of the bye week.

I wound up week six with a mediocre record, picking 8 winners out of 14 games, pushing the overall mark for the season to 38 correct and 24 wrong. Here are my week 7 choices:

Seattle at San Francisco – this week’s Thursday night game is a big divisional clash, between 2 teams that have built stingy defenses over the last couple years. Coming off a stinging loss at home to the Giants, I have to go with the 49ers to rebound and win at home.

Tennessee at Buffalo – the Bills win in Arizona was ugly and probably lucky, but it’s just the sort of desperation win that can lift a team to bigger and better things. The Bills’ defense takes another small step forward, shuts down Matt Hasselbeck and the Titans’ offense and pulls out a home win.

Arizona at Minnesota – battle between 2 surprise teams of the 2012 season. Arizona has QB issues, Minnesota does not. Add RB Adrian Peterson to the mix, and the Vikings will win here to keep their “contender” instead of “pretender” status for another week.

Dallas at Carolina – both Tony Romo and Cam Newton can be inconsistent at quarterback, and my hunch is to take the Panthers at home. However, I’m going to go with Dallas grinding out a hard-fought road win.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay – Tampa normally gives the Saints a hard time, but New Orleans is starting to put it together, and I’ll pick them to keep their season’s hopes alive by winning a big NFC South game on the road.

Green Bay at St. Louis – the Rams are much improved, but are facing a buzzsaw this week against a motivated Packer team that righted its’ ship. Green Bay wins.

Washington at New York Giants – these NFC East matchups are never easy to pick. The Giants should be an easy pick here, but their Jeckyl and Hyde performances make that tough to do. Still, I’ll pick the Giants to win, but not without a tough fight.

Baltimore at Houston – the Ravens are reeling after losing Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb to season-ending injuries. Their defense will need some time to adjust to life without 2 of their playmakers, so I’ll pick the Texans, motivated after suffering their first loss, to win at home.

Cleveland at Indianapolis – two rookie first round draft pick QBs do battle in this one. Andrew Luck has been impressive, and Brandon Weeden is coming on for the Browns. I’ll give Luck the advantage at home, and pick the Colts to win.

New York Jets at New England – the Patriots suffered a bitter defeat in Seattle, and their track record shows they’ll play well in the next game following a tough loss. Meanwhile, the Jets were impressive in beating the Colts last week, but their track record shows they’ll get full of themselves after a big win. New England wins at home.

Jacksonville at Oakland – this isn’t exactly the marquee matchup on the league schedule this week. Oakland gave the Falcons all they could handle last week, so I’ll take them to beat the Jaguars at home.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati – on paper, the Bengals should win this game. The Steelers are struggling on defense this year, which is usually their strength. I still have to go with Ben Roethlisberger and the Steeler running game, however, to find a way to win here.

Detroit at Chicago – big NFC North game on Monday night. It should be a great game, and I’ll take the Bears based on the Soldier Field home crowd advantage.