Well, I had high hopes to get Five for Friday done but alas, my job and real life got in the way. Plus I had to watch my Chiefs lose in a foreign country while our second best receiver got hurt and is out indefinitely. You remember that time that Mahomes had all his weapons available at the same time? Me neither. But in good news for you, now you get predictions for six games instead of 5. Let’s do this.

Breaking up is hard to do: Steelers @ Jets

While I don’t think this will be an enjoyable game to watch, it is an interesting storyline with the teams trading quarterbacks. Last year, Aaron Rodgers was the great hope that didn’t come through in New York…well really New Jersey. Meanwhile, Justin Fields went 4-2 in 6 starts for the Steelers and his reward was getting benched. Now Fields is in New Jersey and Aaron is in Pittsburgh. All reports say that Fields still can’t throw but the team is less of a disaster overall. And in Pitt, it seems that if anyone can deal with Rodgers shenanigans it would be Mike Tomlin who is hell bent on winning 9-10 games for the next 20 years. I expect lots of throws to DK Metcalf by Rodgers as he typically only throws to one guy and the Steelers set him up for success by literally not giving him anyone else to throw to. And I expect Fields to scramble a lot when he probably shouldn’t scramble. While the game is in New Jersey, I still put my money on the Steelers in this one. Rodgers does enough along with a good Steelers defense and their kicker coming through with a game winner.

Steelers 20 Jets 17

Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane: Raiders @ Patriots

These two teams have been struggling. For the Patriots, the struggle has been since Tom Brady left. For the Raiders the struggle has been since 1984. But they now both have new hope with new coaches and new quarterbacks. Pete Carroll who hasn’t not won 10 games in forever (except he has) and Geno Smith join the Raiders. Meanwhile, Mike Vrabel joins second year Drake Maye in New England. The Raiders were terrible on both sides of the ball last year despite having the “recipe to beat the Chiefs” last year. They didn’t have the recipe to beat anyone and were terrible. But now they have Carroll and Geno and a great rookie Jeanty at running back. They can’t be worse so they should be better. Meanwhile, Vrablel brought Josh McDaniels back to be the offensive coordinator of the Patriots after a couple dumpster fire attempts as a head coach. It should be a fun and entertaining game but I trust Vrable and McDaniels to get their crap together sooner than whatever the Raiders are trying to do. I mean Armani Cooper just retired so he didn’t have to play for the Raiders so that should tell you everything you need to know. Plus, Raiders gonna raider.

Patriots 30 Raiders 20

Bo knows beating bad teams: Titans @ Broncos

Last year, rookie quarterbacks took the league by storm. Jayden Daniels lead his team to the NFC Championship and Bo Nix lead his team to the playoffs after beating a lot of bad teams and the Bucs. And then they lost to the Bills 31-7. But all the rookie quarterbacks struggled in game 1 last year. And the Broncos were great at beating bad teams. The Titans are a bad team with a rookie quarterback starting. Joking aside, I do think the Broncos will be good this year. And their defense was already great and somehow got better at least on paper. Bo is good and even better against subpar defenses which I am pretty sure the Titans are. I like Cam Ward and I think he will be good but even Jayden struggled in week 1 against an average Bucs D. So I do not like Cam’s chances against a top 5 defense like the Broncos on the road. I’m just hoping he completes enough passes to my boy Calvin Ridley to make him fantasy relevant since I have him on all three of my teams.

Broncos 34 Titans 17

What’s Love got to do with it? Lions @ Packers

This should be a great game between two great teams. Oddly enough the Lions have owned the Packers lately. Detroit owning anything besides high crime levels and rap battles definitely feels odd but yet here they are. The Packers were already a team some where high on and then they traded for Micah Parsons to really make some noise. In case you didn’t know, Micah is not great against the run but the Packers have sucked in pass rush for a while so I have heard he is pretty handy at that. The Lions have all their players back but lost both coordinators so that is their challenge. This game is at Lambeau and Jared Goff is not as good outside. He is much better inside except for key moments like the divisional round and the Super Bowl. But hey, we can’t all be perfect. Even though his season didn’t end great on the field he did marry and impregnate a model so he has that going for him…which is nice. I think both these teams are going to be great and Super Bowl contenders and this should be a fun game but early on, I trust the Lions and their massive amount of weapons in this one. I get it is a new coordinator but how hard is it to call plays to get the ball in the hands of Gibbs, St. Brown, Williams and Laporta. I still believe the Packers win the division but I think the Lions win game one.

Lions 31 packers 27

Battle of teams who can’t beat the Chiefs when it matters: Ravens @ Bills

The first Sunday night football game is a doozy. The divisional round opponents from last year face off right away after Mark Andrews dropped a key two point conversion last year. The Ravens are arguably the most talented team in the league and winners of the media award for “best roster” every year. They have Lamar who statistically should basically be the MVP every year since it is basically a QB award now based upon only the regular season. Meanwhile, Josh Allen had one of his worst statistical seasons of his career last year and won MVP because, you know…he hadn’t won yet and it was his turn. Both teams are really good and I think they could easily meet again in the playoffs. I think Josh is the better quarterback but Lamar has the better team. Since it is a regular season game, I’ll take the Ravens in this one. Plus, I have Lamar in one of my fantasy leagues and need him to not suck.

Ravens 31 Bills 24

Sophomore sensation or slump? Vikings @ Bears

In the Monday night battle, we have two divisional rivals with sophomore quarterbacks trying to change the path of their stories. JJ McCarthy missed all of last year due to an injury and Caleb Williams wished he missed more of last year due to playing for a coach who didn’t know what a timeout was. JJ has a great defense, great established weapons and a coach that has proven they can be competitive with just about any quarterback. Meanwhile, Caleb has a new head coach, a new offensive line and weapons that are supposed to be good. I find Ben Johnson nerdy and annoying. I find Caleb overrated. I don’t have any feelings about JJ McCarthy although I am no fan of Michigan. I do love Kevin O’Connell although he is going to have to win a playoff game at some point to stay relevant. But considering that the Chiefs defense who we just saw got worked on Friday confused Caleb in a preseason game, I’m confident that Brian Flores and the Vikings D can frustrate Caleb in this one. I sort of feel like it is only a matter of time before Ben Johnson moves on from Caleb for Tyler Bagent.

Vikings 27 Bears 17