It's Wide Open: NFL Week 6 Predictions

This NFL season is shaping into a good one. There is no favorite in either league, instead you have a number of teams that will be battling it out all season long. The NFC is completely loaded in one division and it looks like whoever survives in the NFC East will be the Super Bowl favorite. In the AFC, the contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pretenders. The Titans look for real while the Bills showed some serious flaws last week. And what are we supposed to make of the Patriots, Chargers and Colts, three former powerhouses that have yet to put it all together? It's very likely that at least one of those teams will be on the outside looking in come playoff time.

Here are my picks for Week Six. As always, all picks are made strictly based on who I think will win and do not take the spread into consideration.

Record Last Week: 9-5, .643
Overall Record: 47-28, .627

Byes: Bills, Titans, Chiefs, Steelers

Sunday Day Games:

Bears (3-2) @ Falcons (3-2) Matt Ryan has been impressive so far, making an instant impact and proving his doubters (like me) wrong. The Falcons are undefeated at home although they only had to beat the Lions and Chiefs. The Bears defense will blitz and confuse Ryan just enough to get him out of his game. Of course, they will still have to find a way to shut down Michael Turner. My pick: Bears win on the road. The Bears have quietly become the best team in the NFC Central so they will do something the Packers were unable to do: beat Atlanta

Ravens (2-2) @ Colts (2-2) The Colts have Sage Rosenfels' stupidity to thank for stealing that win last week against the Texans. Seriously, Sage, SLIDE already! The Colts aren't the dominating team they once were, although I can't really figure out why. They still have Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Joseph Addai, and although their defense isn't any good, it never was except in their Super Bowl year. Something is wrong with the offense, maybe it's still trying to find it's rhythm since Manning missed all that time in the offseason. My pick: Colts. This is the week they start to turn it around.

Lions (0-4) @ Vikings (2-3) Could this be the week the Lions finally win a game?? Uh, no. Despite a nice win last week against the Saints, where they won even though Adrian Peterson only ran for 32 yards on 21 carries, the Vikings haven't really been as good as advertised. They're still better than a crappy Lions team that will likely be starting Dan Orlovsky at QB. My pick: Vikings

Raiders (1-3) @ Saints (2-3) How do the Saints lose when Reggie Bush returns two punts for touchdowns and Drew Brees throws for 330 yards? Well, two interceptions and 2 lost fumbles certainly didn't help. The Tom Cable era begins in Oakland this week but don't expect anything to be different as long as Al Davis is running the show. Davis is completely insane and the NFL needs to intervene and get him removed from the league or he will continue to drive Oakland further into the ground. My pick: Saints

Bengals (0-5) @ Jets (2-2) Here's my upset special for the week! The Bengals, who actually put together a pretty good showing against the Cowboys last week, are finally going to get one in the win column this week on the road against the Jets. They actually showed some life and I think they're finally going to put together enough offense this week to win. It's not that big of an upset considering the Jets aren't that good unless Brett Favre throws 6 touchdown passes again, which he could do against the lousy Bengals defense. My pick: Bengals

Panthers (4-1) @ Bucs (3-2) Jeff Garcia is back in the saddle for the Bucs, although I never really understood why he was taken out of the saddle. I know he was dealing with injuries, but Garcia is still more dangerous than Brian Griese. The Panthers have looked really dominant in the last two weeks, destroying the Falcons and Chiefs with a balanced rushing and passing attack and a suffocating defense. Things won't come as easy this week against the Bucs. My pick: Bucs

Rams (0-4) @ Redskins (4-1) Don't worry Eagles fans, the Redskins will eventually fall back towards the bottom of the NFC East. It just won't happen this week. The Rams have had two weeks to prepare for the Redskins with their new coach and they will welcome Marc Bulger back, but they still won't beat the Redskins on the road. My pick: Redskins

Dolphins (2-2) @ Texans (0-4) Yet another winless team will get on the board this week. The Texans nearly pulled it out against the Colts and they would have if Sage Rosenfels knew how to protect a lead. Matt Schaub is back this week so the Texans offense should be much less prone to turnovers. The Dolphins have definitely been a big surprise this season with their big upsets over the Patriots and Chargers using their unique offensive attacks but it's only a matter of time before the league figures out how to beat these high school plays. My pick: Texans

Jaguars (2-3) @ Broncos (4-1) It wasn't a shock that the Broncos beat the Bucs last week but it was surprising how they did it: in a low scoring, 16-13 game. The Broncos had been averaging 33 points a game up to that point and I expect them to put up a bunch this week. The Jaguars are broken because they are built around the running game and yet they can't run the ball this season, except against terrible defenses. Fortunately they have hope this week because this Broncos defense gave up 198 yards to Larry Johnson in Week 4. My pick: Jaguars in a close game

Cowboys (4-1) @ Cardinals (3-2) After years of not meeting expectations, the Cardinals may finally win the NFC West this season. They have paired an explosive offense with a reasonably capable defense and that makes them a tempting team to pick to beat the Cowboys. And, I can think of several reasons to pick against Dallas. Dallas' secondary has been exposed and that plays right into the Cardinals aerial attack. Terrell Owens is whining about not getting the ball. Tony Romo has been pretty normal the last few weeks. My pick: Despite all those reasons, I still am going with the Cowboys.

Eagles (2-3) @ Niners (2-3) With the season only 16 games long, every game is pretty much a "must-win" in the NFL. This week is a bigger "must-win" than most for the Birds. The Eagles have to beat this mediocre Niners team to prove to themselves and to their fans that they are much better than their 2-3 record indicates. They have to beat San Francisco and beat them soundly to re-gain their swagger and prove to the league that you can't count them out. Three teams will make the playoffs from the NFC East and if the Eagles lose this game and fall even further behind their division opponents, who I have all picked to win this week, then the season could already be over. The "fire Andy Reid" talk and the "start Kevin Kolb" talk will be so deafening in Philadelphia that this team may never recover. Luckily, I think the Birds will make a statement this weekend and all of the naysayers will have to shut their mouths for the next few weeks. My pick: Eagles by two touchdowns

Packers (2-3) @ Seahawks (1-3) Aaron Rodgers toughed it out last week and threw for 313 yards despite a banged up shoulder but the Packers still didn't win. The defense, which had been a strength last season, has really let the team down. The Seahawks rarely lose at home and, despite all of their injury issues, I expect them to start turning their season around and make a run for the NFC West title. My pick: Seahawks

Sunday Night Game:

Patriots (3-1) @ Chargers (2-3) This one is the battle of the two teams that lost to the Dolphins. Things have certainly changed since these two teams met in the AFC Title Game. The Pats are a shell of their former selves since the injury to Tom Brady and L.T. looks like a shell of his former self for the Chargers. San Diego always starts slow and one of these years it will hurt them. They always seem to find a way to win the games they really need to, and they really need this one to get back to .500. My pick: Chargers

Monday Night Game:

Giants (4-0) @ Browns (1-3) Think the NFL regrets all these prime time Browns games yet? The Brady Quinn watch is back underway this week as Derek Anderson is on his last legs as a starting QB in the NFL. The Giants look even better than they did last year in the playoffs, which is a scary thought for the rest of the league. Of course, we need to wait and see how they do against the Cowboys and Eagles before we can crown them. My pick: Giants

So those are my picks for Week Six. If you agree or disagree or have picks of your own, feel free to leave comments!