NFL Picks Week 6: The Patriots and Teams That Will Air It out for a Win

This season of the NFL has seen more passing yards in the first five weeks than in any other season ever.

It's likely to continue, as well, and here's a look at three teams who will need to air it out if they want to come out victorious on Sunday. 

New England Patriots

Tom Brady and the Patriots throw the ball a lot no matter what, but it's unlikely they'll be able to get the run game going in this one.

The Cowboys are allowing a minuscule 3.1 yards per carry, which is the lowest in the NFL, Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis is hurt and might not be able to go and this one is likely to turn into a shootout.

Probably by the second quarter the Patriots will have abandoned the run. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brady throw the ball 50 times in this one. Yeah, 50. 

On another note, the Cowboys get after the quarterback at a pretty good rate, so the Pats will have to be careful in this one. Brady could go down a bunch, but they'll still have to throw a ton. 

Chicago Bears

The Vikings are: A) very good at stopping the run (3.3 yards per carry); and B) very good at getting to the quarterback (16 sacks).

This means a whole lot of Matt Forte dump-offs, screens and short passes. The explosive running back likely won't find a whole lot of room in the running game, so Chicago will find other ways to get him the ball. 

Cutler won't have time to throw it down field a lot in this one, but the lack of running room will mean he'll throw a lot. And he'll be successful, too, as the Bears pull off the victory at home.

Detroit Lions

The San Francisco 49ers are another team that's stout against the run (3.6 yards per carry), and Jahvid Best is hardly a running back that will change that.

The Lions will be forced to go to the air, and I don't think Matthew Stafford or Calvin Johnson will mind that one bit. 

Carlos Rogers and Dashon Goldson have played well in San Francisco's secondary, but they won't be able to keep up with Megatron.

I imagine the Niners will try to slow this game down and really win the game of possession, but when Stafford and company on are the field, you can expect them to toss it around a lot.