Week Six already and for several teams it is already looking like the last chance saloon and two of the early season favourites Minnesota & Dallas will meet knowing that defeat could throw their season prospects into doubt. As last week showed there are no easy games in the NFL and this week looks particularly intriguing and picking the winners will be no easy task. Anyway on to the match ups:
Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears – The Bears should welcome Jay Cutler back into the fold following his beating at the hands of the Giants. Chicago are playing much better than expected and with Green Bay and Minnesota both still struggling for consistency they are well placed in the NFC North. They should win this one by 10 points plus.
Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers – The Packers are showing a worrying ability to lose games they really should have won this season and this could cost them dear in the final reckoning. The Packers have injury worries with Arron Rodgers still Questionable and Clay Matthews also still not certain to play. Still with home field advantage they should prevail. We tip the Packers to win by 4-7 points
San Diego Chargers at St. Louis Rams – Will the Chargers finally get their act together on the road in week 6? Its fair to say that if they don’t then severe questions need to be asked about the coaching staff given the quality the team has all over the field. This time they should get their act together and we expect a easy Chargers win by 10 -14 points.
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots – Dieon Branch will come straight into the team on Sunday, giving Tom Brady a trusty and well known pair of hands to throw the ball to. If this will be enough to beat the Ravens though is anyone’s guess. This is a tough one to call but we just feel the Patriots are a little to new with all the rookies and inexperienced players on the squad while the Ravens are starting to look like a seasoned team capable of going deep into the playoffs. It could be close but we give the Ravens the edge by 3-7 points.
New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Saints look to be having a bit of a Super Bowl hangover having slipped to 3-2 last week against the Arizona Cardinals. Still they are not winning or losing by much and they have not had the best of luck in either defeat. The Buccs are doing much better than expected and look to be building a solid defense which will stand them in good stead going forward. Could be close but we expect the Saints to move on to 4-2 with a 7 point + win.
Detroit Loins at NY Giants – The Lions are off the mark with a nice win against the Rams, however the Giants are a totally different proposition and we cant see any other result but a Giants win by 10 points +
Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles are having a pretty good season considering their Quarter Back situation, however they have not been overly impressive in their three wins which have came against lesser teams. Atlanta look like genuine playoff candidates and as such they can win the tough games like these. We side with the Falcons by 7 points+
Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers – Colt McCoy looks set to make his debut against their division rivals and although he looked one of the bargains of the draft it is asking a lot of him to come in and win a game in Pittsburgh. His accurate passing style will be an advantage against a ball hungry Steelers defense however given he will be under pressure a lot he might not get too many chance to throw the ball. Big Ben will be back for Pittsburgh and providing he is not too hyped up by the occasion he should control enough of the game to win it. Prediction Steelers by 7-10 points.
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans – Both sides have started well and the Chiefs showed enough in their loss to an admittedly below par looking Colts to suggest that better times are in store for them. The Texans are a bit up and down this year and looked pretty awful against the Giants last week despite welcoming back Brian Cushing after his ban. Both look like mid ranking teams and as such the games can go anyway, however we will just weigh in on the side of the Texans simply because we cant see them playing that badly two games in a row. Houston to win by 7-10 points.
Oakland Raiders at San Francisco 49ers – The 49ers at 0-5 was not something we expected to see and despite hanging in on some of those losses they just don’t seem to be gelling this season. The Raiders are doing OK as we expected winning some games and overall looking on the up. However its a big ask expecting them to win at San Fransisco and despite the 0-5 record we still think they can make a challenge for the division. If they cant win this one then Mike Singletary may have to go right back to the drawing board. Prediction 49ers win by 10 points +
NY Jets at Denver Broncos – The Jets were the hype team of the season and so far they seem to be living up to it, especially on defense. The Broncos are playing well considering their injury list and there is no doubt they can throw the ball. However without Knowshon Moreno they have struggled on the ground, however it is possible he will be back for Sundays match up. On paper the Jets should win this one with something to spare, however we think it could be a lot closer than many think and we are going to take a punt on the Broncos in this one. Denver to win by 3-7 points.
Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings – This is the epitome of a crunch match with both these preseason high flyers having only managed two wins between them out of 8 games. One will fall to 1-4 and that will leave a mountain to climb as far as the playoffs is concerned. The Vikings looked a shade unlucky last week against the high flying Jets and on that basis we will burden them with our tip of the week. Minnesota to win by 7-10 points.
Indianapolis Colts at Washington Redskins – The Colts look to have a touch of the Super Bowl losers blues this year and even though they knocked off the last unbeaten team last week they hardly looked impressive. Still two 3 point defeats is hardly a disaster and reflects the high expectations their past success has engendered. The Skins played their get out of jail free card against the Packers last week and like the Colts they are 3-2 in a tough division which I am sure they would have taken if offered it preseason. The problem the Skins have is that they are not good against the pass and they might get picked to pieces by Manning. We will go with the Colts by 7-10 points.
MONDAY NIGHT
Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars – A nice AFC South match up has pride of place on Monday night and with both sides playing a whole lot better than last season this looks like a good choice. Not at all sure how this one will go but overall the Titans look the more complete team and we think that they should edge this by 3-7 points.
Bye: Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals