NFL Week 6 Picks

     So there wasn’t a podcast this week, but there will be one again next week.  Since I can’t vocalize my predictions for week 6, I might as well write them instead.  Here are my picks for week 6.

     Week 5: 11-4
     Season overall (including Thursday’s game): 47-30

     Patriots at Bills: This is a huge game as the winner takes sole possession of the AFC East lead.  Tom Brady silenced the haters with a huge game against the Bengals, but the Bills pulled off an upset of their own, defeating the Lions in Detroit.  The Bills are home, but I think the Patriots know how important this game is and win.  Patriots 23-20.
     Panthers at Bengals: The Bengals will need to rebound quickly after dropping their first game of the season to the Patriots in week 5.  On the other hand, the Panthers are 3-2 but lack a real quality win and a dominating performance.  Both teams will want this one, but the Bengals defense is just too strong.  Bengals 24-10.
     Steelers at Browns: Hey, it’s the toss up of the week.  The Browns pulled off nothing short of a miracle by overcoming a 25 point halftime deficit to defeat the Titans, while the Steelers put up a less than spectacular performance in a game against the Jaguars.  The Steelers have looked really poor these last two weeks, and I don’t like their chances on the road.  Browns 31-24.
     Jaguars at Titans: Wow, what a matchup.  With a combined record of 1-9, this could very well be the least relevant game of the season.  The Jaguars actually showed a defense against the Steelers last week, and the Titans blew a 28-3 lead, but let’s be honest.  The Jaguars are horrible.  Titans 27-13.
     Packers at Dolphins: It seems like the Packers finally have their act together, and it came at a good time.  Now with a share of the division lead, they get to play a Dolphins team coming off a bye, and before that a win against Oakland.  That means it’s now three weeks since they’ve played a real football team (see what I did there) and the Pack should look to take advantage of that.  Packers 34-17.
     Lions at Vikings: The Lions lost last week, but as I mentioned in my power rankings, the blame for that one goes on the kicker.  Now with a new kicker, Matt Prater, the Lions look to take down a Vikings team without AP that got destroyed by the Packers in week 5.  The Purple People Eaters are at home, but I don’t think they’ll please the home fans.  Lions 24-16.
     Broncos at Jets: The Broncos have one of the top five greatest quarterbacks of all time.  The Jets have one of the top five worst starters in the league.  If that isn’t enough to decide this, the Jets are on a four game losing streak and the Broncos are better in basically every other position as well.  This won’t be close at all.  Broncos 38-13.
     Ravens at Buccaneers: Now at first glance this might seem like an obvious call.  However, upon closer inspection, the Bucs have actually played two decent games of football in weeks 4 and 5, and the Ravens offense was helpless against the Colts last week.  And the Bucs are at home.  Oh, who am I kidding.  I’m going to need a little more before I start picking the Bucs.  Ravens 24-20.
     Chargers at Raiders: Here’s a few stats to think about regarding this matchup.  The Chargers are #3 in my power rankings, while the Raiders are 31st.  The Chargers are 4-1, while the Raiders sit at 0-4, and have just fired their head coach.  The Chargers beat the Jets 31-0 last week, and the Raiders have already lost to the Jets this season.  The biggest question surrounding this game is how big the deficit will be.  Chargers 31-14.
     Bears at Falcons: This is an interesting matchup, and close to a must win for both parties.  Both of these teams are 2-3, and on two game losing streaks.  Both had huge drops in my power rankings (I believe the two biggest falls but I’m not positive).  However, the Falcons are 2-0 at home, averaging 46.5 points per game in Atlanta.  Interestingly though, the Bears are 2-1 on the road.  Still, Matt Ryan is a different quarterback at home and Jay Cutler has been shaky of late.  Falcons 34-20.
     Redskins at Cardinals: Maybe before the season this would be an interesting matchup.  Unfortunately, now that the Redskins are looking hopeless and the Cardinals are winning even without Carson Palmer, it doesn’t seem like a great matchup.  The biggest thing working in the Redskins favor is that both Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton are injured.  Stanton looks like he should get the start, but if he doesn’t, Logan Thomas might not be able to get it done.  If Stanton: Cardinals 27-14.  If Thomas, Cardinals 17-14.
     Cowboys at Seahawks: Forget good, it’s been a great year for the Cowboys so far, coming out of the gates strong at 4-1.  However, they’re playing the Seahawks.  IN SEATTLE.  If this game was in Dallas, I’d pick the Cowboys, as I’m sure many people would.  But in Seattle, I can’t do it.  A good rule of thumb is to never pick the Seahawks to lose at home.  Roughly 90% of the time you’re right.  Seahawks 31-20.
     Giants at Eagles: Oh man, here it is.  The big rivalry that is basically for lead of the division if the Cowboys lose.  As a Giants fan, I’m going to be supporting my team to take down Philthadelphia.  In reality, it should be a really close game, as indicated by the spread which favors the Eagles by 3 (a coin toss at a neutral location).  There’s been a lot of trash talk leading into this one, and it shouldn’t disappoint.  Eli’s been playing well, so I’ll give the G-men the edge.  Giants 27-24.
     49ers at Rams: Austin Davis has seriously been playing well.  Much better than anyone expected from him at the beginning of the season.  And he’ll get home field advantage.  I’ll be honest, I thought about taking the massive upset here, since the Rams nearly took down the Eagles last week, but the 49ers are looking better now than they did earlier in the year.  49ers 26-20.
     So those are my picks for this week.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see how they pan out.
     Thanks for reading,
      Connor