NFL Picks Week 16: Updated Lines and Final-Score Predictions for All Games

As we near the end of the regular season, stronger teams are beginning to show dominant, playoff-worthy performances over the league's gutter-dwellers, making for some favorable wagering.

Of course, not every game goes as planned for favorites—the Buffalo Bills picked apart Aaron Rodgers to earn a remarkable upset victory in Week 15—so getting a firm grasp on your preferred matchups well ahead of time is an essential key to successfully lining your pockets with some extra cash for the holidays.

Week 16 does feature some favorable lines, but Las Vegas got tricky with a few of them as well. Remember to be mindful of highly contested divisional matchups that lie ahead—they can be the trickiest.

In an effort to help you make this week profitable, here's a look at the updated odds for the full 16-game slate with corresponding final-score predictions for each contest, followed by some in-depth analysis on a few favorites worthy of wagers.

Matchup	Spread	Prediction
Tennessee at Jacksonville	JAX -3	JAX, 20-13
Philadelphia at Washington	PHI -9	PHI, 31-20
San Diego at San Francisco	SF -2.5	SD, 24-23
Kansas City at Pittsburgh	PIT -3	PIT, 27-20
Detroit at Chicago	DET -7.5	DET, 23-13
New England at NY Jets	NE -11	NE, 27-20
Cleveland at Carolina	CAR -3.5	CAR, 24-16
Atlanta at New Orleans	NO -7	ATL, 34-31
Minnesota at Miami	MIA -7	MIA, 26-23
Green Bay at Tampa Bay	GB -11	GB, 38-17
Baltimore at Houston	BAL -5	BAL, 30-13
NY Giants at St. Louis	STL -5	NYG, 20-16
Indianapolis at Dallas	DAL -2.5	DAL, 31-27
Buffalo at Oakland	BUF -6	BUF, 24-3
Seattle at Arizona	SEA -9	SEA, 23-10
Denver at Cincinnati	DEN -3.5	DEN, 27-23

Game odds courtesy of Odds Shark and current as of December 16.

Favorites Worthy of Wagers

Green Bay Packers (-11) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

Yes, 11 points seems like a large margin, but there are plenty of reasons to trust Rodgers and Co. to come through in a big way this week.

After a horrid showing against the Bills, Green Bay lost its position atop the NFC North to the Detroit Lions, and with a clash against Detroit slated for Week 17, the Packers will be looking to make a statement against the Buccaneers and recoup any lost momentum from Week 15.

Rodgers struggled mightily against the Bills, but that's been a common theme among Buffalo's opponents of late. Don't expect this elite signal-caller to have anywhere close to a down performance against a Tampa Bay pass defense that ranks 24th in the league and just gave up 277 yards and a touchdown to Carolina Panthers backup quarterback Derek Anderson.

Green Bay's secondary has been the reason opponents have been able to keep up this season, but even the team's 15th-ranked unit won't be in danger against Josh McCown, who has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in five of his eight games this season, tossing 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions along the way.

Baltimore Ravens (-5) at Houston Texans

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Bettors should jump all over this line immediately, because this game won't be close.

Quarterback Joe Flacco has played well in recent games, and he gets a favorable matchup against Houston's 27th-ranked secondary in Week 16. Baltimore's success has stemmed from a balanced offense, and running back Justin Forsett has been the catalyst, averaging an impressive 5.4 yards per carry for the season.

Houston's defense has struggled to contain efficient offenses this season, allowing an average of 366.2 total yards per game, ranking 24th in the league. The reason the Texans have been able to keep up of late is due to solid quarterback play and a strong running game. Unfortunately, they won't be able to rely on either against the Ravens.

With Ryan Mallett and Ryan Fitzpatrick out for the season and Tom Savage set to miss Sunday's game, this team has no answer at quarterback. In fact, the Texans were so desperate for help at the position that they re-signed quarterback Case Keenum—and he may even start in Week 16.

Here's a look at Houston's options at the position, via Baltimore's official Twitter account:

The lack of a passing game is one thing, but the team also won't be able to rely on running back Arian Foster against Baltimore's stingy run defense, which allows an average of just 84.3 yards per game on the ground. Houston, we have a problem.

Buffalo Bills (-6) at Oakland Raiders

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Buffalo is the one NFL team no one wants to play right now. The Bills completely shut down Peyton Manning and Rodgers in consecutive weeks, and now they get Derek Carr.

Just in case you need a refresher, here's what Buffalo did against those two elite quarterbacks, via the NFL on Twitter:

While Carr has put on a couple of decent showings this season, he's been rough for the most part. He's coming off a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in which he completed 27 of his 56 passing attempts for 222 yards and a touchdown. His average of 3.96 yards per attempt in that game was downright awful.

Latavius Murray has been a revelation out of the backfield for the Raiders in recent games; however, not many ball-carriers have found success against Buffalo's run defense, which is allowing an average of 103.4 yards per game this year. Needless to say, we should expect Murray's yards-per-carry average to take a bit of a hit in Week 16.

Meanwhile, the Bills offense does just enough to keep winning games against tougher opponents but has the capability to blow lesser teams out of the water. After all, they beat the Cleveland Browns by 16 and the New York Jets by 35 before facing the Broncos and the Packers.

A six-point spread for this team against a hapless Oakland squad will have bettors laughing all the way to the bank.