Must Watch NFL Games: Week 6

No teams are left winless as of week six but there are still two unbeatens. Who could take them down and who is looking to use week six as a catalyst towards the wild card? These games are must see this NFL Sunday.

Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots: Sunday Night Football 

If you are a fan of modern day football, this game is a must see for you.

The Chiefs and Patriots are the prototype franchises formulated to succeed in todays NFL, high powered offense backed by a defense that bends but doesn’t break.

Kansas City has scored more than 30 points in all but one of their five wins so far this season. QB Patrick Mahomes has been on a tear, throwing for 1513 yards, 14 touchdowns to only two interceptions, and has a completion percentage over 60%.

His efficiency has increased his confidence downfield, as his yards per attempts sits at an impressive 8.6. Young quarterbacks tend to utilize short throws of five yards or under. Confidence in his arm is a dangerous sign to secondaries playing against Mahomes.

Essentially, the asterisk next to the Chiefs 5-0 start is that opposing quarterbacks have done very well against them, too well if you ask the Kansas City defense.

Phillip Rivers (L.A. Chargers), Ben Rothlisberger (Pittsburgh), and Blake Bortles (Jacksonville) have all thrown for over 400 yards in their losses to the Chiefs, and have combined for seven touchdowns and five interceptions — but four of those giveaways belong to Bortles. Now they face living legend Tom Brady, who has all his weapons primed and ready for an attack at home this week.

The Patriots have won two weeks in a row after losing back to back games for the first time since a matchup with, you guessed it, the Chiefs back in 2014. In their two recent wins, the Patriots effortlessly put up 38 points, with new weapons like Josh Gordon and Sony Michel finally getting the appropriate touches on the ball.

New England has their offense running exactly as they would hope. Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett owning the middle of the field, freeing up Chris Hogan and Josh Gordon in the deep game, and Rob Gronkowski gaining over 13 yards per reception, making him a first down machine.

With Michel keeping defenses honest in the run game, this offense has the potential to be as talented as the Randy Moss-era Patriot teams.

But every team has an Achilles heel, and the Patriots still haven’t convinced anyone that their defense can stop the opposition.

After holding the Dolphins to seven points, the Pats allowed Andrew Luck to throw for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes is twice as explosive as Luck, and realistically is capable of throwing for over 500 yards and four touchdowns this week.

Prediction: Chiefs 33 – Patriots 27

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals 

This divisional contest promises another week of hard hitting, flag throwing football as two teams with old school style defenses take the field against each other.

This week for Pittsburgh is a must win. Currently at 2-2-1, winning against the current division leader is the only way to get back into playoff contention. The Steelers already tied to the Browns and lost to the Ravens, making them 0-1-1 in the division so far.

For the Steelers it night not be as bad as it looks, if we attribute the tie to the Browns as a growing pains game, then their only disappointing loss this season is to the Ravens. The Chiefs were expected to beat them, and the other two games they won when they should’ve. But its easy to win when you should, its more difficult to beat a team who is above you.

Ben Rothlisberger is 21-7 against Cincy in his career, and currently on a five game winning streak. The Bengals are a team they expect to beat, even on the road and down in the standings.

The team is still without LeVeon Bell, with his impending return expected to come week seven. For now they will rely on James Connor to assist Big Ben in this one. Connor rushed for over 100 yards with two scores last week.

They will need it though, because the Bengals offense is hot, and they’ve been consistent.

Quarterback Andy Dalton hasn’t beaten Pittsburgh since 2015, and has only ever thrown for 300 yards against them twice, both ending as losses. So far this season the franchise QB has thrown for over 250 yards in three games, and with A.J. Green catching anything thrown to him, Dalton could throw for 300 this week.

The X factor in this matchup will be the defenses, as both offenses are evenly matched. The Steelers just held the Falcons offense to 17 points, the same offense the the Bengals allowed to score 36.

The Steelers have shown flashes of their old selves at times this year, but only in-between flashes of their soon to be downfall. The Bengals have been the more consistent team and should take a home win against their rival this week.

Prediction: Bengals 28 – Steelers 24

Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans

This battle could not be more opposite than the Patriots / Chiefs matchup, as defensive efforts will shine in this one.

The Titans are 3-2 only because their defense has made it happen. Heck they won a game scoring only nine points this season! The offense has struggled, with QB Marcus Mariota battling numbness in his throwing hand and a run game that is just sad. Not one rusher has reached 100 yards in a game this season for the Titans.

The Titans defense currently ranks 7th in total yards allowed and has only given up an average of 17 points per game. If their offense even played at an average level this team would be 5-0 right now. They did score 26 against Philadelphia two weeks ago, so they are capable of putting points on the board.

The Ravens, after scoring 47 week one, have relied on their defense to help them reach their 3-2 record. Baltimore lost 12-9 last week to the Browns…the Browns!! But the bright side is that their defense has only given up more than 14 points in one game this season.

Joe Flacco has thrown the ball 45-55 times a game this season, which is a recipe for “This veteran quarterback will have no arm at by week 10”. Throwing the ball 56 times like he did last week, and scoring no touchdowns and throwing an interception, is an absolute embarrassment.

The coaching staff of the Ravens are calling the same ineffective plays over and over again expecting different results, which is the definition of insanity.

But in their best offensive performance this season, Flacco only through the ball 34 times and had no giveaways. Still this team is going to need to formulate some kind of ground game if they want to catch the Bengals in the AFC North.

Prediction: Titans 17 – Ravens 16 (And Flaccos arm will fall off)