NFL Picks Week 12: Projecting This Weekend's Biggest Blowouts

Away	Home	Prediction
New Orleans Saints	Atlanta Falcons	Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Detroit Lions	Lions
Minnesota Vikings	Green Bay Packers	Packers
Jacksonville Jaguars	Houston Texans	Texans
San Diego Chargers	Kansas City Chiefs	Chiefs
Carolina Panthers	Miami Dolphins	Panthers
Pittsburgh Steelers	Cleveland Browns	Steelers
Chicago Bears	St. Louis Rams	Bears
New York Jets	Baltimore Ravens	Ravens
Tennessee Titans	Oakland Raiders	Titans
Indianapolis Colts	Arizona Cardinals	Colts
Dallas Cowboys	New York Giants	Giants
Denver Broncos	New England Patriots	Broncos
San Francisco 49ers	Washington Redskins	49ers

Not all NFL contests can be close affairs.

Look at Week 11—eight of 15 games were decided by 10 or more points while three were decided by 21 or more points.

The cause for the disparity in scores reflects the overall talent disparity in the NFL. Bad teams have to play good teams. They also have to play each other. The result is numbers such as last week.

Week 12 has plenty of seemingly good matchups on the schedule. Denver vs. New England, anyone? While it's hard to imagine such a high number of games will be routs once more, a few will surely travel down that path.

Here is a full look at the week's schedule, followed by games sure to have ugly results.

Enjoy.

New Orleans Capitalizes on Miserable Atlanta

Here comes another case of mediocre Thursday Night Football.

New Orleans and Atlanta met once already back in Week 1. Things were different then. The Falcons still had Julio Jones, Steven Jackson was an effective back and Atlanta still had hopes of a playoff berth with a potential NFC South crown.

How the times have changed.

Week	Quarterback	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
9	Cam Newton (CAR)	23/37	249	6.7	1	2
10	Russell Wilson (SEA)	19/26	287	11.0	2	0
11	Mike Glennon (TB)	20/23	231	10.0	2	0

Drew Brees threw for 357 yards and two scores in that 23-17 win for the Saints, and it's hard to imagine that Brees won't find similar success Thursday night. In recent weeks, quarterbacks have had no problems being efficient against a shaky Atlanta secondary, judging by the results posted by Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon:

With all due respect to those guys, Brees is leagues ahead in the talent department and knows the Falcons all too well.

This is a New Orleans offense that set an NFL record with 40 first downs in Week 10 and then amassed 387 total yards in a win over San Francisco—a team that ranks in the top 10 in total defense.

Road game or not, Brees and the Saints are going to make this an ugly affair early on and never look back.

Prediction: Saints 35, Falcons 17

Houston Bounces Back Over Jacksonville

Too easy.

Jacksonville has lost every game this year by 10 or more points, not counting a Week 10 victory over Tennessee.

Week 11 was a typical affair for the Jaguars against Arizona. Quarterback Chad Henne threw more interceptions than touchdowns, and running back Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 23 yards on 14 carries, after having rushed for 75 yards or more just once this season.

Houston has plenty of its own problems. Last week, upstart quarterback Case Keenum (seven touchdowns, no interceptions in three prior games) was benched after going 13-of-24 for 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Bleacher Report's Aaron Nagler put it best:

That makes perfect sense—go all-in for that third win of the season, right?

Anyway, it doesn't matter who the oblivious Houston coaching staff places under center on Sunday. This is the first of two meetings in three weeks where the Texans will simply overwhelm the Jaguars—especially this week at Reliant Stadium.

Prediction: Texans 30, Jaguars 13

San Francisco Destroys Washington

Monday Night Football will be an ugly affair in Week 12.

Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins are losers of two straight. RG3 is backed by a horrible defense that allows an average of 31.1 points per game. Only two teams allow more this season.

San Francisco has also lost two straight to contenders in Carolina and New Orleans. It's hard to think of a better way to turn things around offensively than with a matchup against the Washington defense.

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick has had his fair share of struggles in recent weeks. In his last three games, Kaepernick has not eclipsed the 200-yard mark and has three touchdowns to two interceptions.

Now would be the time for Kaepernick to right the ship.

He'll certainly have plenty of help. Running back Frank Gore once again appears ageless, rushing for 748 yards and seven scores with a 4.3 average per carry to propel the NFL's No. 1 rushing attack.

The San Francisco defense is a top-10 unit that allows an average of 17.8 points per game. Washington is a week removed from racking up over 400 yards of offense, but just 16 points.

The above equates to a classic blowout. Washington's season is all but over, and San Francisco desperately needs a win to stay relevant in the playoff hunt.

Prediction: 49ers 33, Redskins 14

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