It feels weird to even type it out, but the first month of the 2024 NFL season is in the books. And we’ve had plenty of big surprises already throughout the month of September setting us up for an exciting second “quarter” of the 2024 NFL season here in Week 5.

As is typically the case, NFL picks and score predictions are a little more hit or miss early in the season as you continue to try and get teams figured out, but this season as a whole has been pretty unpredictable each week, which adds to the fun. Most teams have at least one win at this point and two-thirds of the league has at least two wins in the first month of the year.

Who is winning in Week 5? We’re going through every game on the Week 5 schedule and making our NFL picks and score predictions.

Week 5 teams on BYE: Lions, Eagles, Chargers, Titans

Thursday, October 3 (8:15 PM ET)

The last handful of weeks have been extremely impressive for the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons just won on a late 58-yard field goal from one of the team’s MVPs so far this season – kicker Younghoe Koo. They nearly upset the Kansas City Chiefs last week and the Falcons had a nice come-from-behind win the week before that against the Eagles.

I like what we’re seeing from the Falcons overall, but the offense is still taking some time to truly click. We saw some evidence of struggle against the Chiefs and again against the Saints. But the Falcons managed to sore 26 points without having a single touchdown on offense, as crazy as that may seem. They are going to need to continue to be opportunistic as the Buccaneers come to town on a short week.

The Bucs were absolutely rocked at home in Week 3 against the Broncos but came out with a chip on their shoulders in Week 4 against the Eagles. Baker Mayfield finally got some good help from his running game in Week 4 and Bucky Irving may truly be hitting a stride. As encouraging as the Falcons have been overall the last few weeks, the Bucs are just too dangerous offensively in this one. 

The Falcons are 1.5-point favorites at home here but I’m taking the Bucs by at least four.

Prediction: Buccaneers win 27-23