Predictions For Week 5 In The NFL

Predictions for Week 5 in the NFL

This is Jimmy G once again from the Team 990.

Prognosticating football games may be a fool’s errand, however, here I go. Even the best experts are correct between 55% to 60% of the time, so the question is: how accurate will I be compared to the experts at picking games straight up?

Upset special Number 1
Browns will beat the Patriots: Belichick’s teams are not known for looking ahead but they just might on Sunday, what with Dallas being on the schedule next week. This is the first time Romeo Crennel is coaching against his mentor. For the Browns and Derek Anderson to prove they are for real, this game is it.

Upset Special Number 2
Bucs beat the Colts: Jeff Garcia has been sacked just once, hasn’t been picked off yet, the running game has piled up 182 and 189 yards the last 2 weeks. Even with Cadillac gone for the year, I expect Coach Jon Gruden to play ball control, running the ball early and often: Jeff Garcia is the perfect QB for this sort of strategy.

San Diego (1-3) at Denver (2-2): Broncos will win
The Chargers have to run the ball more: their play selection in the 2nd half against the Chiefs was horrendously unbalanced. Is it panic time for the Chargers? Not at all. A loss to Denver would put them only two games back of the division lead with 11 games to play. Thankfully for San Diego, no one in the West is running away so Coach Turner will have enough time to plug the leaking ship. That is, if Norv is still the commander early next week.

Arizona (2-2) at St Louis (0-4): Cards win
If the Cardinals cannot win this game to get to 3-2, then they should have kept Dennis Green as their coach. To get to 9-7, teams like the Cardinals have to take all the winnable games on their schedule. This is one of them. The Cardinals will win.

Miami (0-4) at Houston (2-2): Dolphins win
If the Texans cannot win this game to get to 3-2, then this will be a wasted season. Teams like the Texans cannot afford to lose to an 0-4 team like Miami. Miami will win this game. Houston will not make the playoffs.

Chicago (1-3) at Green Bay (4-0): Packers win
Is it panic time for the Bears? No. If the Bears lose to the Packers, will it be panic time then? Not really. The odds would be against the Monsters of the Midway but do not forget the following: the Giants made the playoffs at 8-8 last year, and the Rams and Vikings made the playoffs at 8-8 in 2004. Bottom line: in the NFC noone is ever out of the playoff race.

Other predictions:
Steelers beat Seattle: No Super Bowl revenge for Mike Holmgren

Falcons beat Tennessee: Why is Joey H playing so well lately?

Giants beat the Jets: Eric Mangini does not have the luxury of an easy schedule in 2007. Nor can the Jets sneak up on teams

Redskins beat the Lions: The Skins had a week off to forget about the atrocious clock management fiasco that cost them a potential overtime against the Giants

Cowboys beat Bills: Do you think that perhaps Wade Phillips wants to get revenge on the team that fired him in 2000, even though he made the playoffs twice in three seasons and had a 29-19 record?

Jaguars beat my Chiefs: The Jaguars have rushed for 72, 113 and 157 yards in their first three games so the running game is improving by the week. A bye will only help.

Panthers beat the Saints: Can’t they both lose? The Panthers called a players only meeting even though they are a respectable 2-2. The Saints had a bye after three straight losses. Look for the Panthers to stuff Reggie Bush in his first start as an every down back, 25 carry a game back.

Ravens beat the 49ers: I cannot imagine Trent Dilfer doing anything against the Ravens defense, although I thought the same thing about Derek Anderson and the Browns last week. The Ravens win an ugly battle of attrition.

Those are my picks for the week. Any thoughts you want to share with Team990.com readers?
Please send them to jimmy.garoufalis@team990.com

I'll return with a new in-depth statistical opinionated look just after midnight Sunday after all the games are complete.

Enjoy the action on Sunday. The Team 990 will be broadcasting the Jets-Giants at 1:00, the Bucs-Colts at 4:00 and the Packers-Bears at 8:30 so don't forget to tune in. The Team 990 will also broadcast the Monday night tilt between the Bills and the Cowboys.

Immediately following the Packers-Bears game you can listen to Matthew Ross and his NFL recap show on the Team 990.

Immediately following the Bills-Cowboys game you can listen to Simon Tsalikis and George Caperis from the Ministry of Sports as they give you their analysis of the 14 game NFL slate.

That's it for me.