NFL week six betting preview: Predictions for the Wembley game & the big clash between Chiefs and Patriots

By Paul Higham

NFL

Sun October 14, 2018 · 6y ago

The NFL returns to Wembley and there's a huge AFC showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots.

We've enjoyed a couple of really successful weeks lately with two clean sweeps of the live Sunday games meaning the winning run stands at six on the spin heading into what is a huge (and tricky to call) Sunday of games.

For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record

Seattle Seahawks @ Oakland Raiders

The Seahawks arrived in London a day earlier than the Raiders for the first Wembley game of the season, and while it's hard to work out just how the long trip will affect teams on what we know so far this season Seattle should be well ahead of Oakland on the field as well.

In many ways it's been a typical Raiders season so far, they've spent $100m on luring John Gruden out of the commentary booth and back onto the sidelines but so far have just one win and the loss of their best player Khalil Mack to show for it.

Marshawn Lynch may offer some salvation at Wembley as he'll be turning the Beast Mode dial up to full as he faces his former team, but his production has gone from 130 yards to 31 in the last two weeks and he's perhaps not being used as much as he should.

🏈 🇬🇧 The @NFL returns to London this weekend with the @Seahawks facing the @Raiders

🗣️ Our man @SportsPaulH & Sky Sports News' #NFL correspondent @RichardGraves1 break down the big game..#Seahawks #RaiderNation #NFLUK pic.twitter.com/OscSDESXrf
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) October 12, 2018

That's even more the case when you consider Oakland quarterback Derek Carr has the joint-most interceptions so far with eight - three coming in the opposition end zone which helps to explain the Raiders are 29th in points scored despite being sixth in yards gained.

Seattle too the unbeaten LA Rams the distance last week in a narrow loss that will give them huge positives as they look to be finding their tough-running identity again, and although they're on 2-3 none of their games have had more than nine points in it so they could easily have a winning record.

Having so much to clean up on, so many errors to fix and trying to do it all against a decent team after a long-haul trip just looks like too much for the Raiders to make up on.

Prediction: Seattle Seahawks to win (-4.5) at 11/8

Baltimore Ravens @ Tennessee Titans

This is one of those head-scratchers between two teams that seem to defy logic on any given week and looks a tough one to call with both teams on 3-2 after bad defeats last week.

The Titans went from beating the Super Bowl champion Eagles in overtime to losing to the Buffalo Bills of all teams, while the Ravens went from winning in Pittsburgh to not scoring a touchdown in an overtime defeat in Cleveland - they're both some come-downs.

Baltimore started the season by converting their first 13 visits to the red zone but have now gone seven quarters and overtime without scoring a touchdown and will need to break that league-leading drought to stand a chance in Nashville.

The venue here could be a deciding factor as Tennessee are 2-0 at home this season an this game marks the third away game in a row for Baltimore, and these stints on the road can take it out of a team.

Prediction: Tennessee Titans win at 5/4

Kansas City Chiefs @ New England Patriots

The biggest game of the season so far sees the unbeaten 5-0 Chiefs take on their biggest test with a trip to Gillette Stadium to face Tom Brady and the Patriots - where we'll see if Patrick Mahomes is the real deal.

The second-year QB leads the league with 14 touchdowns and a second-best Chiefs offence that averages 35 points a game against a five-time Super Bowl winner with 500 TD passes and looking to be the first QB to win 200 regular season games.

Brady's also 41 meaning the 23-year-old Mahomes was just six when he won his first Super Bowl ring, but Mahomes should worry more what defensive genius Bill Belichick has up his sleeve for the young triggerman.

There are play-makers wherever you look on the field with Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce for Kansas City, while the Pats look to have finally found their own firepower with rookie Sony Michel joining James White as backfield threats while new signing Josh Gordon caught his first TD last week.

There's an interesting form line going on between these two and the Jacksonville Jaguars as the last game of their mini-series. The Jags beat New England but lost to the Chiefs and should Kansas City win on Sunday that would already give them a huge edge in the play-off hunt.

The Chiefs started 5-0 last season before stumbling to a 10-6 record and losing their first play-off game, a contest with the best around will give some idea if they're better equipped this time around.

Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs (+3.5) at Evens

NFL Week Six schedule

Sunday October 14