Written by: Tyler Deakin
Week 5 of the NFL season brought us a Game of the Year candidate in Chargers vs. Browns, several close games such as Vikings vs. Lions, Eagles vs. Panthers, & Cardinals vs. 49ers, concluding with the Ravens epic comeback win over the Colts on Monday Night Football. Wow, what a great week of NFL action that was! It’s going to be tough to top that, but we’ve got several good games upcoming. What new adventures await football fans this coming week? Without further ado, here is my list of contenders for the best games on the Week 6 NFL docket.
Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans (Monday Night Football)
This matchup pits two of the best teams in the AFC in recent years against each other for a hotly contested primetime showing. Who will win between Josh Allen’s Bills & Derrick Henry’s Titans? Tennessee has an ideal gameplan to keep the ball out of Josh Allen’s hands, so I believe that they will win despite the Bills having the superior record. Both teams are stellar when it comes to their offensive strengths though, so it should be a close one throughout. Unfortunately for the Bills, nobody’s interested in tackling Derrick Henry in the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens
The Chargers have been killing it lately with statement win after statement win. This is yet another challenge for this battle-tested group to overcome. Meanwhile, the Ravens are also coming into this game hot after their epic comeback win over the Colts on Monday night. Both teams share identical 4-1 records & are currently leading their respective divisions. What that means is that this is a huge game for both teams, with massive playoff implications. Giddy up!
Kansas City Chiefs at Washington Football Team
Two desperate 2-3 teams hanging on to the fringes of the playoff picture clash in this Sunday afternoon tilt. Both teams are coming off of frustrating losses to the Bills & Saints respectively. Frustrations are certainly mounting for the Chiefs, who were seen as preseason Super Bowl favorites. Washington had similar hopes after winning their division last year on the strength of their stellar defensive unit. Unfortunately, neither of these team’s defenses have been very good this year. All of these factors are why I believe this contest could turn into a shootout.
Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns
An interesting new wrinkle has developed to this matchup, as it was recently announced that Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury will miss this contest due to COVID. That’s certainly bad news for a 5-0 Arizona squad that’s been riding high all year. Meanwhile, the Browns are coming off a close loss to the Chargers. Similar to the Bills-Titans matchup, this game pits the Cardinals incredible passing game vs. the Browns immaculate running game. I believe that both teams are pretty evenly matched here, which means this will be a great Sunday afternoon affair.
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos
Oh what a difference a couple weeks makes in the NFL. Two weeks ago, both of these teams were flying high as a couple of undefeated 3-0 squads. Fast forward to this weekend, and both teams are 3-2 & have myriad issues in multiple areas of their team. Let’s begin with the Raiders, who recently saw former head coach Jon Gruden resign due to racist, sexist, and misogynistic language in several 2011 e-mail exchanges. Assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia takes over the team as interim head coach. What a disaster for the Raiders. The Broncos struggles meanwhile have mostly been limited to an anemic offense. There’s certainly plenty of drama to go around in this divisional tilt between desperate 3-2 teams.