NFL Week 14 Picks: Predictions for Every Primetime Game

There are three prime-time games scheduled for Week 14 of the NFL season, with games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights.

Playoff implications, bragging rights and a desire to simply stop failing are all major storylines of these contests. Here are my predictions of how I believe each of these games will play out.

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers

With a win over the Cleveland Browns tonight in concert with a series of wins and losses by other AFC teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers can clinch a layoff berth this week. When it comes to the part of this puzzle that they can control—beating the Browns—the Steelers should have little trouble.

At 9-3, the Steelers are one of the AFC's top teams yet again. Though they don't have control over the North Division, their remaining schedule combined with their trademark December toughening nearly guarantees them a spot in the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

The Steelers boast one of the best passing offenses in the league, averaging 256.1 passing yards per game with 19 of the team's 28 touchdowns coming via the air.

Though on paper the Browns have one of the more difficult passing defenses to overcome, that stat is skewed by the fact that they've yet to face a passing offense as talented as the Steelers.

Further, considering the Browns are giving up an average of more than 150 rushing yards per game, no team has had much of a need to pass on them so far this year.

That fact bodes well for a good night for the Steelers shaky run game but it doesn't mean they won't rely on the pass to win them the game.

Look for the Steelers defense to attack struggling Browns quarterback Colt McCoy and hold running back Peyton Hillis to fewer than 50 yards. The Steelers should handily defeat Cleveland in what has all the signs of being a blowout.

Final score: Steelers 35, Browns 10

New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys

The final four weeks of the regular season will decide which team ends up winning the NFC East, as the two front runners, the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, play each other twice.

The first of these two meetings is scheduled for this Sunday night, and it's likely going to be a close contest decided by which team manages to commit the fewest mistakes.

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo has had a great year, thanks in part to the emergence of rookie running back DeMarco Murray's prodigious skills taking the pressure off of Romo to throw the ball for 350 yards or more to win games.

The less Romo has to throw, the less risks he has to take, and the fewer the risks, the fewer the interceptions. On the year, Romo has 3,325 yards in the air for 22 scores and just nine interceptions, throwing just two picks in his last five games.

In contrast, mistakes—plus two extremely tough opponents—have caused the New York Giants to drop their last four games in a row. Despite these mistakes, which range from interceptions to dropped passes, missed tackles to blown coverages, quarterback Eli Manning is on pace to have the best year of his career.

Manning has thrown for 3,705 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. This week, he may be called upon to do more than he's been asked all season, with running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw questionable for the game after not practicing all week.

Though the two are scheduled to return to practice Friday, it is still unknown if one or both of them will be able to play this week. If they can't, then the advantage swings widely in favor of Dallas.

Another favorable circumstance for the Cowboys: Fullback Tony Fiammetta, who is Murray's lead blocker, will return this week from an illness that has had him sidelined for a few games. Murray averages an astounding eight yards per carry when Fiammetta is blocking for him, so this should make a huge difference for Dallas.

I see the Cowboys notching the home win in a close contest this Sunday.

Final score: Cowboys 28, Giants 24

St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks

Though they're just at 5-7, the Seattle Seahawks have put together quite a season for themselves. They're on pace to finish the year at 8-8, making it a better record than they had in 2010, albeit they won the NFC West and even notched a playoff victory despite being 7-9 on the year.

The St. Louis Rams have quite the disappointing season on their hands, currently sitting at 2-10 as they field the NFL's worst offense, while their defense is allowing the most rushing yards of any team, giving up an average of 157.8 yards per game.

That weak run defense plays right into the hands of the Seahawks, who have in Marshawn Lynch one of the most explosive running backs in the league. Lynch has six games with 80 or more total yards and has scored at least one touchdown in seven of his 11 games.

Though Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson has more interceptions than touchdowns on the year and rarely passes for more than 200 yards, that strategy has been rather effective for his team thanks to the efforts of Lynch.

It will be Lynch who makes the difference in this game. No matter what the struggling Rams offense tries to put together on Monday night, it won't come close to matching Lynch's production (nor Jackson's efficient, conservative passing game). This game shouldn't be close.

Final score: Seahawks 28, Rams 7