NFL Picks and Predictions: Week 5

This week's NFL picks are short one man. Devin is currently out of pocket and we hope he'll be back to pumping out awesome stuff soon. For now, you get myself and Tex. Don't complain.

Cardinals vs. Rams
Kevin picks: Arizona. Tex picks: St. Louis.

Maybe I'm just picking St. Louis because I don't think the Cardinals are good enough to go 5-0. At some point, Kevin Kolb playing QB will come back to bite you, and with the Rams' talented secondary, my guess is it's this week. The question is whether Sam Bradford can put some points on the board, but then again Ryan Tannehill burned the Cardinals repeatedly last week. -Tex

Dolphins vs. Bengals
Kevin picks: Cincinnati. Tex picks: Cincinnati

Tex and I agree that Ryan Tannehill and Brian Hartline's stats are not repeatable. The Bengals look like the same team they were last year and should be able to pull off the win at home. -Kevin

Packers vs. Colts
Kevin picks: Green Bay. Tex picks: Green Bay.

Andrew Luck may be one of the most polished rookie QBs in years, but he doesn't have the weapons around him to burn the Packers' defense repeatedly like Drew Brees did last week. Plus, Aaron Rodgers likes his turf cleats. -Tex

Ravens vs. Chiefs
Kevin picks: Baltimore. Tex picks: Baltimore.

Oh, poor Chiefs fans. -Kevin

Browns vs. Giants
Kevin picks: New York. Tex picks: New York.

LOL Brandon Weeden. Actually, he's shown some signs of improvement and the Browns hung tough with Baltimore last week, but that was on a short week. The Giants' pass rush should have no trouble rattling Weeden early and often, leading to multiple turnovers and a big win for New York. -Tex

Eagles vs. Steelers
Kevin picks: Pittsburgh Tex picks: Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is going to benefit quite a bit from having a bye week. Troy Polamalu, James Harrison and Rashard Mendenhall are all coming back. They looked like a borderline playoff team without them and will beat the Eagles at home now that they have them back. -Kevin

Falcons vs. Redskins
Kevin picks: Washington. Tex picks: Atlanta.

Do I think that the Skins are a better team than the Falcons? Absolutely not. But I think that the Falcons are not as good as their record suggests, that the Redskins are going to benefit from a newly energized home crowd, and that Robert Griffin is going to be beaming with confidence after his performance last week. -Kevin

Seahawks vs. Panthers
Kevin picks: Seattle. Tex picks: Carolina.

Russell Wilson had an ugly game last week throwing three "touchdowns" to Rams' defenders. Cam Newton's rushing ability should put some more strain on the Seahawks' defense and I rarely like teams traveling all the way across the country. -Tex

Bears vs. Jaguars
Kevin picks: Chicago. Tex picks: Chicago.

Blaine Gabbert may repeat Tony Romo's performance and throw more touchdowns to the Bears' defense than to his own team. Maurice Jones-Drew will have trouble finding running room against the NFL's 3rd-ranked rushing defense, while the Bears will have no difficulties moving the ball. -Tex

Titans vs. Vikings
Kevin picks: Minnesota. Tex picks: Minnesota.

No, I'm not convinced that the Vikings are "for real", but I'm also not sure that these Titans could beat any team on the road, much less a decent one. The Vikings would have to perform well below their talent level to lose this game. -Kevin

Broncos vs. Patriots
Kevin picks: Patriots. Tex picks: Patriots.

In recent years, the winner of the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady game has tended to be the home team. Both should put up good numbers, but my hunch is that Brady wins in one of the final battles of a great personal rivalry. -Tex

Bills vs. 49ers
Kevin picks: San Francisco. Tex picks: San Francisco.

Last week was a heartbreaking, potentially season-wrecking loss for the Bills. I'm not sure they're going to recover from that. And even if they did, they'd be playing the Niners defense on the road. -Kevin

Chargers vs. Saints
Kevin picks: San Diego. Tex picks: New Orleans.

It's tough to believe that the Saints have started 0-4, but it's even tougher to think that they'll continue their winless ways. San Diego's defense is in the middle of the pack against the pass and hasn't generated much of a pass rush, with only 7 sacks through four games. After finding some success against Green Bay, Brees and company will be able to outscore his old team. -Tex

Texans vs. Jets
Kevin picks: Houston. Tex picks: Houston.

LOL. -Kevin