NFL Week 5 Preview 2015

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nfl 2015 logo image

Dennis Allen is out in Oakland, the Raiders have a bye week, and they’ll probably still find a way to lose this week. Here’s Week Five:

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers: Teddy Bridgewater looked great at home last week, but the Vikings defense will have a hard time keeping the game close enough for him to win on the road against Aaron Rodgers. The Packers offense looked fantastic in Chicago against a good Bears defense, so they should have no problem running over the Vikings.

Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers: Jay Cutler reminded everyone that he’s not that good, and the Panthers got absolutely crushed again. The Panthers defense can finally find itself in front of its home crowd with a little help from Cutler. But, if the Panthers still can’t move the ball on offense it won’t be of any assistance. This game will come down to whether or not Cam Newton can score.

Cleveland Browns at Tennessee Titans: Brian Hoyer has been playing well, so this is he chance to snag a road win. The Titans have a messy quarterback situation right now, leaving this game wide open for the Browns to steal. The Titans are coming off a big loss to Indianapolis, whereas the Browns are coming off a bye week. Look for the Browns to pull off the upset, or look for Browns fans to start questioning Hoyer’s ability to lead the team.

St. Louis Rams at Philadelphia Eagles: Bad teams have had no luck this year against good teams coming off a loss (i.e. Jacksonville vs. the 0-2 Colts). Don’t expect the Rams to come out and miraculously pull off the upset in Philadelphia. This game is pretty much a guaranteed blowout.

Atlanta Falcons at New York GiantsThe Falcons continue to show that they can’t win on the road, and the Giants are finally starting to pull it together. Matt Ryan has not looked good on the road this season, and he has to go against a Giants defense that forced four Kirk Cousins interceptions. Expect Eli Manning and the G-Men to do just enough to pull out the victory at home.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans SaintsMike Glennon looked pretty good last weekend during the Buccaneers last minute win over Pittsburgh, but the Saints simply don’t lose at home. Drew Brees and Sean Payton aren’t used to starting off 1-3, so expect them to make some adjustments. For the Saints, this game is pretty much a must win. A loss here could knock them out of the division title run already.

Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys: Both of these teams were supposed to be awful, but somehow they are both 3-1 right now. Dallas’s offense is spectacular as always and their defense showed some signs of existence against the Saints Sunday Night. Houston has a pretty good defense, but Ryan Fitzpatrick has yet to prove that he can win against decent teams. The Cowboys should have no problem winning at home.

Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions: E.J. Manuel has been benched, and Kyle Orton will be starting Week Five for the Buffalo Bills. Orton receives a lot of criticism, but he can definitely get the job done. With that being said, the Lions should have no problem getting the job done at home. Calvin Johnson has been quiet recently, but expect Matthew Stafford to look for him a lot more this week with the home crowd behind him.

Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis ColtsThe Ravens are 3-1 right now and coming off a big win over the struggling Panthers. This is their chance: if the Ravens can win this game, then people will begin to look at them like the Super Bowl XLVII champions again. However, more likely than not, Andrew Luck and the Colts offense will knock some sense into the Ravens.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville JaguarsThe Steelers had an epic collapse at the end of the game last week against the winless Buccaneers after soundly defeating the Panthers the week before. The Jaguars are the Jaguars. Blake Bortles may be able to do enough in his first start at home to keep the game from becoming a blowout, but don’t expect much more.

Arizona Cardinals at Denver Broncos: Drew Stanton has done a good job in place of the injured Carson Palmer, but the Cardinals bring their unblemished record to Denver this week to take on Peyton Manning. The Cardinals defense is good, but the Broncos are still angry about their overtime loss to the Seahawks and aren’t about to drop another one. Since the Broncos still don’t have a defense this game could be kind of close, but Manning won’t let it get too close.

Kansas City Chiefs at San Francisco 49ers: The Chiefs destroyed Tom Brady and the Patriots Monday Night, but that’s not really that impressive. The 49ers on the other hand managed to defeat the 3-0 Eagles last week despite all the locker room problems they have had recently. The Niners should be able to win this game too, but expect Alex Smith to come out firing against his former team.

New York Jets at San Diego Chargers: Geno Smith is still not good. That’s not going to change within the course of one week. Philip Rivers on the other hand looks fantastic, and the Chargers have been tearing it up on the field lately. This year could finally mark the end of the Rex Ryan era in New York.

Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots: The Bengals had no problem defeating the Patriots last year when they were actually good. Tom Brady couldn’t throw a touchdown against their defense last season, so he certainly won’t be throwing one this season. The Bengals are undefeated and coming off a bye week. Unless Bill Bellichick has something crazy up his sleeve (like maybe a videotape of the Bengals practices) this should be an easy win for Cincy.

Seattle Seahawks at Washington: The Redskins are coming off a 31 point loss at home, but Russell Wilson isn’t any good when his defense doesn’t do all the work for him on the road. If Kirk Cousins can bounce back and play like he did against the Eagles in Week Three then the Redskins could actually win this game. However, that’s not very likely against a very good Seattle defense. The Seahawks win a close one.