Week 6 has a little bit of everything, including a Thursday night meeting between the AFC and NFC’s top playoff seeds from 2025. And if last week was any indication, the surprises might not be done yet.
The biggest eye-opener came in Green Bay, where the Packers rolled over the Bears at Lambeau Field. The other stunner?
The Buccaneers, still winless at the time, went into Dallas and left with a Thursday night win. Miami also delivered for the bold-prediction crowd by piling up a season-high point total in a 31-24 loss to Cincinnati, while New Orleans and Arizona fell short at home against Minnesota and Detroit.
With that in the rearview, here are three more upset picks for Sunday.
The Panthers head into Philadelphia with momentum and rest, and they meet an Eagles team that suddenly looks out of sorts. Dave Canales’s club had the week off after Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan carved up the Lions’ secondary in a 32-26 Sunday night win in Charlotte.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, is on a three-game losing streak and is coming off that shocking 19-17 defeat in London against Jacksonville. The Eagles’ offense has struggled to find any rhythm, sitting next-to-last in total yards per game and averaging just 18.4 points a night.
That opens the door for Carolina’s improved attack to keep this one tight and maybe steal it.
Cleveland is another team that could use a reset, and this matchup gives it one. The Browns saw their three-game skid end against the Jets at MetLife Stadium, where Todd Monken’s team managed only 198 total yards.
Deshaun Watson absorbed eight sacks, lost one of his three fumbles, and finished 15 of 33 for 155 yards and a touchdown in the 17-12 loss. Cleveland has scored only 22 points combined in its two defeats this year, so the offense still has plenty to prove.
Baltimore comes in after surviving Atlanta 30-23 in overtime, but both teams have shown enough cracks on defense to make this one feel like it could turn into a shootout. If it does, the pick here is a late winner from Andre Szmyt.
Then there’s Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers may be ready to keep building after finally getting in the win column. Last Thursday at AT&T Stadium, Bucky Irving powered the offense with one rushing touchdown, one receiving touchdown, and 165 of Tampa Bay’s 241 rushing yards in a 24-16 win over Dallas.
Now the Steelers come to town, and Mike McCarthy’s team has been stuck in a strange pattern all season: win, loss, win, loss, win. That leaves Pittsburgh 3-0 at home but 0-2 on the road after defeats in New England and Cleveland.
Its defense has looked merely average so far, and that could be enough for the Buccaneers to land their first home win in four tries.
In Other News...
Bucs Face A Troubling Week 6 Health Question At The Worst Time
The Buccaneers are entering Week 6 with the sort of injury report nobody wants to see this late in the week, especially with a Steelers matchup looming. Both teams are dealing with a cluster of key health concerns, but Tampa Bays issues are the ones that stand out most because they touch both sides of the ball and come at a time when every practice rep matters.
Baker Mayfield did not practice while still recovering from the dislocated thumb he suffered in Week 3, leaving the offense with an obvious question at quarterback as preparations continue. On the other side of the defense, Antoine Winfield Jr. is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a rib injury, a setback that further complicates the secondary just as the Buccaneers try to steady themselves for a difficult stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Miss Keeps Getting Harder To Ignore As Former Pick Slips Again
Chris Braswells NFL path has taken another turn, and it only sharpens the question of what went wrong for a player the Buccaneers once invested a high second-round pick in. Tampa Bay selected the linebacker 57th overall in 2024, but he was released by the Bucs, landed on Houstons practice squad and eventually worked his way onto the Texans active roster.
The latest step is a tough one for a former premium pick trying to stick in the league. Braswell was waived by Houston, leaving him back in free-agent territory and searching for his next chance after already bouncing once from Tampa Bay to the Texans. For the Buccaneers, it is another reminder that some draft misses linger long after the original decision is made. [Read more 🡒]
Tomlin Just Twisted The Knife On Dallas After Bucs Exposed Them
The Cowboys defense has been searching for answers through the first five weeks, and the frustration spilled into a players-only meeting as the group tried to sort out what has gone wrong. For Tampa Bay, which helped expose those issues on the field, it only added another layer to a growing NFC storyline: Dallas is still trying to steady a unit that has not looked like itself, and the pressure is mounting fast.
Mike Tomlin then added to the noise with a blunt take on players-only meetings during a podcast appearance, casting doubt on whether they ever fix much at all. It was the kind of comment that lands harder when a defense is already on edge, and Dallas now heads into its Week 6 matchup with Green Bay needing more than just another conversation to show real progress. [Read more 🡒]