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NFL Week 6 Picks: Favre Vs. Romo And Patriots Without Moss

Week 6 is highlighted by the matchup of the 1-3 titans when Dallas visits Minnesota as well as Baltimore visiting New England and Philadelphia hosting Atlanta.

By JP Starkey
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Here we are in Week 6 without any undefeated teams. Mercury Morris probably popped a few bottles of champagne already but at least this means we won't have to see him clowning around ESPN come December.

That said, this year has been extremely unpredictable. Trying to do so has been frustrating to say the least but we're doing our best here. This week has more enticing games compared to last week. Nobody expected both Minnesota and Dallas to be 1-3 headed into their matchup but there they are at 1-3. Both teams are desperate for a win and both teams should be playing with that sense of urgency. 

This week has a pretty good slate of games on tap. Aside from the Dallas game, there's plenty of good football to watch. The Patriots/Ravens, Dolphins/Packers, Falcons/Eagles and Chiefs/Texans all should be pretty entertaining and good games. So naturally, they'll be blowouts or penalty filled, frustrating games.

Here's our once again abbreviated Week 6 picks. Rangers playoff baseball as the best of us here.Standings will also return for Week 7 - you can blame playoff baseball for that.

Seattle (2-2) at Chicago (4-1) - I don't think anybody expected Seattle to be 2-2 or Chicago to be 4-1 at this point of the year. Jay Cutler will return for the Bears and probably not a moment too soon for Bears fans. Chicago is undefeated at home so far this year and Seattle is winless on the road.

  • Charles Code: Bears
  • Christopher Fittz: Bears
  • Liam Ponting: Bears
  • Maurice London: Bears - Dumbface is back, bad news for a porous Seattle secondary.
  • Robert Griffin: Bears - West coast team playing an early game against a superior opponent. I expect this to be extremely ugly.
  • JP Starkey: Bears - I feel pretty good about picking the Bears to win this division.
  • Brett Perryman: Bears - Cutler's return will be enough.
Miami (2-2) at Green Bay (3-2) - Miami is coming off a bye week and a thrashing by the New England Patriots at home. Oddly, both of Miami's wins have come on the road. Green Bay is pretty battered and they look a lot more vulnerable than they did coming into the year.
  • Code: Dolphins
  • Fittz: Packers
  • Ponting: Dolphins
  • London: Packers - Green Bay has problems, Miami has more.
  • Griffin: Packers - Even without Aaron Rodgers, I think the Packers win at home. This is one of the hardest games to call in a hard week, though.
  • Starkey: Dolphins - Miami will be ready to play this game. 
  • Perryman: Packers - Miami is glad for a break from the AFC East, but what's left of the Packers will trudge on.
San Diego (2-3) at St. Louis (2-3) - Can anybody figure out the Chargers? Is there a more frustrating team in the conference? Probably not. They'll travel to St. Louis who have played surprisingly well this year behind rookie QB Sam Bradford.
  • Code: Chargers
  • Fittz: Chargers
  • Ponting: Chargers
  • London: Chargers - It really is eerie how similar Norv and Wade's career's have gone. Sadly, only Norv gets a win this week.
  • Griffin: Rams - San Diego is the better team, but, again, I'm rarely going to pick a west coast team in an early game. I'm absolutely expecting the Rams to cover. It just seems like a Norv thing to fail against a not-good-but-better-than-you-probably-think team, too.
  • Starkey: Rams - Upset of the week leaves everybody even more confused about both teams.
  • Perryman: Chargers - And here I was a week ago saying that the Rams aren't that bad.
Baltimore (4-1) at New England (3-1) - And so the post-Randy Moss era begins. We'll see how it works out for Tom Brady and the Pats as they host the team that smoked them out of the playoffs last year. The Ravens are good, the Patriots are good - this should be a good game.
  • Code: Patriots
  • Fittz: Patriots
  • Ponting: Ravens
  • London: Ravens - How scary will this team be after Ed Reed returns? Super Bowl scary? I agree.
  • Griffin: Patriots - Another close game. I'm also not sure if this will be high or low scoring. I'm just taking the home team and the better quarterback.
  • Starkey: Patriots - I'll be at this game so there's no way I'm going into Foxboro thinking New England is losing.
  • Perryman: Patriots - Good game, tough call. Give me to Pats to bond over the Moss departure.
Detroit (1-4) at New York (3-2) - The Giants have looked good in the past couple of weeks, much to my own chagrin. Detroit hasn't been good in any phase of the game except for passing: they rate 27th in rushing yards, 24th in opposing passing yards and 26th in opposing rushing yards.
  • Code: Giants
  • Fittz: Lions
  • Ponting: Giants
  • London: Giants
  • Griffin: Giants - This should be ugly.
  • Starkey: Giants - I'd love to pick the Lions but I can't. It's annoying that the Giants will be 4-2.
  • Perryman: Giants - Odd fact: the Lions are 1-4 with a +14 point differential, but a big win followed by a trip to NY is a bad recipe.
Atlanta (4-1) at Philadelphia (3-2) - The Falcons are on a nice four game winning streak since dropping the season opener in Pittsburgh. Kevin Kolb will get another start under center for the Eagles as Michael Vick is still injured as the Eagles look to avoid falling to .500.
  • Code: Eagles
  • Fittz: Falcons
  • Ponting: Eagles
  • London: Falcons - Ryan>>Kolb.
  • Griffin: Falcons - I'm just really not believing the Eagles can keep winning with that line and these QBs and all the injuries. I'm also a huge believer in the Falcons, but they need to stop winning by the skin of their teeth.
  • Starkey: Eagles - Kolb wins this game leading to some more quarterback tension in Philadelphia.
  • Perryman: Eagles - Kolb figured some things out last week.
Cleveland (1-4) at Pittsburgh (3-1) - Colt McCoy will make his NFL Debut - that's the good news for Colt and his family. The bad news: he'll make his first NFL start against the Pittsburgh Steelers - in Pittsburgh, while the Steelers get Roethlisberger back. The Browns have been better than their 1-4 record indicates with only a -19 point differential but this one could get ugly.
  • Code: Steelers
  • Fittz: Steelers
  • Ponting: Steelers
  • London: Steelers - Poor Colt McCoy.
  • Griffin: Steelers - As much as I think Cleveland is better than the record shows, this is as close to "no way" as you get in the NFL.
  • Starkey: Steelers - I have to say, I'm really tempted to pick the Browns here. This game will probably be 49-3 Pittsburgh, but I'm still tempted to take Cleveland.
  • Perryman: Steelers - This is going to be ugly.
New Orleans (3-2) at Tampa Bay (3-1) - The Saints have been surprisingly beatable this year. Not that they should be invincible but they've lost twice already and could have easily lost against a hapless Carolina team. Conversely, the Bucs have been surprisingly good this year - but their wins have come against Cleveland, Carolina and Cincinnati. Not terribly impressive.
  • Code: Saints
  • Fittz: Saints
  • Ponting: Saints
  • London: Saints - I want to pick the Bucs here, I just don't see the Saints losing two in a row.
  • Griffin: Saints - Tampa Bay could make themselves honest-to-God playoff contenders if they win this, and maybe the world would start realizing how much talent Josh Freeman has. I don't think it's going to happen, but I think there's a good chance of it.
  • Starkey: Saints - Given who they've beaten this year, I can't justify taking Tampa Bay against a good team.
  • Perryman: Saints - To be honest, I can't supply much supporting logic for this.
Kansas City (3-1) at Houston (3-2) - The Chiefs finally have a loss! Who figured on saying that past Week 2? Well, they were the last undefeated team in the NFL this year and played a pretty good game in Indianapolis last week despite losing. Houston is coming off an ugly loss to the Giants and now finds themselves tied with the Colts, Jags and Titans in the AFC South for first. That's right, a four way tie.
  • Code: Texans
  • Fittz: Chiefs
  • Ponting: Texans
  • London: Chiefs - The original Texans over these Texans.
  • Griffin: Texans- Okay, if I'm wrong, THIS will be the last week I doubt Kansas City, okay? It's not like I don't think they can do it, I just still think the Texans are better and they get the homefield thing.
  • Starkey: Chiefs - I'm back to not believing in the Texans. Matt Cassel has a breakout game.
  • Perryman: Texans - The Texans can't keep disappointing at home.
New York (4-1) at Denver (2-3) - The Jets have won four straight since dropping their season opener on Monday Night Football and have looked pretty good in the process, beating New England, Miami, Minnesota and Buffalo. Denver ranks last in rushing yards per game. Denver also ranks last in the AFC West which is a pretty sorry division.
  • Code: Jets
  • Fittz: Jets
  • Ponting: Jets
  • London: Broncos - Bad things happen in Mile-High. Who would've thought that Kyle Orton would have more passing yards than Peyton Manning at this point?
  • Griffin: Jets -  I'm really annoyed by the Jets being at least as good as they said they were.
  • Starkey: Broncos - Denver confuses the world by winning this game. To be fair, they do rank second in the NFL in passing yards per game. It'll be interesting to see if that success continues against the Jets.
  • Perryman: Jets - The Jets will take away the one thing that Denver does well.
Oakland (2-3) at San Francisco (0-5) - It's truly amazing that both teams could possibly win their divisions. Yeah, I highly doubt the Niners win the NFC West at this point but with Seattle, St. Louis and Arizona in that division anything could happen. Meanwhile the Raiders are 2-3 and just beat the Chargers and trail the 3-1 Chiefs. What is going on right now?
  • Code: 49ers
  • Fittz: 49ers
  • Ponting: 49ers
  • London: 49ers - We have a first round bust as our starting quarterback... Ooh, I know, how about we get another first round bust as our backup! Sounds good.
  • Griffin: 49ers - I refuse to watch this. I will laugh if the 49ers lose, but I'm not going to watch it happen.
  • Starkey: 49ers - San Fran finally gets off the schnide.
  • Perryman: Raiders - The Niners put a lot into last week. Oakland would feel good about moving to .500.
Dallas (1-3) at Minnesota (1-3) - I don't know that I have to say much about this game. Nobody expected either team to be 1-3. Nobody expected the Vikings to have Randy Moss on their team right now either. Both teams should be playing with a playoff game intensity. For a 1-3 vs. 1-3 matchup, this should be a pretty good game.
  • Code: Vikings
  • Fittz: Cowboys
  • Ponting: Vikings
  • London: Vikings - Randy Moss is going to do bad stuff.
  • Griffin: Cowboys - I'm going to assume Favre plays. And I'm going to bet the off field distractions and the limited practice time and the physical limitations and all the other stuff that has been hurting the Vikings this year helps Dallas to a narrow, and frustrating, victory.
  • Starkey: Vikings - Moss and Adrian Peterson will be too much for Dallas on defense and Jared Allen will be too much for Dallas on offense.
  • Perryman: Vikings - We find out just how bad these teams are. Moss will kill Dallas yet again.
Indianapolis (3-2) at Washington (3-2) -  Here's a pair of teams I didn't expect to have matching records coming into this game. The Colts haven't looked very Colt-like so far this year and the Redskins have been playing some pretty decent football. McNabb and the 'Skins are seventh in passing per game this year. 
  • Code: Redskins
  • Fittz: Colts
  • Ponting: Redskins
  • London: Redskins - Upset Special.
  • Griffin: Colts - I'm tempted to take what looks like a good 3-4 over Manning at home, but I'm going instead with the part where he ignores the rush and shreds the secondary.
  • Starkey: Colts - I would love if Indy loses this game but Washington ranks 30th in pass defense. Advantage Varnson Manning.
  • Perryman: Colts - Who had these two with the same record prior to the season?
Tennessee (3-2) at Jacksonville (3-2) - Two of the four first place AFC South teams playing each other on Monday night, what a treat! Not really. The Jaguars have played surprisingly well so far this year, but they've only really beat one good team in the Colts. Their other two wins have come against the Broncos and Bills. Vince Young and the Titans are probably feeling pretty good about going into Dallas and coming out with a win.
  • Code: Titans
  • Fittz: Titans
  • Ponting: Titans
  • London: Jaguars - VY might be the worst quarterback I've ever seen.
  • Griffin: Titans - Remember back when people treated this like a meaningful rivalry? That actually happened. Yes, it did.
  • Starkey: Jaguars - I don't really have much of a feel on this game. I'll go with the home team and Maurice Jones-Drew.
  • Perryman: Titans - That these two are both 3-2 is a testament to just how bad the NFL is.
Again, standings will return next week. And as always, feel free to pick against us in the comments section.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.