NFL Week 16 Picks: Predicting the Week's Closest Scores

If Week 16 is half as insanely unpredictable as Week 15, we'll be in for a wild holiday weekend as NFL fans. 

Games with playoff implications dot the schedule for this week, and with the season on the line for some teams, the intensity will undoubtedly be turned up. 

Let's take a look at the three games that'll keep us on the edge of our couches on Christmas Eve. 

Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots

The Patriots have already captured the AFC East title, but they're still fighting for position atop the AFC playoff picture. 

Miami enters this game as a much more formidable opponent than we thought they'd be after the first half of the season and are winning games with Reggie Bush's shifty running, the occasional big play from Brandon Marshall and stingy defense that creates turnovers. 

Coming off an emotional high with their win in Denver, the Patriots will have a tough go at this one against the Dolphins. 

Without anything to play for, Miami will come out and control the clock with Bush. Don't be shocked to see a big game from Marshall against the league's worst secondary. 

In the end, Tom Brady will make the game-deciding play on the final drive to squash the Dolphins' upset chances. 

Patriots 27 Dolphins 23

New York Giants vs. New York Jets

The NFL's two NYC teams are extremely similar. 

Both are loaded with talent on both sides of the football and can look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders on any given Sunday. 

They also can look utterly embarrassing, seemingly wasting all their talent by playing down to their competition often. 

With so much on the line in this Big Apple Bowl, both team's will play more tentative than normal. 

This isn't to say that Eli Manning won't test the Jets secondary deep or Rex Ryan won't dial up a variety of blitzes Manning's way, but each coach will be waiting for the other to slip up. 

Don't be surprised to see the Giants run the football with more success than in the past because of Ahmad Bradshaw and right when we're ready to bury Mark Sanchez is usually when he has a bounce-back game. 

However, the Giants have too much firepower on offense and squeeze out a victory in the final minutes. 

Giants 24 Jets 23

San Diego Chargers at Detroit Lions

Two more teams with eerily similar makeups. 

The Lions are fresh off one of their biggest wins in the last decade over the Raiders, when they came back from another fourth quarter deficit, and in typical December fashion, the Chargers have won three straight.

Both clubs have dynamic offenses capable of scoring 30 points each time out.

Vincent Jackson and Calvin Johnson are huge targets who can stretch the field and reel in just about every jump ball down the sideline.

The defenses are respectable, but can look great one week, then get exploited the next.

We're in for a new-age shootout with a variety of big plays and hardly any defense. 

Lions 34 Chargers 31