Week 13 NFL Predix

By Jacob Sanders

It’s Week 12. This is more or less the week when team’s start to clinch their playoffs spots or lose out on the playoffs entirely. Teams like the Dolphins, Redskins, Bengals, are done for the season while teams like the Saints (who already clinched their division on Thursday) and Patriots can clinch with a win this week. Yeah, high-pressure football has started. December football is here. Get ready for tough clashes because they’re here!

Sanders went 9-4 last week putting him to 113-61-1 on the season. He also picked the Bears, Cowboys, and Saints to all win on Thanksgiving making him 2-1 for Week 13 so far.

CLE Browns vs PIT Steelers

It’s a near nightmare for the NFL that “the incident” between these two teams happened only two weeks ago which isn’t enough time to attempt to forgive and forget. Not that either of these teams would forgive and forget, but the matter of the fact is that it’s still so fresh, the media (and I guess me too) will focus more on that endgame fight than the actual game itself. For the game itself though, which is why you are here though, I get the creeping feeling that the Browns are just the better team. They whooped the Steelers 21-7 at home but things can be different at home. Still, the Steelers are now turning to their 3rd string QB to save their season and grab that No. 6 wildcard. I’m not confident in this pick, but I am again going to pick the team with the better defense and better coaching. Losing Myles Garrett hurts and I think is enough for this Steelers offense to create something behind another new QB this season. Also Freddie Kitches certainly isn’t on my list of quality coaches after news broke of his “incident” yesterday….

Browns 17 Steelers 21

GB Packers vs NY Giants

This is just the matchup the Packers need to erase the horrible Sunday night performance they put up. The 49ers straight up dominated the Packers and it seemed like the Packers could never get anything done. The Giants, on the other hand, just can’t seem to get much done in general having won 2 games the entire season under their rookie QB. At times, the Giants attacks looks great and other times it looks anemic IN THE SAME GAME. Talk about literally picking Eli Manning 2.0 in the draft. Unfortunately, the Giants just don’t have the defense to backup that type of offense. Packers win here.

Packers 27 Giants 17

PHI Eagles vs MIA Dolphins

Just the game that the Eagles need to keep their playoff hopes up after watching Dallas lose on Thursday, right? Well, you’d think. But I get the creeping feeling that the Eagles struggle to even beat the Dolphins. The Eagles offensive attack just flat out has not existed this season. Part of that is that the Eagles have no WRs. The other part of that is just that Carson Wentz is missing receivers at times. This Eagles team is a far cry from the team they were two years ago. They’ll need, at minimum, to win out if they wanna make another Cinderella run. As for the Dolphins, they’ve been playing tough for Coach Flores. There isn’t a ton of positives to say about the Dolphins, but the most important thing is that Flores has that locker room tight under his leadership. Promising signs for the first year QB. In a tank season, you take what you can get.

Eagles 21 Dolphins 20

TB Bucs vs JAX Jaguars

Is it odd that I want to pick the Bucs here? The Bucs haven’t been great the last few weeks, but 2 of their 3 losses have been blown 4th quarter leads which means the Bucs are putting themselves in position to win but aren’t finishing the job. They could honestly be 6-5, but sit at 4-7. Their opponent, the Jags, also sit at 4-7, but most definitely deserve to be 4-7. This Jaguars defense is a shell of the defense that led the 2017 Jags to an AFC Championship, and the comeback of Nick Foles didn’t help whatsoever. If you ask me, the team that wins here is the one who has shown some signs of life throughout the season. That’s the Bucs.

Bucs 27 Jaguars 20

TEN Titans vs IND Colts

It feels so weird, but the Colts went from the AFC’s Cinderella team, to just being the average AFC team, which isn’t very good. The Colts looked like they were on their way to an AFC South title having replaced Andrew Luck with little trouble, but injuries to Jacoby Brissett and the rest of the roster have derailed their season and they sit at a cross-roads at 6-5. If they win here, they have a great chance of getting a wildcard for the AFC South division. Lose here, and the Titans suddenly step into the playoff picture with a shot at both a wildcard and division. Essentially, both teams are playing for their playoff lives here. Really though, the combination of a rejuvenated Tannehill, a peaking Derrick Henry, and a defense rounding into form, seems just way too much for the Colts to overcome even at home.

Titans 23 Colts 21

NY Jets vs CIN Bengals

This Jets season would be easily summarized in this one game IF the Bengals won here. In fact, it would be the most “The Jets are coached by Adam Gase” thing to happen this season. This game is just BEGGING me to pick the Bengals here. I ain’t doin it. Yes, the Bengals are bringing in Andy Dalton because they don’t want to go winless this season. But, the Jets have won 3 straight and Sam Darnold seems to be coming into his own while Bell has bounced back from a below average start to the season. If you ask me, the talent on the Jets just outmatches the talent on the Bengals.

Jets 26 Bengals 16

WAS Redskins vs CAR Panthers

Well, Dwayne Haskins got his first win over the lowly Lions. Not much to be gained from that win either. At this point, you have to ask yourself if the Redskins are good enough to win a game, or are the Panthers bad enough to lose this game. At 5-6, anything is possible, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Redskins are still arguably the worst team outside of the Bengals. Panthers cling onto their playoffs hopes with a win at home.

Redskins 13 Panthers 16

SF 49ers vs BAL Ravens

Funny how throughout the season that the Ravens have been entering different weeks with the most hyped up matchup of the week. This just speaks to how thrilling it is to watch Lamar Jackson. I could write an entire article on this matchup explaining cases for both the Ravens and the 49ers, but let me keep it simple here. The 49ers win this game by limiting Lamar Jackson. Not stopping, but limiting. At least, that’s the take every media-head is going with. Me? Nah, that’s not the key here. The 49ers have the best secondary in the NFL, stat-wise. Lamar will have a hard time with that. No, the real question here, is can the 49ers stop the one-two punch of Ingram-Edwards? Forget Lamar’s running ability. Can you stop the ground and pound attack the Ravens have in a cold weather game? Considering how the 49ers defense has been relatively poor at stopping the run, I would say the matchup doesn’t come close to favoring the 49ers. Just like how the Ravens exploited the weakness of the Patriots D (the run defense), they will exploit the weakness of the 49ers D, which is the run game.

49ers 17 Ravens 27

LA Rams vs AZ Cardinals

For the love of everything that is holy, I wish this Cardinals defense would just make a stop. Does anybody realize that, outside of the Seahawks, the Cardinals have been one of the few teams that have given the 49ers trouble? Yeah, that’s how good this Cardinals offense is. But they sit here at 3-7-1, because their defense can’t protect leads in the 4th quarter. However, they get lucky and draw up the Rams here, who are in do or die mode. At this point, it’s hard to argue that the Rams can beat a high flying attack like the Cardinals have. As a matter of fact, they won’t be the high flying attack. Like every Cardinals game this season, it all comes down to whether the Arizona D wants to shoot themselves in the foot or not. Are you gonna hold up against an anemic attack led by Jared Goff? Or will you let Goff and Todd Gurley run all over you. Your choice, Cardinals.

Rams 19 Cardinals 23

LA Chargers vs DEN Broncos

Part of me just really wants to pick the Broncos again. But most of me knows that the Broncos are not the pick here, especially with Derwin James coming back for the Chargers and the Drew Lock era starting in Denver. So what that tells you is that I have little expectation for Drew Lock and Co. while I hold high expectation for the Chargers defense to win this game. Forget how bad Philip Rivers has been, this Chargers defense is too good to not feast on a rookie QB.

Chargers 22 Broncos 14

OAK Raiders vs KC Chiefs

You know, one week ago at exactly 9 A.M., I was crowning the Raiders a playoff team in my head because they were going to walk into this matchup at 7-4, and surprise the entire NFL by beating the Chiefs to steal the division lead at 8-4. Instead, they got demolished by the Jets and I’m left wondering what happened. I watched pieces of the game, but I still have no idea what happened. That wasn’t the Raiders we’ve seen all year. It begs the question of which Raiders team will show up in Arrowhead. Then I’m reminded that it probably doesn’t matter because the Chiefs are coming off of a bye week where Mahomes will be near 100% healthy and Tyreek Hill be back. What I’m saying, is the Chiefs high-flying offense will have returned and the struggling Raiders defense will have to deal with that. Yikes.

Raiders 27 Chiefs 38

NE Patriots vs HOU Texans

I’m keeping this one short here which mostly is going to speak to how much I regard this Patriots defense. So here it goes. Do the Texans have a chance to beat the Patriots? Yes. They really do. If peak Deshaun Watson shows up, and Carlos Hyde has his best game of the season, yeah you’re beating the Patriots. This Patriots offense has been below average and frankly doesn’t inspire any sort of confidence to win a game if the game is thrown into their hands. Tom Brady’s vocal struggle speaks to this. However, can you expect peak Watson and Hyde to show up against the Patriots D? No way. Sure, Deandre Hopkins and Will Fuller may have their day, but it probably won’t matter if the Texans can’t get anything going outside of those two players. What I’m saying, is the Patriots win another low scoring affair. And it took me longer than I thought it would to say that.

Patriots 16 Texans 10

MIN Vikings vs SEA Seahawks

Everyone will be most excited for the 49ers-Ravens matchup because of the hype and team records. But this will be the best game of the week right here. These are two NFC teams fighting for playoff seeding in multiple cases. In a couple of scenarios, they are fighting for the better wildcard seed between each other. In other scenarios, they are fighting for better divisional seeding. Either way, it’s an understatement to say that this game is important. This game is a tough pick so let’s take some time to break it down. The Seahawks have won some games they shouldn’t and that’s because Wilson is having an MVP-type season while Pete Carroll has not put his team in position to lose. In addition, the Seahawks defense has stepped up immensely in crushing the 49ers and Eagles. However, the Eagles have made any defense look good if you ask me. They face a much bigger challenge in what is arguably the most balanced attack (beside the Saints???) in football that is led by Kirk Cousins and Dalvin Cook. The Vikings have frustrated me this season in the sense that they lost games they shouldn’t have, and then won a few games they probably shouldn’t have. Here, they probably shouldn’t win this game. But I feel that they are the better team and will show it here. Vikings win it in a down to the wire thriller, and the media can finally stop harassing Kirk Cousins. You like that?!?!?!?

Vikings 28 Seahawks 27