NFL Week 16 Picks: Vegas Odds, Props and Predictions Before Thursday Night

Heading into the second-to-last week of the 2015 NFL season, the playoff race might not look all that exciting. Six teams have already clinched spots, the wild-card races are down to just a few teams—and one candidate, Atlanta, essentially has no chance—and a total of six teams currently outside of the playoffs have a chance of making it into the postseason.

However, there are still plenty of storylines of note as Week 16 kicks off on Thursday night with an admittedly inconsequential game between San Diego and Oakland.

Kansas City, Pittsburgh and the New York Jets are all at 9-5 and in a dead heat for two AFC wild-card slots (and the Chiefs could even win their division). The Denver Broncos could snag the top seed in the AFC, or they could miss the playoffs entirely. Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Giants are all in contention for the NFC East crown, while Houston, Indianapolis and Jacksonville are still battling for AFC South supremacy.

Here's a look at the Week 16 slate, Vegas odds, predictions and more before Thursday night. Odds are courtesy of Odds Shark and updated as of Thursday, December 24 at 7 a.m. ET.

Thursday, December 24
Saturday, December 26
Sunday, December 27
Monday, December 28
Time (ET)	Away	Home	Over-under	Prediction
8:25 p.m.	San Diego	Oakland (-6)	46.5	SD 24-20 OAK
8:25 p.m.	Washington	Philadelphia (-3)	47.5	WAS 23-21 PHI
1 p.m.	Carolina (-7.5)	Atlanta	47.5	CAR 28-20 ATL
1 p.m.	Dallas	Buffalo (-7)	42.5	BUF 33-20 DAL
1 p.m.	San Francisco	Detroit (-10.5)	43	DET 31-17 SF
1 p.m.	Cleveland	Kansas City (-13)	42.5	KC 24-9 CLE
1 p.m.	Indianapolis	Miami (-2.5)	44	IND 20-19 MIA
1 p.m.	New England (-3)	New York Jets	45.5	NE 27-23 NYJ
1 p.m.	Chicago	Tampa Bay (-3)	45.5	TB 26-20 CHI
1 p.m.	Houston	Tennessee	N/A	HOU 14-10 TEN
1 p.m.	Pittsburgh (-11.5)	Baltimore	47.5	PIT 31-14 BAL
4:05 p.m.	Jacksonville	New Orleans	N/A	JAX 30-19 NO
4:25 p.m.	Green Bay	Arizona (-4.5)	50	AZ 27-20 GB
4:25 p.m.	St. Louis	Seattle (-14.5)	40.5	SEA 35-21 STL
8:30 p.m.	New York Giants	Minnesota (-5)	45.5	MIN 27-24 NYG
8:30 p.m.	Cincinnati	Denver (-3)	40.5	CIN 20-17 DEN

Player	Odds
Doug Baldwin, WR, Seattle Seahawks	+175
Odell Beckham Jr., WR, New York Giants	+175
Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars	+400
Tyler Eifert, TE, Cincinnati Bengals	+600
Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots	+1000
Brandon Marshall, WR, New York Jets	+1000
Ted Ginn Jr., WR, Carolina	+1400

Houston Looks to Maintain AFC South Lead With Murky QB Situation

AJ Mast/Associated Press

The Houston Texans hit the road in Week 16, taking on the Tennessee Titans. Zach Mettenberger is starting at least one game for the Titans in place of injured rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota, per the Tennessean's Jason Wolf. This development would seemingly give the Texans all the confidence in the world, except, well, their own quarterback situation is hardly settled.

T.J. Yates suffered a season-ending knee injury in Houston's Week 15 win over Indianapolis. Brandon Weeden stepped in rather admirably, throwing for 105 yards and a touchdown. For a player who was calling signals for Dallas as recently as mid-October, it was an encouraging sign. Then again, he's still Weeden, owner of a career 75.0 QB rating. 

The Texans would love to get Brian Hoyer back for this crucial Week 16 contest, but the veteran quarterback hasn't yet been cleared to play in a game, though he did practice with the team on Wednesday, per HoustonTexans.com's Drew Dougherty.

Eric Christian Smith/Associated Press

With Indianapolis playing a clearly out-of-it Miami team in Week 16 and Jacksonville lurking a game back, this is a game Houston can hardly afford to drop. Mettenberger started the last time these division rivals played, and it didn't go all that well for him. Houston brought the blitz, and Mettenberger managed just 171 passing yards and an interception in a loss.

Titans interim head coach Mike Mularkey—who took over for Ken Whisenhunt after Tennessee's loss to Houston—knows the protection has to get better if his team is going to pull out a win, per ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky:

"

We've got to obviously do some things different, maybe a lot of things different, than we did that previous game. ... That's a primary concern, how to protect the quarterback. Everybody is a part of that in each room. We'll look at what happened last time, and obviously we've got to make some adjustments so it doesn't happen again.

"

Weeden hasn't been terrible in 2015, completing 70.7 percent of his passes for 843 yards, three TDs and two picks between the two Lone Star State squads. He has one of the game's best weapons in wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and running back Alfred Blue popped up for 107 rushing yards against Indy.

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The Titans have a decent run defense and a sneaky good pass rush spearheaded by Brian Orakpo and Jurrell Casey, so production out of the backfield will go a long way toward determining how well Houston moves the ball if Weeden gets the call. The 32-year-old can manage a game, but he isn't enough of a big-play threat to stretch out a defense, nor will he fare well against a Titans defense rushing the pocket with abandon.

If Hoyer plays, Houston should have no problem winning this game. Should Weeden get the call, it's a much dicier proposition, though I still think the Texans eke out an ugly win.

Broncos Host Bengals in Clash of Top AFC Teams

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

This is perhaps the biggest game of Week 16, and no one could have expected who would be the leading men in this contest at the beginning of the season. ESPN's Trey Wingo summed up the absurdity of it:

Kansas City is on an eight-game win streak and hot on Denver's heels heading into Week 16, a mere game back in the AFC West. Quarterback Brock Osweiler has thrown for 604 yards in the last two weeks—he even tossed a career-high three touchdowns against Pittsburgh in Week 15—and yet the Broncos have nothing to show for it.

The Broncos are getting improved quarterback play with Osweiler on the field—per ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold, the 25-year-old will again get the call in Week 16 as Peyton Manning continues his injury rehab—and yet their record is suffering. The NFL is an unforgiving league. 

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Cincinnati could administer another dose of cruelty in Week 16. With Andy Dalton sidelined, quarterback AJ McCarron played well enough to guide the Bengals to a 24-14 win over San Francisco in Week 15. McCarron threw for 192 yards and a touchdown, despite missing tight end Tyler Eifert for the entire game and A.J. Green for most of it due to a bothersome back injury.

The Steelers managed to rip apart Denver's defense in Week 15, but they've been doing that to everyone lately (including Cincinnati). The Broncos are immensely talented on defense. McCarron and company will be hard-pressed to break the 30-point barrier, let alone score enough points to win. 

According to Cincinnati.com's Jim Owczarski, Eifert won't be available for Monday night's contest, while Green is "on track to play."

McCarron will have to be sharp and stay away from the Broncos' opportunistic cornerbacks in Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. Antonio Brown torched the latter corner in Week 15. As Pro Football Focus noted, it was an anomalous performance from the corner.

He'll be hungry for a bounce-back performance against the Bengals. If Green is slowed, McCarron's in for a tough night, though it seems he can at least count on Jeremy Hill in the red zone and Giovani Bernard in the passing game.

The Bengals defense should prove equally tough for Osweiler. Cincinnati's the stingiest team in the league this year, allowing just 17.4 points per game. Quarterbacks have managed just a 79.3 rating against it in 2015, per ESPN.com, and the Bengals are giving up the eighth-fewest rushing yards per game. Denver's Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson have struggled thus far in December.

Player	G	CAR	RSH YDS	AVG	REC	REC YDS	TTD
Hillman	3	45	124	2.8	7	41	0
Anderson	2	11	56	5.1	2	18	0

Osweiler can't afford mistakes in this one if the running game falters again. Per the Denver Post's Cameron Wolfe, he'll be staring down a pretty terrifying Bengals defensive line on Monday: 

"

Cincinnati's defensive line might be the NFL's best. The Bengals have [a] fearsome front, led by 6-foot-6, 280-pound Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins (6-1, 300). They have double-digit sacks this season. Atkins had two sacks at San Francisco.

"

Atkins has been one of the best defenders in the game this year, equally adept at disrupting the run and the pass. Dunlap has the edge speed and length to make Denver think twice about rolling out the lanky Osweiler. The Bengals forced four turnovers against San Francisco.

Osweiler has been pretty good at taking care of the football thus far, but he might be due for a letdown in a pressure-packed game. Look for Cincinnati to win the turnover battle and earn a close, hard-fought victory.