By Around The NFL staff
NFL.com
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Week 5 of the NFL season is upon us, and that means it’s time for another round of bold predictions. As always, this week’s edition of fearless prognostications includes a macho helping of audaciousness and abandon as we head into Sunday and Monday’s contests. Warning: these predictions are not for the faint of heart.
Denver holds Matt Ryan to under 250 yards
Matt Ryan — yes, that Matt Ryan — leads the NFL in passing yards after four weeks, thanks in part to a 503-yard performance in a Week 4 win over Carolina. The Falcons have won three straight and look to be red-hot offensively, but they run into a steel trap of a defense in the Broncos. Denver is the second-best unit in the league against the pass, allowing just 169.5 yards per game through the air. Using a mix of 3-4 base defense and the six-defensive-back Dime package (Denver has used one of the two personnel groupings 95.2 percent of defensive downs, per Next Gen Stats), a Broncos secondary featuring Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. shuts down Matty Ice and takes it one step further by blanketing Julio Jones, who exploded for 300 yards last week. Ryan records just his second game under 250 yards this season and Atlanta falls back to Earth, seeing its winning streak snapped after a frustrating afternoon in the Mile High City.
— Nick Shook
To read the full Week 5 bold predictions from the Around the NFL writers, click here.