Week 14 NFL Picks: Final Vegas Odds and Predictions for Sunday's Slate

Another Sunday's worth of NFL action is upon us. This time, Sunday brings us firmly into the final month of the 2016 season.

Week 14, of course, got underway on Thursday night when the Kansas City Chiefs knocked off the rival Oakland Raiders. This was the first of several rivalry games slated for Week 14. Others include Sunday night's matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants and Monday night's non-division grudge match between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots.

We'll get 15 more games in all, as bye weeks are now a thing of the past. 

Here, we're going to run down the full list of remaining games. We'll be examining the latest lines from OddsShark.com and making our picks against them. We'll also take a closer look at some of the more interesting matchups on the schedule.

Week 14 NFL Schedule

Day, Time (ET)	Game	Line	Prediction
Sun. 1 p.m.	Washington at Philadelphia	WAS -2.5	WAS
Sun. 1 p.m.	Minnesota at Jacksonville	MIN -3.5	MIN
Sun. 1 p.m.	Chicago at Detroit	DET -7.5	DET
Sun. 1 p.m.	Cincinnati at Cleveland	CIN -5.5	CLE
Sun. 1 p.m.	Arizona at Miami	ARI -2	ARI
Sun. 1 p.m.	Houston at Indianapolis	IND -6.5	IND
Sun. 1 p.m.	Denver at Tennessee	TEN -2	TEN
Sun. 1 p.m.	San Diego at Carolina	CAR -1	CAR
Sun. 1 p.m.	Pittsburgh at Buffalo	PIT -3	PIT
Sun. 4:05 p.m.	NY Jets at San Francisco	SF -3	SF
Sun. 4:25 p.m.	New Orleans at Tampa Bay	TB -2	TB
Sun. 4:25 p.m.	Atlanta at Los Angeles	ATL -6	ATL
Sun. 4:25 p.m.	Seattle at Green Bay	SEA -3	SEA
Sun. 8:30 p.m.	Dallas at NY Giants	DAL -3	DAL
Mon. 8:30 p.m.	Baltimore at New England	NE -6.5	NE

Matchups to Watch

Atlanta Falcons at Los Angeles Rams

As was the case in 2015, the Atlanta Falcons appeared to be a dominant team early in the season this year. As was also the case last year, the Falcons have begun to see their season slip away. 

Atlanta has lost two of its last three games and three of its last five. While the team still remains at the top of the NFC South with a 7-5 record, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers share that record and now threaten to take a division lead.

This is precisely why Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams will be critical for the Falcons. This is a winnable game, but beating the 4-8 Rams on the road won't be the easiest of challenges. Atlanta will be traveling across the country for the matchup and engaging a defense that is still rated eighth overall by Pro Football Focus.

The Rams, meanwhile, will be looking to combat Atlanta's high-flying offense, which averages an NFL-best 32.2 points per game.

Los Angeles will also look to continue the development of rookie quarterback Jared Goff, who will be making his fourth pro start. The Cal product seems to be getting more accustomed to the NFL game, and he insists he is over any rookie anxiety.

“After the Miami game, I was done with that,” Goff said, per Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “It felt good against New Orleans and really felt good against the Patriots.”

Ultimately, this game is going to bring quite a bit of excitement to fans. We'll get another look a Goff, a classic offense vs. defense matchup and another chapter in the NFC South division drama.

Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts

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If there's drama in the NFC South, there's certainly drama in the AFC South. The Houston Texans once sat at 6-3 with a strong grip on the division. However, the Texans have lost three games in a row, falling to 6-6 on the season.

This has opened the door for the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans to each take a run at the division crown. Both the Titans and Colts share Houston's 6-6 record, and each has an opportunity to take the division lead in Week 14.

The Titans would need to take care of the Denver Broncos and see the Texans and Colts tie to take control. This would leave Tennessee at 7-6 and the other two AFC South rivals a 6-6-1. Indianapolis only needs to win its matchup with the Texans in order to take the top divisional spot.

Indianapolis already has two head-to-head victories over the Titans this season.

For the Texans to keep ahead of the division, the team is going to have to figure out how to slow down a red-hot Andrew Luck and the rest of the Colts offense. 

Luck returned from a concussion to face the New York Jets last week. He sliced and diced his way to 278 yards passing and four touchdowns against the Jets defense, as the Colts ran away with a 41-10 victory. 

If the Colts offense can remain that hot against Houston's defense, it's going to be hard for the Texans to keep pace. Houston is rated just 29th in overall offense by Pro Football Focus and average a mere 17.2 points per game. 

This should be a fun matchup and one that carries a lot of weight in the AFC South race. Our guess, though, is that by Sunday's end, the Texans will have lost their spot at the top. 

Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots

The rivalry between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots may not be a traditional one, but it's still one of the top rivalries in the NFL. In a way, the semi-regular matchups between these two teams are similar to the ones we saw between the Patriots and Peyton Manning's Colts teams a few years back.

The Ravens and Patriots have met four times in the postseason and seven times overall since the start of the 2010 season. New England holds a 4-3 advantage overall, but each team has won two postseason contests.

The latest edition of this rivalry promises to be an outstanding one. On one side, we'll have Tom Brady and the explosive Patriots offense—minus Rob Gronkowski, of course. On the other, we'll the new-look Ravens defense, which is currently rated fifth in overall defense by Pro Football Focus and allows an NFL-low 296.1 yards per game.

Expect a lot of strategic shifts in this game as each looks to take an upper hand. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh recently hinted at such, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com:

"

There will be wrinkles in the game plans, I’m sure, on both sides, [Brady] will have studied us in every which way possible, I’m quite sure, looking for every indication that he can. That’s just what he does a great job of. That’s one of the things that makes him the great player that he is. We’re just going to have to be ready for everything and play our style of football.

"

This is a game that might ultimately hinge on Baltimore's ability to put up its own flurry of points. If so, the Ravens will have to do so against an efficient Patriots defense that is rated third overall by Pro Football Focus.

This might end up being the top Monday night matchup of the entire year.