In a sort of “oops” fashion, I neglected to make a By The Numbers post this past week. In my defense, the Packers had a bye week so I didn’t even end up watching any football. I had to work last Sunday as well, so I didn’t even really ramp up to it over the course of the weekend either. We’ll just say I took a bye with my team and move on. I’m already late for this week’s post too, as the Cardinals just put a whooping on the 49ers on Thursday Night Football. I would have picked the Cardinals to win anyway, so I’ll just throw that point on the pile. Having missed a weekend of football, I feel like I’m a bit out of the loop, but I’ll do my best to put together some decent picks for the remainder of this week’s games. One major story is that the Patriots finally dropped a game without Brady, and he’ll be back against the lowly Browns over the weekend. What a nice welcome home gift. My Green Bay Packers are fresh off the break and stay home for the remainder of October, so I’m expecting a big month out of them. Their first test comes against the Giants, who are never a spectacular team but have proven themselves time and again in clutch situations. They seem to always find a way to beat my team, but our defense has been pretty good lately, and if the offense keeps up like it did through the first half of that game against Detroit, look out. Anyway, here’s my picks for week 5:

Ravens 21, Redskins 20
Patriots 31, Browns 7
Eagles 27, Lions 13
Colts 24, Bears 3
Dolphins 20, Titans 14
Vikings 28, Texans 10
Steelers 17, Jets 9
Falcons 30, Broncos 27
Cowboys 23, Bengals 21
Rams 20, Bills 16
Raiders 24, Chargers 20
Packers 27, Giants 20
Panthers 30, Buccs 13