NFL Week 13 Picks: Identifying Road Warriors That Will Prevail Away from Home

Every successful team must learn how to win in enemy territory, and there are several potential contenders that will have an opportunity to prove they can do precisely that in Week 13.

Only two teams in the entire NFL will have guaranteed home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, which means having the ability to thrive on the road is a necessity for everyone else in order to reach and win the Super Bowl.

While the bulk of the home teams are favored to come out on top this weekend, here is a look at three road squads that will not only score big victories, but also cover the spread in the process.

*Points spreads courtesy of Odds Shark.

Date	Away Team	Home Team	Spread	Pick Straight Up	Pick ATS
Sunday, Nov. 30	Oakland Raiders	St. Louis Rams	STL (-7)	OAK	OAK
Sunday, Nov. 30	Cleveland Browns	Buffalo Bills	BUF (-3)	BUF	BUF
Sunday, Nov. 30	New Orleans Saints	Pittsburgh Steelers	PIT (-4.5)	NO	NO
Sunday, Nov. 30	San Diego Chargers	Baltimore Ravens	BAL (-6)	BAL	BAL
Sunday, Nov. 30	Carolina Panthers	Minnesota Vikings	MIN (-3)	CAR	CAR
Sunday, Nov. 30	New York Giants	Jacksonville Jaguars	NYG (-3)	NYG	NYG
Sunday, Nov. 30	Washington Redskins	Indianapolis Colts	IND (-10)	IND	IND
Sunday, Nov. 30	Cincinnati Bengals	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	CIN (-4)	CIN	CIN
Sunday, Nov. 30	Tennessee Titans	Houston Texans	HOU (-7)	HOU	TEN
Sunday, Nov. 30	Arizona Cardinals	Atlanta Falcons	Even	ATL	ATL
Sunday, Nov. 30	New England Patriots	Green Bay Packers	GB (-3)	GB	GB
Sunday, Nov. 30	Denver Broncos	Kansas City Chiefs	DEN (-1.5)	DEN	DEN
Monday, Dec. 1	Miami Dolphins	New York Jets	MIA (-7)	MIA	NYJ

Cincinnati Bengals (-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Cincinnati Bengals enter Week 13 protecting a narrow half-game lead in the competitive AFC North. They will face a two-win Tampa Bay Buccaneers team on the road in what looks like a classic trap game on paper, but the Bengals' recent quality should allow them to avoid a letdown.

Cincinnati enters this game playing its best football since the start of the season. It is coming off a pair of road wins against teams that are decidedly better than the Bucs in the New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans. If the Bengals can win their third consecutive contest on the road, it will be a historic achievement for the franchise, according to Lance McAlister of 700 WLW in Cincinnati:

Winning three in a row away from home is no easy task, but the Bengals simply have to do it. Their remaining four games include two clashes with the Pittsburgh Steelers, one meeting with the Cleveland Browns and an encounter with the Denver Broncos, which means there are no sure victories down the stretch.

No game can be labeled as automatic in the NFL, but the Bengals know that the Buccaneers are a team they can, should and must defeat.

One particular area in which the Bengals should hold a big advantage is in the passing game. The Bucs have allowed 21 touchdowns through the air, and opposing signal-callers have a quarterback rating of 100 against them, which bodes well for Andy Dalton.

The former TCU standout happens to have an elite wide receiver combination in Mohamed Sanu and A.J. Green, who is finally healthy. As evidenced by this tidbit courtesy of NFL.com's Chris Wesseling from last week, opposing defenses simply have to pick their poison when it comes to Sanu and Green:

Tampa has struggled to slow down quality passing offenses all season long, and the fact that the Bengals have a pair of great running back in Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill will make the task even more difficult. Since the Buccaneers will have so much to worry about defensively, the Bengals should have no problem moving the ball and scoring at will with effective play-calling.

Denver Broncos (-1.5) at Kansas City Chiefs

While the Denver Broncos are in control of the AFC West race at 8-3, they are far from in the clear. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers are lurking close behind at 7-4, and Denver will have to take on the former Sunday night within the unfriendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs are 4-1 at home this season, including a 41-14 shellacking of the New England Patriots and a win over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks as well. The Broncos have lost to both of those teams, although it is important to note that those defeats came on the road.

Denver is just 2-3 on the road, so it certainly has some demons it must conquer in order to win this game. With that said, linebacker Brandon Marshall is among the Broncos players who realize just how important this particular contest is, according to ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold:

The Broncos will hold a two-game lead over the Chiefs if they win, but it will essentially be a three-game advantage in reality, since Denver already beat KC earlier in the season. That may very well be an insurmountable deficit this late in the season, which means the Broncos would only have to worry about the Bolts.

Denver is a perfect 5-0 against the Chiefs since signing quarterback Peyton Manning, but most of those games have been close. Much of the focus will be on Manning, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and the Broncos' potent passing game, but the deciding factor may ultimately be the play of running back C.J. Anderson.

With the likes of Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman on the shelf, Anderson has stepped up in a big way recently. In fact, he leads the league in total yardage over the past three weeks, ahead of Chiefs superstar back Jamaal Charles, per ESPN Denver's Cecil Lammey:

The Chiefs allow nearly 130 rushing yards per game, and they were exploited in a loss to the Oakland Raiders last week, as explosive running back Latavius Murray burned them for two touchdowns, including one for 90 yards.

If Anderson continues to perform at his current level, then Kansas City will be in for a long night. When push comes to shove, the disparity between the potent Denver offense and deliberate Chiefs offense will be far too great for KC to overcome.

New Orleans Saints (+4.5) at Pittsburgh Steelers

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

The New Orleans Saints have undoubtedly been one of the NFL's most disappointing teams this season, but they are still tied for first in the lowly NFC South at just 4-7. For as poor as their record is, there is no doubt that the Saints have a ton of talent, which means they could conceivably turn it around at any time.

That certainly won't be easy in Week 13 on the road against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that is 7-4 and involved in a battle for the AFC North crown. New Orleans is traditionally anywhere from average to poor away from home, but the departure from the Superdome may be welcomed, since the Saints are coming off three consecutive home losses.

Quarterback Drew Brees knows that the Saints are fortunate to be in the thick of the playoff race despite their struggles, but his focus is on winning every game rather than simply winning the division with a subpar record, according to ESPN.com's Mike Triplett:

"

I don't care. I don't care what the rest of the division does. I really don't. I'm not even thinking about them. Put it this way: If I play Tiger Woods in golf and he beat me, he shot 79 and I shot 80, is he gonna be happy? Did he play up to his potential by doing that? No he didn't.

So for us, we shouldn't be worried about just winning the division by one game because everybody in the division is 4-7 or less right now. No, let's play to our potential. Let's worry about us and the way we know we can play.

"

Beating a quality team like the Steelers on the road would likely go a long way toward restoring New Orleans' swagger and confidence. Slowing down quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense will be tough on the Saints, but they definitely have the horses on offense to keep up.

New Orleans is averaging over 26 points per game, and it is second in the NFL in total yardage at almost 434 yards per contest. It also has a walking matchup nightmare in the form of tight end Jimmy Graham.

Per Ed Bouchette of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is well aware of the fact that his team needs to do a better job against Graham than it has against other athletic tight ends this season:

With so much attention being paid to Graham, that should open things up for wide receivers Marques Colston and Kenny Stills, as well as running back Mark Ingram on the ground. The Saints have been particularly good running the ball this season, and it is important that they commit to it on the road.

If they do that Sunday, then they can certainly pull off the upset.

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