NFL Picks Week 6: Examining Recent Odds and Expert Predictions

Week 6 of the NFL season kicks off with a bang on Thursday Night Football as the 4-1 Philadelphia Eagles battle the 4-1 Carolina Panthers in a battle of first-place teams.

Sunday should feature some interesting contests as well, as the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings face off in a fight for NFC North dominance and the Detroit Lions look to rebound from their tough loss last week in a potential shootout with the New Orleans Saints.

Here's a look at each Week 6 game alongside expert predictions collected by NFL Pick Watch, which gathers and records over 100 analyst predictions each week.

Note that the team listed in each matchup is the majority favorite, and the percentage indicates how many analysts are going in that direction.

Odds are via OddsShark, and you can also find analysis on two contests below where an individual matchup could decide the game.

A final remark: The Los Angeles Chargers at Oakland Raiders and Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans matchups do not have lines as we await the statuses of injured quarterbacks Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota for the home sides, respectively.

Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers (-3.5, 45)

Experts: Carolina (75 percent)

Chicago Bears at Baltimore Ravens (-6.5, 39.5)

Experts: Baltimore (90 percent)

Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans (-10, 47)

Experts: Houston (98 percent)

Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints (-4.5, 50)

Experts: New Orleans (66 percent)

Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings (-3, 46.5)

Experts: Green Bay (90 percent)

Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons (-11.5, 47)

Experts: Atlanta (100 percent)

New England Patriots (-9.5, 47.5) at New York Jets

Experts: New England (92 percent)

San Francisco 49ers at Washington Redskins (-10, 46.5)

Experts: Washington (96 percent)

Los Angeles Rams at Jacksonville Jaguars (-2.5, 42)

Experts: Jacksonville (66 percent)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.5, 45) at Arizona Cardinals

Experts: Tampa Bay (77 percent)

Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs (-5, 45.5)

Experts: Kansas City (87 percent)

Los Angeles Chargers at Oakland Raiders (NL)

Experts: Oakland (77 percent)

New York Giants at Denver Broncos (-11.5, 38.5)

Experts: Denver (98 percent)

Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (NL)

Experts: Tennessee (86 percent) 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.5, 45) at Arizona Cardinals

If you take a look at the Arizona Cardinals' box scores from this season, you'll notice an unfortunate trend if you're a Cards fan. Namely, Arizona has given up a handful of long touchdowns to team's second or third (or even fourth) wide receivers.

Kenny Golladay of the Detroit Lions snared a 45-yarder in Week 1. The Dallas Cowboys' Brice Butler caught a 37-yard touchdown in Week 3 and also hauled in a 53-yard pass that was initially ruled a 75-yard score before being overruled by review.

And last week, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor of the Philadelphia Eagles caught 59- and 72-yard touchdowns, respectively.

For this game, it's easy to put two and two together, see Tampa Bay Buccaneers' No. 2 wideout, DeSean Jackson, roll into town and think that he might be in line for a monster game.

The Bucs' No. 1 deep threat is fifth in the league in yards per reception, according to Pro Football Reference, at 17.8 yards per clip. He's also seen an average of 7.25 targets per game.

Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson, arguably the NFL's best player at his position, will most likely be lined up against the Bucs' No. 1 wide receiver, Mike Evans. That frees up Jackson as the rest of the Cardinals secondary has not had a good year as a unit to date.

Jackson and Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston have just missed on a couple of deep passes this year, but eventually, those misses might become hits as the two work on their chemistry. In fact, we started to see a turnaround last Thursday as Jackson caught five passes for 106 yards, including a 41-yarder.

The guess here is that it happens this week and is the difference in a Buccaneers' road victory.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs (-5, 45.5)

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt is head and shoulders above everyone else at his position this year. Per Pro Football Reference, Hunt has gained 775 yards from scrimmage in five games. Not only is that No. 1 in the NFL, but the next-closest back (Todd Gurley of the Los Angeles Rams) is 129 yards behind him.

At this rate, Hunt will accrue well over 2,000 yards from scrimmage for the season, and now he faces a Pittsburgh Steelers team that has been one of the worst defenses in football against the run in their last four games.

Since Week 2, the Steelers have allowed a ton of yardage to No. 1 backs. The numbers are as follows: 5.3 yards per carry to the Minnesota Vikings' Dalvin Cook, 6.1 to the Chicago Bears' Jordan Howard, 9.1 to the Baltimore Ravens' Alex Collins and 6.5 to the Jacksonville Jaguars' Leonard Fournette.

Of note, Howard and Fournette each scored two touchdowns. One of Fournette's scores was from 90 yards, and Collins registered a 50-yard run.

For the season, Pittsburgh has allowed the second-most yards per carry in the league (5.1) behind only Jacksonville. Therefore, a road matchup with the best rushing attack in the league is a difficult encounter.

That being said, the entire Chiefs team looks fantastic right now. Not only are they 5-0, but they've faced a tough schedule while outscoring their opponents by an average of 10.6 points per game.

Not counting the Chiefs' defeats, the combined record of the teams they've faced is 12-7, and that includes wins against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on the road and the 4-1 Philadelphia Eagles at home.

Ultimately, the Chiefs should be able to grind out the clock with Hunt and mobile quarterback Alex Smith, leading to a victory that will bring them to 6-0.