NFL Football Picks

This game is a re-match of last year’s AFC Wildcard Round contest where the Bills ended their playoff drought. Sadly for Buffalo, their season only extended one more week when the Jaguars defense led Jacksonville to a 10-3 win. Overall, the Jaguars and Bills have split the last four meetings between the two sides with two wins each. Which team is primed to make that record 3-2 in the last 5? Keith Franks has a moneyline selection for Sunday’s game!

Don’t look now, but the Houston Texans have won 7 in a row, and are now 7-3 with a 2 game lead in the AFC South. Despite the winning streak, Houston is not getting any of the recognition that teams like the Saints, Rams and Chiefs are getting for similar streaks. 4 of the 7 wins have come by less than one score, and bettors laying the points at their bookmaker have only cashed half of their last 6 games. Sportsbooks have the Texans favored inside a TD at -6

The Browns offense looked good in week 11. Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens drew up a beauty of a gameplan that allowed both Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb to shine and give Browns fans a reason to believe that this team is truly on the verge of a turnaround. Mayfield finished 17-of-20 for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns and soared to his highest quarterback rating (97.1) and passer rating (151.3) of the season. That is in large part why sportsbooks are only giving the Browns 3 points. Is that enough? RW breaks it down!

The Patriots head to Jersey to take on the Jets for a Sunday afternoon showdown of AFC East rivals. New England has dominated of late with wins in twelve of the last fourteen games between the teams, but it is Gang Green who has had the upper hand against the spread with a record of 8-2 in the last ten meetings including five straight covers at home. Now that we have the ATS hocus pocus out of the way, lets dive into the matchup!

This Chicago defense is for real. Their front-seven is immense, with one of the best run-stopping groups up-front. And with Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith, Danny Trevathan, and Leonard Floyd at linebacker, they make a lot of plays. Mack has shown what he can do when the field is balanced with other star players around him. This might be the best Chicago “D” since they won the Super Bowl over 30 years ago. Will the Bears shut down the Lions or will the Lions manage to score like they did a few weeks ago? LL has your Thanksgiving pick!

A lot of people were surprised by the Cowboys 2nd straight road win last week. After going on the road to beat Philadelphia, the Cowboys continued on and took down the Falcons to climb back to the .500 mark on the season and within striking distance of the playoffs. Last week’s win over Atlanta was the most impressive when you consider the Cowboys defense held the explosive Atlanta offense to just 19 points with a makeshift defensive line. Most betting sites show Dallas -8 suggesting Dallas has momentum!

When these teams met in week 3 with identical 1-1 records in Atlanta, the Falcons were 4 point favorites. Both teams were considered top 3 teams in the NFC, both had an equal chance to be 9-1 coming into this game, and it would take a lot of injuries for one of the teams to be 4-6, but the Falcons were considered a slightly better team. Since winning that week 3 game in overtime, everything has clicked for New Orleans, and everything has gone wrong for Atlanta. Atlanta looks to turn it around as players look at the sportsbook’s juicy +12.

There is a paradox in the Tampa aerial-offense, as they constantly shift between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston. Last week in the loss to the Giants, Fitzpatrick was behind center, but after three picks, Winston was put in and threw 2 touchdowns, but also a pick. It might surprise some that Tampa puts up more yards aerially than any other team in the league. They put up a lot of points. But the mistakes are plenty, with Winston and Fitzpatrick having combined for 23 picks through just ten games—an alarming figure. Can TB throw the ball to players on their own team on Sunday? LL has your NFL prediction.

Sportsbooks FINALLY opened a line on this game yesterday putting the birds as 3 point favorites. Change is certain to be in the air in Cinci after last week’s blowout loss to the Saints. The Bengals have fired defensive coordinator Teryl Austin but you can also expect a shakeup on the offensive side. Exactly what that will mean for the offense is unclear, but Andy Dalton was out of sorts against the Saints without top target A.J. Green, who’s out indefinitely with a foot injury. He tried turning to speedster John Ross in Green’s absence but that was only good for 2 catches for 39 yards last time out. What can the Bengals do versus the Ravens? Rick Wise has his NFL prediction.

To simply say the Raiders are bad doesn’t do much justice. It’s been hard to watch. It is one thing to unload all your big talent in an attempt to build for the future, but the product they’re putting out there is majorly substandard. It’s bad enough to lose a bunch of games, but Oakland is now forcing betting sites to push the boundaries of good-taste when setting these numbers. Here they are only 4 point dogs but maybe that isn’t enough. Loot breaks down the match up!