Dave Hyde, Sports Columnist (Season record: 2-4): Dolphins 18, Browns 15 Two struggling 1-5 teams. One team averaging 13.7 points. The other averaging 22.3. One with a rookie quarterback. One with a six-year veteran. The only question here is does a bottom-third Cleveland rushing game dominate the Dolphins defense.
Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups and makes his predictions for Week 6 of the NFL season. All lines and over/under numbers are according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Last week, Farmer posted a 7-7 (.500) record. Through the first three weeks of the season, he is 51-27 (.654).
What probably would've been a game decided by two or three points now could be a lopsided victory for LA after it was announced that the Niners would be without Brock Purdy, Jauan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall. San Fran will still have the services of Christian McCaffrey, but he alone will not be enough to secure a win for the 49ers. I also don't see how San Francisco will contain both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Chris Perkins, Dolphins Columnist (Season record: 1-2): Dolphins 24, Jets 21 I'm predicting the Dolphins will score three touchdowns for the second consecutive week. I'm unsure whether the Dolphins' front seven, run defense, special teams or deep passing game comes through. But I'm fairly confident the Dolphins will win. However, the Dolphins are 3-11 in prime-time games under McDaniel. A loss certainly will once again stir up calls for coach Mike McDaniel to be fired.
Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer examines the matchups and makes his predictions for Week 4 of the NFL season. All lines and over/under numbers are according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Last week, Farmer posted a 9-7 (.563) record. Through the first three weeks of the season, he is 33-15 (.688). Using point spreads with the scores Farmer predicted, his record against the spread in Week 3 would have been 7-9 (.438).
Fox Sports has listed the over/under in wins for every NFL team. For the New England Patriots, it sits about where it has for much of the pre-season, at 8.5 wins. It's an interesting suggestion and would certainly represent a major improvement over the woeful 2023 and 2024 teams that won 3 and 4 games, respectively. For certain, many fans in Patriot Nation would look at a doubling of last season's win total as a positive achievement. It's hard to argue that point.