2017 Week 4 Predix

Written by Sam DeCoste

Week 4 in the NFL kicks off Thursday night when the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers renew the greatest rivalry in football history, and it concludes when the Washington Redskins visit Kansas City to take on the Chiefs. With a new week of games looming, it's time for another week of Predix! Last week, I did not pick the games as accurately as I would have hoped for. But let's be honest, it was a crazy week in the league last week. But there will always be next week to get it right!

My overall record last week: 7-9

Lock of the Week record: 3-0

My overall season record: 29-18

I don’t care if this is the greatest rivalry in NFL history, because this is not a game that deserves a national audience. The only result we can see here is an easy victory for Green Bay. The Packers should have no trouble with this game, but that’s what I thought about their matchup against Cincinnati. Of course, it took Green Bay overtime to beat the Bengals, and it was surprisingly the first ever overtime victory for Aaron Rodgers in his career. The Bears are also coming off of an overtime win, over the Steelers. But given how sloppy the Steelers have looked recently, I think we should hold the horses on the Bears. I don’t see any result other than a Green Bay victory.

Prediction: CHI 14, GB 27

Not bad for an international game. Two bad defenses, and two solid offenses. The fans in London should expect to see plenty of points on the scoreboard, given how poor both the Saints and Dolphins defenses are. I think this has the potential to be the greatest international game ever. I say that because we should see a lot of points, and that this game could potentially come down to who has the ball last. Now this time of neutral game between two evenly matched sides is very hard to pick. Usually in this case, you go with who is quarterback. And in this game, I trust the future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees, over Jay Cutler. Saints win, and they move to 2-2.
Fantasy owners: start everybody in this game, except for the defenses.

Prediction: NO 28, MIA 24

Last year on Christmas Day, the Ravens and Steelers played one of the best games of the season, with the Steelers winning in the end, 31-27, and winning the AFC North title. Now they play again, and they are coming off two dreadful performances in games they believe they should have won. The Ravens offense looks terrible right now. With Marshall Yanda out for the season, and the departures of John Urschel and Ricky Wagner, the offensive line is struggling to make any running lanes, or any pass protection. Joe Flacco is a capable quarterback, but even he can’t throw when he’s running for his life. They have no weapons on the perimeter, either. No defensive coordinator is losing sleep over gameplanning for Jeremy Maclin or Mike Wallace. While the Steelers have struggled lately, they should see this as a favorable matchup. They are better than the Ravens at the moment. The Ravens defense, while it is up there with the league’s best, can’t keep forcing turnovers or punts when their offense is doing the same on the other end repeatedly. The Ravens are in trouble, and the Steelers should be licking their lips at this game.

Prediction: PIT 19, BAL 6

Trivia: which team in the league has the highest scoring offense through three weeks? No, not the Falcons. No, not the Steelers. Not even the Pats. It’s the Los Angeles Rams, who have scored a league-high 107 points in three games, averaging nearly 36 points in each contest. Now remember, they played the Colts and 49ers in two of them, where they combined to score 87 of those 107 points. But points are points, and the Rams are off to a hot start because of it. But in their third game against the Redskins, they showed that they are still the same old Rams, because they can’t win in meaningful games, or against playoff caliber opposition. In this game against Dallas, they will feel like they should win. No question about it. The Rams have a chance. They’ve had since Thursday to rest and prepare, while Dallas is coming off of a Monday Night game. Despite the Rams good early start, I like Dallas in this one. I don’t trust the Rams rushing defense, and they have a bad matchup against the league’s leading rusher in 2016. This will be his breakout game. Dallas will win a close one.

Prediction: LAR 23, DAL 30

Will Sam Bradford play? Or will he miss another game? Well, it didn’t matter last week. Case Keenum put on a show versus he Bucs, throwing for over 360 yards and three touchdowns, including two to the resurgent Stefon Diggs. The duo of Diggs and Adam Thielen is dominating defenses this season, and I think they can do it again versus Detroit. While the Lions defense has been solid at home, including a three-interception performance against Matt Ryan’s Falcons, they struggle on the road. Sure, they can shut down the Giants offense, but so can everybody else. This is a big test for the Lions defense, against a top five offense. I think one of these teams returns to the playoffs this season, and it may come down to one of these games. I like Minnesota at home, especially if Sam Bradford plays. Even if Case Keenum gets the start, I think the Vikings have the better defense and running game. The Vikings move to 3-1.

Prediction: DET 20, MIN 24

Finally, a team was able to expose the weaknesses of the Panthers last week. The Saints handled the Panthers easily, consistently putting pressure on Cam Newton and winning against their defense. The Panthers may be 2-1, but they’re in trouble. They can’t protect Cam, and they have struggled to unlock Christian McCaffrey to his full potential. In other news, Tom Brady is still the GOAT (greatest of all time). But their defense may be the worst in their franchise’s modern history. They’ve surrendered 95 points in three games, including a chaotic performance on opening night against the Chiefs. While their offense is firing on all cylinders, they need to fix their defensive woes. Plenty of teams in the AFC are capable of beating the Patriots through the air, and that could cost them in the long run. It won’t this week. Cam Newton doesn’t stand a chance behind that offensive line, against a Bill Belichick defense. The Patriots win again.

Prediction: CAR 14, NE 31

What a win for Tennessee last week. The score line may not show it, but the Titans dominated the Seahawks last week, winning 33-27. Everything is looking good for them right now, right? Wrong. This is exactly the time of game that the Titans have lost in the past. After they come away with a great win against a really good team one week, they lay an egg and lost against a team they should beat. This is exactly the spot. Besides, the Titans are 1-3 against the Texans since 2015, and 0-2 in Houston. The Titans don’t have a problem outside the division, their problem is they can’t win in the division. Until they prove me wrong, I’ll pick the other team every time. They are better than the Texans, and they should be able to move the ball against their defense and neutralize Deshaun Watson’s impact on the game. But they were 2-4 in the AFC South last season, and neither win was versus Houston. The Texans will win an ugly game. Fantasy owners beware of Marcus Mariota’s numbers this week.

Prediction: TEN 13, HOU 21

Atlanta is one of two teams still without a loss so far this season. They should be able to continue their unbeaten run into next week, right? It may not be that easy. The Falcons are going up against the league’s best scoring defense in the Bills. The Bills have only given up 12 points per game, 2 touchdowns in two games, and none through the air. However, this is by far their hardest matchup. They are going up against the league MVP, and playmakers like Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, Julio Jones, and Taylor Gabriel. This offense is explosive, and they light up the scoreboard when they play at home. I like the Falcons, they have a chance to go off this week. 

Prediction: BUF 13, ATL 20

The Jags' defense is the best in the league in pass defense, allowing only 124 yards per game. The Jets are the third worst offense in the league period, but they dominated the Dolphins last week. Both teams are coming off huge upsets, and want to replicate that success from last week to this week. Of the two teams, the Jags have to be the most likely to win this week. I'm not sure the Jets have the talent to cope with this Jags defense that leads the league in 13 sacks in 3 weeks. I like the likes of Calias Campbell, AJ Bouye, and Jalen Ramsey against this mediocre Jets offense.

Prediction: JAX 27, NYJ 10

This is the only matchup of the week between teams yet to win a game. The Bengals are a mess right now, but their offense looked pretty good against Green Bay last week. They get a favorable matchup this week against Cleveland, who is still looking for their first win. I don't necessarily feel that the Browns are deserving of their 0-3 record, given the strides they've made already. DeShone Kizer is the best quarterback they've had in a while so far, and their offensive line is underrated. As for this week, the Bengals receivers should be able to beat their man on the Browns defense, and the likes of Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap should get to Kizer. I think Cincinnati wins their first game of the season.

Prediction: CIN 17, CLE 14

While the Giants played victim to Jake Elliott's game-winning field goal from 61 yards last week, the Bucs were blown off the ball in Minnesota. Case Keenum burned them for 369 yards and 3 touchdowns, while the offense could not keep up in a 34-17 loss. While the matchup against the stout Giants defense is not ideal, the Giants offense is terrible. There is no way to sugar code it, the Giants cannot move the ball. I don't think they can do it this week. The Giants defense can force as many punts and turnovers as they can, but as long as Eli and co do the same on the other end, Jameis Winston and the Bucs offense will undoubtably make them pay. This giant winless run continues. 

Prediction: NYG 9, TB 24

What a win for the Eagles last week! It would be a shame if they couldn't do it again this week. Whenever a team wins a game in as dramatic fashion as the Eagles did last week, they usually lay an egg the next week. This has upset written all over it. The Eagles are banged up in the secondary, and the Chargers have weapons across the board with Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams, Hunter Henry, and Melvin Gordon on the field. The Eagles were just able to hold off the woeful Giants last week, but I'm not confident that they can keep Phillip Rivers out of the end zone. Besides, I don't think Anthony Lynn's Chargers start 0-4.

Prediction: PHI 24, LAC 31

Maybe I overrated the Cardinals going into the season. But this week they should absolutely be favored against the 24th ranked offense in the league. If Arizona is to be a playoff team, they need to score points. I don't think they are capable, given that they're relying on Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald to do so, but they're 37 and 34 years old respectively. Don't be surprised if they both retire at the end of the season. But they're better than the 49ers. Period.

Prediction: SF 9, ARZ 16

The Bills showed us last week that the Broncos are beatable. Their defense is not the 2015 defense which carried the team to a Super Bowl 50 victory. They can be dominant at home, but can definitely be exposed on the road. And I guarantee you that Jack Del Rio's coaching staff will look to get Trevor Siemian outside the pocket this week, given that he is incapable of beating a team through the air while on the run. That's the blueprint to beat the Broncos this season. For the Raiders, they just got whitewashed by Washington. The Raiders gave up four sacks against the Redskins, after giving up only 18 all of last season. 

Prediction: OAK 29, DEN 31

The most underrated transaction of the offseason was the Colts' acquisition of Jacoby Brissett from the Patriots. He has provided a spark to the Colts offense that you just can't get from Scott Tolzien. He is a solid bridge option to take you up until the return of Andrew Luck. But this week will undoubtably be the toughest challenge of his short, four game career. Going up to Seattle in primetime and escaping with victory is a daunting task. The Seahawks are 14-2 under Pete Carroll in primetime, and there's a reason for that. The Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the league, and their home crowd in Seattle is the loudest in the world. Yes, the world. The stadium shakes from the sound because the fans are so loud. That is true home field advantage. I don't care if the Seahawks offense is struggling, they will win this game. This is my Lock of the Week.

Prediction: IND 0, SEA 19

This is actually a very intriguing matchup. Both offenses are quite fun to watch at the moment. While the Chiefs are still honeymooning at 3-0, the Redskins came up with a huge victory against the Raiders last Sunday night. Now they have to go to Arrowhead, where the Chiefs were 6-2 last season. On the road, in as hostile an environment as there is in the league, I don't like Kirk Cousins' chances against one of the league's most opportunistic defenses, especially when he is still struggling to connect with the big offseason acquisition, Terrell Pryor. The Chiefs are solid at home, and this is a game they should win to stay undefeated.

Prediction: WSH 17, KC 23

Picture credit: https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/01/chiefs-raiders-afc-west-nfl-week-17-playoffs