NFL Predictions Week 11: Last-Minute Picks and Advice for Sunday's Schedule

The 2014 NFL season continues to be full of twists and turns. We received another dose of enigmatic football on Thursday Night Football, as the Miami Dolphins rattled off 19 unanswered points against a solid Buffalo Bills defense to emerge victorious by a score of 22-9.

Whether you expected the Dolphins to win that contest or not, that kind of scoring streak wasn't exactly a common prediction among analysts and bettors. So, we're left with this burning question: Which of Sunday's games figure to throw a nasty curveball our way?

Unfortunately, we won't be able to answer that question until the dust settles. For now, let's take a look at the updated Vegas lines for all 12 games, predict a winner against the spread and delve into some analysis before the remainder of Week 11 gets underway.

Matchup	Spread	Pick ATS	Reason
Seahawks at Chiefs	Even	Chiefs	The Chiefs have been far more consistent than the Seahawks this season.
Buccaneers at Redskins	WAS -7.5	Redskins	Expect DeSean Jackson to take the top off a bad Buccaneers secondary.
Texans at Browns	CLE -3.5	Browns	Brian Hoyer is efficient and Ryan Mallett is untested. Houston is also without Arian Foster.
Broncos at Rams	DEN -9.5	Broncos	The Rams don't have the ability on either side of the ball to keep up in this one.
Vikings at Bears	CHI -2.5	Vikings	It's difficult to trust a faltering Jay Cutler against a good Vikings secondary.
49ers at Giants	SF -4	49ers	See analysis below.
Falcons at Panthers	ATL -1.5	Falcons	See analysis below.
Bengals at Saints	NO -7	Saints	The Saints are too good at home to falter against an inconsistent Bengals team.
Raiders at Chargers	SD -10	Chargers	Don't expect four touchdown passes from Derek Carr this time around.
Eagles at Packers	GB -6	Packers	Mark Sanchez is nowhere close to the same stratosphere as Aaron Rodgers.
Lions at Cardinals	AZ -1	Lions	A top-ranked Lions defense won't be broken by an inaccurate Drew Stanton.
Patriots at Colts	IND -3	Patriots	New England gets a close win due to better bye-week adjustments.

All game odds courtesy of Odds Shark and current as of November 16 at 4 a.m. ET.

Pick Analysis

San Francisco 49ers (-4) at New York Giants

This game has much to do with how the 49ers orchestrate their offense. Greg Roman has been rather erratic with his play-calling this season, running more of a pass-oriented scheme that didn't result in much success. Although, San Francisco took at step in the right direction in Week 10.

The 49ers were faced with a difficult road contest against the New Orleans Saints and prolific quarterback Drew Brees. Engaging in an aerial shootout would absolutely benefit the Saints, so San Francisco opted to run the ball more frequently.

As a result, the team gained 144 yards on the ground, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick's accuracy issues were more masked than in previous games. Maintaining this same kind of offensive philosophy against a Giants team that doesn't boast anywhere near as potent of an offense should lead to another big road win for the 49ers.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin already knows what he's dealing with in 49ers running back Frank Gore:

New York has been unable to contain much of anyone on the ground this season and currently holds the league's 32nd-ranked run defense, allowing an average of 144.7 yards per game. In Week 10 against the Seattle Seahawks, the Giants gave up a total of 350 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

If San Francisco is able to put up just half of those numbers, its third-ranked defense should contain Eli Manning and Co. enough to easily cover a mere four-point spread.

Atlanta Falcons (-1.5) at Carolina Panthers

The Falcons finally established some much-needed momentum on the heels of a Week 10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team's offensive line held up much better in that contest, resulting in an efficient day for Atlanta's offense.

While an upcoming contest against Carolina could prove slightly more difficult, the Panthers' once-vaunted defense has been rather terrible of late. The Panthers couldn't generate a pass rush in Week 10 against Mark Sanchez and the Philadelphia Eagles, leading to a banner day for the backup quarterback, as the Eagles won in a rout.

Sanchez was sacked only once in the game against the Panthers despite Philadelphia's lack of a running game. The quarterback finished with 332 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. That's a great sign for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who's a very solid quarterback when given time in the pocket.

If Ryan does get that time, expect wide receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White to tee off against Carolina's 23rd-ranked pass defense. This will open up running lanes for bruising ball-carrier Steven Jackson to help maintain a balanced offense against the Panthers' 23rd-ranked run defense.

On the other side of the coin, Cam Newton hasn't been able to get it done for Carolina lately. He's been struggling through recent contests and put up one of his worst showings against the Eagles, completing 25 of his 40 passing attempts for 306 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Most of that production came in garbage time.

This quote from the quarterback, via NFL, isn't a good sign for the Panthers:

Atlanta doesn't have a fantastic defense to speak of, but based on the way Newton has been playing of late, that may not matter. This game should remain close, but in a battle of struggling, injured teams, the Falcons have a slight upper hand.