Week 15 NFL Picks: Predictions for Sunday's Games, Odds Guide, Over/Under Tips

For those playing NFL Week 15 picks and odds, the schedule started innocently enough Thursday. 

There, Thursday Night Football featured a road Denver Broncos team slightly favored over the hosting Indianapolis Colts. The sloppy affair saw those Broncos prove oddsmakers right with a 25-13 win in what served as a nice appetizer, otherwise known as bankroll padding. 

If only the entire slate were so simple. 

This offering features a pair of Saturday games and critical showdowns such as Green Bay-Carolina and New England-Pittsburgh. 

It's fitting the task gets tougher with only a few weeks remaining. 

NFL Week 15 Matchups, Odds

Chicago at Detroit (-5) | O/U 44

L.A. Chargers (-1) at Kansas City | O/U 46

Arizona at Washington (-4) | O/U 43.5

Baltimore (-7.5) at Cleveland | O/U 40

Cincinnati at Minnesota (-11) | O/U 42

Green Bay at Carolina (-3) | O/U 45

Houston at Jacksonville (-11) | O/U 39.5

Miami at Buffalo (-3) | O/U 39

N.Y. Jets at New Orleans (-16) | O/U 47

Philadelphia (-7.5) at N.Y. Giants | O/U 40

L.A. Rams at Seattle (-2) | O/U 48

New England (-3) at Pittsburgh | O/U

Tennessee at San Francisco (-2) | O/U 44

Dallas (-3) at Oakland | O/U 46

Atlanta (-6) at Tampa Bay | O/U 48

Baltimore (-7.5) at Cleveland 

Are the Baltimore Ravens the team to cough up a win for the Cleveland Browns? 

It seems likelier than usual. Not only is it upset season this late in the schedule, the Ravens enter this one off a brutal battle against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a 39-38 loss. They wouldn't be the first team to suffer a miserable hangover after playing the Steelers, either, not with the Cincinnati Bengals in a full-blown tailspin weeks after the AFC North slugfest. 

The Ravens understand the threat the Browns present, too. 

"I feel like they've played well all year," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said, per Stats LLC (via ESPN.com). "They've played well enough to win plenty of games this year. All you have to do is watch the tape to understand that. They're very well coached, a very hard-playing team with talent."

Indeed, the Browns went on the road and only lost in 19-10 fashion against a strong Los Angeles Chargers team before going down in overtime, 27-21, at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. Sprinkle in what might be motivation after an apparent slight from new general manager John Dorsey, and the Browns might have the motivation necessary to pull this off. 

Of course, this could go in the opposite direction as well. These two met back in Week 2, and Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer tossed three interceptions, whereas the Ravens cruised with 136 yards and a touchdown on the ground while eating more than 33 minutes of clock. 

Little has changed for both teams since, and the Ravens have now won three of four and played Pittsburgh within a point on the road in prime time. Riding Alex Collins, who has five touchdowns over his last four outings, the Ravens should be able to follow their same blueprint used earlier this year to survive. 

Prediction: Ravens 27, Browns 17

Philadelphia (-7.5) at N.Y. Giants 

The Philadelphia Eagles are the biggest story in football for all the wrong reasons. 

Well, the reason—Carson Wentz, MVP candidate, is lost for the year. So too are Super Bowl ambitions, unless a guy like Nick Foles can help the team stay on a strong course. 

Those in charge, at least, like what they see, according to Dave Spadaro of the team's official website: 

If the Eagles needed to break in a new starting quarterback, this was at least the week to do it. The New York Giants are lost, to say the least, sitting on a 2-11 record and losers of three straight. 

The Giants will have Eli Manning back under center against the Eagles, but he's sitting on 15 touchdowns against nine interceptions and his running game is averaging 3.8 yards per carry with four touchdowns on the year. 

Meaning, there isn't much Manning can do against the Eagles, Wentz or not. A quarterback like Foles who hasn't attempted more than 55 passes in a season since 2015 makes life much harder on the rest of the team, but we're still talking about a defense ranked first against the rush via allowing 71.2 yards per game and fifth in scoring at 19.2 points surrendered on average. 

The blueprint is simple—the Eagles will force Manning into a one-dimensional look, which will lead to exploitable mistakes. 

Prediction: Eagles 30, Giants 20

New England (-3) at Pittsburgh

It doesn't seem often the NFL schedule spits up a matchup as important as those in charge of it had hoped. 

Then there is Sunday's bout between the New England Patriots and those Steelers. 

Both franchises have playoff seeding on the mind, though only one team has remained pristine since Week 6. 

That would be the hosting Steelers, who find themselves home underdogs despite the fact the Patriots enter the game on a short week after a loss to the Miami Dolphins. Tom Brady only threw one touchdown with two interceptions in the 27-20 debacle, yet oddsmakers like his side enough to peg them as road favorites. 

Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, at least, know a thing or two about facing off: 

Still, it's a tough sell to go against the Steelers at home here. They've rattled off eight wins in a row, and Big Ben has 12 touchdowns against three interceptions over his last four outings alone. Though the New England defense has cleaned up mistakes compared to earlier in the season, it's still a unit that just coughed up three touchdown passes to Jay Cutler. 

Not only do the Patriots have to worry about Antonio Brown, Le'Veon Bell seems like he's finally rounding into form on the ground after rushing for two scores against Baltimore and seeing bigger running lanes develop because of the respect opponents have to show Big Ben's passing game. 

Right now the Steelers are playing like the better team at home, so look for Big Ben to win this duel late as the Patriots start having fans once again question whether a defense ranked 29th against the pass is capable of lifting them to a Super Bowl. 

Prediction: Steelers 30, Patriots 27

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