NFL Predictions; Week 14

Season Spreads: 52-40

Season Winners- 68-24

Pittsburgh (-10) at Cleveland: The Steelers will cover the spread.  I know Pittsburgh’s been struggling and they’re in their biggest rivals house who would love nothing more than to ruin the Steelers season but Big Ben is big time.  When everyone doubts the Steelers and when it matters most is when Ben and the rest play their best.

New Orleans (-11) at Atlanta:  The Saints will stomp the Falcons and continue their pursuit to perfection while covering the spread.  Atlanta’s played terribly and both their starting quarterback and running back are injured.  Without them they don’t have much shot at beating anyone let alone the undefeated Saints. 

Green Bay (-3) at Chicago:  The Packers will dominate the Bears and cover the spread.  Green Bay looks great right now and Chicago just barely beat the Rams.  Bears QB Jay Cutler leads the league in interceptions and Green Bay has the number one defense.  I can’t believe the spread’s this low.

Jets (-3) at Buccaneers: Tampa’s taking this one to get their second win on the season.  The Bucs played some close games this year and I have a feeling that the Mets, I mean Jets, will start their late season free fall from the playoffs starting Sunday.

St. Louis (+13) at Tennessee: Vince Young will rebound after his first loss of the season in a big way.  He’ll take this opportunity against a weak team to get his team back on track by blowing out the Rams by about 20.  With all the mediocre teams in the AFC the Titans still have a shot at reaching the playoffs and I’m sure Jeff Fischer will put that in the back of all the Titans player’s minds.

San Diego (+3) at Dallas:  San Diego’s not favored?!  Dallas is dreadful in December and the Chargers are finally playing up to their talent level.  I think San Diego blows the Cowboys out of their new billion dollar stadium and makes Wade Phillips seat even hotter.

Can’t Pick These

Miami (+3) at Jacksonville: The winner has a great shot at being the only Florida team to make the post season.

Detroit (+14) at Baltimore: If this were earlier in the season when the Ravens offense was unstoppable I’d pick Baltimore.  Lately though the Ravens have played poorly on both sides of the ball which makes this a competitive game between two struggling teams.

Seattle (+7) at Houston: Both these teams should be much better than their records say.  This one comes down to who makes the stupid play call to cause a costly turnover in the fourth quarter.

Denver (+7) at Indy: I got a feeling the Broncos will give the Colts their first taste of defeat but I just can’t bring myself to bet against Peyton Manning.  That guy’s in a league of his own.

Buffalo at Kansas City: Who cares?  The Cheifs are good at home sometimes and the Bills are only good unless they play the Dolphins.

Cincinnati (+7) at Minnesota: The Cardinals defense is much improved and caused Favre and the Vikes issues last week.  I expect the Bengals defense to give Minnesota the same problems but the Vikings are nearly unbeatable at home so it’s hard to chose a winner.

Carolina (+14) at New England: The Pats should blow out the quarterbackless Panthers but the way New England’s played lately I don’t know if they can cover this spread.

Washington (-1) at Oakland: Both these teams have shown some signs of life lately but its impossible to determine which underachieving franchise will come out more flat.

Eagles (+1) at Giants: Even with that terrible losing streak Eli and the Giants still control their destiny to make the playoffs and their journey starts Sunday night.

Arizona (-4) at San Francisco: The Cardinals should win but I’ve learned from them that every time they start looking like a great team they come out flat.  It’s like when they gain their confidence is when they stop playing as hard.