Five teams on upset alert in NFL Week 6

Professional football is a wondrous sport in which upsets happen every single week. This gets us excited to dive into some NFL Week 6 upset predictions.

Last week, we correctly predicted three upsets by picking the Detroit Lions to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, the Tennessee Titans to crush the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to further the misery of the Carolina Panthers.

This week provides a handful of other opportunities for underdogs to crush their supposed betters. The following are five upset specials just waiting to happen in NFL Week 6.

Note: Odds courtesy of Bovada

Baltimore Ravens vs. New York Giants (-3)

Does anyone trust Eli Manning to show up big right now? Since a solid three-touchdown outing in Week 1, the Giants haven’t seen “good Eli” in a good, long while. At this point there is a search party working fervently to find him.

In the last four games, Manning thrown two touchdowns (one of which came in garbage time last week) and three interceptions.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for his struggles (aside from poor protection up front) is that Odell Beckham Jr. has been utterly distracted. Opposing cornerbacks know he is susceptible to being goaded into foolishness. For that matter, so do opposing kicker nets (watch here).

New York’s defense hasn’t performed up to snuff, either. After spending a relative fortune on free agents this past spring, Big Blue is merely mediocre.

The Ravens should be eager to rip into this mushy 2-3 team.

Expect a heavy dose of third-year back Terrence West as the offense moves on from the Marc Trestman era. New York’s run defense has been stout up front, but a consistent attack will soften up the already soft defensive secondary for big plays over the top.

The Giants will keep it close but will ultimately fall to 2-4 after another poor outing by Eli and Co.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Buffalo Bills (-9)

Based on recent events — the 49ers losing four in a row and the Jets on a three-game winning streak — it’s not surprising that Buffalo is so heavily favored to win Sunday at New Era Field.

But there is a wild card being thrown into the deck for the road team in this one. Namely, Colin Kaepernick is finally being unleashed.

The 49ers have kept him safely swaddled in a thick layer of bubble wrap to this point (for purely football reasons, if you believe Chip Kelly). But the fact that Kaepernick signed a re-worked contract that takes all the injury guarantees out of future years and essentially makes him a free agent next year has everything to do with the timing of this move.

If Kaepernick can play within the flow of the game, doesn’t try to force the issue in the passing game and just balls out like he did in 2012-13, then the Bills are in trouble. We’ve penciled in a three-touchdown performance for Kap in this one (a bold prediction to be sure) as he gets his feet wet for the first time this year.

Combined with the power running of Carlos Hyde, the 49ers could really have something with Kaepernick as the trigger man of Kelly’s offense.

Buffalo will certainly have something to say about that. But if Kap gets going, the Bills are in danger of falling to 3-3 on the season.

Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers (-4)

It might seem far fetched to think rookie quarterback Dak Prescott can lead the Cowboys into Lambeau Field and beat the Packers on their home turf. But pretty much everything this young man has accomplished so far in 2016 fits into the far-fetched category.

Setting an NFL rookie record with 155 pass attempts without an interception, Prescott has the ‘Boys on a four-game winning streak right now. Remarkably, he’s done most of his damage without star receiver Dez Bryant.

And one of the reasons for this is the tremendous output of rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is dominating behind Dallas’ offensive line.

Of course, Packers fans and many NFL analysts are convinced things will be different this Sunday when Elliott takes on Green Bay’s ridiculous run defense. The Packers have allowed just 43 yards per game and 2.0 yards per rush through five games.

Something’s got to give when strength meets strength at Lambeau.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t bother mentioning Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay’s offense. Unfortunately, this year Rodgers has been very un-Rodgers-like, completing just 56.1 percent of his passes (No. 31 in the NFL!!!), averaging 6.3 yards per pass (No. 28) with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

Dallas just shut down Andy Dalton, A.J. Green and Co. with a spectacular effort defensively in Week 5. Might they do it again this weekend against Rodgers?

If the Cowboys can keep Rodgers in check, then expect Elliott, Prescott and the offense to lay waste to Green Bay’s defense in a winning cause.

Atlanta Falcons vs. Seattle Seahawks (-6)

After watching Matt Ryan and the Tevin Coleman-Devonta Freeman duo carve up the Denver Broncos’ spectacular defense last week, it’s not hard to envision the Falcons doing the same thing in Week 6 against the Seahawks.

Even after the Chargers put up 265 yards on Thursday night against the Broncos, Atlanta is comfortably ahead of all NFL teams with 2,287 total yards through five games.

Atlanta just has so many weapons on offense. And Ryan is dealing right now.

On the other side, Russell Wilson has a turnstile offensive line in front of him and has already been injured twice in this early season. He’s getting Tyler Lockett back this week, which will help, but the receiver can’t block Vic Beasley and the improving Falcons’ rush defense.

It’s not going to be a blowout for either team, but don’t be surprised if the Falcons make another huge statement in Seattle.

New York Jets vs. Arizona Cardinals (-7)

The last time Arizona played, it got healthy against a Blaine Gabbert-led 49ers squad that couldn’t get out of its own way.

The way the Jets have played this year, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a similar result. That’s why the Cardinals are being favored to win by a touchdown.

But there are a couple of things to note about this matchup. First, Carson Palmer is expected to play again after suffering a concussion in Week 4. And while he’s been atrocious this year, he’s markedly better than Drew Stanton, who hasn’t been able to get hardly anything positive going through the air.

New York features one of the league’s worst pass defenses. But if ever there was a week to get healthy here, it’s this one. The Jets will bring plenty of pressure, and Palmer will make some key mistakes to give New York’s offense extra chances.

On that note, while Ryan Fitzpatrick had a two-week stretch in which he threw nine interceptions, he didn’t turn the ball over against the Seahawks last week. That could be the spark that ignites an offensive explosion for the Jets this week, and in the weeks to come.

Regardless of what happens, hopefully these two teams finally give fans a reason to get excited about prime-time NFL action. This Monday Night Football game has a chance to reverse a disturbing trend of poor prime-time games.

Fingers crossed.