Over half of the NFL’s Week 13 slate consists of divisional matchups, which should make for some hotly-contested and equally unpredictable clashes as we head right into the thick of the postseason race. Having said that, let’s check in once again on the experts around the web as for how they gauged all 16 games’ outcomes against the spread to help you out with your own predictions for the week.
Afterwards, check out our very own sleeper picks of the week to get some more inputs on Week 13’s highly probable upsets in the making.
[sc:Football ]
Experts’ Picks for 2015 NFL Week 13
CBS Sports
Game
Jason La Canfora (102-74)
Will Brinson (95-81)
Dave Richard (101-75)
GB at DET (+3)
GB
GB
DET
SF at CHI (-7)
CHI
CHI
CHI
HOU at BUF (-3)
HOU
HOU
HOU
NYJ at NYG (+2)
NYJ
NYG
NYJ
SEA at MIN (PK)
SEA
MIN
SEA
JAC at TEN (-2.5)
TEN
TEN
TEN
ATL at TB (-2)
TB
TB
TB
BAL at MIA (-4)
BAL
BAL
BAL
ARI at STL (+6)
ARI
ARI
ARI
CIN at CLE (+7)
CIN
CIN
CLE
KC at OAK (+3)
OAK
OAK
OAK
DEN at SD (+4)
DEN
SD
SD
PHI at NE (-10)
NE
PHI
PHI
CAR at NO (+7)
CAR
NO
CAR
IND at PIT (-6)
PIT
IND
PIT
DAL at WAS (-4)
WAS
WAS
DAL
[sc:NFL240banner ]Jason La Canfora and Dave Richard over at CBS Sports emerge as the only two experts from their eight-man panel to have over 100 wins after Thanksgiving weekend, and now Will Brinson joins their fray as the third-best predictor against the spread on their site. All three of them have unanimously sided with five teams this week: Houston, Tennessee, Arizona, Baltimore and Oakland.
The Texans over the Bills and the Cardinals over the Rams are the wise moves here if you’re really high on siding with CBS’ top three pundits at the moement. Houston is riding a four-game winning streak behind its revitalized D and will take on struggling Buffalo, who has lost its last two games with an offense that has lost its identity of late. The same can be said of Arizona – winners of five-straight – making a trip out to St. Louis and the Rams, who are in a four-game tailspin.
On the other hand, the Ravens as four-point underdogs against the equally disappointing Dolphins seems a little steep, especially since the former has been in so many close games this year both as the winning and losing squad. As for Oakland pulling off the upset, we’d really rather not bank against the scorching Chiefs right now, even if they’re on the road against a dangerous yet inconsistent Raider team with the AFC West title and a wild card berth on the line.
Bleacher Report
Game
Michelle Bruton
GB at DET
DET
SF at CHI
CHI
HOU at BUF
BUF
NYJ at NYG
NYJ
SEA at MIN
MIN
JAC at TEN
TEN
ATL at TB
ATL
BAL at MIA
BAL
ARI at STL
ARI
CIN at CLE
CIN
KC at OAK
KC
DEN at SD
DEN
PHI at NE
NE
CAR at NO
CAR
IND at PIT
PIT
DAL at WAS
DAL
Bleacher Report’s Michelle Bruton went with the more conventional route of picking the heavy hitters going up against meager competition: Arizona, Cincinnati, Denver and Carolina. The Bengals over the laughable Browns big is all but a lock, and you can also apply the same thought to the Panthers taking care of the sputtering Saints.
What could pose as a problem is the Denver-San Diego match. Yes, the Broncos ended the Patriots’ unbeaten run this past Sunday, but the team had to rally from 14 points down and needed a couple of lucky breaks to get back in that game. Plus, the Chargers are almost like the Ravens: losers and winners of very closely-contested games. In fact, eight of San Diego’s 11 games this season have been decided by seven points or less, so take extra caution before pulling the trigger on the Broncos this week.
FiveThirtyEight
Game
FiveThirtyEight
GB at DET
DET
SF at CHI
CHI
HOU at BUF
BUF
NYJ at NYG
NYJ
SEA at MIN
MIN
JAC at TEN
TEN
ATL at TB
ATL
BAL at MIA
BAL
ARI at STL
ARI
CIN at CLE
CIN
KC at OAK
KC
DEN at SD
DEN
PHI at NE
NE
CAR at NO
CAR
IND at PIT
PIT
DAL at WAS
DAL
Going back to the Titans from earlier, it seems as if all analysts here – including FiveThirtyEight’s ELO-based projections – are high on the boys from the Music City pulling off a win against their rivals, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags have two more wins this season than Tennessee, but their last two victories have been far from impressive. The first was that controversial finish versus the Ravens, and the other was against the Titans themselves in Jacksonville by just six points.
Perhaps the experts leaned on the Jaguars’ history of choking on the road for this upcoming game, and they weren’t wrong even with Tennessee as their next opponent. The Titans have won five of the last seven contests against their AFC South rivals, with those five victories having been won by a combined 50 points.
