Last week, we tapped the Titans at +6.5 as a good lookahead play for this week’s matchup with the Raiders, reasoning that if the Las Vegas offense “doesn’t look functional, then the books won’t allow the Raiders to be big favorites against anyone.” The Raiders offense turned out to not look anywhere near functional, and that game is anywhere between 3.5 and 4.5 with a chance to sink even lower, as the Titans may even have right tackle JC Latham back for the first time since Week 1 for the matchup. 

As we look ahead to Week 7, we have a slate where the Lions will follow up this week’s primetime trip to Kansas City by hosting the Buccaneers in a Monday night matchup that could go a long way toward establishing a favorite in the MVP race between the two quarterbacks. The Rams and Jaguars could give Europe its first matchup of eventual playoff teams this season, while both the Browns and Jets find themselves as favorites despite their play so far this season.

Let’s take a look at the consensus Week 7 lookahead lines and then share our best bets to lock in early.

Week 7 lookahead lines

Steelers (-4.5) at Bengals, 43
Rams (-3.5) vs. Jaguars, 47.5 (in London)
Raiders at Chiefs (-10.5), 45.5
Dolphins at Browns (-2.5), 41.5
Panthers at Jets (-2.5), 44.5
Saints at Bears (-6), 45.5
Eagles (-3) at Vikings, 42.5
Patriots (-6) at Titans, 43.5
Giants at Broncos (-8), 41
Colts at Chargers (-1.5), 48
Packers (-5.5) at Cardinals, 45.5
Commanders (-2.5) at Cowboys, 52.5
Falcons at 49ers (-4.5), 45.5
Buccaneers at Lions (-4.5), 53.5
Texans at Seahawks (-2.5), 42.5

Week 7 lookahead picksSteelers at Bengals

There probably isn’t room for this spread to move toward the Steelers, who are supposed to beat the Browns at home this week relatively easily. Even if the Bengals get blown out by the Packers, there are a number of excuses to write it off, including that’s the expectation with a two-TD underdog, Joe Flacco needing a little more time to get comfortable in the offense and the Packers coming off a bye with extra time to prepare. If the Steelers have more trouble with the Browns than expected, this line will certainly drop upon rerelease, but I’m actually more prepared for Cincy to surprise against a Packers team that had trouble putting teams away before its bye. I see a decent chance this reopens at 3.5 or even 3, and not much chance of it creeping upward unless potentially if the Steelers offense looks phenomenal in a tough matchup.

Colts at Chargers

The Colts have been a wrecking ball for much of the season and saw their line against the Cardinals this week jump three points from the lookahead. If they handle their business yet again, I think this line could drop to pick ’em upon reopen. The Chargers have a tough cross-country road trip to face a Dolphins team that they are expected to dispatch with easy despite injury issues on the offensive line and at running back. If the offense struggles like it did against the Commanders last week, people will wonder why the Chargers would be favored against what is turning into one of the league’s best teams.

Packers at Cardinals

Speaking of the Cardinals, they are being treated like a clearly below-average team with their lookahead spread against the Packers, who have seen some of their initial excitement wear off with a loss and a tie before the bye. If they struggle at all against a Cincinnati team breaking in a new quarterback, the markets would likely treat this game at worst like it’s treating Patriots-Saints or Cowboys-Panthers with a line around 3.5 unless a Cardinals team that has seen all three losses come on last-second field goals suddenly sees the bottom fall out this week.

Other notes: We talked about the Jets and Browns being favored on this slate, and I see no issue at all backing both ‘dogs in those games under the premise of who wants to lay points with either of those bottom-tier squads? Plus, the Dolphins and Panthers have had at least as many moments of success this season as their opponents. If you’re picking one, I’m higher on Carolina catching 2.5 points against the Jets as I already think that game should be closer to pick ’em, and I expect the Jets to get dominated in London this week. The other game on my radar is Giants-Broncos, where Denver is only an 8-point favorite at home. That’s about what the Broncos were against the Bengals in the first game without Joe Burrow and that was a bloodbath, then they beat the Eagles in Philadelphia the following week. If the Giants can’t hang with the Eagles on Thursday and the Broncos take care of the Jets with ease, I could see this line quickly getting to double digits.