Week 14 NFL Picks: Latest Betting Odds, Vegas Spreads and Projections

The path doesn't get any easier for those making NFL Week 14 picks. 

The final stretch of the season means even oddsmakers out of Las Vegas have a difficult time projecting games. Rivalries and divisional games will have bad teams looking to play the spoiler and good teams looking to remain injury free ahead of what might be a playoff run. 

Case in point, Monday Night Football between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, where the latter held a lead over the former for most of the game before one of the league's best pulled away late, 23-20. 

Fans and would-be bettors can expect more of the same in Week 14. Here's a look at the opening offerings and a few games to target. 

NFL Week 14 Schedule, Odds

New Orleans (-1.5) at Atlanta | O/U 53

Chicago at Cincinnati (-6.5) | O/U 

Detroit at Tampa Bay | O/U 

Green Bay (-3.5) at Cleveland | O/U 40.5

Indianapolis at Buffalo | O/U 

Minnesota (-3) at Carolina | O/U 41

Oakland at Kansas City (-4) | O/U 47

San Francisco at Houston (-3) | O/U 42.5

Dallas (-6) at N.Y. Giants | O/U 41.5

N.Y. Jets (-1) at Denver | O/U 41

Tennessee (-3) at Arizona | O/U 44

Washington at L.A. Chargers (-6) | O/U 46

Philadelphia (-2.5) at L.A. Rams | O/U 50.5

Seattle at Jacksonville (-3) | O/U 39.5

Baltimore at Pittsburgh (-7) | O/U 

New England (-10.5) at Miami | O/U                     

Minnesota (-3) at Carolina

Rolling with the Minnesota Vikings looks like one of the easiest things bettors can do on a weekly basis now. 

Though they haven't received the most publicity, the Vikings are now 10-2 and haven't lost since Week 4. They've rattled off three straight impressive wins, too, easily moving past the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. 

The last one there is perhaps the most impressive, as the stout Vikings defense went on the road and held Matt Ryan to 173 passing yards in a 14-9 victory. Case Keenum was once again strong while bumping his season totals to 16 touchdowns against five interceptions while completing 67.5 percent of his passes, earning praise from analysts at NFL Network: 

This isn't meant to gloss over the Carolina Panthers, but it's hard to imagine how they steal a win from a team playing this well. This is especially the case after their brutal recent two-game road stretch, the finale a 31-21 loss to the New Orleans Saints. 

There, Newton threw a pair of touchdowns in the 31-21 loss, but he's not seeing anyone step up around him, and his defense coughed up 400 total yards. The unit has now allowed 27 or more points in two consecutive games, and Newton, though he flashes MVP-caliber play at times, has struggled to carry the team in the wake of moves such as trading away Kelvin Benjamin. 

These Panthers are fighting for their playoff lives as well, but a defense as good as Minnesota's won't have a hard time dialing in on Newton and slowing him in a low-scoring affair. 

Prediction: Vikings 23, Panthers 17

Washington at L.A. Chargers (-6)

Simms & Lefkoe Podcast: Are the Chargers a Playoff Threat to the Patriots?

Though a bigger line, bettors should feel just as confident in the Los Angeles Chargers. 

These Chargers are one of the hottest teams in the league after starting the season 0-4. They've won six of eight since and sit first in the AFC West. Entering Week 14, they've won three games in a row via 54-24, 28-6 and 19-10 margins. 

Over the recent three-game tear, Philip Rivers has looked great while throwing for six touchdowns with no interceptions and 1,029 yards. Maybe he isn't in the MVP conversation in the minds of most, but Rivers has looked like a quarterback ready to make some noise in the playoffs: 

The same feel-good vibes don't apply to the Washington Redskins, a 5-7 team with one win over its last four outings—the victory one against a two-win New York Giants team that just canned a head coach. 

Washington has looked lost for most of the season, discarding strong quarterback play from Kirk Cousins thanks to a running game averaging all of 3.8 yards per carry and a defense allowing 26.2 points per game, ranked 30th. 

In the grander scheme of things, the Redskins have won two games in their last seven tries. Now the Chargers get to welcome them to town, where Rivers should have another big day while looking to spar for playoff seeding. Washington couldn't line up and stop an Ezekiel Elliott-less offense last time out in a 38-14 loss, so stopping Rivers' spread-it-around attack on the road doesn't seem likely. 

Prediction: Chargers 30, Redskins 20 

New England (-10.5) at Miami

Let's go a little bigger in the spread department but feel no less confident while doing so. 

Such is the luxury of siding with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. 

Brady sits on 26 touchdowns against four interceptions now, and his Patriots haven't lost since Week 4, the last four coming via impressive 41-16, 33-8, 35-17 and 23-3 margins. After starting the season in miserable fashion, the defense hasn't allowed more than 20 points in a game since Week 4, including just holding Buffalo to three on 268 total yards. 

"Defensively, any time you can hold a team to three points, you feel pretty good about that," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said, according to ESPN.com's Mike Reiss. "This is just one of those games where you have to grind it out against a tough football team on the road. I thought our guys did that, all 46 of them. Everybody needed to step in there and hold part of the load, and they did."

Is New England a team capable of falling victim to a trap game, though? These AFC East rival Miami Dolphins are riding high after snapping a five-game losing streak thanks to a 35-9 thumping of the Denver Broncos. 

Things might not be what they seem there, though, as the three-win Broncos look like the worst team in football. The Dolphins got a surprising 120 rushing yards and a score from Kenyan Drake, but Jay Cutler still threw a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. 

These teams might know each other well, but the familiarity should have bettors in Brady's corner by a wide margin. In Week 12, this same meeting went down in the 35-17 margin, where Brady tossed four touchdowns and the Patriots ran for 196 yards and a score on a 5.2 per-carry average. 

There, Matt Moore didn't have an answer for the improved Patriots defense and Cutler won't either, not once Brady pulls his side ahead and forces the Dolphins into a one-dimensional attack. 

Prediction: Patriots 35, Dolphins 20

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Odds according to OddsShark.