Before the season began the more pessimistic St. Louis Rams predictions noticed just how difficult the NFC West near-missers' schedule was over the first half of the season. They could, said these Malthusians, finish 0-7 if everything failed to break their way. Fast forward to Week 7's NFL Picks season and things have just about gone that bad: The Rams go into their trip to visit the Dallas Cowboys stuck at 0-5, with Sam Bradford day-to-day following a high-ankle sprain. The odds just keep getting longer—the Rams are now 14 1/2 point underdogs, depending on where you look.
With that in mind, your Week 7 NFC West picks:
St. Louis Rams 21 at Dallas Cowboys 28: At 2-3 the Cowboys aren't the most dangerous team in football, but they have managed to win two games—including an overtime victory over the NFC-West leading San Francisco 49ers. Meanwhile, they've stayed close against everybody, including losses to the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots.
Eventually the Rams offense has to show the dangerousness it's flashed over a full game—might as well be this one. But they're still not beating the Cowboys.
Pittsburgh Steelers 14 at Arizona Cardinals 3: The Pittsburgh Steelers aren't quite as good as their record shows, and the Arizona Cardinals might not be quite as bad, but the Pittsburgh Steelers are better than the Arizona Cardinals.
Seattle Seahawks 6 at Cleveland Browns 10: Early pick for the most boring game of Week 7, unless you're psyched about watching Charlie Whitehurst and Tarvaris Jackson duke it out for the starting quarterback job.
For a full set of Week 7 NFL picks, visit SB Nation's NFL hub.