The Pats almost deserve their own level of eliteness, because as good as the Packers have been, they haven’t been nearly as dominating.
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For all the talk about competitive balance derided as parity, there are still dynasties and duds.
nFL (Week 5)Rams Packers Live online [CBS Start time]: Free stream NFL 2015 football (Preview) Update. Expect the Falcons to dominate in the trenches. Josh McCown set a Browns passing record last week, but he is not Otto Graham.
But it won’t be easy for the Broncos, Bengals and Falcons to get to 6-0. It actually looked like the end result would be similar when the Bengals fell behind 17 points, but they managed to score the final 20 points of them game and rally to victory to improve to 5-0.
Aren’t they still a game below.500, facing a schedule that doesn’t leave many obvious openings for a winning streak? The Cardinals, now 4-1, however slid two spots to sixth.
Week 5 had plenty of nail biters for those who love close games. Vikings win but fail to cover.
The closest line in Week 6 features the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting the Houston Texans.
Thomas caught 108 passes and 24 touchdowns the last two years in Denver. That’s not going to be a consistent way for this team to win, and it shows with how inconsistent this team has been through the first five weeks. They’ve got three real winnable games out of the bye, too, with Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago all on tap. Matthew Stafford is regressing and the defense is a mess. Jay Cutler has looked decent, especially without his top two WR in Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal.
Arizona Cardinals at Pittsburgh Steelers: The Cardinals bounced back from their first loss with a lopsided win in Detroit and have now outscored opponents by a full 100 points through the first five games. Last week beat Washington 25-19 OT / this week @ New Orleans. The defense now ranks 20th in Adjusted NEP per play, which isn’t great, but that mostly comes from a 29th ranked run defense. The Tennessee Titans are a 2.5-point home favorite against the Miami Dolphins.
The Broncos are playing consecutive road games, which is a challenge. Few teams are able to run the ball against Seattle’s No. 5-ranked defense, and if the Seahawks make the Panther offense one-dimensional, eclipsing 37 points on the road will be a mere pipedream. Freeman, who previously rushed for six touchdowns in his first two career starts, is the first player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to rush for at least seven touchdowns in his first three starts to begin a career.
The Eagles finally got the offense cranked up last week against the Saints. Are the Panthers as good as their unbeaten record?
Green Bay won by 14 points, but Rodgers was picked off at home for the first time in three years. Last week lost to Cincinnati 27-24OT / this week vs Carolina. Packers win but fail to cover. Heavy money is coming in on Atlanta in this one and could move the line, even though books will certainly be reluctant to give the Saints another half-point at home. Since then, both teams suffered a mass exodus of defensive players. Before suffering a hamstring injury, Jones was uncoverable, which was helping out quarterback Matt Ryan. This is Deflategate revenge.
One team has Tom Brady at quarterback and the other has Brandon Weeden. By game time, depending on where you shop, the Titans had become a one-point pick. They have a chance to get right back in the mix of the NFC East race this Monday night against the Giants. The hope for the Steelers is that they are a home underdog this week.
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Cleveland (2-3) had lost 13 of the previous 14 meetings between these AFC North foes, but in this one the Browns rallied from a 12-point deficit to leave the Ravens (1-4) alone in the division cellar. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. Upset special, Giants win outright. If you have reason to believe that any written material or image has been innocently infringed, please bring it to the immediate attention of CDN via the e-mail address or phone number listed on the Contact page so that it can be resolved expeditiously.
