"The Stack" 10-16-20

The Stack is back on this Football Friday and first off, happy anniversary to my wife, Kelsey. Thank you for putting up with me for these last five years and hopefully many more years to come J. Secondly, it was really weird not having a Thursday Night Football game last night, wasn’t it? That’s what happens in 2020 and the year of COVID. Picks so far this year if my math is correct is 48-28-1. That’s not too bad. Let’s keep it up and let’s get right to it and make some picks for week 6 in the NFL for today, Friday, October 16th:

1-3 Denver Broncos @ 2-2 New England Patriots 1 PM ET CBS

I’m sure the Broncos and Broncos fans and heck, even other NFL fans are not too happy that it looks like Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore are probably going to play in this game when last week they wouldn’t have. No maybe the Patriots would have won last week even had Newton and Gilmore not played. Maybe they wouldn’t have. The Broncos may get Drew Lock back at quarterback this week so that’s good news. I don’t think it will matter ultimately.

Prediction: Patriots 34 Broncos 16

1-4 Houston Texans @ 4-0 Tennessee Titans 1 PM ET CBS

The Titans sure shocked a lot of people with their win on Tuesday against the Bills. Ryan Tannehill was great and that stiff arm by Derrick Henry on Josh Norma…whoo doggie! Will they play with that same level of motivation against the Texans that they played with against the Bills? Probably not. I don’t like doubting Deshaun Watson, but the Titans are simply a better team. I’ll take them to win.

Prediction: Titans 30 Texans 20

4-1 Cleveland Browns @ 4-0 Pittsburgh Steelers 1 PM ET CBS

Are the Browns for real? Are the Cleveland Browns actually for real? If they beat the Steelers on Sunday they will. There’s no reason to think that they can’t, but they haven’t won in Pittsburgh in a very long time. The Steelers aren’t unbeatable. I don’t think they are as good as their 4-0 record indicates. What will Chase Claypool do for an encore? Until the Browns show they can actually beat Pittsburgh in the Steel City, I have to go with the home team.

Prediction: Steelers 27 Browns 20

4-1 Baltimore Ravens @ 1-3-1 Philadelphia Eagles 1 PM ET CBS

Carson Wentz and the Eagles have played much better the past couple of weeks and that has surprised this guy and I have to think others as well. The Ravens passing offense is still trying to find itself. Even so, the Ravens are a far better team than the Eagles and their defense will make life miserable for Wentz and company. This game is for the birds. Use the phrase nevermore.

Prediction: Ravens 33 Eagles 19

1-4 Washington @ 0-5 New York Giants 1 PM ET FOX

Oh man, this game is just awful. I would love to see Alex Smith play again under center for Washington, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll play unless there is an injury or if Kyle Allen just sucks. I don’t anticipate that to be the case, but the Giants are playing better so this could be a blowout. The winner of this game is still in the mix for the NFC East division lead. I guess the loser is still too, technically. Aren’t we all losers though for having to watch this game?

Prediction: Giants 20 Washington 17

0-5 Atlanta Falcons @ 1-4 Minnesota Vikings 1 PM ET FOX

Who knows if this game is even going to be played as scheduled with the Falcons positive COVID-19 tests (two I believe at this point) that shut down their team facility on Thursday. The Falcons fired their head coach and GM. Will that help at all? We’ll see, but I don’t think so. This team has been hit by the injury bug pretty bad. The Vikings lost a heartbreaker last week in Seattle and they won’t have Dalvin Cook in all likelihood, but it shouldn’t matter. Alexander Mattison and the rest of the Vikings offense should cruise to victory here.

Prediction: Vikings 34 Falcons 24

1-3 Detroit Lions @ 1-4 Jacksonville Jaguars 1 PM ET FOX

The Lions have had two weeks to prepare for the Jaguars. Their offense should have a pretty good day. The Jaguars have progressively gotten worse over the last three weeks. They need to turn things around and quickly. I think the Lions go down to Florida and pick up the win.

Prediction: Lions 30 Jaguars 17

1-3-1 Cincinnati Bengals @ 3-2 Indianapolis Colts 1 PM ET FOX

There’s been some chatter that maybe quarterback Philip Rivers should be benched for the Colts. That seems a little absurd, but it bears watching. I feel really bad for Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow. After getting beat up by the Ravens defense, he has to go against the Colts fantastic defense and DeForest Buckner. He’s going to need some ice after the game.

Prediction: Colts 30 Bengals 6

4-1 Chicago Bears @ 3-2 Carolina Panthers 1 PM ET FOX

I don’t know which team’s start has been more surprising. No one had the Bears at 4-1, but few people had the Panthers with more than three or four wins for the year. To have won three games in a row without Christian McCaffrey is staggering. I don’t have a good feel for either team or for this game, but I’ll try the home team.

Prediction: Panthers 23 Bears 20

0-5New York Jets @ 2-3 Miami Dolphins 4:05 PM ET CBS

This is one of the games that got rescheduled in the whole COVID outbreak reshuffling. Oh those poor Jets. Poor Bob Wischusen, the radio play-by-play guy. Le’Veon Bell is gone. The Dolphins just beat the 49ers by 26 on the road. I don’t see a slip-up here against clearly the worst team in the league.

Prediction: Dolphins 34 Jets 10

4-0 Green Bay Packers @ 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4:25 PM ET FOX

A battle of two future hall-of-fame quarterback; Aaron Rodgers versus Tom Brady. Hey Brady, how many wins do the Packers have? Four. How many wins will the Packers have after this game? Still four?! Pretty confident aren’t you Tommy Boy? The Packers have had an extra week to prepare for the Buccaneers, but the Bucs are desperate. I’ll try and run with the desperate team.

Prediction: Bucs 27 Packers 24

4-1 Los Angeles Rams @ 2-3 San Francisco 49ers 8:20 PM ET NBC

I think the 49ers are better than 2-3, but with all of the injuries that have decimated their roster, it’s understandable where they are at. I’m still not completely sold on the Rams. The 49ers are desperate for a win , but I don’t know what they’ll be able to do against this Rams team and Aaron Donald.

Prediction: Rams 24 49ers 16

Coming up Monday: Week 6 NFL Sunday reaction plus picks for Monday’s two NFL games.