At the end of the first half, the San Diego Chargers looked comfortable with a seemingly insurmountable 24-0 lead over the visiting Denver Broncos. But things changed dramatically in the second half as Peyton Manning and his boys erased the deficit in dominant fashion, creating turnovers and scoring whenever they got the chance.

At the end of the night the scoreboard read Denver 35 San Diego 24. In all my years of watching the NFL, I can honestly say that I have never seen anything quite like what occurred on Monday Night Football. To put it mildly, it was an incredible comeback for the Broncos and an incredible meltdown for the Chargers.

The chief architect of this second half resurgence was indeed Peyton Manning. He had 13 completions in a row to start the second half, and finished with 24 completions from 30 attempts for 309 yards — more than enough to break the backs of the San Diego defence, what little of it there was. The Broncos defence on the other hand contributed to the horrendous meltdown with six turnovers and two defensive touchdowns. It was a rough night for Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers and his sorry bunch of Chargers. They looked as though they were in constant retreat, totally deflated, and mercilessly whipped. The Broncos’ win now puts them at 3-3 atop the AFC West, a record they share with these same Chargers.

Time was when teams visiting the west coast dreaded going into Oakland to play the then fearsome Raiders. Nowadays, the action has shifted north up the Pacific coast to Seattle where teams dread to play the Seahawks at home in one of the loudest stadiums in the League. In week six the Patriots visited and fell victim to the Seahawks 24-23. They join the ranks of the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers who were upset by those pesky Seahawks, who are now 4-2. The score indicates it was close and the Patriots’ Tom Brady was on his game as usual completing 36 of 58 passes for a very respectable 395 yards. But it wasn’t the wily veteran who caught my eye. Instead, it was the Seahawks rookie quarterback, Russell Wilson, a guy who the pundits said was too short to be effective. Well to date, he has proven himself, and against the Patriots he overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit by throwing two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game. His final stats were 16 of 27 for 293 yards and three touchdowns. All in a day’s work for the 5’10” guy who can’t see over the heads of his linemen.

The Eagles seem hell bent on self destruction after they blew a fourth-quarter lead in their 26-23 overtime loss to the Detroit Lions. This loss may just signal the beginning of the end of the Andy Reid/Michael Vick era in Philly as both these gentlemen’s jobs are in jeopardy. Vick continues to fumble and throw interceptions and the excuse that he’s not getting protection from his guys is wearing thin. Right now the Eagles are 3-3 in the NFC East, and the chances of them making it to the post season playing the way they are playing, is pretty slim. Since we’re on the subject of blowing leads we have to mention the Cowboys who did it five times last year, three of those leads being in double digits.

This year they are finding other ways to lose close games. Case in point: their game against the Ravens, where bad clock management and just plain bad decisions led to a missed field goal which would have won them the game. Just another classic example of the Cowboys snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, falling 31-29 to Baltimore. Folks, the Cowboys are now LAST in the NFC East at 2-3.

Speaking of Baltimore, I can’t imagine the Ravens without their longtime defensive captain, Ray Lewis. For that matter, I can’t imagine the NFL without him either. Well that time is here as Lewis suffered a torn right tricep in the Ravens game against the Cowboys and is out for the rest of the season. Only time will tell if he’ll be out forever. This larger than life guy has been the emotional and motivational leader of the Ravens, both on the field and in the locker room. We have all seen his pre-game tirades whipping up his team into a frenzy in preparation for the impending battle. Sometimes I thought it was a bit much and genuinely worried that he was going to suffer a coronary one of these days. Nevertheless, I’m going to miss him, especially his relentless pursuit of opposing quarterbacks. For all this time — 17 seasons to be exact — Ray Lewis has played the game and played it well.

One of the things that I find endearing about this game is its unpredictability. Another is its penchant for making us pundits look like complete idiots. I won the prize for this aspect this week with the worst record ever for predictions. I am embarrassed to mention it here but it’s as plain as day in the predictions column on this page. As far as on the field unpredictability goes, the New York Giants whipping the San Francisco 49ers 26-3, and not many of us saw this coming. No one, except for my fellow tipster Andre Hutchinson, who topped us all last week with a 7-7 record, could have predicted the Giants getting the better of the 49ers. I certainly had the 49ers as the best team in the League and felt that they were going to show Eli and his Giants how a well balanced offence and defence worked in tandem. Instead, the Giants effectively shut down the 49ers offence with six sacks and three interceptions and the feared running attack was limited to only 80 yards. No wonder the Giants are the reigning Champs and are giving every indication that they intend to maintain that status.

Week seven has some interesting match-ups which are going to be just as difficult to call as the previous week’s. To begin with, there was a game last night between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. The former were coming off a big win and the latter, a big loss. I picked Seattle to win and hopefully they did. If not, here we go again, off to a shaky start as far as predictions are concerned. Headlining Sunday’s game is the contest between the NFC West 4-2 Arizona Cardinals facing the 4-2 NFC North Minnesota Vikings. Home field advantage may very well play a role in the outcome of this one.

Not to be missed also is the Washington Redskins vs New York Giants clash which will feature the now veteran quarterback, Eli Manning, facing the rising star rookie, Robert Griffin III. My heart is with RG3 but my head is with Eli, plus there is that home field advantage thing. Another game to keep an eye on, is that AFC East clash between Tom Brady and the Patriots, and the embattled New York Jets, who managed to dominate the young Indianapolis Colts squad last week en route to a well needed win. Incidentally, all four teams in the AFC East (Jets, Patriots, Bills and Dolphins) are tied at 3-3… talk about tight! So naturally, this game is crucial.

And finally, on Monday Night Football, Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears, coming off a bye week, are at home to the Detroit Lions who all in all have been disappointing so far this season. Teams on a bye this week are Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia and San Diego.

Good luck with your bets and enjoy the games this weekend!

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NFL WEEK 7 SCHEDULE

NFL Week 7 odds (with changes):

Thur Oct 18

SF 49ers v Sea Seahawks +7.5, U/O 38.5

Sun Oct 21

Buf Bills v Ten Titans +3.5, U/O 46.5

Car Panthers +2.5 v Dal Cowboys, U/O 45.5

Hou Texans v Bal Ravens +6.5, U/O 48.5

Ind Colts v Cle Browns +3.5, U/O 44.5

Min Vikings v Ari Cardinals +5.5, U/O 40.5

NY Giants v Was Redskins +7.5, U/O 49.5

StL Rams +6.5 v GB Packers, U/O 44.5

TB Buccaneers +3.5 v NO Saints, U/O 49.5

NE Patriots v NY Jets +10.5 U/O, 46.5

Oak Raiders v Jac Jaguars +4.5, U/O 43.5

Cin Bengals +2.5 v Pit Steelers, U/O 45.5

Mon Oct 22

Chi Bears v Det Lions +5.5, U/O 47.5

(Handicaps in bracket, Under/Over included)

*Teams on a bye: Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers

*Handicaps and Under/Over subject to change without notice, prior to kick-off

EXPERTS’ PICKS AGAINST THE SPREAD

Andre Hutchinson’s

Week 7 Picks (in bold)

49ers v Seahawks

Bills v Titans

Panthers v Cowboys

Texans v Ravens

Colts v Browns

Vikings v Cardinals

Giants v Redskins

Rams v Packers

Buccaneers v Saints

Patriots v Jets

Raiders v Jaguars

Bengals v Steelers

Bears v Lions

Last week: 7-7

Season to date: 46-45

Andrei Roper’s

Week 7 Picks (in bold)

49ers v Seahawks

Bills v Titans

Panthers v Cowboys

Texans v Ravens

Colts v Browns

Vikings v Cardinals

Giants v Redskins

Rams v Packers

Buccaneers v Saints

Patriots v Jets

Raiders v Jaguars

Bengals v Steelers

Bears v Lions

Last week: 3-11

Season to date: 43-48

Tony Scott’s

Week 7 Picks (in bold)

49ers v Seahawks

Bills v Titans

Panthers v Cowboys

Texans v Ravens

Colts v Browns

Vikings v Cardinals

Giants v Redskins

Rams v Packers

Buccaneers v Saints

Patriots v Jets

Raiders v Jaguars

Bengals v Steelers

Bears v Lions

Last week: 2-12

Season to date: 41-50

Peter Lindo’s

Week 7 Picks (in bold)

49ers v Seahawks

Bills v Titans

Panthers v Cowboys

Texans v Ravens

Colts v Browns

Vikings v Cardinals

Giants v Redskins

Rams v Packers

Buccaneers v Saints

Patriots v Jets

Raiders v Jaguars

Bengals v Steelers

Bears v Lions

Last week: 6-8

Season to date: 36-55