Week 5 in the NFL brought a couple nice storylines to the forefront. First up was the staggering comeback for the Indianapolis Colts against the Green Bay Packers. Andrew Luck and the Colts pulled out an emotional win for Coach Pagano. Anyone who heard the post-game speech by owner Jim Irsay could sense how bad these players wanted that win.

Drew Brees broke Johnny Unitas record for consecutive games played with a touchdown, while playing in front of a home crowd that just adores everything he has brought to the City of New Orleans.

There is growing concern in Washington over the health of their franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III. Talk shows lit up with discussion on his durability given his playing style, the traditional quarterback versus the scrambler and on and on and on they went. You know what just let the kid play football. Dan Snyder, you mortgaged the house to get him, you knew the style he played, so let him play it.

In other news, two undefeated teams remain, as both Houston and Atlanta stayed perfect with week 5 victories. Give it few weeks and we will hear all about the ’72 Dolphins again.

While Cleveland is the lone winless team entering week 6 as New Orleans got a nice home win against San Diego.
Last week record was 9-5 with my lock pick in Houston winning and the upset pick of the week in Carolina dropping their game to Seattle. Thus far the overall record is 48-29.

Thank you to the readers who enjoy criticising the weekly picks, keep it coming. I’ve taken the liberty of doing some research on other such prognosticators and discovered that my weekly pick ‘em record is only four games off the pace set by Steve Mariucci over at NFL.com and currently ahead of the rest of the panel which includes a few notables names in: Michael Irving, Marshall Faulk, Warren Sapp and Kurt Warner.

Looking at the games this week, there is a lot of potential for upsets. Here are my picks for the week:

Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans
The Steelers got a nice win last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately in the win it would appear that Troy Polamalu re-aggravated a calf sprain and has now been ruled out against the Titans. Tennessee got beat handily on the road in Minnesota and they return home looking for a win. Chris Johnson had another disappointing week as he mustered only 24 rushing yards on 15 carries. Steelers travel into the Music City and topple the Titans. PICK: STEELERS

Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I really thought that the Chiefs were going to better than what they have showed so far. Week in and week out they continue to disappoint and now our expectations are lowered. The Buccaneers are coming off their bye-week and get to stay at home to host this game. Given the rest and extra prep time, I like the Bucs here. PICK: BUCCANEERS

Indianapolis Colts at NY Jets
The Jets are slight favorites heading into this matchup. This is hard to imagine after a shellacking at the hands of San Francisco then a loss to the Texans on Monday. The Colts are riding an emotional high with their comeback win against Green Bay. The Colts really have nothing to lose coming into this game, while the Jets continue to feel the pressure. I like the team that can play loose. PICK: COLTS

Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
I am still enamoured with the Bengals, despite their poor showing against Miami last week. The Bengals must get their running game going; BenJarvus Green-Ellis must get involved this week to ease the pressure off of Andy Daulton. This is a repeat of week two’s matchup, where the Bengals won 34-27. Bengals do it again this week. PICK: BENGALS

Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles
The Lions are coming off their bye-week and travel into Philadelphia looking for a win. The Lions have a potent passing offence but a poor running game. The Eagles need Michael Vick to just protect the football. They have a balanced passing and running game going, but cannot stop the turnovers. Here’s hoping they find the stickum’ and keep hold of the pigskin. PICK: EAGLES

Oakland Raiders at Atlanta Falcons
No upset here, the Raiders are at or near the bottom in the league in points per, rushing yards per and total yards per game. Carson Palmer has tried valiantly to keep his team competitive by posting descent passing numbers but it just isn’t enough. The Falcons are continuing to impress and are looking to stay undefeated on the season. The Raiders bye week would have given some more prep time coming into this game and that will be the only reason the game stays close through the first half. PICK: FALCONS

St Louis Rams at Miami Dolphins
The Rams are coming off a bye-week so count on Jeff Fisher having these guys prepared for this match-up. The Dolphins just beat the Bengals in Cincinnati. Ryan Tannehill impresses with his yardage totals; however, has only two touchdowns compared to six interceptions. The Dolphins are actually favoured in this matchup, likely due to the home field advantage. This will be a tight game, possibly an overtime field goal to decide it. PICK: DOLPHINS

Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens played a snooze-fest of a game in beating Kansas City, while the Cowboys had a week off. The Ravens defense is not what it used to be, they are currently ranked in the bottom third for passing and rushing yards against. The passing game is about the only thing working for the Cowboys as their run game is non-existent. Bottom line is the Ravens are a better team who have wins against a better strength of schedule. PICK: RAVENS

Buffalo Bills at Arizona Cardinals
The last two weeks have seen the Bills give up a staggering 97 points against; not surprisingly they lost both those games. The Cardinals suffered their first loss last week as the Rams stole a win. I think the Cardinals right the ship here at home and beat the Bills. PICK: CARDINALS

New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks
Patriots are coming off a solid win against the Broncos last week, in which they forced their way offensively throughout the game. Who would have thought that the Patriots would have the third ranked rushing attack in the league? Well, the Seahawks are bringing the third ranked run defense into this game. Downfall for the Seahawks is the heavy reliance on Marshawn Lynch and the run. Russell Wilson will have to throw the ball to win this game and that is not a good thing to rely on. PICK: PATRIOTS

NY Giants at San Francisco 49ers
This is the game of the week for me. The Giants won’t be able to get 500 yards of offense against the tough 49ers defense. Eli Manning should get hurried in the pocket and that will help ease the pressure off the cornerbacks for those long tosses down the field. I love the 49ers approach this season as they take each game as it comes and just puts teams away. The loss to Minnesota in week 3 might have been just the jolt this team needed. PICK: 49ers

Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins
Robert Griffin III has been cleared for action and was practising with the team heading into this week 6 tilt. Despite the concussion concerns over RGIII, it is unlikely that there will be much a change in the ‘Skins game plan. They need RGIII to be able to extend the plays out of the pocket and they need another huge game out of Alfred Morris. This Vikings team is underappreciated by many. The defense is solid, Christian Ponder protects the football and makes good decisions and Adrian Peterson is a force in the backfield. I like the purple people eaters here to get the win. PICK: VIKINGS

Green Bay Packers at Houston Texans
The Packers have got to be doing some soul-searching after that fourth quarter collapse against the Colts last week. This Packer team had visions of a Super Bowl, and now they are under .500 on the season as they head into Houston. If the Texans play that ridiculous conservative game plan they pulled against the Jets; they will lose. Teams who play the game not to lose don’t end up winning. The Texans need to wake up and play with some heart and aggression. PICK: TEXANS

Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers
Another big game on the Bronco’s schedule, if they have aspirations of winning the division this is a must have game. The run defense for the Broncos is a big concern, ranked in the bottom third in the league they are giving up 120 years a game on the ground. A bigger concern than the yardage is that the defense cannot stop the clock at the end of games as teams are able to run for those first downs. San Diego continues to be a mystery to me. In week five I called them the most enigmatic 3-1 team in the league; make them the most 3-2 enigmatic team now. Something tells me Denver comes through here and takes a very close game. PICK: BRONCOS

LOCK PICK OF THE WEEK: Pittsburgh Steelers

UPSET PICK OF THE WEEK: Minnesota Vikings