NFL Week 14 Picks: Rounding Up Top Experts' Predictions

Another prime-time, nationally televised game, another down-to-the-wire finish. The 2015 NFL season has had no shortage of close contests, the latest example being Arizona's playoff-clinching triumph over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night in Week 14.

Cardinals defensive end Dwight Freeney, the ageless practitioner of the balletic, tackle-dizzying spin move, used his defining tactic to get to Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and force a sack-fumble with five seconds left in the contest, preserving a 23-20 win for his team. 

Arizona was the favorite in the matchup, but the Vikings made it a much closer contest than some might have expected. Fifteen more games remain on the Week 14 slate. With just a quarter of the season left and the playoff push in full swing, expect more of these nerve-wracking finishes. 

If you're wondering who might come out on top this week, here's a sampling of expert predictions from around the Web for the Week 14 slate. All picks are straight up, not against the spread.

Matchup	Matt Miller, Bleacher Report	Pete Prisco, CBS Sports	Mike Garafolo, Fox Sports	Merril Hoge, ESPN	Chris Wesseling, NFL.com
Buffalo vs. Philadelphia	BUF	PHI	PHI	BUF	PHI
San Francisco vs. Cleveland	SF	SF	CLE	SF	SF
Detroit vs. St. Louis	DET	DET	DET	DET	DET
New Orleans vs. Tampa Bay	TB	TB	NO	TB	TB
Tennessee vs. New York Jets	NYJ	NYJ	NYJ	NYJ	NYJ
Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati	CIN	CIN	PIT	PIT	PIT
Indianapolis vs. Jacksonville	IND	JAX	JAX	JAX	JAX
San Diego vs. Kansas City	KC	KC	KC	KC	KC
Washington vs. Chicago	WAS	CHI	CHI	CHI	WAS
Atlanta vs. Carolina	CAR	CAR	CAR	CAR	CAR
Seattle vs. Baltimore	SEA	SEA	SEA	SEA	SEA
Oakland vs. Denver	DEN	DEN	DEN	OAK	DEN
Dallas vs. Green Bay	GB	GB	GB	GB	GB
New England vs. Houston	NE	NE	NE	NE	HOU
New York Giants vs. Miami	NYG	NYG	NYG	NYG	NYG

Note: Picks are courtesy of Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, ESPN.com and NFL.com.

Games That Should Also Go Down to The Wire

Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (10-2)

Don Wright/Associated Press

This game promises to be one of the most exciting of Week 14. Pittsburgh's all-around excellent offense meets Cincinnati's crushing defense in a contest that one can only hope is on the opposite end of the entertainment spectrum from their previous meeting, a 16-10 road win for the Bengals. 

Ben Roethlisberger threw three picks in that contest, a mark he is unlikely to repeat Sunday. The last time he threw that many interceptions in one game was in Week 14 of the 2011 season.

DeAngelo Williams has been running wild in place of an injured Le'Veon Bell, and the Bengals secondary now has a dangerous trio, not duo, of wideouts to prep for in Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and no-longer-secret weapon Markus Wheaton. The 24-year-old wide receiver has picked up 12 receptions for 251 yards and two scores over the past two weeks.

Per FoxSports.com's Matt Chatham, all three are big-play threats and dangerous in single coverage, quite the headache for Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther to contend with: 

"

There are enough instances throughout Steelers games in recent weeks where any one of these three will draw single coverage. The key for the Steelers has been finding and exploiting the best matchup of the three on any given play.  The Bengals chances of slowing this resurgent Steelers offense lies with winning that one-on-one matchup from down-to-down, and playing disciplined within the double teams.

"

It's an absolute imperative that the Bengals get pressure up front and force Roethlisberger to settle for the short throws. Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap should be more than up to the task, but they won't be able to clock Big Ben on every play. 

Pittsburgh's defense has been up-and-down over the past month, while Cincinnati has put up 30 points in four of its last five outings. Andy Dalton relied heavily on A.J. Green against the Steelers earlier this year, with the standout wide receiver racking up 11 receptions, 118 yards and one touchdown. The attack yielded just 16 points, however.

Gary Landers/Associated Press

More will be needed from Jeremy Hill, who carried the ball 15 times for 60 yards against the Steelers, and Giovani Bernard, a nonfactor in the contest. Hill has the hot hand as of late, with coach Marvin Lewis noting increased carries and getting ready to run downhill sooner as keys to his success, per Bengals.com:

"

I think it’s a combination of both. I think it’s about an opportunity for him to get his shoulders pointed in the right direction. I think we’re doing a good job at the point of attack. We need to continue to do that. I think, for the most part we eliminated some of the penalties that took runs away at times. I think that’s one of the biggest keys. So, you probably have three elements to it.

"

Bernard should make more of an impact in this one, if not as a change of pace from Hill, then as a checkdown option in the passing game. The Bengals have more than enough talent on offense to keep pace with Pittsburgh. A home-field advantage gives them a slight edge, but this one could very well go either way.

Washington Redskins (5-7) vs. Chicago Bears (5-7)

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

As weird as it is to say, Washington on the road against Chicago is a Week 14 matchup with big-time playoff implications. No matter how bad the NFC East finishes as a group, one of those teams will end up with a home game in the wild-card round.

At 5-7, Washington currently leads the pack—though they sport the same record as Philadelphia and the New York Giants—and take on a Bears team at home with a very, very dark-horse shot at an NFC Wild Card spot. (It would take a mammoth capitulation from Seattle, among other results, but still, the Bears are in play.) 

Kirk Cousins has kept Washington afloat with some stellar passing performances. The problem is those have pretty much all come at home. On the road, he's a very different quarterback. 

Split	Games	Record	YDS/G	Y/A	CMP %	TD	INT	Rating
Home	7	5-2	264.4	8.08	74.24	12	2	111.5
Away	5	0-5	231.0	5.95	61.86	5	8	69.8

Should Cousins suffer another clunky performance, it's likely he won't get much help from the running game. Matt Jones and Alfred Morris have spent much of this season jockeying for lead back status, to mostly mediocre results. Jones was the favorite back in Week 13 against Dallas, despite Morris putting up 78 yards the week prior.

According to Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post, Morris had eight snaps to Jones' 40, all of them coming in the first quarter. Either back could pop up as the go-to guy against Chicago. It sure would be nice if coach Jay Gruden could give someone, maybe even Chris Thompson, a chance to get in a rhythm.

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

So Washington isn't going to light up the scoreboard, that's been established. The reason this game will come down to the wire is because Chicago is also liable to have trouble scoring. 

The Bears are 24th in the league in scoring and have been held to 20 points or less in six games this year. After leading his team to a 37-point outburst against St. Louis Week 10, Jay Cutler has tossed just one touchdown in the past three weeks.

Losing tight end Martellus Bennett to a season-ending rib injury certainly won't help Cutler in the passing game. Zach Miller is a capable replacement, but he's not quite the attention-occupying matchup nightmare that Bennett is in the red zone. 

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

The Redskins have allowed a hefty 4.6 yards per carry this season, per ESPN.com, so it could be a big day for Matt Forte and Jeremy Langford. The tandem combined for 143 rushing yards in Week 13 against San Francisco.

Washington has done a fairly good job of keeping runners out of the end zone with just six rushing TDs allowed on the season. Should the Redskins keep things tight in the red zone and Cutler struggles, this game will be a close one (though it won't be pretty). 

Buffalo Bills (6-6) vs. Philadelphia (5-7)

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Were it not for New Orleans' absolute travesty of a pass defense, Philadelphia's awful secondary might be the butt of more jokes this year. The Eagles have allowed the second-most passing touchdowns this year with 28, though they have mitigated that somewhat with 14 interceptions. They rank 24th in the league in net passing yards allowed.

In their past three games, the Eagles have given up a staggering 13 passing touchdowns. Even Matt Cassel managed to bag a hat trick of TDs on these guys back in Week 9.

In their defense, the Eagles did pick off Tom Brady twice in Week 13 and put him under a ton of pressure, but overall, the team has been disappointing on this end of the field. 

That bodes well for Buffalo, who boast a talented, mistake-averse slinger in Tyrod Taylor. The 26-year-old QB has been one of the league's more delightful surprises this year, and he is raising his play to new heights when his team needs it most.

Taylor has thrown for six touchdowns in his past two games, three of them going to Sammy Watkins. The second-year wideout has also stepped up his game, with his sights set on joining the current crop of  NFL elites at his position.

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

"I'm just trying to get to that elite category if I'm not already there," Watkins said, via Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News. "Just trying to play my game and every week impose my will on the opposing secondary. Just keep playing hard. I think I'm finishing blocks. I'm running great routes and just trusting my preparation."

Their budding connection figures to cause plenty of problems for the Eagles, who also have to contend with capable targets in tight end Charles Clay and wideout Robert Woods. Lest we forget, there's also LeSean McCoy, who is as dangerous on the swing route as he is on the off-tackle run (and should be highly motivated to make his former coach look silly).

This might all sound like Buffalo will run (or pass) roughshod over Philadelphia, but the Eagles can put up some points in this one too. While DeMarco Murray has been a major disappointment this season, the Eagles might not have to rely on him against Buffalo. Ryan Mathews returns from injury this week, and he's averaging 5.8 yards per carry this year.

Per CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora (via Jamey Eisenberg), Mathews is in line to be the lead back against Buffalo: 

Sam Bradford should have a clean pocket from which to work on Sunday, as the Bills have put up a measly 18 sacks on the season. 

While Buffalo has done well to take care of the football, the Eagles have been one of the league's most opportunistic teams this year. They are second in the league with 23 takeaways. A fumble recovery here, interception there, and this game is a potential nail-biter. Maybe mighty mite Darren Sproles and the special teams come through again.

Buffalo is gunning for a playoff spot, as is Philadelphia. The Eagles are only getting in if they win their division, which, of course, means they can drop this game and still be in the mix with both Washington and the New York Giants facing decent teams on the road. The Bills are in a heated AFC Wild Card race, and could have to win out to make the postseason.

Pittsburgh and the New York Jets both have a game on the Bills at this point in the season, but have tougher schedules to close out the year.

Buffalo gets a tour of the NFC East with Philly, Washington and Dallas in the next three weeks before closing out the season with what could be a win-or-go-home contest with the rival Jets. If that ends up being the case, the Rex Ryan trash talk should be epic.