NFL Week 12 Picks: Midweek Vegas Odds and Score Predictions

NFL bettors have little time to prepare for Week 12.

It's a short week for bettors, just as it is for the six teams suiting up on Thanksgiving, meaning the window to capitalize on favorable lines out of Las Vegas looks smaller than Cleveland's chances of making the Super Bowl.

Normally, only one game would reside on Thursday, giving owners extra time to prep for the bulk of the slate and cherry-pick lines they like. With three games Thursday, only those who excel under pressure will come out ahead.

Let's help in that endeavor by looking at the full schedule, predictions and more.

NFL Week 12 Odds

Game	Spread	O/U	Predicted Winner
Phialdelphia at Detroit	PHI -1	45	DET 27-20
Carolina at Dallas	CAR -1	46	CAR 20-17
Chicago at Green Bay	GB -9	46	GB 44-24
Minnesota at Atlanta	ATL -1	46	MIN 28-20
St. Louis at Cincinnati	CIN -10	42	CIN 24-21
New Orleans at Houston	HOU -3	47.5	NO 17-14
Tampa Bay at Indianapolis	IND -3	46	IND 27-24
San Diego at Jacksonville	JAC -4	46.5	JAC 21-20
Buffalo at Kansas City	NL	--	BUF 33-28
Miami at New York Jets	NYJ -3.5	42.5	NYJ 20-16
Oakland at Tennessee	OAK -1	44	OAK 30-17
New York Giants at Washington	NYG -2.5	46.5	NYG 24-23
Arizona at San Francisco	ARI -11.5	45	ARI 38-14
Pittsburgh at Seattle	SEA -4	45.5	PIT 30-20
New England at Denver	NE -3	44.5	NE 28-24
Baltimore at Cleveland	CLE -2.5	41.5	CLE 13-10

Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.    

Midweek Odds to Bet

Tampa Bay at Indianapolis (-3)

What in the world to think of this line?

On one side is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winners in three of their last four games. The last was a 45-17 road stomping of the Philadelphia Eagles behind five touchdowns by rookie quarterback Jameis Winston.

The Indianapolis Colts are just as interesting with 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck under center, who threw a pair of touchdowns this past weekend to lead his team over the Atlanta Falcons, 24-21, and continues to ride an undefeated streak as a starter.

When it comes down to rookie vs. veteran, always go with the latter. Winston's five scores were quite impressive, but it's the definition of an anomaly—he's only thrown 15 on the season and had thrown no scores with two picks over the course of the prior two games before the outburst.

Hasselbeck, on the other hand, continues to garner praise from those around him, as captured by ESPN's Britt McHenry:

It's well-earned praise for the veteran, who continues to make the necessary throws to T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief and Frank Gore in a game-manager role.

At home, that's all the Colts need to take down the borderline-fluky Buccaneers. 

Prediction: Colts 27, Buccaneers 24

San Diego at Jacksonville (-4)

Most would have laughed someone out of the room before the season for suggesting the Jacksonville Jaguars would hit Week 12 with a better record than the San Diego Chargers. 

Alas, here's Blake Bortles and the Jaguars at 4-6 hosting Philip Rivers and the 2-8 Chargers.

San Diego has lost six in a row despite the best efforts of Rivers, who has completed 68.6 percent of his passes with 19 touchdowns to eight picks while suffering 24 sacks. A lack of a ground game that averages 3.5 yards per carry and a defense that ranks 31st in scoring by allowing an average of 28.2 points per game are the main problems.

Then again, Jacksonville isn't much better at four yards per carry and an allowance of 26.8 points per game. Bortles has suffered 32 sacks.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is health considering Jacksonville hasn't suffered a similar rash of injuries compared to the Chargers, who have lost Keenan Allen and more at various stages.

That is why this one might be closer than Las Vegas expects. Rivers and Bortles should be able to move the ball well against the opposite, leaky defense when the offensive line actually holds.

The edge here goes to the home team in what should be the sloppiest game of the week. At the least, Jacksonville is hungry and riding high considering it's the first time in quite a long time the team heads into Thanksgiving playing football that matters and isn't downright pitiable.

Prediction: Jaguars 21, Chargers 20

Oakland (-1) at Tennessee

Call it a comeback season for franchises accustomed to playing terrible football by this time of year.

The Oakland Raiders also sit at 4-6 and have plenty to fight for right now. While the team has lost three straight, Derek Carr has completed 63.3 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns to six picks and suffered just 11 sacks, all while complemented by a stingy defense led by the legendary Charles Woodson.

Tennessee, on the other hand, has surprised in bursts. But rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota only has the team at 2-8 and coming off a loss to the aforementioned Jaguars.

The difference here, too, is experience. Carr and Co. continue to grow as his sophomore campaign progresses, and they have played contenders such as Denver and Pittsburgh close. Tennessee's two wins have come against Tampa Bay and the league's worst scoring defense, New Orleans.

Within reach of a wild card, look for the Raiders to come out gunning and pull away from the struggling Titans on the road. The Tennessee offense simply doesn't have the firepower to keep pace, having scored 13 or fewer points six times over its last seven outings, the exception a cupcake encounter with the worst defense in the league.

Prediction: Raiders 30, Titans 17

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of Nov. 24. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.