NFL Week 12: Picking This Week's Winners
Week 12 action has already started with three Thanksgiving Day matchups. But there's still a full slate of games remaining.
With only six weeks remaining in the regular season, it's high time for teams to decide whether they can make a run at the playoffs or would rather make a run for Jake Locker or Cam Newton in the 2011 NFL Draft.
Here's a look at the 13 remaining games and who the favorite should be.
Green Bay at Atlanta
1 of 13
The 8-2 Falcons meet the 7-3 Packers in a premier matchup between two of the NFC's best teams.
Both teams are carrying four-game winning streaks into this one, but Atlanta's is much more impressive with victories over Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Baltimore and St. Louis. The Packers do have a 9-0 win over the New York Jets to their credit, but they haven't beaten a team with a winning record since topping the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1, 27-20.
Expect the Falcons to dominate the running game and try to control the clock. If they can keep the ball out of the hands of Aaron Rodgers then their chances to win this game are very good.
PICK: Falcons
Pittsburgh at Buffalo
2 of 13
The Steelers took out their revenge on the Oakland Raiders last week after being embarrassed at the hands of the New England Patriots in Week 10. No reason to believe they've gotten over it yet, making the Buffalo Bills their next target.
The Bills have played some entertaining football lately, winning two straight against Detroit and Cincinnati after being held winless through eight games. But they have no chance against the Steelers in this matchup between the league's best rush defense and the league's worst.
PICK: Steelers
Carolina at Cleveland
3 of 13
Here's a trivia question for you: Which quarterback from either team has the most touchdowns this season?
The answer, believe it or not, is Matt Moore with five.
Moore suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 9 and has been replaced on the Panthers depth chart by some combination of Jimmy Clausen and Brian St. Pierre. No wonder Carolina has the worst record in the NFL.
Jake Delhomme starts for Cleveland against his former team in what is possibly the worst pairing of quarterbacks in a single game all season. At least Delhomme's been to the Super Bowl.
PICK: Browns
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Jacksonville at New York Giants
4 of 13
What were the chances these two teams would have the exact same 6-4 record when they played each other? Ten to one? A hundred to one?
Funny how the NFL works sometimes.
The Jaguars sit atop the AFC South and have won their last three games, defeating Dallas, Houston and Cleveland. The Giants, however, are second in the NFC East behind the Eagles and have lost consecutive games to Dallas and Philadelphia.
The Giants have underachieved for most of this season but they need to win this one if they want to legitimately be considered Super Bowl contenders. Expect Eli Manning to carve up the Jaguars' 28th-ranked passing defense in what could turn out to be a blowout.
PICK: Giants
Minnesota at Washington
5 of 13
The Vikings have been simply horrible this season. Their only three wins came against teams that might be even worse than they are (Detroit, Dallas, Arizona). They got crushed by the Packers 31-3 last week and Brett Favre looks like he should have retired two years ago (oh wait, he did?).
The Redskins aren't much better, but at least they're trying. They beat the Titans 19-16 in overtime last week and have impressive victories over Philadelphia and Green Bay this season.
Washington will do what it does best and rely on Donovan McNabb to put up points through the air against an average Minnesota pass defense. The Redskins offensive line will have to do a good job containing Jared Allen to give McNabb time to find Santana Moss.
PICK: Redskins
Tennessee at Houston
6 of 13
Nobody knows what's going on with Vince Young at this point, and that's not a good sign if you're the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans are slowly collapsing after starting the season 5-2 and look to be on their way out of the playoff race. They've lost three straight to beatable teams (San Diego, Miami, Washington) and look like a team in disaster mode.
The Texans, on the other hand, started the season 4-2 before losing their next four to Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Diego and the New York Jets. Each game has been close, however, and Houston is known for playing better later in the season.
The Texans can score with any team in the NFL and the Titans and their 26th-ranked pass defense will have a difficult time containing Matt Schaub & Co. Young has only topped 250 yards passing once this season, so it's difficult to imagine how Tennessee will be able to keep up.
PICK: Texans
Kansas City at Seattle
7 of 13
Interesting matchup here between two division leaders. Incredibly, both the Chiefs (6-4) and the Seahawks (5-5) sit atop their divisions. That's like the equivalent of having JaMarcus Russell lead the NFL in passing (that's a slight exaggeration, but still, how did this happen?).
The main difference here is that the Seahawks play in the historically bad NFC West, while the Chiefs play in the unusually bad AFC West. Guess which team is better?
The Chiefs have the best rushing offense in the NFL thanks to the terrific duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones. The Seahawks have the second-worst rushing offense in the NFL and still start Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback. Sounds like a blowout to me.
PICK: Chiefs
Miami at Oakland
8 of 13
The Dolphins, at 5-5, really need to win this game if they want to stay alive in the AFC. But with Brandon Marshall likely sidelined and question marks at quarterback, this doesn't look like Miami's week.
The Raiders got crushed last week by Pittsburgh, 35-3, but played well in the weeks prior to that. They also have a potent rushing attack between Darren McFadden and Michael Bush, and an underrated passing attack with Jason Campbell. They did put up 59 points against the Broncos a few years ago, and have topped 20 points six times this season.
Miami has a good defense but they can't score, especially with Marshall out. You need to score to win games, so look for Oakland to improve their playoff candidacy this week.
PICK: Raiders
St. Louis at Denver
9 of 13
Sam Bradford has been impressive in his first NFL season, throwing for over 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns through 10 games. He should be giddy to play the Broncos this week, who rank 20th in the NFL in pass defense.
Denver has been awful all season and sits in last place in the AFC West with a 3-7 record. Their deficit should grow even greater after playing the Rams, who have been a pleasant surprise this year after going 1-15 in 2009. A win combined with a Seahawks loss would put the Rams atop the NFC West.
PICK: Rams
Philadelphia at Chicago
10 of 13
The Eagles like to blitz and Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has been known to crumble under pressure. Sounds like a recipe for a Philadelphia win.
Both teams are coming off three-game winning streaks, but Philadelphia is the superior team. They rank eighth in passing offense and third in rushing offense, all despite playing without Michael Vick for three weeks while their quarterback recovered from injuries.
Chicago has one of the best defenses in the NFL and is the primary reason the Bears are first in the NFC North, but they haven't faced an offense this explosive since losing to the New York Giants 17-3 in Week 4 (incidentally, another team that likes to blitz). Vick may not run wild in this game, but he will put points on the board. The Bears don't have anyone to answer with.
PICK: Eagles
Tampa Bay at Baltimore
11 of 13
Both teams come into this game with a 7-3 record, but it's the Buccaneers who have yet to beat a strong team. Their wins came against, in order, Cleveland, Carolina, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Arizona, Carolina again and San Francisco. The Ravens have at least beaten the Jets and the Steelers, and two of their losses came against Atlanta and New England.
Tampa Bay is a good team, but they're not in Baltimore's class yet. The Ravens finally have an offense to match their consistently great defense, and it is that offense that will be on full display against a Bucs team that struggles against the rush (29th in the NFL).
That's music to Ray Rice's ears, who should have a big day in this game.
PICK: Ravens
San Diego at Indianapolis
12 of 13
If there's one thing we know about Peyton Manning, it's to never bet against him in a prime-time game that doesn't involve Tom Brady. Well, Philip Rivers is definitely no Tom Brady.
The Colts are undoubtedly still bitter about losing to the Patriots last week and Manning especially will be looking for revenge after costing his team the comeback with a late interception.
The Chargers need a win to stay relevant in the AFC West and they have a history of playing the Colts tough. San Diego also has the No. 1-ranked passing defense in the NFL, and the fourth-ranked rushing defense. But this is a pissed off Indy team that will be out for blood and also needs a win to keep up with Jacksonville in the AFC South.
Rivers might want to wear extra padding.
PICK: Colts
San Francisco at Arizona
13 of 13
Who scheduled this as the Monday Night game? They couldn't get a team from the Canadian Football League to play? Are the Auburn Tigers available?
This game is so insignificant that I'm not even going to post a picture of a football player. The cheerleaders are more entertaining than what either the 49ers or Cardinals have put on the field thus far in 2010.
But since there has to be a winner, I'm going to give the edge to San Francisco. The 49ers seem to be playing better without quarterback Alex Smith and the Cardinals have given up 154 points in the last five games.
Doesn't get much worse than that.
PICK: 49ers
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