Game Picks

Niners will ride hot start, take only tilt between winning teams

Published: Oct 07, 2011 at 06:19 AM

Albert Breer went 10-6 with his predictions in Week 4 and is now 41-23 for the season. How will he fare in Week 5? His picks are below, with home teams listed second:

Maybe I just look at this as a "market-correction" game. Logic says Fred Jackson and Ryan Fitzpatrick could have their way. But I do think these Eagles have some fight left.

Cam Newton again impresses. The Panthers again fall short. Drew Brees and the Saints have quietly ratcheted it up a notch the last couple weeks, and they pull out a road win here.

Losing Andre Johnson is a blow, but this was going to be Arian Foster's day all along in Houston.

Let the race for the No. 1 pick begin! Indianapolis has been knocking on the door the last two weeks against pretty good teams. This week, the door comes down.

The battle of rookie quarterbacks makes this game somewhat interesting. Blaine Gabbert's challenge, facing the NFL's No. 1 defense, is much stiffer than Andy Dalton's.

Four games into his time as a Cardinal, Kevin Kolb is already under fire. He'll respond this week, with Larry Fitzgerald going off in his return home to Minnesota.

The Seahawks competed their tails off last week, with a team coming East to West. It'll be tougher this week, with the roles reversed, and Eli Manning carrying a hot hand.

The Steelers might not be what they were last year. But there's still a lot of toughness on that club. It shines through this week, in a battle of field goals.

I thought it'd take a year or two for Jim Harbaugh. I was wrong. Alex Smith has come along, but the hallmark of this team, like Harbaugh's Stanford teams, is its toughness.

San Diego has shown some of its traditional early-season raggedness. The difference? This year, the Bolts are 3-1 at the quarter mark. And now is when they typically turn it on.

This series has been enormously tough to forecast since Rex Ryan arrived. I'll go with a Jets team that has been, ironically enough, told to "Ignore the noise" this week.

Julio Jones shows a national audience why the Falcons dealt up to draft him. And Atlanta keeps up with Green Bay's turbo-charged attack. Until the end, that is.

The atmosphere in Detroit promises to be electric. And the Lions respond by, finally, bringing the four quarters of effort that Jim Schwartz has been calling for.

Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @albertbreer.

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