Is it all over for the Packers? Or is this a moment to R-E-L-A-X? Green Bay’s path to the playoffs looks daunting after a Thursday night defeat to Seattle, but we’ve seen Aaron Rodgers lift them out of some pretty deep holes before.

And, if he can do it, why not you? WEST COAST OFFENSE continues to lead our overall standings here in the SkyBet Pick Six contest but the gap at the top has closed just a smidgen. And it’s not as if there weren’t ohere were opportunities for the chasing pack to make up even more ground in a week when nobody called more than four out of six games correctly.

Let’s see if any of us can go better this time around:

Tennessee Titans @ Indianapolis Colts (Sunday 6pm GMT)

At last, we are seeing what Andrew Luck can do in a functioning offence, with a talented arsenal of receivers, behind a consistent offensive line. The Colts have given up just 10 sacks all season, and none in the last four games – their longest such streak since 2014. They have averaged 35.5 points per game during that stretch.

True enough, they have not faced the toughest run of opponents. Life will be harder against the Titans, who have given up the fewest points of any team in the league and just held Tom Brady and the Pats to 10. Then again, Detroit beat New England 26-10 in week three and followed up with a loss to Dallas. The Jags shellacked the Patriots in week two and are 1-6 since.

Perhaps we ought not to look for too many clues in an isolated victory. I expect the Titans to be able to move the ball easily against a flimsy Indianapolis defence but, with rookies Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith dominating on the Colts’ offensive line, I think the same may hold true on the other side of the ball. If it does, I’ll take Luck over Mariota in a game of last score wins.

Colts win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Colts to win, Under 49.5 total points, Andrew Luck 2+ passing TDs….4/1

Dallas Cowboys @ Atlanta Falcons (Sunday 6pm GMT)

Can Dallas finally put together back-to-back wins for the first time all season? Or will this be a repeat of their trip to Atlanta last November, when they were walloped 27-7 and began to slide out of playoff contention? The good news is that they will not have to face Adrian Clayborn, who sacked Dak Prescott eight times that day. Chaz Green, the offensive tackle he tortured, is also gone, to New Orleans.

It does not sound like the Falcons will have Pro Bowl inside linebacker Deion Jones back in the line-up, either, despite his return to practice on Thursday. Head coach Dan Quinn insists that the team “will put him out there when he’s 100%”, but his presence would certainly be a boon to a defence that just got gashed for 176 yards by Cleveland’s Nick Chubb.

Slowing down Ezekiel Elliott will be more complicated, and I expect him to have a big day. Even so, despite the addition of Amari Cooper, I have my doubts about Dallas’s capacity to keep pace with the Falcons’ high-powered offence on its own turf.

Falcons win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Falcons to win, Matt Ryan 300+ passing yards, Ezekiel Elliott and Julio Jones both to score a TD….6/1

Houston Texans @ Washington (Sunday 6pm GMT)

I picked Washington to lose last week. Somehow, despite giving up 501 yards, they didn’t. This makes me uneasy about picking against them again and looking like a crank but, seriously, what happened last Sunday is a statistical outlier. Look, I can even show it to you on a chart…

Even if we want to look at it differently, here is points scored over total yards from 2016-2018. TB is labeled from yesterday so you can see the scale of the outlier. pic.twitter.com/iVOspe7uzf

— Anthony Staggs (@PyroStag) November 12, 2018

Washington might well win the NFC East. They have a two-game lead, and only two of their remaining opponents own a winning record. But Houston are the first of those, and arrive fresh from a timely bye week which allowed them to get healthier in the secondary. This while Washington suffered yet another offensive line injury, rookie tackle Geron Christian becoming the third member of that unit to be ruled out for the year.

With left tackle Trent Williams expected to miss a third consecutive game due to his dislocated thumb, and just about every other starter either playing through injury or still learning their way around the team facility after signing last week, the blocking up front is unlikely to be good. This against a well-rested JJ Watt.

Texans win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Texans to win, JJ Watt 1+ sack, DeAndre Hopkins and Adrian Peterson both to score a TD….8/1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Giants (Sunday 6pm GMT)

As of Thursday, Buccaneers offensive co-ordinator Todd Monken was adamant that the team had not made a decision on who would call the plays against the Giants…

#Bucs OC Todd Monken did not specify exactly when Koetter told him that Dirk was going to take play calling back for last week. Said they haven’t decided for this week.

— PewterReport (@PewterReport) November 15, 2018

Taken in isolation, that seems a troubling place for an NFL team to be so late in the week. Viewed in the context of that calamitous performance against Washington, it looks downright bizarre.

Can head coach Dirk Koetter really intend to make the calls again after repeatedly failing to get his team into the end zone? Perhaps he views the Giants as the ideal team against whom to make amends. Tampa Bay’s greatest issue last weekend, as through most of the season, was an inability to protect the ball. They lead the league with 25 giveaways, but New York have only nine takeaways.

Still, I find myself leaning Tampa’s way. The Giants reminded us of their own offensive potential as they beat San Francisco, but the Bucs lead the league in total yardage and, when Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t turning the ball over, he is moving it at will. They cannot always be so poor at getting over the line. Can they?

Buccaneers win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Buccaneers to win, Mike Evans 100+ receiving yards & to score a TD, Eli Manning 1+ interceptions….14/1

Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears (Monday 1.20am GMT)

The top two teams in the NFC North have chalked up 11 victories between them. Not one of those, however, has been against an opponent that currently holds a winning record. Are these guys actually contenders or simply lucky to have faced such gentle schedules?

For the Bears, many observers continue to mistrust Mitch Trubisky. The second-year quarterback has seen his passer rating jump from 77.5 in his rookie year to 101.6 in 2018, yet that figure drops by almost 18 points when facing a blitz. The Vikings share the NFL lead with 31 sacks this season, and head coach Mike Zimmer is not afraid to bring extra heat.

Even if Trubisky does find the going tougher here, though, do we trust this Vikings offence not to make mistakes of their own? Against a Bears team that leads the league in takeaways? Against a defence that looked back to its terrifying best last week with the return of Khalil Mack?

Bears win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Bears to win, Mitch Trubisky and Kirk Cousins 2+ passing TDs each….9/2

Kansas City Chiefs @ LA Rams (Tuesday 1.15am GMT)

Will the Rams feel the benefit of homefield advantage after this game was moved from the Azteca back to the LA Coliseum? They have been practicing all week in Colorado, a move originally designed to acclimatise them to the altitude at which they would have been playing in Mexico City. On top of that, many are still dealing with uncertainty back home after being forced to evacuate their houses to escape California’s wildfires.

The latter disruption might help to explain some of the sloppiness we saw against Seattle last weekend, LA picking up 10 penalties for a combined 102 yards. A repeat of such mistakes could prove costly in what ought to be a shootout on Monday Night Football. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes leads the NFL with 3,150 passing yards. The Rams’ Jared Goff is a mere 16 behind him.

All over the field, there is little to separate these teams. Both can move the ball on the ground as well as through the air, both are prone to giving up chunk plays on defence but both rush the passer extremely well. I love the addition of Dante Fowler for LA, allowing them to generate pressure from the outside to supplement the push they get up the middle with Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh. Most of all, though, I am just going with that slender homefield advantage in a game between two very evenly matched teams.

Rams win

PAOLO’S PUNT: Rams to win, Todd Gurley 200+ scrimmage yards & score 2+ TDs, Tyreek Hill to score a TD….16/1

Or perhaps you fancy one of these:

5+ of Falcons, Bears, Colts, Texans, Buccaneers & Rams All To Win….7/2
Falcons, Bears, Colts, Texans, Buccaneers & Rams All To Win….25/1

Think you can pick a winner? How about all six? Why not leave your predictions in the comments section below…

OVERALL STANDINGS

35 – WEST COAST OFFENSE
31 – GAZM013
30 – K.JACKSON, THOM OWEN
28 – JROSCOW, OWEN MARSDEN, PAOLO BANDINI
27 – CRAIG LLEWELLYN
24 – POMPEYDINO
23 – AALIPOUR1, JOHN O’GORMAN
20 – JAKE BURTON, MATTHEW SHERRY
14 – JOSH PEACOCK, TED BOVIS
11 – JAYESH PATEL
9 – SCAMPTON
5 – ROB ALLEN, STEFF HARRIES
4 – ADAMCONOR90, ANDREW COSTANZA, ANDREW HULBERT, HEFIN DAVIES, ITSMILKS, KPERSON, LEEDER, RANDY BULLOCK
3 – ANDYJET88, CHARLESWALFORD, DAN SPENCE, DAVE H, JAMIE FERGUSON, LEE JELF, LEONPERRY, LEWIS, MORN01, PETER MORAN
2 – CHRISTIE PEARSON, DAVID, KATHRYNFRAMP10, LEE C
1 – ROBLAWTON