NFL Picks Week 12: Top Teams Destined to Fall This Weekend

Several top NFL teams are on upset alert in Week 12 as they head into critical matchups. These are the types of games that define a team’s season.

No one has locked up postseason berths, no matter how good they’ve played to this point. Success in the NFL comes and goes, it all matters when a team catches fire.

And that’s what matters the most in the NFL. Timing is king.

Green Bay Packers at New York Giants

Either way, one of these top teams is going down on Sunday Night Football. Well, unless there’s a tie, then they won’t. But one is.

Despite coming off of a bye week, the New York Giants will continue their two-game slide by dropping this pivotal Week 12 matchup to Aaron Rodgers and the Pack. Rodgers is just too good not to take advantage of the porous Giants' secondary that’s allowing

Even without Clay Matthews, the Packers’ league-best pass rush sacked Matthew Stafford five times last week. They did it while mostly using just four-man rushes, allowing their young backups in the secondary to feast on opposing quarterbacks.

The best pass rush in the league meets Eli Manning, the least-sacked QB in the league. Something is going to give at the Meadowlands. My bet is it’s the Pack that swarms and overwhelms Manning and his offensive line to continue the recent struggles of the Giants’ offense.

Manning has been sacked six times in the past two games after only being taken down five times previously throughout the first eight games.

Prediction: Packers 31, Giants 17

Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons are 9-1. Throughout their red-hot eight-game winning streak to start the season, people couldn’t stop predicting when they would finally lose their first game. I thought it would be this week as they travel to Tampa Bay to take on the equally red-hot Buccaneers.

Raymond James Stadium may not have sold enough seats to televise the game locally, but the Bucs fans that do make it are going to have plenty to cheer for as the team will extend its winning streak to five games.

Despite the team’s struggles in the secondary, the Bucs have found a way to bend but not break defensively. That’s allowed their suddenly-explosive offense to never find itself out of a game. Rookie running back Doug Martin will pose a problem to a Falcons' defense that’s giving up 130 yards per game on the ground.

Plus, the Bucs are first in the NFL at stopping the run, giving up just under 80 yards per game on the ground. That will help them stifle an Atlanta Falcons run game that’s limped its way through the 2012 season at times.

This is a huge NFC South matchup, one that will help both the Bucs and Saints close the gap on the Falcons after their fast start.

Prediction: Bucs 34, Falcons 27

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