Cleveland at Oakland
Cleveland has some nice young weapons in their attack. Colt McCoy used to be one of my favorite players to watch on Saturdays, and I’m glad to see him taking the reins on this Browns offense. He hasn’t been anything outstanding for the Browns, but he does have six touchdown passes to only three interceptions. Peyton Hillis should be back this week which is a big plus in the Browns column, and Benjamin Watson has been having a decent year, but that’s all I really look forward to when I watch the Browns play.
Oakland had a very emotional win last week, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they carried that over into week six. Darren McFadden should have a nice time running through this Browns defense, and wide-outs Heyward-Bey and Moore should have a field day with their speed blowing past the secondary. I think this game is going to be all Raiders all day, without much competition coming from the other side.
Al Davis’ spirit is going to stick with the Raiders throughout this season, and it’s one of those intangible motivators that somehow plays a factor into outcomes in the league. Put that on top of the fact that McFadden is dominating this year, and the incredible speed the Raiders possess and it’s just too heavy in favor of one side.
Raiders just win baby – 28-13
Houston at Baltimore
Matt Schaub has got to be kicking himself after how last weeks game ended, but he was without his best receiver in Andre Johnson – who unfortunately for Houston fans is out again this week. Arian Foster is a great player, and with him continuing to be healthy it gives the Texans a bit more of a chance than they would have if he weren’t able to play, but Houston might need to rely on him a bit too much. If the Texans go down early in this game they are going to have to rely on their air game, and without their best wide-receiver going up against one of the most feared defenses in the league it might be a scary game.
The Ravens sit in the top ten in points scored per game, and rushing yards per game. They have a plus seven turnover differential. They have Ray Rice. The way the Ravens play the game is terrifying. Coming off of a bye, and before that the picking apart of the New York Jets, the Ravens have got to itching to get back on to the field. Defensive leaders like Suggs, Lewis, and Reed are going to be leading this team hard into the battle against the Texans and I think they will have a field day against an offense that is a lot more one-dimensional without the threat of Andre Johnson.
The Ravens defense is too strong to threaten them with just one big name, as good as Arian Foster is. I don’t think the Texans have enough firepower even if they can shut down the Ravens attack.
The Ravens defense comes off of their bye impressively getting another Baltimore win 28-13
New Orleans at Tampa Bay
New Orleans is a story that I could repeat every week. “They have an incredible amount of weapons. Drew Brees can escape horrible situations and make something out of nothing. Graham, Ingram and other new threats improve this offense again and again,” yadda yadda yadda. But I think this week I’ll take it from a new angle; The Saint’s need to tighten up on defense. They might have one of the better offenses, but they’ve continued to get beaten through their secondary. Maybe it was acceptable against Aaron Rodgers – not acceptable, but expected? But when a rookie can take the ball downfield against you time and time again then there is something wrong with the system. (Nothing against Cam Newton, he is good, but he is still a first year player.) So tighten it up Saints, wrap up some tackles, and deny some big passes, or else you’re in for some surprises later this year.
Tampa Bay needs to shocked and furious after what happened last week. They’re a team that was having a pretty good young season, and went into a game confident, only to get the ball shoved down their throat. It doesn’t help that they are a very young team and don’t have many big veteran leaders, it doesn’t help that Blount left the game early with an injury, but these are things that great teams overcome. I like Tampa Bay and I think they have the foundation to be a great team, but this week Blount is doubtful, and that hurts. Freeman could have a great day, he and Williams are yet to have any huge games, and this one might be it.
I think it’s going to be a shootout in Tampa Bay, and its going to come down to whether the Saints weapons are stronger, or Tampa can rely on another Freeman fourth quarter come back.
I’ve got to give the edge to New Orleans – Brees and friends just come at opposing defenses from too many angles to cover. Saints win 30-24.
Dallas at New England
Detroit shocked Dallas two weeks ago, and then the Cowboys took a week off. This could spell trouble as some teams do better when bouncing right back and getting into the thick of it, but if there’s one team that might be best to have two weeks to prepare for it’s a Tom Brady led offense. Bad news is the Patriots have scored 30+ points for the past 13 straight games. The good news? The last time the Patriots scored under 30 was when they played a Rob Ryan led defense against the Cleveland Browns last season. With the weapons Rob has in place now, compared to what he had in Cleveland, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Boys put up some big trouble for the Pats this week. If Felix Jones can have some big runs early in the game and open up the play action pass for Romo then Dallas might have a chance at winning this one.
New England is playing at home. They’ve recently discovered that they don’t need to only rely on Tom Brady to win, and with this they’ve discovered a new sense of ball control and clock management. In the earlier games of the season the Patriots got into trouble with some high pass attack shoot-outs going both ways. Henne and Fitzpatrick both had monster games through the air against the Patriots secondary. Sense then not only has the secondary tightened up, but New England has learned that Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis can actually do some damage on the ground. As the Patriots continue to grow and develop as a team, they’re going to need to keep mixing it up to confuse Rob Ryan’s defensive schemes.
The Patriots don’t forget things very often. Last year the Jets embarrassed New England, so New England made up for it by beating them last week. Something tells me that all week Belichick has continued to remind Tom Brady’s offense about what happened when they faced Rob Ryan’s schemes last season.
I think Brady’s Bunch continues to prove that they are learning how to become even better week in and week out, and continue their streak winning 34-24
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