NFL Week 5 Picks: Guide for Latest Vegas Odds and Winning Predictions

Four weeks into the 2015 NFL regular season, the standings look just as jumbled as they were this time last Tuesday. Maybe Week 5 can help clear things up a bit more.

Although many teams are only a quarter of the way through their year, we're slowly reaching the point where you can't simply write off a poor start. Sure, a team can recover from a 2-2 start or a 1-3 start and still make the playoffs, but it would be foolish to simply assume things will improve based on what was expected before the season started.

The likes of the Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers are only a couple more bad results from being out of the playoff picture for good.

They can't afford to drop many more games the rest of the way, which will add a sense of urgency to this week's matchups. That will help add some drama to what is otherwise a Week 5 devoid of many marquee clashes.

The two listed below will be the most intriguing come this Sunday.

Week 5 Schedule

Time (ET)	Away	Home	TV Info	Spread	Pick
Thurs., Oct. 8
8:25 p.m.	Indianapolis Colts	Houston Texans	CBS/NFLN	N/A	IND, 24-20
Sun., Oct. 11
1 p.m.	Chicago Bears	Kansas City Chiefs	Fox	KC (-10)	KC, 17-10
1 p.m.	Seattle Seahawks	Cincinnati Bengals	Fox	CIN (-1)	SEA, 23-20
1 p.m.	Washington Redskins	Atlanta Falcons	Fox	ATL (-9)	ATL, 34-24
1 p.m.	Jacksonville Jaguars	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	CBS	TB (-3)	TB, 21-17
1 p.m.	New Orleans Saints	Philadelphia Eagles	Fox	PHI (-4)	NO, 27-23
1 p.m.	Cleveland Browns	Baltimore Ravens	CBS	BAL (-7)	BAL, 31-18
1 p.m.	St. Louis Rams	Green Bay Packers	CBS	GB (-9.5)	GB, 35-24
1 p.m.	Buffalo Bills	Tennessee Titans	CBS	BUF (-3)	TEN, 20-10
4:05 p.m.	Arizona Cardinals	Detroit Lions	Fox	ARI (-3)	ARI, 20-16
4:25 p.m.	New England Patriots	Dallas Cowboys	CBS	NE (-7.5)	NE, 35-20
4:25 p.m.	Denver Broncos	Oakland Raiders	CBS	DEN (-6)	DEN, 31-20
8:30 p.m.	San Francisco 49ers	New York Giants	NBC	NYG (-7)	SF, 21-20
Mon., Oct. 12
8:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh Steelers	San Diego Chargers	ESPN	SD (-3)	SD, 22-15

Games to Watch

Seattle Seahawks at Cincinnati Bengals

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Andy Dalton is why Cincinnati Bengals fans have trust issues. Just when you think the veteran quarterback has turned his career around, he throws three interceptions or fails to crack 200 passing yards as his team again loses in the first round of the playoffs.

There's no denying how great Dalton has been this year. Through four games, he has 1,187 yards, nine touchdowns and a single interception. He's also completing 67.2 percent of his passes, which would be the best mark of his career if the season ended now.

"His clutch [Week 3] performance, plus the follow-up in Week 4, marked a clear progression for the 27-year-old quarterback," wrote Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke. "Dalton has delivered big games in the past and he has 13 game-winning drives to his credit. However, he has always struggled to minimize damage when things go wrong—as they did briefly in Baltimore—and to string strong starts together."

And yet that seed of doubt remains. For four years, Dalton has been a slightly above-average quarterback who shrunk in his team's biggest games. Has that truly changed?

Having lost Byron Maxwell and started the season without Kam Chancellor, the Seattle Seahawks secondary hasn't quite reached its 2013 and 2014 levels of dominance. However, the unit remains one of the best in the league.

If Dalton lights up the Seahawks—or at the very least avoids costly mistakes—and leads the Bengals to a win, then maybe we can start talking about the 27-year-old actually turning around his career narrative.

Meanwhile, Seattle has some questions of its own surrounding the offensive line. The Detroit Lions sacked Russell Wilson six times during the Seahawks' Monday night victory. Gregg Bell of the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, foresees an aggressive Bengals defense attempting to exploit that weakness:

Wilson's mobility allows him to escape many would-be sacks, but his legs can only get him so far. Plus, the more he's forced to tuck the ball and run out of the pocket, the more he's opening himself up to injury.

The Seahawks will also want to get a little more from their running game, especially in the event Marshawn Lynch is absent again. Thomas Rawls and Fred Jackson combined to run for 69 yards against the Lions, which only put more pressure on Wilson and the passing game.

Seattle is still a strong playoff contender, but it needs to make some improvements if a third straight trip to the Super Bowl is in the cards.

St. Louis Rams at Green Bay Packers

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Stop me if you've heard this before: The St. Louis Rams played well against a division opponent, thus raising expectations for what the team can accomplish.

At least under head coach Jeff Fisher, the story has ended with the Rams falling back to earth, a point that Pro Football Talk alluded to after St. Louis' win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday:

"As we said earlier in the week, (Arizona) is one of the top two teams in the NFC," Fisher said after the game, per Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We're building to compete in our division and right now, we're 2-0 in our division. So we've got to keep it going."

While the Rams own victories over both the Seahawks and Cardinals, they also lost 24-10 to the Washington Redskins. Because of that, you can't put your faith entirely behind the team.

St. Louis has a great chance to remove fans' apprehension this Sunday.

Expecting the Rams to go into Lambeau Field and beat the Green Bay Packers might be a tad unrealistic. The Packers are one of the best teams in the league, and they're nearly unbeatable at home. If the Rams can make it a game and push Green Bay hard from start to finish, that would at least strengthen the idea that St. Louis is a playoff contender in the NFC West.

For the Packers, playing the Rams will be a great test of their run defense. Todd Gurley was excellent in the fourth quarter against the Cardinals and finished with 146 yards. Any fears his ACL injury might still be affecting him were put to bed, as he showed the blend of speed and power that made him one of the best running backs in college football.

According to Pro Football Focus, Green Bay is the seventh-worst team against the run, so Gurley might find some big holes through which to run.

If Gurley is consistently getting positive yards and eating up time off the clock, it will tire out the Packers defense and, more importantly, keep Aaron Rodgers off the field.

Note: Week 5 lines are courtesy of Odds Shark.