NFL Week 12 Spread Picks and Predictions
Thanksgiving is finally here. We are treated to great food and football, two of the finest pleasures in life. The NFL has blessed us with a fantastic slate of games for Thanksgiving 2010.
Tom Brady’s dominant Patriots sit atop the NFL at 8-2 and travel to Detroit to take on the upstart, but hobbled, Lions.
Drew Brees’ New Orleans Saints march into Dallas to put an end to Jason Garrett’s two-game win streak with the Cowboys.
The night is finally topped off by Terrell Owens challenging Darrelle Revis at the New Meadowlands Stadium as the Jets host the Bengals.
Each game has a lot of promise to be the game of the day.
These are just three of the exciting games on tap for NFL Week 12.
Note: These spreads are taken from Yahoo! Spreads as of November 24.
New England Patriots @ Detroit Lions (+6.5)
1 of 17
The Patriots held on to a big victory at home against the Indianapolis Colts in the marquee game of Week 11.
The improving Lions were dominated by Jason Garrett’s rejuvenated Dallas Cowboys on the road.
The Lions are a bit hobbled due to Jahvid Best’s toes flaring up last week. Nobody in the Patriots secondary can guard Calvin Johnson, though, who should shine once again on Thanksgiving.
Tom Brady is in a zone, dominating the Steelers and Colts at an efficient rate these past two weeks. The Lions defensive line should be able to hurry Brady more than the Colts defensive line did this past Sunday.
Six-and-a-half points is tough to give on the road in a short week with a young, inconsistent defense.
Pick: Detroit (+6.5)
New Orleans Saints @ Dallas Cowboys (+3.5)
2 of 17
The Cowboys have finally found their stride under new head coach Jason Garrett. They have dominated the past two weeks in all three phases of the game.
They’ll meet a fully focused Saints team, who just dominated Seattle at home.
The Saints are determined right now to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South. Although the Saints simply need this game more than the Cowboys, I expect the Cowboys to keep it close in a high-scoring affair.
Pick: Dallas (+3.5)
Cincinnati Bengals @ New York Jets (-9)
3 of 17
The Bengals are simply dreadful this season and may be the most disappointing team following their impressive 2009 season. The Jets beat this team both times last season and are on a roll following three straight come-from-behind victories in crunch time.
Quarterback Mark Sanchez has been doing a great job keeping his team in position to win games.
Although the spread is high, the Jets are at home on Thanksgiving and should be able to handle the Bengals' mediocre offense. The defense will keep Terrell Owens' and Chad Ochocinco’s mouths shut.
Pick: New York (-9)
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Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons (-2.5)
4 of 17
Many analysts are declaring the Atlanta Falcons the best team in the NFC as they sit atop the conference at 8-2. Not buying them yet as their defense is still suspect in my eyes.
Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings ripped apart the Vikings defense as they connected for three touchdowns together. The Packers offense is on fire at the moment, and Atlanta’s defense or home-field advantage won’t do much to stall them.
Matt Ryan has played fantastic football with Roddy White, so this will be a fun matchup to see which duo has a better connection at the moment.
The Packers opened the season as the favorites in the NFC, and they’ll begin to prove they are every bit the team people envisioned them to be.
Pick: Green Bay (+2.5)
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Buffalo Bills (+6.5)
5 of 17
The Bills went on the road and won their second straight game. Still, this is an odd spread as the Steelers absolutely manhandled an improved Oakland Raiders team.
Fred Jackson has been great the past two weeks for the Bills, but the Steelers just shut down Darren McFadden, who has been one of the premier rushers in the league this season.
Ben Roethlisberger has performed well since coming back from injury and should have his way with the Bills defense, despite being on the road.
Pick: Pittsburgh (-6.5)
Carolina Panthers @ Cleveland Browns (-11)
6 of 17
The Panthers are awful this season as their entire offense has been decimated by injuries throughout the year. Mike Goodson has actually been serviceable for the team at the running back position, but the Browns defense has been solid for the most part this season.
It is tough to imagine the Panthers putting up much of a fight on the road against a resilient Browns team, which has played very good overall football since Week 1. It remains to be seen if Colt McCoy will start as he is dealing with an ankle injury. Clearly, he is the Browns’ best option, but as long as Peyton Hillis is on the field for Cleveland, he will dominate the day as usual.
This is a monster spread and I’m usually inclined to take the points, but I’d prefer to go with Cleveland.
Pick: Cleveland (-11)
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Giants (-7)
7 of 17
The Jaguars have surprised me each of the past two weeks. Two weeks ago, the Jaguars won on a Hail Mary against Houston, and last week they beat a good Browns team.
The Giants desperately need to rebound after falling to two division rivals the past two weeks when they had a great opportunity to take a strong lead in the NFC East.
This is a tough game to pick because the Jaguars could potentially lay an egg on the road. The Giants defense played fantastic against Michael Vick and will be looking to take their aggression out on David Garrard and Maurice Jones-Drew. Although Hakeem Nicks is out injured, the Giants still have enough on offense to handle the Jaguars.
Pick: New York (-7)
Minnesota Vikings @ Washington Redskins (-2.5)
8 of 17
Washington, despite the turmoil in recent works and an embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10, went on the road to Tennessee and won a tough game to get back in the right direction.
Minnesota has been dreadful this season and just fired their terrible head coach, Brad Childress. Leslie Frazier now steps in as head coach to attempt to rejuvenate this team.
The Vikings hope to share the same success the Cowboys have recently had after firing Wade Phillips and promoting Jason Garrett.
Many people are crying for Brett Favre to be benched, but I expect him to perform well against a good Redskins secondary. The success of Adrian Peterson will be the catalyst for the Vikings. I believe he will be relied on heavily throughout the day, and expect huge numbers out of him as he carries the team to victory.
Pick: Minnesota (+2.5)
Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans (Pick ‘Em)
9 of 17
Although Yahoo! doesn’t have a spread yet for this game, I would expect Houston to be favored anywhere between three and seven points.
Either way, I’m siding with Houston, which has played better in recent weeks. The offense is clicking as they have gotten healthier.
The major concern here is that both Vince Young and Kerry Collins are out with injuries. Is third stringer Rusty Smith ready to perform? We don’t know much about him. Will he be able to get Randy Moss the ball?
There will be a heavy dose of Chris Johnson in this one, but he may not be enough against the Texans at home.
Pick: Houston
Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders (Pick ‘Em)
10 of 17
Another game Yahoo! oddly doesn’t have a spread for at the moment. I wouldn’t expect Oakland to be favored by more than three after the rout they suffered in Pittsburgh.
Miami was just shut out against Chicago at home, so it will be interesting to see how they come out.
I’ve been a bigger fan of Oakland’s play this season, and expect Darren McFadden to shred the Dolphins defense as he has been one of the premier rushers in the game this season.
Oakland is starting to get healthier and has their eyes set on the AFC West crown.
Oakland gets back on track.
Pick: Oakland
Kansas City Chiefs @ Seattle Seahawks (+1)
11 of 17
Kansas City took care of business against the Arizona Cardinals at home after their embarrassing loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 11.
Seattle plays much better at home, but was just dominated on the road against the defending Super Bowl Champs New Orleans Saints.
"Big" Mike Williams suffered a foot injury in the contest. Seattle will be in big trouble if Williams is forced to miss time, as he has been the Seahawks most impressive skill player this season.
Kansas City found great balance on offense against the Cardinals, and I would expect a similar performance this week. Dwayne Bowe and Jamaal Charles just seem to be on fire at the moment.
Pick: Kansas City (-1)
Philadelphia Eagles @ Chicago Bears (+3.5)
12 of 17
The New York Giants defense did a great job "containing" Michael Vick in Week 11. They appeared to lay the blueprint for trying to get Vick off his game. Chicago has a similar defense to the Giants, as they have premier defenders in Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher.
Jay Cutler’s offense is turnover-prone, and the Eagles defense just created five turnovers against the better Giants offense.
The Eagles have too much speed on offense and are aiming for the No. 1 seed in the NFC as they eye a Super Bowl run. The Eagles are playing great football and, while this will be a great game, the pick is the Eagles.
Pick: Philadelphia (-3.5)
St. Louis Rams @ Denver Broncos (-4)
13 of 17
I’ve backed St. Louis most of the time this season, as I believe they have a great opportunity to win the NFC West.
The Broncos just got stomped on the road against San Diego. In Week 10, they did the stomping against Kansas City. Josh McDaniels’ cocky antics on the sidelines upset Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and perhaps the fooball gods as well.
Denver may play better at home this week, but I’m still looking for Sam Bradford to pick apart the Broncos' suspect defense.
Pick: St. Louis (+4)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Baltimore Ravens (-7.5)
14 of 17
Josh Freeman’s Bucs are another team I seem to have consistently gone with recently as their improved play this season, despite my concerns in the preseason, created a believer in me. Freeman never seems to be out of a game as he is a dual-threat athlete. Rookie receiver Mike Williams seems to have escaped suspension for his recent off-field activities.
The Ravens haven’t clicked as well as I thought they would, but they are steadily improving on offense and I’ll stick with them as my preseason pick to make it to the AFC Championship against the Jets.
Despite being on the road, Tampa Bay has played most of their games close and come in with a lot of momentum following a 21-0 victory over San Francisco.
Pick: Tampa Bay (+7.5)
San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis Colts (-3)
15 of 17
The Chargers are surprisingly clicking at the moment, despite suffering injury after injury. Both Ryan Mathews and Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates missed Week 11’s game against the Denver Broncos. Philip Rivers has played at an MVP level all season long.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, who desperately need to win to keep pace in the AFC West, they go on the road to battle Peyton Manning’s Colts after a devastating loss to the rival Patriots. Manning blamed himself for the loss after throwing three interceptions in the three-point loss.
Expect Manning to be on point as he dissects the Chargers defense in another high-scoring contest.
Pick: Indianapolis (-3)
San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals (-1)
16 of 17
Both teams are playing terrible at the moment. San Francisco may be playing even worse than Arizona as they were just shut out by Tampa Bay at home. Now on the road, it is tough to imagine them entering the game with any intensity as they have nothing to play for at the moment.
Although the Cardinals rushing attack has been nonexistent since the opening weeks of the season, the passing attack has been rather consistent over the past few weeks.
In a division game on Monday night, the safer bet is the Cardinals at home.
Pick: Arizona (-1)
Picks
17 of 17
New England Patriots @ Detroit Lions (+7)
New Orleans Saints @ Dallas Cowboys (+3.5)
Cincinnati Bengals @ New York Jets (-9)
Green Bay Packers (+2.5) @ Atlanta Falcons
Pittsburgh Steelers (-6.5) @ Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers @ Cleveland Browns (-11)
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Giants (-7)
Minnesota Vikings (+2.5) @ Washington Redskins
Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans (Pick ‘Em)
Miami Dolphins @ Oakland Raiders (Pick ‘Em)
Kansas City Chiefs (-1) @ Seattle Seahawks
Philadelphia Eagles (-3.5) @ Chicago Bears
St. Louis Rams (+4) @ Denver Broncos
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+7.5) @ Baltimore Ravens
San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis Colts (-3)
San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals (-1)
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