NFL Week 15 Picks: Latest Odds, Spreads and Updated Midweek Predictions

With divisional games mostly taking a back seat in Week 15 of the NFL season, Las Vegas has declared some pretty lopsided matchups.

Which is what tends to happen when the Cleveland Browns visit the Seattle Seahawks or the Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys have to get into a slugfest with the New York Jets.

Despite the major lines, this looks like the perfect week for bettors to make some serious coin. At times, playing a large spread is easier than dealing with a 50-50 game and the spread right along with it. 

Here's a midweek look at Week 15 lines.

NFL Week 15 Odds

Game	Spread	O/U	Predicted Winner
Tampa Bay at St. Louis	STL -1.5	41	TB 28-21
New York Jets at Dallas	NYJ -3	42	NYJ 30-13
Carolina at New York Giants	CAR -5	48	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 27-20
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	SD -1	46	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

Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.

Midweek Odds to Bet

Carolina (-4) at New York Giants

Maybe Las Vegas has the New York Giants fresh on the mind after the team's 31-24 win against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, because that seems the only plausible explanation for such a close spread here. 

Eli Manning and the Giants aren't a bad team, but they do sit at 6-7 and needed a late touchdown to overcome a mediocre Dolphins team and snap a three-game skid.

The Carolina Panthers? They're 13-0 and just pasted the Atlanta Falcons 38-0, the same Atlanta team that handed the Giants a loss back in Week 2.

New York boasts the league's worst defense in terms of yards allowed (418.6) on average and passing yards (308.4), so it's hard to see how the defense slows Cam Newton, whose MVP campaign got another boost last week with his trio of touchdown passes.

These odds also seem to forget Carolina's Josh Norman, the second-best cornerback in the league at Pro Football Focus, a man with enough talent to neutralize Odell Beckham Jr.

Carolina is the complete team right now. Road game or not, the elite defense can shut down a one-dimensional Giants offense (good luck naming a running back), and Newton has proven time and again he cannot be slowed.

Prediction: Panthers 37, Giants 20

Atlanta at Jacksonville (-3)

Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press

Those Falcons now have to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

In past years, this was an easy decision: Take the Falcons and get back to the more difficult lines.

Not anymore.

Not only are the Falcons an absolute tanking mess, the Jaguars just dropped a 50-burger on the Indianapolis Colts, a 51-16 statement placing Gus Bradley's team right in the thick of the playoff race thanks to the struggling AFC South.

Quarterback Blake Bortles accounted for four total scores in the rout, leading an offense that finally seems to click after years of rebuilding. Bortles not only leans on a top-10 receiver in Allen Robinson, but also an elite deep threat in Allen Hurns and a tight end in Julius Thomas, who made his name known last year while catching balls from Peyton Manning.

Atlanta's defense cannot stop much of anything, and wondering if the Falcons should make a change at quarterback isn't so crazy with Matt Ryan sitting on 17 touchdowns to 14 interceptions and his team losers of six in a row.

As odd as it sounds, Atlanta doesn't have the firepower to match Jacksonville, especially on the road coming off a game in which the unit was shut out. Look for Bortles and Co. to get ahead and stay there.

Prediction: Jaguars 28, Falcons 20

Chicago at Minnesota (-5.5)

A divisional matchup like this should be pretty difficult to figure out. 

It's really not, though. Minnesota, at 8-5, almost went to Arizona in Week 14 and almost picked off the Cardinals, losing in 23-20 fashion on a short week. Chicago sits at 5-8 and is loser of three of its last four, including a mind-numbing overtime loss to the hapless San Francisco 49ers.

For Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, a loss hurts, but coming close on the road against one of the best teams in the league is something to be proud of, according to the team's Twitter account:

Bettors have been down this road before. Back in Week 8, Minnesota marched into Soldier Field and took home a 23-20 victory behind 103 rushing yards from Adrian Peterson while holding Jay Cutler to 211 yards and a score, and the Jeremy Langford-Matt Forte duo to 87 rushing yards.

This time out won't be much different. The Chicago offense is now sans top tight end Martellus Bennett, and Cutler has been held without a touchdown pass in two of his past four outings. The Vikings continue to only let up 231.8 passing yards per game and allow less than 20 points per game.

At home against a bottom-10 rush defense, Peterson's going to have a big day as the Vikings ride him to another win. Chicago's losing offensive weapons and the ability to post points on elite units as the season fades.

Prediction: Vikings 27, Bears 20

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