Overall Record (started in Week 2): 59-29-1

After starting the season 0-3, the Houston Texans have now won five games in a row, and they find themselves sitting pretty atop of the division at 5-3. Their quarterback Deshaun Watson was the highlight of the game last night, tying a career best with five touchdowns against the Miami Dolphins. Furthermore, with the way his team is playing, they might actually hope they didn’t have a bye this upcoming week. Here’s The Forest Scout’s predictions for this weeks games:

Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) vs Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4) (at Wembley Stadium in London)

Sunday, 8:30 a.m. (NFL Network)

When the schedule came out, this was surely one of the more highlighted matchups for fans to look forward to. Both of these squads were two of the four remaining teams in playoffs last year, rightfully drawing high expectations from fans and analysts, however, both teams have considerably underperformed. The Jaguars’ roster is currently banged up, and there seems to be a locker room rift regarding the pitiful play of quarterback Blake Bortles and the rest of the offense. Regardless of their recent play, traveling to a familiar venue in London might be the perfect setting for the team to push aside their team woes. Although the Jaguars will certainly get a boost from the crowd, as they play at Wembley every season, the Eagles will pull out a battle tested victory. After blowing a 17-0 lead, giving up 21 fourth quarter points in last weeks game, expect the Eagles’ defense to not break again in this one, especially facing an offense that cannot get out of their own way.

Pick: Eagles 26, Jaguars 20

Cleveland Browns (2-4-1) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2-1)

Noon (CBS)

Without playing a single snap last Sunday, the Steelers moved themselves from third in the division to finding themselves atop. There seems to be a current feud in the Browns’ facility with head coach Hue Jackson publicly calling out offensive coordinator Todd Haley’s playcalling of late; the real issue might be Jackson himself, considering his record with Cleveland isn’t all too inspiring. This does not seem like the node of confidence this Cleveland team needs, as Haley will now have to face his former team. As much of a mess Pittsburgh has been to start the season, James Connor is making Steelers’ fans forget about Le’veon Bell, as their high octane offense should slow down a solid Browns’ defense.

Pick: Browns 21, Steelers 31

New York Jets (3-4) vs Chicago Bears (3-3)

Noon (CBS)

The Bears almost pulled off a miracle last Sunday, falling to the Patriots by a touchdown– they came up just one yard short in tying the game with a Hail Mary attempt to receiver Kevin White. Although Bears’ quarterback Mitchell Trubisky made some dazzling plays with his legs, his accuracy– at all lengths — must drastically improve if the Bears want to have any chance to make some noise in the NFC playoff picture. They should not have any troubles at home getting past this Jets team, playing without versatile running back Bilal Powell for the season (neck) and possibly top cornerback Trumaine Johnson. Jets’ rookie quarterback Sam Darnold will keep the Bears on their heels, but the Bears must win this game if they want to prove to the rest of the NFC that they can contend this season.

Pick: Jets 24, Bears 31

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3) vs Cincinnati Bengals (4-3)

Noon (FOX)

After a surprisingly impressive start to the season, the Bengals have crashed down to earth in a hurry. Losing two games in a row, unable to close out the Steelers, then blown out by the Chiefs, this is the ideal home matchup for this team heading into a bye week. The Buccaneers are near the bottom in every defensive statistic, and the Bengals should be able to erase their less than pedestrian showing on primetime last Sunday, an outlier performance to the majority of games this team has played throughout the season. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, put to bed any hopes for a Browns overtime comeback last week, with a 59 yard field goal to seal the victory. Nonetheless, the Bengals will exploit the Buccaneers unsightly defense, considering after the bye, they have to face New Orleans and Baltimore in back-to-back weeks.

Picks: Bucs 28, Bengals 34

Seattle Seahawks (3-3) vs Detroit Lions (3-3)

Noon (FOX)

Former Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson looked like Barry Sanders last week, running all over the atrocious Dolphins’ rush defense. On average, the Seahawks have given up over 100 yards per game to their opponent. Although the Seahawks’ secondary is much better than their run defense, the Lions should be able to control the flow of the game and exploit the Seahawks’ secondary as the defensive front will become gassed trying stopping the run. The Lions also added defensive tackle Damon ‘Snacks’ Harrison to their own struggling rush defense, a long time quandary the Lions hope they have finally fixed. Russell Wilson could work some magic, but the Lions have too many weapons to hold in check for 60 minutes.

Pick: Seahawks 23, Lions 30

Denver Broncos (3-4) vs Kansas City Chiefs (6-1)

Noon (FOX)

The Broncos, besides the New England Patriots, are the only team to give the Chiefs a run for their money this season. However, it is logical to expect Denver to be unable to keep up with Kansas City the second time around. Patrick Mahomes has shown no signs of a ‘sophmore slump,’ and don’t anticipate him to be slowed down by any defensive attack at this point. After having a field day last week against the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night football, the Broncos need Von Miller and the rest of their defensive front to step up again, in hopes to get Mahomes under pressure. Nothing has seemed to stop him, however, as this expectation for the Broncos’ defense seems too far fetched, considering the Broncos have not played consistent football thus far.

Pick: Broncos 27, Chiefs 38

Washington Redskins (4-2) vs New York Giants (1-6)

Noon (FOX)

Well, the Giants are not very good, to keep to simple terms. Besides the dynamic playmakers in rookie running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Odell Beckham Jr, the offense cannot seem to give their stars the ball with actual room to bust a play open in space. Additionally, the front office seems to be dismantling roster pieces on the defensive side, trading cornerback Eli Apple and defensive tackle Damon Harrison. To say the least, the Redskins should be feeling pretty good, not only with their record, but with the situation they can really capitalize on this weekend.

Pick: Redskins 27, Giants 14

Baltimore Ravens (4-3) vs Carolina Panthers (4-2)

Noon (CBS)

The Ravens find themselves in another defensive slug fest this weekend. The Ravens boast arguably the league’s best defense, but they are tasked to face the two headed threat of Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey. The Ravens offensive play has been serviceable, nonetheless, must get more out of running backs Alex Collins and Javorius Allen if they want to give their defense some breathing room every now and then. This will surely be a tightly contested battle, but the Panthers possess too much threat on offense for the Ravens own offensive crew to outduel down the stretch.

Pick: Ravens 20, Panthers 28

Indianapolis Colts (2-5) vs Oakland Raiders (1-5)

3:05 (CBS)

With the trade of Amari Cooper heading to Dallas becoming official, the Raiders are in full throttle rebuild mode for the near future. Head coach Jon Gruden has made it clear that nobody is safe on his roster and he continues to mount the most draft capital he can find by trading away top players. There isn’t much intrigue heading into this matchup, however, Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck has finally found an offensive spark on offense with running back Marlon Mack returning to full health. It will be sure he will be heavily involved, as they can plug away at the Raiders’ defensive holes all afternoon long. From what we have seen from the Raiders, even against a mediocre opponent, things can get ugly when the second half rolls around. This one will get away from Gruden, and before he knows it, he might lose the entire locker-room– if he hasn’t already.

Pick: Colts 38, Raiders 24

Green Bay Packers (3-2-1) vs Los Angeles Rams (7-0)

3:25 (FOX)

With Aaron Rodgers coming to town, the Rams’ defense will certainly be ready to go. The Rams got to the 49ers last week, proving their opponent was no match for them. They have a much harder task this week with Aaron Rodgers ability to extend every play, but the Rams’ offense can easily contend with the Packers’ offensive attack. Aaron Rodgers will keep his team in the mix throughout the game, but the Rams will prove– yet again– to each established quarterback and team, their counterpart is no match for them.

Pick: Packers 30, Rams 37

San Francisco 49ers (1-6) vs Arizona Cardinals (1-6)

3:25 (FOX)

Arizona’s only win all season has come against the 49ers, however, both teams are probably already looking forward to the start of the new league year. The 49ers have no answers without Jimmy Garoppolo under center, and the Cardinals can’t get out of their own way. The Cardinals better hope their first round draft pick Josh Rosen does not have 5 more turnovers again this Sunday, and with a new offensive coordinator, David Johnson must be used more in the slot, like he was under former head coach Bruce Arians. Hopefully the Cardinals can eventually get something out of their offense, but for this week, there has been too much shuffling going on to expect any sort of dramatic improvement from their Thursday night nightmare last week. The 49ers will win, but this meaningless showdown might actually help the Cardinals when the draft order comes out at the end of the season.

Pick: 49ers 24, Cardinals 17

New Orleans Saints (5-1) vs Minnesota Vikings (4-2-1)

7:20 (NBC)

The resurgent Vikings have won three games in a row and take over soul possession of first place in the NFC North. Their defense has played a major part in the win streak, forcing eight turnovers in that stretch. Anyway, extending their divisional lead will not come easy against a Saints club that finds ways to win each and every week. If you didn’t already know, the Saints walked away victorious with a missed extra point by Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker (he was 222/222 on extra points in his career until that miss).  It is also important to remember New Orleans returns to the same venue they were stunned and forced an early exit in the divisional round of the playoffs– there is definitely still a bad taste in the Saints’ locker-room with the unfinished business from last season. The Saints are definitely motivated and can maybe get a little luck on their side this time, like they did last week.

Pick: Saints 35, Vikings 31

New England Patriots (5-2) vs Buffalo Bills (2-5)

Monday, 7:20 (ESPN)

This primetime Monday night showdown should consist of no headaches and hurdles for the Patriots to overcome. Tom Brady has OWNED the Bills in his illustrious career: he has a 28-3 record versus Buffalo and looks to add to it Monday. Meanwhile, Buffalo is a mess at quarterback– and entirely on offense for that matter– so don’t expect the Bills to get their first win in a Tom Brady finished game since 2011 this Monday night. Even without running back Sony Michel, this Patriots offense is starting to click– which is no surprise from a Bill Belichick offense.

Pick: Patriots 28, Bills 13