2022 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 7

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3) @ Carolina Panthers (1-5)

Sunday, October 23, 1:00 PM ET

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are broken. The Carolina Panthers are in absolute shambles right now.

Yeah, this is shaping up to be one of the best games on the Week 7 slate, isn’t it?

Let’s start by stating that it’s merely subjective to say the Bucs’ offensive struggles are directly related to whether or not Tom Brady is distracted out there with everything going on in his personal life. The fact of the matter is, this is a team that is on the cusp of being bottom 10 in scoring, third-down efficiency, and red zone efficiency. They are the league’s worst rushing team right now.

The Bucs need a get-right game and the Panthers could be exactly that, but at some point, the Panthers have to have their “rally around the interim coach game”, do they not? Steve Wilks has taken over for the fired Matt Rhule. The Panthers lost ugly on Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams with Robbie Anderson kicked off the sideline and promptly traded to the Cardinals on Monday.

I’m not sure whether to pick the Bucs in a bounce-back game or whether I should pick the Panthers, who could rally around Steve Wilks for a game at any moment. As fascinating as it would be to see Brady and the Bucs drop to a losing record on Sunday and what the aftermath of that could be, I think this game is much more likely to be a get-right game for the Bucs than anything else.

They still have a top-five defense and they are still so much more talented on paper than the Panthers. Even playing on the road, I think the Bucs get their fourth win of the season.

Prediction: Buccaneers win 31-13