The next to last week of the 2015 NFL regular season began with a meaningless game between two franchises with a Christmas wish to never play in front of their own fans again, desperately wanting to relocate for greener pa$tures. AFC West division rivals San Diego and Oakland met on Thursday night in Charles Woodson’s next to last game.<\/p>\n
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While there are several games of high importance for determining this season’s playoff picture, the two most relevant matchups are Cincinnati at Denver in the AFC and Washington at Philadelphia in the NFC. The Bengals-Broncos tilt is in all likelihood a determination of which team will receive a much coveted first round bye, while the latter is an elimination game for Philly, and a chance for the Skins to mercifully end the NFC East division race – and avoid a situation where an NFL team with a losing record would be rewarded with a first round playoff game at home.<\/p>\n
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As has been the case nearly all season, this week there is a paucity of games between teams that both have winning records. There are only three games that fit in that category this week (and just two for the entire day Sunday): the Patriots at Jets in an early game, Green Bay at Arizona late, and then Cincinnati at Denver on Monday night. No wonder the NFL pushes fantasy football and jumps in bed with weekly fantasy\/gambling sites<\/a> to maintain fan interest; 21 franchises have not at this point produced a winning record for their consumers<\/a>, the fan bases for their respective teams.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NFL Week 16 Playoff Picture with Clinching and Elimination Scenarios<\/a><\/p>\n NFL Week 16 TV Info: Patriots-Jets, Panthers-Falcons Receive Primary Early Game Broadcast Distribution<\/a><\/p>\n NFL Week 16 Television Maps<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ????<\/strong><\/span> 7-7 Washington Redskins at 6-8 Philadelphia Eagles<\/strong><\/span> This could be a game where DeMarco Murray<\/a> returns to his 2014 self, if only he could get on the field<\/a>. Washington is allowing 130 rushing yards per game (28th) and 4.9 yards per carry (31st). However, the Eagles need to finish drives better on both sides of the ball. Philly’s offense ranks 26th in red zone touchdowns (1.3 per game) and hits pay dirt on only 50% of their trips to the red zone (26th). Chip Kelly<\/a>‘s D isn’t much better, allowing 2.5 red zone touchdowns per game (30th) and their 68.6 RZ percentage is last in the NFL. On the other hand Washington scores touchdowns 64.1% of the time in the red zone, while the defense is limiting opponents to touchdowns 51.2% of the time (8th) and 1.5 RZ touchdowns per game (9th). A win would give the Skins a division title for only the second time in 16 seasons – and insure the NFC East will not send a team with a losing record to the playoffs. Philly has been blown out in three of their last five games, and Kirk Cousins<\/a> is playing noticeably better with DeSean Jackson<\/a> back in the lineup.<\/p>\n Prediction: Skins 28, Eagles 27<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 5-9 Chicago Bears at 6-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/strong><\/span> Both teams have lost three of their last four games, but there is a sense that the Bucs are heading in the right direction while Chicago is going the opposite way. Doug Martin quietly ranks second in the NFL<\/a> with 1,305 yards rushing (just nine yards behind Adrian Peterson<\/a>) leads the NFL with 13 carries of 20+ yards, and his 5.1 yards per rush is best among all players with at least 150 attempts. The Bears have played much better (4-3) on the road than at home (1-6), but their defense nneds to come up with some big plays: Chicago’s 14 takeaways rank 28th in the NFL. The Bears have been guilty of playing to the level of their competition, with wins at Green Bay, at Kansas City, at St. Louis and a two-point loss versus Denver – while playing poorly in home losses to the Niners and Washington. WR Alshon Jeffery will miss his sixth game with a hamstring injury<\/a>; the Bears will need to make tough decisions on him and RB Matt Forte<\/a> as both are set to become free agents in March.<\/p>\n Prediction: Bucs 27, Bears 20<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ????<\/strong><\/span> 14-0 Carolina Panthers at 7-7 Atlanta Falcons<\/strong><\/span> Remember in mid-October when people debated which of these two NFC South teams would lose first? How about back in August, when nobody doubted that the Falcons possessed the superior offense? Fast forward to late December and the Panthers are averaging an NFL-best 32.1 points per game while Atlanta is tied for 19th at 21.6 ppg. Matt Ryan has not thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions in a game since Week 9 when he had one TD and no picks against San Francisco. Fun fact: Carolina has only played one team with a winning record at the time the two met this year (Green Bay, Week 9).<\/p>\n Prediction: Panthers 31, Falcons 20<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ??<\/strong><\/span> 4-10 Dallas Cowboys at 6-8 Buffalo Bills<\/strong><\/span> Why has there been such a precipitous drop off in production for the Bills, when the hiring of Rex Ryan was supposed to improve performance for an already good Buffalo defense? It is quite simple, really. Rex prefers to blitz and confuse opponents, rather than rush four linemen and drop seven defenders in coverage. Ryan’s philosophy does not mesh well at all with a great (or at least very effective) defensive line. His downfall as a coach is his stubborn inability to adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of the players on his roster.<\/p>\n Prediction: Bills 20, Cowboys 17<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ?<\/strong><\/span> 4-10 San Francisco 49ers at 5-9 Detroit Lions<\/strong><\/span> San Francisco has scored more than 17 points just once since Week 6, and Detroit has won four of their last six games to remove themselves from contention for the top overall draft pick.<\/p>\n Prediction: Lions 24, Niners 16<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 3-11 Cleveland Browns at 9-5 Kansas City Chiefs<\/strong><\/span> Say what you want about Alex Smith, but the Chiefs rank second in the NFL with only twelve turnovers – and five of those came way back in Week 2 when KC fumbled the game away to Denver. That formula should work fine against a team like the Browns, but I can’t help but wonder if that is a sustainable recipe for success come playoff time when facing the league’s elite squads.<\/p>\n Prediction: Chiefs 24, Browns 14<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 6-8 Indianapolis Colts at 5-9 Miami Dolphins<\/strong><\/span> Indy takes a page out of their\u00a0Suck for Luck<\/em> campaign<\/a> and loses a game they could and should win.<\/p>\n Prediction: Dolphins 24, Colts 20<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ?????<\/strong><\/span> 12-2 New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> at 9-5 New York Jets<\/strong><\/span> Did you know that according to ESPN<\/a>, Ryan Fitzpatrick is having a better season than Tom Brady<\/a>, and that the greatest game a quarterback has ever had was when Charlie Batch threw two picks and passed for 186 yards<\/a>?<\/p>\n Podcast: Patriots vs Jets Preview<\/a> Prediction: Patriots 20, Jets 16<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 7-7 Houston Texans at 3-11 Tennessee Titans<\/strong><\/span> I could not for the life of me understand why Tennessee opened as favorites by more than a field goal. Had Houston already clinched? No; had Brian Hoyer suddenly turned into a combination of Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana and Tom Brady? No, the dropoff from Hoyer to Brandon Weeden was not quite that monumental; if nothing else, Hoyer and Marcus Mariota both being out is a wash. Hopefully you all jumped on that line when it was available early in the week.<\/p>\n Prediction: Texans 27, Titans 17<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 9-5 Pittsburgh Steelers at 4-10 Baltimore Ravens<\/strong><\/span> Perhaps with this being a division rivalry the score will remain close, but Baltimore has more starters on injured reserve than they have able to suit up and play at this point – though they have plenty of other problems as well<\/a>. Thankfully this game was flexed out of the Sunday night prime time slot.<\/p>\n Prediction: Steelers 27, Ravens 13<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ????<\/strong><\/span> 5-9 Jacksonville Jaguars at 5-9 New Orleans Saints<\/strong><\/span> I realize that part of the job of television announcers is to promote the game in order to maintain viewer interest, but sometimes these people just go completely off the rails. Last week on Sunday Night Football, Jon Gruden said that he “really liked the Saints’ defense<\/a>“. Memo to Chucky: so does every single offense in the NFL.<\/p>\n Prediction: Jaguars 31, Saints 28<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ?????<\/strong><\/span> 10-4 Green Bay Packers at 12-2 Arizona Cardinals<\/strong><\/span> Two weeks ago Minnesota nearly beat Arizona, but lost due to three turnovers. Green Bay is the best in the league at not giving the ball away (only 11 all season), but will be without CB Sam Shields and LT David Bakhtiari. It’s too bad that FOX was able to protect this game; it should be the league’s showcase contest on Sunday night.<\/p>\n Prediction: Cardinals 27, Packers 24<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 6-8 St. Louis Rams at 9-5 Seattle Seahawks<\/strong><\/span> I feel bad for Wes Welker<\/a> for not only having to play for Jeff Fisher<\/a>, but also because his only job opportunity in the NFL<\/a> was on such a putrid offense.<\/p>\n Prediction: Seahawks 24, Rams 13<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n ???<\/strong><\/span> 6-8 New York Giants at 9-5 Minnesota Vikings<\/strong><\/span>
\nSaturday, December 26 at 8:25 pm ET on NFLN; Ian Eagle, Trent Green, Evan Washburn<\/em>
\nEagles -3 (opened at -4) . . . . over\/under 48 . . . . Phi -150, Was +130<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSkins +3 . . . . . over 48 (one unit) . . . . . Washington +130<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Sam Rosen, Matt Millen, Peter Schrager<\/em>
\nBucs -3 (opened at -2\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 46 . . . . TB -160, Chi +140<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBucs -3 . . . . . over 46 . . . . . Tampa -160<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Pam Oliver<\/em>
\nPanthers -6\u00bd (opened at -6\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 47\u00bd . . . . Car -300, Atl +250<\/span><\/p>\n
\nPanthers -6\u00bd . . . . . over 47\u00bd . . . . . Carolina -300<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin<\/em>
\nBills -6\u00bd (opened at -5\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 42\u00bd . . . . Buf -270, Dal +230<\/span><\/p>\n
\nCowboys +6\u00bd . . . . . under 42\u00bd . . . . . Dallas +230<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis, Tony Siragusa<\/em>
\nLions -10 (opened at -8\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 42\u00bd . . . . Det -600, SF +450<\/span><\/p>\n
\nNiners +10 . . . . . under 42\u00bd . . . . . San Francisco +450<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon, Chris Fischer<\/em>
\nChiefs -11 (opened at -12\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 42\u00bd . . . . KC -600, Cle +450<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBrowns +11 . . . . . under 42\u00bd (one unit) . . . . . Kansas City -600<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Dick Stockton, David Diehl, Kristina Pink<\/em>
\nDolphins -2\u00bd (opened at -1) . . . . over\/under 44 . . . . Mia -140, Ind +120<\/span><\/p>\n
\nDolphins -2\u00bd . . . . . under 44 . . . . . Miami -140<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts, Evan Washburn<\/em>
\nPatriots -3 (opened at -3) . . . . over\/under 45\u00bd . . . . NEP -155, NYJ +135<\/span><\/p>\n
\nPatriots 2015 Opponents: Five Impressions of the Jets<\/a>
\nPatriots-Jets Key Matchups<\/a>
\nKey Players to Watch, Patriots at Jets<\/a><\/p>\n
\nPatriots -3 . . . . . under 45\u00bd (one unit) . . . . . New England -155<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Spero Dedes, Solomon Wilcotts<\/em>
\nTexans -3\u00bd (opened w\/Titans -4\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 40\u00bd . . . . Hou -170, Ten +150<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTexans -3\u00bd . . . . . over 40\u00bd . . . . . Houston -170<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, Jamie Erdahl<\/em>
\nSteelers -10 (opened at -9\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 47 . . . . Pit -600, Bal +400<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSteelers -10 . . . . . under 47 . . . . . Pittsburgh -600<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 4:05 pm ET on CBS; Andrew Catalon, Steve Beuerlein, Steve Tasker<\/em>
\nSaints -3 (opened at -3\u00bd) . . . . over\/under 51\u00bd . . . . NO -175, Jax +155<\/span><\/p>\n
\nJaguars +3 . . . . . over 51\u00bd (one unit) . . . . . Jacksonville +155<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews<\/em>
\nCardinals -4\u00bd (opened at -4) . . . . over\/under 50\u00bd . . . . Ariz -220, GB +190<\/span><\/p>\n
\nPackers +4\u00bd . . . . . over 50\u00bd . . . . . Green Bay +190<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Chris Myers, Ronde Barber, Jennifer Hale<\/em>
\nSeahawks -12\u00bd (opened at -14) . . . . over\/under 40\u00bd . . . . Sea -950, StL +650<\/span><\/p>\n
\nRams +12\u00bd . . . . . under 40\u00bd . . . . . St. Louis +650<\/p>\n
\nSunday, December 27 at 8:30 pm ET on NBC; Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya<\/em>
\nVikings -6\u00bd (opened at -4) . . . . over\/under 45 . . . . Min -270, NYG +230<\/span><\/p>\n