NFL Picks Week 5

Each week, the Steelers Now staff is picking each NFL game. For Week 5, they’ll go up against some special guest pickers.

Joining us this week in picking each NFL game is former Steelers kicker Jeff Reed. See how the guys stack up to a Steelers great. Think you can do better? Prove it in the comments.

STANDINGS

Alan Saunders: 41-20
Parker Hurley: 37-24
Mike Asti: 36-25
Ron Lippock: 35-26

LAST WEEK

Mike Asti: 7-7
Parker Hurley: 8-6
Ron Lippock: 7-7
Alan Saunders: 10-4

THURSDAY

Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks

JEFF REED:

Seahawks
Asti: Rams. Maybe last week exposed the Rams, but I’m banking on it being more of an aberration.
Hurley: Seahawks, Russ Wilson in primetime in front of the 12th man feels safe.
Lippock: Seahawks, 20-17
Saunders: Rams. Just closing my eyes and pretending last week didn’t happen.

SUNDAY EARLY

Arizona Cardinals at Cincinnati Bengals

JEFF REED:

Seahawks
Asti: Cardinals
Hurley: Cardinals
Lippock: Bengals
Saunders: Bengals, I guess. Someone gets to go winless in five games as a rookie head coach.

Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans

JEFF REED:

Bills
Asti: Bills. I’m not drinking the Bills Kool-Aid as much as some people, but they’re still better than the Titans.
Hurley: Titans, just because they are at home
Lippock: Titans
Saunders: Bills impressed in a loss against New England last week.

Chicago Bears vs Oakland Raiders in London

JEFF REED:

Bears
Asti: Bears. The Raiders won’t be able to get much going against the Bears defense.
Hurley: Bears, as Khalil Mack gets revenge on his old team
Lippock: Bears
Saunders: Bears’ better defense should give them advantage in always-wonky game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints

JEFF REED:

Saints
Asti: Saints
Hurley: Bucs, Bruce Arians is starting to tame Jameis Winston and good things may come.
Lippock: Buccaneers
Saunders: Saints

Minnesota Vikings at New York Giants

JEFF REED:

Giants
Asti: Vikings
Hurley: Vikings
Lippock: Vikings
Saunders: Vikings

New York Jets at Philadelphia Eagles

JEFF REED:

Eagles
Asti: Eagles
Hurley: Eagles
Lippock: Eagles
Saunders: Eagles

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

JEFF REED:

Steelers

WILLIE PARKER:

James Conner and Jay Samuels will play a huge role this week. Ravens defense is having trouble stopping the run! I’m looking for the Steelers to test that area out early in the ball game! Our defensive front will have to get hits on Lamar Jackson early!! Ravens last game LJ didn’t look like the QB from previous weeks! Devin Bush and the Steelers LB corps and secondary have to play smart!! If the Steelers can get a block punt or huge play from special teams My prediction goes from 20-17 to the Steelers winning by 10!!”

Asti: The outcome of this game basically decides if the Steelers season is over or they actually have a shot at contending. But one impressive showing against Cincinnati doesn’t really equate to confidence in beating a now pretty balanced Ravens team, especially one that’s hungry coming off a loss. Conventional wisdom tells me Baltimore wins, but I actually think Pittsburgh pulls it out somehow to stay alive and keep the division race interesting.

Steelers 26, Ravens 20

Hurley: We think the defense made a statement on Monday that with Minkah Fitzpatrick and Devin Bush in the mix. Now, they get a dynamic Ravens offense coming off of two losses. This is a big game for Bush as a spy on Jackson and with Joe Haden following Hollywood Brown, the defense wins the Steelers another division battle and makes that AFC North even tighter.

Steelers 24, Ravens 17

Lippock: The Steelers offense was innovative – a transformation last week versus the Bengals. Unfortunately, the Ravens, despite a poor showing versus the Browns, are a much superior defense – and offense – than the Bengals. This is going to put more pressure on the Steelers offense and defense.

Baltimore will move the ball and score points. The conservative offensive approach Pittsburgh has utilized won’t work this week. The concern is that the Steelers will stick to conservative offense until it falls too far behind, putting Rudolph in a tough spot, coming from behind versus Baltimore’s defense.

Ravens 23, Steelers 13

Saunders: Steelers have little reason to feel good about this game. They haven’t seen much of Lamar Jackson and their offense has plenty of issues. But the Ravens lost a winnable game against the Browns last week, giving the Steelers (and me) hope.

Steelers 20, Ravens 17

New England Patriots at Washington Redskins

JEFF REED:

Patriots
Asti: Patriots
Hurley: Patriots, they get Jay Gruden fired.
Lippock: Patriots
Saunders: Patriots

Jacksonville Jaguars at Carolina Panthers

JEFF REED:

Jaguars
Asti: Panthers. This game may be the most boring game all week.
Hurley: Panthers, McCaffrey is a valuable weapon
Lippock: Jaguars
Saunders: Jaguars. I will not lose to Kyle Allen three week in a row. I will not lose to Kyle Allen three week in a row. I will not lose to Kyle Allen three week in a row.

Atlanta Falcons at Houston Texans

JEFF REED:

Texans
Asti: Falcons
Hurley: Texans
Lippock: Texans
Saunders: Falcons

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Denver Broncos at Los Angeles Chargers

JEFF REED:

Chargers
Asti: Chargers
Hurley: Broncos, the bleeding has to stop eventually
Lippock: Chargers
Saunders: Chargers

Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys

JEFF REED:

Cowboys
Asti: Cowboys
Hurley: Packers
Lippock: Packers
Saunders: Packers

SUNDAY NIGHT

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs

JEFF REED:

Chiefs
Asti: Chiefs
Hurley: Chiefs
Lippock: Chiefs
Saunders: Chiefs

MONDAY NIGHT

Cleveland Browns at San Francisco 49ers

JEFF REED:

Browns
Asti: Browns. This will be a battle of defense, and while the 49ers defense could easily cause Mayfield to make mistakes that cost his team the game, Cleveland could force turnovers too. This game may look similar to the Steelers-49ers affair.
Hurley: 49ers
Lippock: The 49ers’ run defense has been top 5 in 2019 and this will be a difficult issue for the Browns to overcome. Once the Browns’ offense is turned one-dimensional, Mayfield makes mistakes. And the 49ers are very opportunistic on pass defense. Expect a number of long yardage situations for the Browns’ offense and mistakes by Mayfield that are the difference in this game.

49ers 27, Browns 20
Saunders: 49ers