NFL Week 16 Picks: Midweek Vegas Odds and Score Predictions

If the late-season push for bettors has shown the globe one thing, it's that those throwing coin down on the slates need to take easy lines where they can get them.  

Last week, bettors knew to take the New England Patriots over the Tennessee Titans, the Seattle Seahawks over the Cleveland Browns and a few more. Monday Night Football, though, wasn't as predictable, with the New Orleans Saints favored over the Detroit Lions, only to see the Lions pull off the 35-27 victory.

While the gap between those headed to the postseason and those thinking draft continues to widen, bettors need to be as careful as ever around the holidays.

Here's a look at the full Week 16 slate with picks for each contest.

NFL Week 16 Odds

Game	Spread	O/U	Predicted Winner
San Diego at Oakland	OAK -5	47	OAK 27-20
Washington at Philadelphia	PHI -3	47.5	WAS 28-20
Pittsburgh at Baltimore	PIT -11.5	47.5	PIT 36-10
San Francisco at Detroit	NL	--	DET 17-10
Indianapolis at Miami	NL	--	MIA 33-20
New England at N.Y. Jets	NE -3	45.5	NE 24-20
Dallas at Buffalo	BUF -7	43.5	BUF 23-17
Houston at Tennessee	NL	--	HOU 14-10
Chicago at Tampa Bay	TB -3	45.5	TB 30-24
Cleveland at Kansas City	KC -14	42.5	KC 35-14
Carolina at Atlanta	CAR -7.5	47.5	CAR 34-20
Jacksonville at New Orleans	NL	--	JAC 28-27
St. Louis at Seattle	Seattle -14	40.5	SEA 27-7
Green Bay at Arizona	ARI -4.5	49.5	ARI 28-20
N.Y. Giants at Minnesota	NL	--	MIN 23-20
Cincinnati at Denver	DEN -3.5	41	DEN 24-21

Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.

Midweek Odds to Bet

St. Louis at Seattle (-14)

Sometimes the huge over bet is the best move. 

This would be the case here between the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams. Folks will point out the Rams beat the Seahawks in overtime 34-31, but be honest—does the Week 1 result really matter now?

Of course not.

The rematch goes down in Seattle, for one. And while the Rams have won two games in a row, a Case Keenum-led offense beating Detroit and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers isn't impressive, especially when those wins merely halted a five-game skid.

This is more about what the Seahawks have done as of late, though. As usual, quarterback Russell Wilson and the team once again turned it on when it mattered most, rattling off five wins in a row while scoring at least 30 points in each of the last four and allowing just one of the five victims to break the 20-point barrier.

Wilson, who has completed 68.8 percent of his passes with 3,538 yards and 29 touchdowns, put it best, according to the team's Twitter account:

Nobody has been able to slow Seattle, and just last week the offense unearthed a strong replacement for running back Thomas Rawls in Christine Michael, who rushed for 84 yards.

Alongside Wilson, Michael won't have any problems pounding out a win against a defense allowing an average of 118.1 rushing yards per game.

Prediction: Seahawks 27, Rams 7

Jacksonville at New Orleans

Those Saints took a rough loss on prime time and now have to turn around on a short week and deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

It's not as easy as it sounds.

Maybe last year the situation would have been a laughable matter. But this is a five-win Jaguars team (hey, that's good for the AFC South) that is two weeks removed from blowing away the Indianapolis Colts in 51-16 fashion. Granted, Jacksonville's inconsistent at best after a 23-17 loss to the struggling Atlanta Falcons this past weekend, but the unpredictable nature of the team should concern the Saints.

After all, New Orleans just coughed up 35 points against a five-win Lions team while letting quarterback Matthew Stafford throw a trio of touchdowns and a pass-first offense to pound away for 150 rushing yards and two scores on a 6.5 yards-per-carry average. It's the fourth time over the defense's last six outings it has allowed at least 34 points, with just one of the six resulting in a win.

Jacksonville has the offense to produce similar numbers. Quarterback Blake Bortles has thrown 31 scores this year, and it's not hard to see why with this trio of names at his disposal, the third of which has missed four games:

NAME	REC	TAR	YDS	TD
Allen Robinson	69	135	1141	13
Allen Hurns	53	89	907	8
Julius Thomas	42	71	431	5

In a shootout, Jacksonville might just have the better defense, especially with the team surely being able to run the ball on a miserable defense.

Look for the Jaguars to steal one late in large part because the team can make headway on the ground.

Prediction: Jaguars 28, Saints 27

San Diego at Oakland (-5)

This one isn't as difficult to figure out as it seems. 

The San Diego Chargers might have a 2-2 record over their last four, but they needed games against Jacksonville and the Miami Dolphins to halt a six-game skid and took losses at the hands of strong Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs teams.

The Oakland Raiders, on the other hand, took a loss to the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday but before that downed Denver on the road in impressive fashion.

Bettors have been down this road before. Back in Week 7, Oakland hit the road to San Diego and got a trio of passing scores from quarterback Derek Carr and 85 rushing yards and a score from running back Latavius Murray to secure a 37-29 decision.

Little has changed since then for the Raiders. San Diego, however, doesn't have wide receiver Keenan Allen, who saw 13 targets in the first meeting and caught nine of them for 89 yards. The team also just slapped rookie lead back Melvin Gordon on injured reserve, according to ESPN.com's Eric D. Williams.

So yes, it's one of those contests. Quarterback Philip Rivers and the Chargers just nabbed an emotional win at home over Miami in Week 15 in what might have been their last game at Qualcomm Stadium before relocation. Now, though, the team finishes the season on the road and begins to shut it down.

Look for the young Raiders to take advantage, especially through the air, and complete the season sweep.

Prediction: Raiders 27, Chargers 20

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of December 22. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.