Last week’s card, a 9-6 performance, brought my year-to-date mark to 51-26-1 (.660). With four teams on bye this week, I have only 14 chances to pad my stats.
NOTE: All games will be played on Sunday afternoon unless otherwise noted.
New England 31, New York Giants 17 (Thursday night): Super Bowls 42 and 46 featured these two teams in a pair of memorable Lombardi Trophy battles. Despite recent improvement under Daniel Jones, the Giants aren’t at that level these days, but the Patriots are humming along and playing nearly-flawless football, including a smothering defense that even Patriots’ fans haven’t seen very often.
Carolina 24, Tampa Bay 13 (at London, Sunday morning): Both teams are going on their bye week after the London trip. The Panthers had to sweat out a win over Jacksonville last week, but at least they got the victory. Tampa Bay, on the other hand, wasn’t in the game against New Orleans The Bucs, per usual, are fading.
Baltimore 30, Cincinnati 16: The Ravens’ defense cut its yardage allowance nearly in half against the Steelers. That’s an encouraging sign. The challenge now is to get the O and D working in tandem. There’s no better time to do that than against a winless, division opponent at home.
Seattle 33, Cleveland 20: Cleveland has alternated losses and wins over the first five weeks, but that sequencing will end on Sunday. The overrated Browns are in a very tough schedule stretch, one that could leave the team at 2-5. If that happens, then (just as I predicted before the season) they’ll drop out of playoff contention.
Washington 15, Miami 9: If this game became a TV show, it would be named, “Misery Loves Company.” The good news for the ‘Skins is that it’s their best chance to win a game. For Miami, it will be another losing Sunday in a season full of losses.
Philadelphia 24, Minnesota 20: The Eagles easily blew out the Jets last week and have a boatload of confidence going into Minnesota. And, yes, the Vikings finally got a solid performance from Kirk Cousins, but Minnesota is an up-and-down bunch. Eagles in this one….
New Orleans 31, Jacksonville 10: The Saints are playing quite well under Teddy Bridgewater. And the even better news is that Drew Brees is throwing again following surgery. Meanwhile, ‘Minshew Mania’ couldn’t yield a win for Jacksonville last week, and it could fade away entirely if the Saints’ imposing defense has its way on Sunday.
Kansas City 40, Houston 30: The Chiefs are home again in what should be one of the week’s best games. Houston exploded for 52 points last week, but I just don’t see Kansas City losing two straight at home. It will be a shootout. KC will prevail.
Dallas 40, New York Jets 10: Jets’ fans call their team “Gang Green.” It’s an often fatal medical condition, too, and that’s right where J-E-T-S fans are these days–sick and close to dying. Worse yet, this Sunday they get to see their team trounced at home.
Denver 20, Tennessee 19: The Titans are a perplexing team, playing like contenders one week and like pretenders the next. Because Denver is at home and has had a couple of really good chances to win there, I’ll take the Broncos here.
Atlanta 23, Arizona 17: Matt Ryan is obviously a more polished signal-caller than Kyler Murray, but it’s Arizona that got a win last week (first of the year). I’ll take experience over potential in this game. Falcons will win a close contest.
Los Angeles Rams 26, San Francisco 23: Undefeated San Francisco will travel on a short week, but the Niners won’t have to go very far to face those desperate Rams–a team that has dropped two straight. But in the NFL, just about every team regresses at one point or another in the season. I’ll take the Niners to take a step back this week.
Los Angeles Chargers 27, Pittsburgh 20 (Sunday night): Despite its 1-4 record, Pittsburgh gets to play in its second prime-time game in three weeks. The Chargers were surprisingly flat at home against Denver last week. With the Steelers in a QB quandary, I’m picking LAC to have a bounce-back week.
Green Bay 33, Detroit 20 (Monday night): Detroit is going to Lambeau Field with a better chance of winning than is typically the case. The Packers are fresh from a satisfying and dominating road win at Dallas. History won’t flip in this one. GB wins.
