Five weeks into the NFL season is enough to start drawing some conclusions. Anyone watching the league so far in 2018 has seen enough to know that the Rams are for real, that Drew Brees has still got it, and that the Browns just may have a quarterback they can rally around. The NFL Swarm that gathered on Thursday is watching the same games you are, and its forecast for Week 6 reflects continued confidence in Jared Goff and company and even some optimism in Cleveland.

In addition to its weekly predictions, the NFL Swarm also took the opportunity to rank the 11 quarterbacks taken in the first round over the past three years. The inspiration for this ranking was a series of tweets by Fox analyst Nick Wright attempting to capture the “Knowledge of Crowds” and while the NFL Swarm’s confidence is Goff is reflected in his ranking, another young signal-caller topped the charts. Head over to the blog to see the QB rankings and, of course, the forecast for Week 6.

The Buffalo Bills have been a difficult team to forecast this season. In Week 3 they went on the road to beat the Vikings by 21 points…as 19 point underdogs. That sort of volatility can lead to results like the one on display this week in the NFL Swarm’s predictions for the Bills vs the Texans. Houston enters this game as heavy favorites, and the AI’s confidence that Deshaun Watson and friends will prevail at home.

More hotly contested is how the Texans would fare against that hefty 9.5 point spread. The NFL Swarm was rather sharply divided on this question, with both sides making their argument both on the puck and in the group chat. Ultimately, the AI seems to have realized that, when in doubt, take the points. For anyone curious about the Buffalo’s odds to pull off another huge upset on the road, in Vegas they are currently paying over 9 to 1, but as enticing as that might be, the AI can only commit to the Bills plus the points.

Finally, here is the chart of the NFL Swarm’s entire Against the Spread forecast. Astute readers will notice that here again the AI has declined to deem any of the Week 6 matchups as Best Bets ATS, an insight that suggests that perhaps the one thing that we truly know about the NFL this season is that there are no Best Bets just yet. And, as always, a hallmark of good judgment is knowing when to make a prediction, and when not to.

Unanimous AI invites you to participate in this weekly series of NFL predictions. You can join the growing community of football fans by following the link below. Unanimous is hosting weekly contests and Swarms to make forecasts for the upcoming matchups, and will be awarding prizes to the highest performers each week. 

Want to learn more about our Swarm AI platform? Check out our TED talk…