NFL Week 15 Picks: Surging Teams That Will Light It Up on the Road

Winners will continue to win in Week 15, despite the quality of opposition. 

NFL streakers like the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers are just two teams surging at the right time of year. Meanwhile, the Oakland Raiders and Chicago Bears are on the naughty list and in danger of missing the postseason fun.

With Santa Claus on his way, these Super Bowl contenders are playing nice. Look for them to keep it up with just three weeks left before the playoffs: 

Baltimore Ravens

Don't look now, but the San Diego Chargers have won two consecutive blowout games to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

Okay, you can look, because the Baltimore Ravens have won four games in a row behind dominant defensive efforts to become a Super Bowl favorite in the AFC. 

Ray Rice will have a field day against the league's 23rd-ranked rushing defense at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday night. 

Rice has rushed for 1,029 yards through 14 weeks of the season and has the strong arm of Joe Flacco to fall back on if the going gets tough.

Flacco has been better than perennial fantasy assassin Philip Rivers in 2011, and the two teams' positioning in the conference standings support that argument.

Baltimore's D is scarily good. They rank Top-Five against the pass and the run. Need I say more? 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Like their AFC North rival, the Steelers need to keep winning and they will do just that in Week 15 against the surprising 49ers.

Pittsburgh will have plenty of time to rest by kickoff on Monday night in San Francisco. Ben Roethlisberger should be feeling better and be slightly more mobile than he was in the second half against Cleveland last week.

The Steelers have won four in a row since losing to the Ravens in early November. What's more, they can keep the pressure on division-leading Baltimore with a win over the Niners, who John Harbaugh's men beat on Thanksgiving.

Pittsburgh will have a hard time running the ball against the league's first-ranked rushing defense, which has yet to allow a TD on the ground all season. However, Big Ben will be the difference through the air.

Alex Smith isn't quite there as an elite QB, even though his team is elite. That's why the Steelers (ranked No. 1 against the pass) will move to 11-3 on the road in Week 15. 

New England Patriots

Tim Tebow and the Broncos' top-ranked rushing attack will host one of the league's worst defenses in the New England Patriots this Sunday at Mile High.

Denver has won six consecutive games and seven out of eight since Tebow took over, which isn't too shabby.

Meanwhile, the Pats have won five in a row since losing two in a row and are riding just as much momentum as the Broncos heading into Week 15.

It's crazy to think that a team that was supposed to be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes next April is suddenly leading the AFC West by a game and on the cusp of hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2005.

Still, like Tebow, Rob Gronkowski is a man on a mission (15 TDs, record for a tight end) and will do seemingly whatever is necessary to will the Pats to victory as of late.

The Pats will have just enough defense to assist their offense in saddening the Denver faithful on the road in Week 15.