Last week, I managed a 10-7 record, keeping my cumulative total at 60% (123-84-1). Here are my Week 15 picks.
NOTE: All games will be played on Sunday afternoon unless otherwise noted.
This column was published originally on Wednesday, December 16.
Las Vegas 34, Los Angeles Chargers 10 (Thursday night): The “flex” program, in which games are moved in and out of the Sunday-night slot to ensure a nationwide audience for a good matchup, does not affect Monday or Thursday games. This is one instance where I wish it did because, for all of the Raiders’ inconsistencies, they should be able to thrash the hard-luck Chargers at home absolutely. I really don’t think this game is going to make for good viewing because of that, and two other reasons: the AFC West race has long ago been conceded to Kansas City, plus the fact that East Coast and Midwest fans don’t pay much attention to the West Coast teams.
Buffalo 26, Denver 17 (Saturday afternoon): Have you ever noticed that when Buffalo makes the playoffs, it is often scheduled to take the field on a Saturday? This game could serve as a key jump-off point for another Bills team heading for the postseason; to further that point, they will be heading into a cold mid-afternoon start in Denver. Miami has been pesky, and the Patriots are trying to rally late, but a game like this should help prepare Buffalo, a cold-weather team itself, for whatever January has in store. Denver quarterback Drew Lock is coming off a career-best four-touchdown-pass performance.
Green Bay 29, Carolina 16 (Saturday night): In 1996, the football world was turned upside down when Carolina and Jacksonville, two expansion clubs in their second seasons of existence, made the conference championship games. The Panthers, fresh off an upset of Dallas in the Divisional round, got blown out at Lambeau Field the following week. The same thing should happen here to a Carolina team that is nowhere near the postseason.
Baltimore 40, Jacksonville 6: It’s the NFL so that anything can happen; that is, any team, on any given Sunday (or any other day of the week), can beat any other team. But a Ravens team that is this talented, this young, this deep, and with expectations as high as they have been all season is simply not going to lose to the Jaguars, losers of a club-record 12 straight games since a Week One win over Indianapolis. Sure, Baltimore has had difficulty with the elite teams in the league (as well as COVID), but the Jags certainly don’t fit that description. The Ravens are on a mission to nail down a wild-card spot, from which they intend to make a deeper postseason run than they’ve made the past two years.
Miami 31, New England 15: You all remember what happened last year in Week 17, when the Dolphins went up to Foxborough and beat the Patriots, knocking them down a spot and forcing them to face Tennessee in the wild-card round. New England isn’t good enough to return the favor in this game, which is in Miami. Even though the Patriots have not yet been officially eliminated, the AFC East became a two-team race when New England got overwhelmed by the Rams last week.
Tennessee 30, Detroit 19: If the Titans could show some defensive spine, they could show themselves to be among the most complete and dangerous teams in the league. But when they don’t, they get eviscerated by the likes of Cleveland. That should be enough motivation for the Titans down the stretch, as they not only are fighting Indianapolis for the AFC South crown but a slew of other teams for a wild-card spot. I think Matthew Stafford (if healthy after last week’s rib injury) makes this one interesting for a while, but the home team should win because of the presence of Derrick Henry. This year, Henry has a league-record four games with 200 yards and two scores, as well as nine 100-yard games, the kinds of records set by several Hall of Famers such as Jim Brown and Barry Sanders.
Indianapolis 23, Houston 13: Division rivalries like this one are always spicy, but the spice went out of the Texans’ season a long time ago, with the nadir probably being a blowout loss in Chicago last week that officially eliminated them from the AFC race. The Texans are on the road again, playing a foe that knows what to expect and knows what’s possibly ahead of it.
Seattle 24, Washington 16: The Seahawks, making an East Coast trip this week, are reportedly the only team in the NFL that has not been severely affected by COVID. This season, it could be the team that avoids drastic viral effects that ends up holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and the ‘Hawks were a contender even without that element coming into play. Washington has surprisingly won four straight, but that should come to an end here. WFT quarterback Alex Smith wrapped up the Comeback Player of the Year award by merely stepping onto the field this year, and Seattle signal-caller Russell Wilson has thrown a career-high 36 touchdown passes in 2020.
Dallas 30, San Francisco 20: This game was not only flexed out of the Sunday-night slot but moved all the way up to a 1 p.m. Eastern time start. That’s how far this once-great rivalry has fallen since Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, and Steve Young aren’t walking through the door. Dallas is the home team here, coming off a good road win at Cincinnati. With San Francisco struggling under the weight of nearly two dozen players on injured reserve, I’ll take the Cowboys; amazingly, Dallas is still mathematically alive for a playoff spot.
Minnesota 29, Chicago 22: The Bears did a great job at home in destroying Houston last week, but while the Texans don’t have anything to play for these days, the Vikings do. In fact, Minnesota’s situation took a turn for the worse last week when they ceded control of the seventh and final NFC playoff seed to Arizona. So, with Minnesota at home, the sense of urgency will be there, and so will a win for the Vikings. But Minnesota should beware: the Bears snapped a six-game losing streak last week by sacking Deshaun Watson seven times.
Tampa Bay 27, Atlanta 20: The Buccaneers seemed to finally play with a sense of passion and pride last week, coming out of their bye to end a three-game home losing streak and knock off a Minnesota squad that is also angling for the postseason. Now, Tampa Bay heads to Atlanta, returning from a West Coast trip playing better but far too late in the season to make a difference.
Kansas City 30, New Orleans 27: One of the games of the year will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, a building that has hosted a handful of Super Bowls. This game has a Super Bowl preview all over it (even though my preseason pick was Ravens-Saints), and I’m sure it will live up to the billing no matter if Taysom Hill or Drew Brees is under center for the Saints. Hill has played well for the Saints, but I’m sure their fans would rather see Brees try to match the Chiefs point-for-point. But if the Saints’ defense can respond at home, there won’t be a need to put up that many points against a Chiefs squad that has five straight division titles, a franchise-best 13-game record (12-1), eight straight wins, and a club-record ten straight road victories. Despite all that, Kansas City did commit four turnovers last week.
Arizona 24, Philadelphia 13: It’s a Battle of the Birds taking place in the desert, but the winner of this one could be classified as vultures picking on the carcass of the dead. Both of these teams are in big trouble as far as making the playoffs are concerned, and they will certainly fight to the (playoff) death to maintain some contender status. For me, the scales are tipped by the fact that the Eagles have not only switched quarterbacks but are turning to a rookie in Jalen Hurts (who ended the team’s four-game slide). Simultaneously, the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray maintains his hold on the top job despite a Cards’ recent three-game slump that ended with a fine road performance against the Giants.
Los Angeles Rams 34, New York Jets 3: Uh… it’s the Jets… moving on…
New York Giants 27, Cleveland 26 (Sunday night): This game was flexed into the Sunday-night slot, and old-time fans can remember lots of games in the ’50s and ’60s when these two franchises were among the league’s elite. But Otto Graham and Frank Gifford won’t be walking through the MetLife Stadium door for this one; it’ll be Baker Mayfield and Daniel Jones instead. The Giants have shown a bit more consistency down the stretch of the season and have gotten surprisingly good play from Colt McCoy, but with Jones healthy and the Browns still hungover from a tough Monday-night loss to Baltimore, I’ll take Big Blue.
Pittsburgh 26, Cincinnati 20 (Monday night): An AFC North Division game under the Monday-night lights? I sure hope all EMT workers nationwide are watching, for this should be a pitched, furious, physical battle between a couple of teams that want to restore some pride. Even while they were unbeaten, the Steelers have been criticized all season long for not looking like a no-loss squad. As for Cincinnati, it got enough of a glance of Joe Burrow to know what it can become if he stays healthy next year. But for now, the slumping version of the Steelers – a team that leads the league in dropped passes with about three dozen – is still better than the Bengals.
