Welcome to The Coin Toss, where I make bold predictions about your favorite professional sports.
First a recap of last week. I had the Browns over the Raiders, but Oakland took that game by three in overtime. I correctly picked the Texans over the Colts in Indianapolis. I also predicted a bounce-back game from Tom Brady: 300 passing yards and three touchdowns. He ended up with three touchdowns and 274 yards — oh so close to my predictions. Probably fair to call it 1.5 out of three on the week!
Now, let's move to Week 5...
It's Rosen time! (3+ passing TD)
This will only be Josh Rosen's second start at quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. He threw for 180 yards and a touchdown in the game against Seattle, and those numbers were skewed by some dropped passes. He'll be playing in San Francisco this week, where I think he'll have a breakout performance with at least three touchdowns through the air.
This is a great matchup for the young quarterback. The 49ers have given up 11 passing TDs this season, which is tied for third-worst in the league. They're also bottom 10 in passing yards allowed and quarterback rating. Rosen appears to still be getting a feel for his offense, which may hold him back and mess up my prediction. However, I think the matchup will create the perfect storm for Rosen to go off.
Tennessee blows out Buffalo (20+ point win)
It's time we started respecting the Tennessee Titans. They're 3–1 and coming off of a win over the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles after having beaten the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3. When the Titans have won, like they did last year in both the regular season and the playoffs, people have written it off as a fluke. They've shown this season, however, that they're really a good football team.
Blaine Gabbert started in Tennessee's win over Jacksonville and its elite defense. Then, with Marcus Mariota back healthy, the Titans went and beat the Eagles and their own elite offense. Now, they face a Buffalo Bills team that is 1–4 and coming off a shutout at the hands of the Packers. This is a great matchup for the Titans to show that they're not a fluke team after a close win last week. They'll look to blow the Bills out of the water, and I think they'll do that with a 20+ point margin.
Vikings beat Eagles in Philly
This may be my least bold prediction this week, but the champs are the favorites here. Specifically, Vegas has them as three-point favorites at home over the Vikings. You might expect the Eagles to climb above .500 here in an in-conference home game, but I'm taking the visitors.
The Vikings hung with the Rams last Thursday night. They may have lost the game, but they were right there with one of the best teams in the league. They'll also be looking to get revenge from last season's NFC Championship Game. I think this game means more to the 1–2–1 Vikings than it does to the Eagles, and I think that will show in the final score.
The Coin Toss: NFL Week 5
