NFL Week 6 Picks: Predicting the Winner of All 14 Matchups

Week 5 was a statement weekend in the NFL, with several teams establishing themselves as contenders while others faded in important moments.

With quarterback Tom Brady back from suspension, the New England Patriots look scary on both sides of the ball. The Atlanta Falcons, Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers also impressed with demonstrative victories, but the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants have fizzled a bit after promising starts.

As we move along through October, take a look below at the Week 6 matchups, as well as predictions for each game. Keep reading for a breakdown of two of the weekend's most notable contests. A full schedule for this season can be found at NFL.com.

Thursday, Oct. 13
Sunday, Oct. 16
Monday, Oct. 17
Matchup	Time (ET)	Network	Prediction
Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers	8:25 p.m.	CBS/NFL Network	Broncos Win 20-13
Matchup	Time (ET)	Network	Prediction
San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills	1 p.m.	Fox	Bills Win 27-13
Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins	1 p.m.	Fox	Redskins Win 28-24
Cleveland Browns at Tennessee Titans	1 p.m.	CBS	Titans Win 24-17
Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants	1 p.m.	CBS	Ravens Win 28-20
Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints	1 p.m.	Fox	Saints Win 37-27
Jacksonville Jaguars at Chicago Bears	1 p.m.	CBS	Jaguars Win 34-21
Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions	1 p.m.	Fox	Lions Win 31-17
Pittsburgh Steelers at Miami Dolphins	1 p.m.	CBS	Steelers Win 38-14
Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots	1 p.m.	CBS	Patriots Win 30-20
Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders	4:05 p.m.	CBS	Raiders Win 24-17
Atlanta Falcons at Seattle Seahawks	4:25 p.m.	Fox	Seahawks Win 27-21
Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers	4:25 p.m.	Fox	Packers Win 28-16
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans	8:30 p.m.	NBC	Colts Win 31-21
Matchup	Time (ET)	Network	Prediction
New York Jets at Arizona Cardinals	8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Cardinals Win 34-24

Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants

Led by Super Bowl-winning signal-callers, Baltimore and New York are both in a rut in large part because of mediocre quarterback play.

The Ravens started 3-0, but they dropped their last two games to Oakland and Washington while combining to score just 37 points, which hovers right around their season average of 18.8 points per contest. Quarterback Joe Flacco has struggled thus far as well, averaging a pedestrian 256 yards passing per game with five touchdowns and four picks.

As a result, the team fired offensive coordinator Marc Trestman on Monday. Play-calling was an issue for the offense, as it was erratic and oftentimes too conservative. This was certainly evident in Sunday's loss to Washington, where the Ravens only mustered a mere 10 points at home, per the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec:

Even when the team leans on the pass, Flacco is only averaging 5.9 yards per attempt, which woefully underutilizes a slew of downfield weapons in Breshad Perriman, Steve Smith and Mike Wallace. 

On the other sideline, the Giants have dropped three straight after a 2-0 start. Eli Manning, equipped with three quality receivers himself in Odell Beckham, Victor Cruz and Sterling Shepard, has similar numbers to Flacco, with 1,385 yards along with five touchdowns and four interceptions.

Yet, he has been shaky in the last two weeks, completing just over 50 percent of his throws for a score and a pick. Manning looked particularly off in Sunday's loss to Green Bay, missing several big throws at critical moments of the game.

Whichever quarterback can break out of his slump will likely end up victorious in this matchup, and that looks to favor Baltimore. 

The Giants have a beat-up secondary, with cornerbacks Eli Apple and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie leaving the Green Bay with groin injuries, per ESPN.com's Jordan Raanan. The team already ranks 23rd in the league in pass defense, and it will need more than just Janoris Jenkins to contain Baltimore's group of pass-catchers. 

With the Ravens only allowing 191 passing yards per game, expect Baltimore to contain Manning while opening up its own aerial attack with a revised offensive strategy. This should allow Baltimore to score enough points to outlast New York.

Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots

In contrast to the trajectories of the Giants and Ravens, this next matchup features teams trending in opposite directions.

The Patriots improved to 4-1 after a 33-13 rout of Cleveland, and Brady showed absolutely no rust in his triumphant return, per ESPN:

Granted, this performance came against a putrid Browns team, but New England looks terrific on offense with possibly the best quarterback ever operating with an arsenal of weapons. Brady took full advantage on Sunday, keeping the defense on its toes by spreading the ball around, which resulted in five players recording at least four catches.

Player	Receptions	Targets	Yards	Touchdowns
Chris Hogan	4	5	114	0
Rob Gronkowski	5	7	109	0
Martellus Bennett	6	8	67	3
James White	4	6	63	0
Julian Edelman	5	10	35	0

While the Patriots are on the rise, Cincinnati is on the brink of deep trouble. The Bengals are sputtering at the moment, sitting at 2-3 after a blowout 28-14 loss to Dallas last week.

Andy Dalton is second in the NFL with 1,503 passing yards, but the lack of touchdowns is severely hurting the Bengals. Dalton has just five throwing touchdowns, and the team is tied for 24th in the league with 18.4 points per game despite being eighth in total yards.

Cincinnati has been average on defense, allowing 22 points per game. Yet, the numbers indicate this game will be decided by the Bengals play in the red zone.

Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Dalton is only completing 58.3 percent of his throws in the red zone, resulting in three touchdowns. In the running game, Giovani Bernard has five yards on six carries, and Jeremy Hill only has 16 yards on eight carries. As a result, Cincinnati is tied for the league lead with 14 field-goal attempts.

Against a New England offense that is rolling with Brady back, the Bengals will need to convert on scoring opportunities to have a chance to keep up on the road. Cincinnati has not proved it can do so at this point, which makes it too difficult to believe it can take down the Patriots in Week 6.

Statistics are courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.