NFL Week 7 confidence pool rankings: Stick with 49ers as the only safe play in football
Imagine it’s August 2026.Let’s play a game of multiple choice.Circle which of the following read true after six weeks of football: A.
The Browns lead the AFC North. B.The Cardinals beat the vaunted Rams, who are last in the NFC West, without scoring a touchdown.C.
J.J.McCarthy threw for 242 yards in one quarter of football — for the Giants, who have backpedaled into the NFC East lead.D.
All of the above. If you chose D, congratulations! You’re either a prophet, or you’re contrarian enough to guess nothing is ever foregone in the NFL. Favorites may have cruised to a 10-6 mark last week, but the tides still say it’s time to be bold.If there are any certainties at this stage, it’s that the 49ers are the stoics of football.Even with a litany of injuries, they’ve scrambled to 6-0 with their seasoned veteran core.
Besides, teams are figuring out that Michael Penix Jr.folds under duress. There’s nothing to love about Bo Nix and this arid offense.
The defense was to credit for last week’s overtime win over Seattle, and it can swallow a Cardinals team that just went 0-for-6 in the red zone.Sam Darnold’s turnovers are becoming a problem, and it cost Seattle a win.Patrick Mahomes is back to business as usual this season with a trustworthy offensive line and run game. The Jets may be 2-4, but they’re hanging in games against anyone, running at 5-1 against the spread.
Miami’s rest can’t fix a raw roster that is in over its head every week. Houston’s passing game is finally humming after an 0-4 start.If McCarthy does start after his fourth-quarter show, stopping a seasoned Houston team on the road is too tall an order. We didn’t need another game to determine whether Tampa Bay’s upset over the Cowboys was a fluke.
It was.Carolina ranks eighth overall in offensive EPA per play, and that’s enough to oust a turnover-prone Tampa attack.Tip your caps to Tennessee and Cleveland, which both pulled off signature wins.
Now they meet a...