Last week saw more unbeaten teams fall and now there are only three left – all of whom play this weekend. There are six teams still looking for a win, however barring a tie at least one of them will get off the “noughty list”, of course, Miami will have to wait at least another week as they are on a bye. One of the highlights of the weekend will be the first of the so-called international series as the NFL travels to London where the Bears v Raiders game will be played in front to a sell-out crowd at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium.
Tottenham Stadium will be packed with fans clad in black on Sunday as the Raiders take on the Bears.
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Thursday Night Game
Week five kicks off tonight with a big NFC west clash between The Rams & The Seahawks with neither keen to risk slipping two games back on the 49ers who play Monday night. The Rams will be keen to bounce back from that surprise loss to the Buccs but will find a trip to Seattle no easier. Hopefully, we will get as entertaining a game as we had last week when the eagles and Packers played.
Anyway here are our predictions for the week’s games.
LA Rams @ Seattle
Should be close but the Rams have won three of their past four trips Seattle and they should bounce back.
Prediction Rams 27 Seahawks 24
Arizona @ Cincinnati
Two winless teams battling it out and to be fair neither has looked very good so far. The Bengals O- Line has been awful and they are still missing their star WR AJ Green, so it’s just as well that Arizona doesn’t have anything resembling a pass rush to throw at them and their best backfield player remains suspended. This probably won’t be that entertaining and between them, they are averaging 16.4 points a game. The Bengals should just edge it at home.
Prediction Cincinnati 20 Arizona 16
Buffalo @ Tennessee
The Bills were not disgraced in losing their unbeaten record to New England last week, and they appear to have the foundations of a good team, especially on defense. The Bills threw 4 interceptions last week, but still only lost by six points. The Titans are sitting at 2-2 but were a little unlucky against the Colts and this week they will have Left Tackle Taylor Lewan back which will help their running game no end. This could be another close low scoring game and we think the Titans will edge it.
Prediction Tennessee 21 Buffalo 17
Chicago @ Oakland London Game
The opening London game is a nice AFC v NFC clash and again two teams who are better on defense than on offense. The Bears may have to start back up QB chase Daniels which is a shame – not that Daniels is bad but being so high profile it would have been good to have all the star players on show. The Bears defense should control this one.
Prediction Chicago 24 Oakland 14
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans
The Buccs had a monster road win last week against the Rams, but the Saints away – even without Drew Brees is always tough. The New Orleans defense is unlikely to be as generous and we think they will shut Winston down.
Saints 20 Tampa Bay 14
Minnesota @ New York Giants
The first real test for Daniel Jones who may be 2-0 as a starter but the opponents have not been great. With no Saquon Barkley and a stiff Vikings defense it would be an impressive result if the Giants take this one. We can’t see it though.
Minnesota 27 New York 17
New York Jets @ Philadelphia
The Eagles bounced back from a couple of disappointing results to win at Green Bay last week, and although they have some injury worries they should be far too strong for the lacklustre Jets even with Sam Darnold ( assuming he is fit).
Prediction Philadelphia 31 NY Jets 14
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh kept their season alive with a convincing win against the 0-4 Bengals last week. They desperately need to win this one to keep the AFC North race open. Baltimore beat up on a couple of bad teams to start the season, but have struggled in their last two against contenders. We think they may be slightly overrated and think the Steelers can pull off the upset.
Pittsburgh 28 Baltimore 21
New England @ Washington
The Patriots showed they can battle with the best of them last week in a scrappy defense dominated encounter with Buffalo. This should be a whole lot easier, and the big question is which QB will Washington effectively throw under the bus. We suspect that Case Keenum might be back if he is fit as Haskins looks like a development project at the moment. Whoever starts its hard to envisage a Redskins win
Prediction New England 33 Washington 10
Jacksonville @ Carolina
Both are 2-2 teams with backup QBs thrust into action and surprisingly both are playing well enough that they may keep the starters out when they are fit again. Rookie Gardner Minshew is already gathering cult status in Jacksonville, while Kyle Allen has looked the part in Carolina with 4 TDs and no interceptions in his two games. Should be close but we think home advantage should play out.
Prediction Carolina 23 Jacksonville 20
Atlanta @ Houston
The Falcons are in danger of seeing their season end before it gets started after three disappointing losses, while Houston are still very much alive in a slightly disappointing AFC South. The Texans defense should step up in this one.
Prediction Houston 21 Atlanta 17
Denver @ LA Chargers
Denver are 0-4 but have not played badly in any of their losses. Still, they are away and the Chargers despite finding ways to lose should be too strong for them. Could be close but the Chargers should edge it.
Chargers 24 Denver 20
Green Bay @ Dallas
Both are coming off losses and neither played particularly well on those. Green Bay’s defense couldn’t stop the run against the Eagles but look to be finally finding a bit spark on offense, though their red-zone conversion was terrible. Dallas was also 3-0 before their trip to the Saints which ended up in a defensive slog. This one could go the same way and the Cowboys might just edge it.
Prediction Dallas 20 Green Bay 17
Indianapolis @ Kansas City
KC is looking good this year despite having pretty much torn down their defense and started again. They are scoring for fun and Maholmes will face a Colts secondary without key safety Malik Hooker. Hard to see anything but a Chiefs win.
Prediction Kansas City 35 Indianapolis 23
Monday
Cleveland @ San Francisco
Two good teams but the 49ers are at home and coming off a bye week so we will give them the edge here.
Prediction San Fransisco 31 Cleveland 27
Bye Week
Detroit & Miami
