DTTWSB Week 12 NFL Picks

Oh boy, we have a great week of games ahead of us. The awesome thing is that it's Thanksgiving weekend! I'm going to stuff my face with some excellent food and watch the sport I love. We're now into the latter portion of the NFL season. This is where things start to get good. My record during the last two weeks has been an egregious 13-17 which brings my season record to 92-68. Bye weeks are now over so all 32 teams will be in action for the rest of the season. I'm feeling good about my picks this weeks. Hopefully they pan out. Here are my picks for Week 12 in the NFL.

Packers at Lions: Packers

For the first time in at least a decade, the Lions Thanksgiving game is going to be meaningful. This is their annual Super Bowl. Ford Field is going to be electric when the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions come to town. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of points on the board. Both offenses will have their way with the oppositions defense. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay passing attack looks as sharp as ever. I haven't seen an offense operate like this since the 2007 New England Patriots. I do feel that they can be had on defense. If the Lions can start fast and get the crowd into it, the game will be competitive throughout. Ultimately I think the Packers will pull away late and win by 10 points.

49ers at Ravens: 49ers

The Harbaugh Bowl is going to be one heck of a game. In my opinion this is the game of the week. Both of these teams play football in similar ways which isn't a coincidence at all. It's definitely going to be a hard-hitting game. The 49ers have a very tough task ahead of them. They have to travel to the east coast once again, this time on a short week. If any team can do it, I believe it's the 49ers because nobody has it better than them. Defensively San Francisco will be able to slow down Ray Rice which is key to stopping the Ravens offense. Joe Flacco doesn't play well when he's forced to throw 35-40 times a game. He may have to on Thursday night. In a very close low-scoring game, I like the 49ers to shock the world and win.

Patriots at Eagles: Patriots

This is going to be an intriguing game. These are two teams that are going in opposite directions. I do expect this to be a very close game because the Eagles are a team with a lot of pride. They pretty much cannot lose for the rest of the season if they would like to sniff the playoffs. On the other side, the Patriots are trying to keep pace with the rest of the teams in AFC as they struggle for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The New England offense may struggle in this game because the Eagle corners have the ability to be physical with the smaller Patriot receivers. Ultiamtely I think the Gronkowski and Hernandez will be too much for the Eagles to handle, especially in the red zone. Give me the Pats.

Giants at Saints: Saints

For once, the Monday Night Football game should be good this week. We get to see two former Super Bowl MVPs go at it in Eli Manning and Drew Brees. This game is critical for both teams. The Saints need to keep their lead over the Falcons in the NFC South, while the Giants are trying to keep pace with the Cowboys in the NFC East. If the Giants lose this game, they might bottom out and lose control of the season. They cannot afford to lose three straight this late in the season. I like the Saints to win this game because they're healthy and they're coming off a bye week. They should be fresh, and the crowd should be hyped up as well. Look for the home team to score early and often.

***Upset Special***
Bears at Raiders: Bears

My upset special of the week is the Chicago Bears going west to beat the Oakland Raiders. For some reason the Raiders haven't played well at home and I expect that trend to continue on Sunday. I think the Bears will rally around backup quarterback Caleb Hanie and do enough on defense and special teams to win a close game. My one concern about this pick is that the Raiders can run the rock on anyone so they may end up wearing down the Chicago defense. I simply don't trust Carson Palmer against a good defense like the Bears. It's going to look ugly, but the Bears will win this game.

The rest of the week's picks:

Dolphins at Cowboys: Cowboys
Vikings at Falcons: Falcons
Browns at Bengals: Bengals
Buccaneers at Titans: Titans
Panthers at Colts: Panthers
Cardinals at Rams: Cardinals
Bills at Jets: Jets
Texans at Jaguars: Texans
Redskins at Seahawks: Seahawks
Broncos at Chargers: Broncos
Steelers at Chiefs: Steelers