NFL Picks Week 15: Road Warriors Ready to Silence Hostile Fans

Matchups, momentum and various other factors reveal that the following matchups are over before they even begin.

The following soon-to-be-victorious teams are going to send a stadium full of people home with frowns on their faces and sadness in their hearts.

Pittsburgh Steelers at San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers one-dimensional offense is going to have a hard time moving the ball on the stout Steelers defense. San Francisco has an offense that needs to run the ball to be effective, and they are not going to find much success with that this game.

Pittsburgh is sixth in rushing yards allowed, and that rush defense has been on a steady incline during the year. For the season, they have allowed 4.0 yards per rush, but that number has dropped to 3.4 yards per attempt over their last three games.

That defense is going to suffocate the 49ers offense, and force them into passing situations. That is more bad news for the 49ers, as Pittsburgh's pass D is better than their run—they are first in passing yards allowed.

Offensively, the Steelers will be able to spread out the 49ers defense and attack them through the air. It should be noted that Ben Roethlisberger, according to Gerry Dulac of the Sporting News, missed practice on Monday due to an ankle sprain sustained last Thursday night.

However, he returned to that game after the sprain, and it takes a lot to keep the Steelers' beastly QB out of a game. If and when he does play, he will be lining up to pick apart the weakness of the 49ers defense.

The 49ers are 11th in yards allowed per pass attempt and they are getting worse. Over their last three they are averaging almost a full yard more per pass attempt.

Pittsburgh will spread out the 49ers defense and pick them apart.

Prediction: Steelers 20, 49ers 10

New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings

With the 49ers losing to the Steelers, the Saints will take a huge step towards being the NFC's No. 2 seed by dominating the Vikings.

The Vikings have not been playing as badly as their record suggests. They have won just two games all season—including five straight losses—however, three of their last four games have come down to the last possession, and those were all against teams with winning records.

Still, despite this strong recent play, the Vikings are no match for the Saints. Drew Brees is going to shred the horrid Vikings pass defense.

Minnesota's pass defense is bad any way you look at it. They are 26th in passing yards allowed, 28th in yards allowed per pass and dead last in touchdown passes allowed.

The only thing the Vikings have done well this season in pass defense is to get the QB on the ground. They are third in the league in sack percentage.

That pass rush will not save them in this game though. The Saints have done a fabulous job of protecting Brees this year, as they are third in the NFL in sacks allowed percentage.

The Vikings expect to have RB Adrian Peterson back this week, but that won't be enough.

The Saints are a decent 15th in rushing yards, and that is more than enough resistance to slow the Vikings down while New Orleans offense takes over.

The Saints passing attack will keep the pedal to the metal in this game, and the Vikings offense will not be able to keep pace.

Prediction: Saints 38, Vikings 24

Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Cowboys have the luxury of rebounding from their heartbreaking loss against the Giants by facing a disintegrating Buccaneers team.

Tampa Bay has lost seven straight games and they are now coming apart at the seams. They have lost their last two games by a combined score of 79-33 to the lowly Panthers and Jaguars.

The Buccaneers can't stop their opposition from doing anything. They are 27th in passing yards allowed and 28th in rushing yards allowed.

Dallas will be able to hit for big plays in the passing game, and then seal the deal with their running game. The Cowboys finally have a healthy receiving corp, and this will allow them to spread out Tampa's defense to give Tony Romo his choice of open targets.

Last week the Cowboys had four receivers with at least three catches, three receivers that went for at least 50 yards, and four different players that caught touchdown passes.

The Bucs are not equipped to handle this kind of passing attack. This will allow the Cowboys to jump out to an early lead and force the Buccaneers to throw against the Cowboys' sixth ranked pass defense while playing catchup.

That is not going to work out well for a Bucs team that is headed for their third straight embarrassment.

Prediction: Cowboys 34, Buccaneers 13