Week 15 NFL Picks: Vegas Betting Odds, over-Under Spreads and Line Projections

Like Odell Beckham Jr. in the fourth quarter, NFL bettors have to come up big ahead of the NFL's Week 15 slate.

Bettors have between now and the end of the season to either make up ground or stay ahead. The problem, though, is twofold—fatigue begins to set in, especially around the holidays, and it's impossible to know if teams such as the Miami Dolphins will show up to play after getting eliminated from the playoffs.

Week 15 only makes these factors worse, as the NFL holds off on its big divisional matchups for season-ending affairs, tasking bettors with breaking down uncommon matchups.

Below, let's look at the full week, the odds and nail down predictions.

NFL Week 15 Odds

Game	Spread	O/U	Predicted Winner
Tampa Bay at St. Louis	STL -1	41	TB 28-21
New York Jets at Dallas	NYJ -3	42	NYJ 30-13
Carolina at New York Giants	CAR -4	--	CAR 37-20
Buffalo at Washington	E	44	BUF 21-17
Atlanta at Jacksonville	JAC -3	49	JAC 28-20
Chicago at Minnesota	MIN -5.5	43	MIN 23-20
Tennessee at New England	NE -15.5	47	NE 38-17
Kansas City at Baltimore	KC -8.5	42	KC 24-21
Houston at Indianapolis	NL	--	HOU 20-17
Cleveland at Seattle	SEA -16	43	SEA 44-18
Green Bay at Oakland	GB -3	46.5	GB 27-23
Miami at San Diego	E	--	MIA 24-13
Denver at Pittsburgh	PIT -5.5	44.5	PIT 28-17
Cincinnati at San Francisco	CIN -4.5	40.5	CIN 31-10
Arizona at Philadelphia	ARI -3.5	50.5	ARI 40-28
Detroit at New Orleans	NO -3	50.5	NO 34-30

Early Week Odds to Bet

Cleveland at Seattle (-16)

The nice thing about almost any week?

The Cleveland Browns are always around to provide bettors with a gimmie.

Folks will point out that Cleveland just picked up a 24-10 win, but it's more of an indictment on the hapless San Francisco 49ers than anything. Even coach Mike Pettine has had to deal with job security questions ahead of what should be an ugly matchup, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com:

"

I don't get wrapped up in that. I have more than enough on my plate. We're going to coach our tails off. We are going to go out and play with the same effort and focus that we played with yesterday and then some. However it falls out, it falls out. That is just not a concern. That can be debated and discussed outside of the building. 

"

In the win against the 49ers, Johnny Manziel tossed one touchdown with an interception, and running back Isaiah Crowell broke out with two scores.

Seattle's at home, has the so-called Legion of Boom and allows an average of 83.2 rushing yards per game, good for second place. The 49ers rank 31st.

The Seahawks might be the league's hottest team, too. Russell Wilson and Co. have scored 35 or more points in three consecutive games while the defense has held back-to-back opponents to single digits

Wilson has now completed 68.8 percent of his passes with 3,289 yards and 26 scores while lead target Doug Baldwin has caught on fire in recent weeks to bring his touchdown total to 11.

This one isn't going to be close. Maybe if it happened in Cleveland. But it doesn't.

Prediction: Seahawks 44, Browns 18

Cincinnati (-4.5) at San Francisco

Here's a fun line to jump on before bets and the house swing it different ways. 

Folks seem to be in a panic over the Cincinnati Bengals because starting quarterback Andy Dalton won't be back until the playoffs, if at all, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:

It's easy to focus on the loss, but try to remember this San Francisco team just got whipped by Cleveland.

The 49ers have lost three of their last four and tout just four wins. The defense lets up 133.2 rushing yards per game and an average of 24.2 points. Quarterback Blaine Gabbert hasn't hit 200 passing yards in each of his last two games and hasn't thrown multiple touchdowns in a game since Week 9.

While Dalton's out of the picture, Cincinnati still fields an elite defense allowing 17.6 points per game. The offense still has a solid one-two punch with Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard in the backfield, and don't forget about elite passing weapons such as A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert.

Any concern over the Bengals also assumes backup AJ McCarron cannot get the job done. Last week in spot duty, though, he threw for 280 yards with two scores and two picks, not bad for a surprise showing against the Pittsburgh Steelers after not having first-team reps all year.

Cincinnati's built to protect quarterbacks, so things don't change too much for the Bengals—especially against one of the league's worst teams. McCarron will change the national narrative in a hurry with a solid game while he leans on those around him.

Prediction: Bengals 31, 49ers 10

New York Jets (-3) at Dallas

Here's an interesting line. 

The New York Jets, winners of three in a row and sitting at 8-5 with an eye on the playoffs, are small favorites against the Dallas Cowboys, a four-win team with nothing to offer.

That's the cue for bettors to pounce.

Dallas might be at home, but Tony Romo isn't walking through the door to save the day. Jerry Jones' team just went to Green Bay and got whipped 28-7 while Matt Cassel mustered 114 passing yards and an interception.

It would be downright silly to think Cassel will turn things around against a Jets defense that allows the fewest rushing yards per game and fewer than 20 points.

A Ryan Fitzpatrick-led Jets offense isn't anything to scoff at, either. The veteran tossed a trio of scores last week while leaning on the potent duo of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. In the backfield, Chris Ivory rolled for 101 yards on 22 carries.

New York isn't known for its offense after years and years of standing as a defense-first team, but keep in mind Fitzpatrick has completed 60 percent of his passes this year with 25 scores to 11 picks in what might be the most underrated unit around.

Dallas simply hasn't been competitive against solid teams of late, and if folks want to count the win against Washington, that's a divisional rival. The Jets are an uncommon foe with a nasty bite on both sides of the ball and bigger aspirations allowing them to cruise past a team treading water.

Prediction: Jets 30, Cowboys 13

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of December 15. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus. Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.