Patriots at Rams

The Patriots have once again proven that they look really good against good teams and really bad against bad teams. The Chargers don’t have a good record, but they’ve been competitive against every team they’ve played this year, including some of the league’s best like the Chiefs. The Rams are a really good team, so the Patriots will in all likelihood play very well. On top of that, the Patriots are pretty much playing a home game because they were in L.A. for the Chargers game and won’t need to fly, whereas the Rams were on the road last week and they will need to fly back to L.A. This should be a very close game, but ultimately, the Patriots have looked like one of the league’s best teams when going up against playoff-caliber opponents, so they seem like they could very feasibly win this game.

Expert Prediction: Patriots 28, Rams 27

Analytics-Based Prediction: Rams 30, Patriots 23

Titans at Jaguars

The Titans have been shockingly inconsistent this year and now seem like the type of team that will be very hard to make predictions on for the rest of the season. At times they look like one of the league’s best teams but at other times they look like they could lose to some of the league’s worst teams. Luckily for them, they are playing the Jaguars this week. Jacksonville is awful, so even if the Titans play their worst game, they should still be able to win. This game might end up being close if the Titans play as bad as we saw them play last week, but either way Tennessee will almost definitely get a win.

Expert Prediction: Titans 35, Jaguars 27

Analytics-Based Prediction: Titans 37, Jaguars 27

Vikings at Buccaneers

The Vikings have continued to win since they started going on a win streak, but they haven’t looked particularly impressive in their most recent wins, barely beating inferior opponents. The Buccaneers have looked really bad recently, as they are 1-3 in their last 4 games, but all of their losses were to very good teams and only one of those losses was not a close game. Tampa Bay is now looking like they will need to fight for a playoff spot, however, so they are desperate to win this game. Ultimately, even though the Buccaneers might not be the Super Bowl caliber team they were once thought to be, they should be able to win this important game.

Expert Prediction: Buccaneers 30, Vikings 24

Analytics-Based Prediction: Buccaneers 28, Vikings 27

Chiefs at Dolphins

Both the Chiefs and Dolphins appeared to struggle a little bit against inferior opponents last week, but they were able to get the win, which is all that really matters. Now, however, the Dolphins will really be tested on whether or not they will be able to compete against some of the league’s best teams. Other than their seemingly fluke-y win against the Rams they have only played mediocre teams. The Chiefs are a different story. It’ll be almost impossible for the Dolphins to win this game if the Chiefs play to the best of their abilities. If Kansas City slips up, however, this could be a tight game. Either way, the Chiefs seem likely to end up with a win.

Expert Prediction: Chiefs 31, Dolphins 21

Analytics-Based Prediction: Chiefs 36, Dolphins 24

Broncos at Panthers

The Broncos were surprisingly competitive in their last game, but they ultimately lost like they seemingly always do. The Panthers have been incredibly mediocre this year, almost always losing to good teams but almost always winning bad teams. That should remain true this week when they play the Broncos. Denver has been really bad in pretty much every game. They had a few fluke-y wins here and there, but have been an overall bad team. Because of that, expect the Panthers to win this game. It might end up being close if the Broncos play like they have at times, but Carolina should end up on top.

Expert Prediction: Panthers 28, Broncos 21

Analytics-Based Prediction: Broncos 31, Panthers 28

Texans at Bears

The Bears have been awful recently, and even though they have a better record than Houston they looked significantly worse in recent games. The Texans have started to look much better since hitting the midway point of the season, and though they aren;t a playoff-caliber team, they have proven that they are capable of winning a few games. The Bears, on the other hand, have looked like one of the league’s worst teams since starting the season off very strong. They lack any sort of offense and will continue to struggle until they get a real quarterback. Overall, the Texans have looked much better than the Bears recently and should be able to win this game with relative ease.

Expert Prediction: Texans 27, Bears 17

Analytics-Based Prediction: Texans 26, Bears 20

Cardinals at Giants

The Giants are on a massive hot streak and are starting to look like a team that, if they keep it up, could not only make the playoffs but potentially win a game. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have been atrocious recently and last week’s performance only helped to solidify that notion. Arizona might have been favored to win this game a few weeks ago, but a lot has changed. The Giants beat the Seahawks, a team better than the Cardinals, with their backup quarterback. Daniel Jones is now expected to be back, so the Giants should be even better this week. Because of this, it’s hard to imagine the Cardinals coming out with a win.

Expert Prediction: Giants 28, Cardinals 25

Analytics-Based Prediction: Cardinals 27, Giants 23

Cowboys at Bengals

Both the Cowboys and the Bengals have been horrible without their starting quarterbacks, so this will probably be a close game. The difference is that the Bengals have been able to stay competitive in both of their games without Burrow, whereas the Cowboys have been destroyed in most games. Because of that, the Bengals seem like a much better team than the Cowboys this year. In addition, Cincinnati is playing at home, and when there is a game between two teams this bad, that can often be the determining factor in who wins. Expect the Bengals to come out on top.

Expert Prediction: Bengals 27, Cowboys 14

Analytics-Based Prediction: Bengals 28, Cowboys 24

Colts at Raiders

The Raiders have looked like one of the league’s worst teams in their last two games with a horrible loss to the Falcons and a close-call against the Jets. The Colts, on the other hand, have continued to look like a playoff-caliber team. If Vegas can’t return to form fast, they will almost definitely miss the playoffs with multiple teams with similar records competing for spots. But based on the fact that they’ve had two bad games in a row, this could be the new norm. If that’s the case, expect the Colts to win this game with ease. If the Raiders of old show up, however, this will be a close game. Ultimately, however, the Colts seem more likely to get a win here.

Expert Prediction: Colts 30, Raiders 23

Analytics-Based Prediction: Colts 33, Raiders 28

Jets at Seahawks

The Jets were surprisingly competitive last week, but they still found a way to lose a game that they seemed to be virtually guaranteed to win with under two minutes left. When they didn’t play prevent defense at the end of the game it seemed obvious that they were indeed trying to lose to get a high draft pick; there’s no other excuse for that type of a call. The Seahawks had another bad game last week and are starting to look like they will lose their division, but they are nowhere near as bad as the Jets. Then again, that’s exactly what everyone said about the Raiders. Perhaps the Jets put up a similar effort against the Seahawks. Either way, however, the Seahawks will win this game.

Expert Prediction: Seahawks 35, Jets 24

Analytics-Based Prediction: Seahawks 38, Jets 21

Packers at Lions

The Packers appear to be cleared of the rut they hit a few weeks ago after two impressive wins and will now look to continue to build momentum going into the playoffs. The Lions are a perfect opponent for them to do this against, as Detroit isn’t even near the Packer’s level. They have historically struggled to beat Green Bay and this week shouldn’t be much different. Expect the Packers to put up a ton of points early in the game and then proceed to drain the clock. This will be an easy win for the Packers.

Expert Prediction: Packers 36, Lions 21

Analytics-Based Prediction: Packers 40, Lions 27

Falcons at Chargers

The Falcons had a great win against the Raiders a couple weeks ago, and though they weren’t able to beat the Saints, they still made it a competitive game. The Chargers, on the other hand, had easily their worst game of the season after being competitive in pretty much all of their games for most of the year. This will be a very close game, as both of these teams are more talented and generally play better than their records would indicate, they just always find a way to choke with the game on the line. That means this game will ultimately come down to who can handle a pressure-filled situation better. Surprisingly enough, the Falcons seem more up to the challenge based off of their last three wins.

Expert Prediction: Falcons 34, Chargers 33

Analytics-Based Prediction: Falcons 38, Chargers 35

Washington at 49ers

Washington looked fantastic last week and will now need to continue on their win streak if they are going to keep up with the Giants. The 49ers, on the other hand, seemed to revert to form last week after pulling off a shocking win over the Rams. That game seemed like it was more likely than not a fluke because both teams are in the same division. With that in mind, Washington has played much better recently. They have a stout defense and the offense has picked up since Alex Smith took over as the starting quarterback. And though the 49ers have gotten somewhat healthier, they still aren’t a very good team. Expect Washington to win.

Expert Prediction: Washington 24, 49ers 21

Analytics-Based Prediction: Washington 21, 49ers 17

Saints at Eagles

The Eagles will be switching up their quarterback situation this week by starting Jalen Hurts, and he would need to be really bad to play worse than Carson Wentz has this year. Wentz has been arguably the worst quarterback in the league and it’s a miracle he started for so long. Even without Drew Brees, the Saints have played really well and should be able to win this game. There is a slight chance that Brees returns, but nobody is counting on it. The Saints’ elite defense will likely eat a rookie quarterback alive, so don’t expect a great outing from Jalen Hurts. He will provide some sort of spark with his mobility, but don’t expect that the jump-start this offense. On the other side of the ball, the Saints should be able to put up enough points to win the game.

Expert Prediction: Saints 26, Eagles 17

Analytics-Based Prediction: Saints 24, Eagles 14

Steelers at Bills

The Steelers looked awful last week and affirmed the notion that they’re not nearly as good as their record indicates; they’ve just had an easy schedule. Once they start going up against legitimate opponents, they will start to look far from the best team in the AFC. Buffalo will give the Steelers major problems this week, as the defense will have somewhat of a difficult time defending Josh Allen and this Bills offense. On the other side of the ball, however, the Steelers will not be able to move down the field very easily. They simply can’t score enough points to win. The Bills won’t have an incredible day on offense, but they will do enough to get the job done. Expect the Steelers to lose their second game in a row.

Expert Prediction: Bills 27, Steelers 21

Analytics-Based Prediction: Steelers 30, Bills 21

Ravens at Browns

The Browns looked great last week against the Titans, but Tennessee has been inconsistent all year and one win over a good team doesn’t change the fact that the Browns aren’t nearly as good as their record indicates. The Ravens are in a similar position. They seemingly win against all of the bad teams they play but haven’t been able to beat many good opponents. The Browns have been better than the Ravens this year, but they were killed by Baltimore in week 1. That could potentially be an indication that the Browns aren’t built to beat the Ravens. It could have also been a fluke because it was week 1, however. Ultimately, the Browns have been much better than the Ravens recently and are playing at home, so they seem likely to come away with a win.

Expert Prediction: Browns 31, Ravens 27

Analytics-Based Prediction: Browns 28, Ravens 20