NFL Week 5 Predictions

by JASmius



LAST WEEK STRAIGHT UP: 6-7
LAST WEEK vs. SPREAD: 5-8

SEASON STRAIGHT UP: 35-26
SEASON vs. SPREAD: 27-34


Back to suckitude. <sigh>  But at least every other prognosticator is in the same boat.  And whose fault is it?  Ray Rice!  Has to be.  If only he hadn't punched out his wife, parity would be a fondly distant memory and we'd pick every game spot on.  Either that, or Roger Goodell is a master conspiracist.

At the ol' quarter pole there don't appear to be many pleasant surprises this year, aside from maybe the up-and-down Atlanta Falcons, 3-1 Baltimore Ravens (despite Rice-gate), and Carolina Panthers (no, I don't count the 3-1 Cowboys and Lions, because they always flame out), but quite a few slow starts.  In the AFC, the Patriots haven't been overly impressive but were putting up W's until they got shellacked by the Chiefs on Monday night.  Denver is in the same category, minus the shellacking.  The Colts are winning the easy games (helps in that regard to be in the AFC South) and with their schedule, that could be enough to get them a first-round bye, only to see them fall on their faces in the divisional round.  Right now, as much as it pains me to say it, the Cincinnati Bengals are the class of the conference.

Which should tell you all you need to know about the quality of the AFC.

In the NFC, Philadelphia is winning games by outscoring their opponents, as usual, which works fine in the regular season but not the playoffs.  The Packers are the Colts of the NFC.  San Francisco is off to a slow start, though they righted the ship with their 26-21 win over the Eagles at the 'Stitch last Sunday (and remember, they started last year 1-2 as well).  The biggest shocker has to be the New Orleans Saints, the odds-on favorites to go to Super Bowl XLVIX (for some inexplicable reason), who have face-planted out of the gate at 1-3 and looked bad, really bad, on both sides of the ball.

That leaves the Champs in a more....potentially advantageous position than was generally thought to be the case this season.  All that remains now is to exploit that advantage.

[Straight up picks indicated by asterisk (*); picks against the spread in parentheses (x).]

Atlanta (+4.5)
N.Y. Giants*

Baltimore
Indianapolis* (-3.5)

Buffalo
Detroit* (-7.5)

Chicago* (+3)
Carolina

Cincinnati* (-2.5)
New England

Cleveland* (+1.5)
Tennessee

Houston
Dallas* (-4)

Kansas City* (+6)
San Francisco

N.Y. Jets
San Diego* (-7)

Arizona (+7.5)
Denver*

Pittsburgh* (-6.5)
Jacksonville

St. Louis
Philadelphia* (-7)

Tampa
New Orleans* (-10.5)

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Seattle* (-7.5)
Washington