Week 14 NFL Picks: Latest Betting Odds, Vegas Spreads and Projections
There are 13 NFL teams under .500 heading into Week 14, which means there are plenty of fanbases that have already given up on the season (unless your under .500 team is in the NFC South).
Fortunately, there is one thing that can salvage the end of the regular season in the NFL—Las Vegas. Even despondent fans who are frustrated with their teams can take some joy in correctly picking the Week 14 games against the spread.
The best way to do that is to arm yourself with some knowledge heading into the slate of games. With that in mind, here is a look at picks for every Week 14 game against the spread.
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*Point spreads are courtesy of Odds Shark as of Monday evening at 10 p.m. ET.
| Dallas Cowboys at Chicago Bears | DAL -3.5 | Cowboys |
| St. Louis Rams at Washington | STL -2.5 | Rams |
| Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars | HOU -5 | Texans |
| New York Giants at Tennessee Titans | EVEN | Titans |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions | DET -10.5 | Lions |
| Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints | NO -10 | Saints |
| Indianapolis Colts at Cleveland Browns | IND -4 | Colts |
| Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals | CIN -3 | Steelers |
| New York Jets at Minnesota Vikings | MIN -4.5 | Vikings |
| Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins | MIA -3 | Dolphins |
| Kansas City Chiefs at Arizona Cardinals | EVEN | Cardinals |
| Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos | DEN -11.5 | Broncos |
| San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders | SF -9 | 49ers |
| Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles | EVEN | Eagles |
| New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers | NE -3 | Patriots |
| Atlanta Falcons at Green Bay Packers | GB -13 | Packers |
Easiest Call: New Orleans Saints over Carolina Panthers
Don’t let the New Orleans Saints' losing record fool you. They are a much better team than the Carolina Panthers and will respond accordingly in the Superdome in Week 14.
The Saints are coming off an impressive 35-32 win in Pittsburgh that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. The Steelers scored some garbage time points (much to the delight of fantasy owners) to bring the deficit to a more respectable three, but the Saints controlled the entire game.
Perhaps the most impressive thing is that the Saints did that without a single catch from Jimmy Graham, as players like Kenny Stills (162 receiving yards and a touchdown) and Mark Ingram (122 rushing yards) turned in critical performances. Drew Brees was also brilliant with five touchdown passes.
As for Carolina, the Panthers have lost six in a row and have not won a football game since Oct. 5 against the Chicago Bears. Even in the middling NFC South, the Panthers season seems like a lost cause, and going to the Superdome when you are 1-4-1 on the road is not exactly an ideal remedy.
The Saints offense is third in passing yards, eighth in rushing yards and seventh in scoring offense and will simply overwhelm the Carolina defense. The Panthers are a miserable 29th in the league in scoring defense after Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings and are particularly poor at stopping the run (116.8 yards per game), which is music to Ingram’s ears.
If the Saints get the running attack going early, it will force Carolina to press up with the safeties. That will put Graham, Marques Colston and the rest of the Saints receivers in one-on-one situations, and Brees is sure to find them.
On the other side of the ball, the Saints defense isn’t exactly dominant either (28th against the pass and 23rd against the run), but Carolina’s offense is a dream come true for struggling defenses. The offensive line is virtually nonexistent, and Cam Newton rarely ever gets any time to actually find a playmaker.
Ben Goessling of ESPN noted just how vulnerable the offensive line was during Sunday’s loss to the Vikings:
Newton is the household name on the Panthers, but even he has regressed this season. He finished with a career-best 88.8 quarterback rating last year, but that has dropped to 78.9 thus far this season. He also has 13 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.
To be fair, playing behind a terrible offensive line makes life particularly difficult for a quarterback, and running backs DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert have all missed various time with injuries this season.
Head coach Ron Rivera suggested that fans shouldn't judge Newton too harshly, via David Newton of ESPN.com:
"Judge him. Judge the team. Judge the players on the team. Judge the coaches. There's going to be a lot of evaluations we have to go through, not just us as players and coaches but our scheme, what we're doing, what happened, what people did to us."
The Panthers are on a downward spiral on both sides of the ball, while the Saints are fresh off an impressive road win with playoff aspirations. These teams are heading in opposite directions, and it will show when they play on Sunday.
Prediction: Saints 35, Panthers 17
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