Elliot Harrison went 12-4 on his predictions for Week 15, giving him a record of 149-73-2 thus far this season. How will he fare in Week 16? His picks are below:
Saturday 1 PM ET FOX
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I don't like the
Vikings in this game. The only chance they have is if A) the defense is absolutely pissed off at
the way it got handled by
Andrew Luck and Co. last week and B) the offense doesn't go dysfunctional trying to center around a 31-year-old running back fresh off of a knee injury and subpar performance (that is, if
Adrian Peterson even plays).
Aaron Rodgers and the
Packers know what's in front of them: No matter what the
Lions do
in Dallas, as long as Green Bay wins this game, the
Packers are playing for the NFC North title come their
Week 17 showdown in Detroit. Minnesota is still
mathematically alive, but the
Vikings will need to win at Lambeau while also having the Bucs fail
in New Orleans and the
Redskins stumble
in Chicago. It could happen ... well, except for beating the
Packers this weekend.
#MINvsGB
Saturday 1 PM ET CBS
23
17
Count me among the small pride who think the
Jaguars will flash potential against the
Titans. (Actually, I don't know if jaguars have prides ...) I am having a difficult time trusting the Jacksonville offense in this matchup when Tennessee just held the
Chiefs to 17 points in Kansas City.
Blake Bortles is starting for the Jags,
per interim coach Doug Marrone. The larger issue is whether the enigmatic signal-caller will give this team a chance to win in the fourth quarter. You know who
will do that for Tennessee?
Marcus Mariota, who has been hyper accurate on throws that travel more than 20 yards in the air (119.6 passer rating). He'll have to do it against a top-five secondary that has performed all year.
#TENvsJAX
Saturday 1 PM ET CBS
28
10
Bryce Petty should be "a go" this week, despite
suffering a chest contusion in
last week's loss to the
Dolphins.
Jets fans might revolt if the team trots
Ryan Fitzpatrick out there to play the final eight quarters of the season.
It appears that we'll see Ken O'Brien come back before we ever see
Christian Hackenberg get a start. At least the
Jets aren't playing the best team in the NFL this week. But then, the
Patriots are pretty good. OK, well, at least the
Jets are not playing the top scoring defense in the league.
Wait. This could get ugly. New York's defense hung tough against
Tom Brady last time out, but in the fourth quarter, the bad guys prevailed. See no reason, other than the players really balling out for head coach Todd Bowles, to think the
Jets' defense will be able to shave anything off New England's scoring average (26.1 points per game) this week.
#NYJvsNE
Saturday 1 PM ET CBS
26
14
Interesting game here.
Philip Rivers' poor play in recent weeks could mean the
Browns have a legit opportunity to win their first game of the season. The issue, besides the fact that Cleveland has been awful for weeks on end (as opposed to earlier in the season, when the
Browns were playing close games), is the potential return of
Chargers back
Melvin Gordon, who's been out since Week 14 with
hip and knee injuries. If Gordon plays, it's bad news for a run defense that is allowing teams a hearty portion of chunk plays. The
Browns rank 31st in rushing yards allowed in total and
per carry. There are only 32 teams in the league. At least Cleveland is averaging 11 points per game when
Robert Griffin III starts. Hey, that's a touchdown, two-point conversion
and a field goal.
#SDvsCLE
Saturday 1 PM ET FOX
23
21
Matt Barkley will drive the
Bears down the field with a chance to tie late before something stalls the drive inside the 10.
Picktradamus says it will be a couple of dropped passes.
Like that would ever happen. Huge game for the
Redskins, who are
chasing that sixth and final NFC wild-card spot. Washington suffered through issues on both sides of the ball on
Monday night, but the poor defensive effort stuck out ... as it would have even if Carolina hadn't racked up a ton of points. In fact, when the
Redskins score 26 or fewer points this season, they are 2-6. Can they buck that trend this weekend?
#WASvsCHI
Saturday 1 PM ET FOX
24
22
Thought the score would be higher, but after what we saw
Monday night in Washington, I think
Matt Ryan will find this Carolina secondary to be much stouter than it was
the last time these two teams linked up.
Julio Jones should play with
that turf toe. In the prior meeting this season, Jones went for three bills and
got a defensive back fired. Of potentially larger concern to the
Panthers are the
Falcons' running backs.
Devonta Freeman was a beast
last weekend, and
no Luke Kuechly could mean trouble against Freeman and
Tevin Coleman, both in and out of the backfield. Carolina must control the engagement with a steady dose of its own running back,
Jonathan Stewart, and a few timely throws from the big quarterback. Essentially, follow the same blueprint from the win in D.C.
#ATLvsCAR
Saturday 1 PM ET CBS
28
22
Whew doggie, is this an important deal going down -- or going up, as in up north -- in Buffalo. The
Dolphins are
clinging to the final wild-card spot in the AFC while the
Bills, who already
lost to Miami in October, are trying to stay relevant in the playoff chase. Buffalo must shut down
Jay Ajayi, which, in theory, shouldn't seem too formidable a task, given how much the
Dolphins tailback has slowed down recently. That said, stopping the run has been an issue all year for Rex Ryan's defense. The
Browns offered a respite in that area
last week (they are good for that). On the topic of blowouts, Miami has not fared well the last three times playing in upstate New York. None of those games were close. Matter of fact, the
Dolphins haven't won on the road against the
Bills since 2011 -- when
Matt Moore was quarterback. He was fantastic that day. Buffalo's defense sucked that season. Think
LeSean McCoy goes off this week. Again. #BillsMafia
#MIAvsBUF
Saturday 4:05 PM ET CBS
34
30
Andrew Luck isn't backing down. Nor is
Derek Carr.
Colts at
Raiders has the makings of a fantastic quarterback matchup drenched in playoff ramifications, probably because it is a fantastic quarterback matchup
drenched in playoff ramifications. This game represents classic AFC football. Two teams from different divisions fighting for both said divisions
and positioning in January. Although the only plausible path to the postseason for Indy is to capture the AFC South. I wonder if Luck will be staring at Carr's offensive line like how Rose stared at Jack from across the railing in
"Titanic." The Oakland quarterback is the least-hit passer in the league. Meanwhile,
Khalil Mack and
Bruce Irvin will be getting after Luck --
we think. Before I go, if you feel 30 points is giving Indy more credit than a boring indie film at Cannes, well ... you're wrong. The
Colts average 30 points per game on the road.
#INDvsOAK
Saturday 4:25 PM ET FOX
17
13
This game probably doesn't whet the football palette. Just so you know, though, there was a time when this was a top rivalry in football. In fact, the 49ers-
Rams game in 1957 at the L.A. Coliseum held the record for the most-attended regular-season game played in the United States for more than 50 years, up until Giants-
Cowboys in the
Cowboys' new stadium in 2009. The
Rams and Niners also linked up in the 1989 NFC Championship Game. And in the early 2000s, Mike Martz's group (although in St. Louis) and my colleague Steve Mariucci's
49ers teams had some fun battles. ... What else would you like for me to write about this game? Will take suggestions.
There will be some hittin' out there. ... Guys are going to be blocking and tackling each other. ... Let me say this:
Todd Gurley's finally going to run for more than 100 yards. Mark it down.
Rams' O-line =
49ers' run D.
#SFvsLA
Saturday 4:25 PM ET FOX
20
17
Bruce Arians is probably still red-hot over the unnecessary roughness call that hurt his team late in the loss to New Orleans. Big Red has been reeling, eliminated from playoff contention while dropping four of five contests. The
Seahawks have done a nice job bottling up running backs this season, allowing just 3.5 yards per carry. Seattle is in the top 10 against the run, meaning that
David Johnson will have to do much of his damage through the air on Seattle's linebackers. The
Seahawks are second in points allowed overall, which means
Carson Palmer must make good on any and all red-zone trips. This especially holds true given that the
Seahawks are undefeated at home, averaging 28 points per game. If you aren't a fan of either of these teams, watch
David Johnson this weekend. He needs 200 receiving yards to become the third running back to reach the 1,000/1,000 plateau. Awesome stuff.
#AZvsSEA
Saturday 4:25 PM ET FOX
24
20
The
Saints' offense came out on fire in Arizona last Sunday and pretty much stayed in overdrive for 60 minutes.
Drew Brees will find the playoff-hopeful Bucs to be a much tougher adversary. Tampa ranks second in the league in takeaways (15) since Week 10. Not good for a
Saints team that's tied for the most giveaways (14) during that same span.
Maybe the best way to slow Brees down will be to speed
Doug Martin up. The run game has been awfully sluggish, with Martin gaining just 2.9 yards per carry on the season. For New Orleans, getting the running game involved early should help keep the front seven
off Brees. The Bucs could really use a
Lions loss,
Packers loss or
Redskins loss to help them secure that sixth seed. The
Giants are getting the fifth, folks.
#TBvsNO
Saturday 8:25 PM ET NFLN
23
20
It feels weird to pick the
Bengals, considering they haven't played well in recent weeks. The
Texans have been the bane of Cincy's existence, too, beating them in the wild-card round in both the 2011 and 2012 playoffs, as well as upsetting them during the 2015 regular season with
T.J. Yates at the helm. Nobody could believe how that Monday-nighter turned out. Can
Tom Savage do the same in Saturday's prime-time matchup? Perhaps. The issues here are twofold: 1)
A.J. Green could be back on the field for the Bengals; and 2) Houston's poor showing against the Jags last week could linger on. The defense fared well, but overall, the "win" over Jacksonville was not the best reflection of Bill O'Brien's football team. Not buying the Savage-will-save-the-
Texans'-season thinking.
#CINvsHOU
Sunday 4:30 PM ET NFLN
26
20
How many times have these two duked it out for playoff positioning ... or in the postseason itself? The ramifications of this game are much more straightforward than the others on the Week 16 ticket. If the
Steelers win, the AFC North is theirs. If they falter, they still have a shot at the sixth wild-card spot ... especially with the
Browns coming to town on New Year's Day. A loss here for Baltimore would be devastating. The AFC North? No chance. Even if they did win in Week 17 at Cincy, they would have to hope that the
Dolphins lose out to even have a chance. Two huge keys to this division matchup: A) Can the
Ravens repeat the bang-up job they did on
Le'Veon Bell in Week 9, holding him to 70 scrimmage yards (he averages 167.7 versus everybody else)? B) Can they convert a third down? Baltimore ranks 30th in said category.
#BALvsPIT
Sunday 8:30 PM ET NBC
17
14
Chiefs pull ever closer to the AFC West crown and a first-round bye. No question, the
Broncos have so much to play for this week. But I can't see Kansas City dropping another game at home with the team
rather healthy. Losing LB
Derrick Johnson hurt; there's no shining up that issue. The problem is that the Denver running game doesn't look capable of capitalizing. Perhaps the
friction between the Broncos' offense and defense will push them into taking out seven days of frustration on Christmas at Arrowhead?
Trevor Siemian must lead the offense to points on Sunday. Denver is too dependent on takeaways, although the
Broncos have won 29 straight games when they've won the turnover battle. The
Chiefs, meanwhile, have won nine straight in the AFC West. As long as they don't uncharacteristically give the ball away, they should get to No. 10.
#DENvsKC
Monday 8:30 PM ET ESPN
28
24
Think
Lions at
Cowboys will be the eggnog to top off Christmas. Actually, I always hated eggnog. The only fun thing about the gross concoction drank by monks in the 13th century was when
Cousin Eddie slurped it in his cream turtleneck over the holidays. Art Monk won't be relevant in this game, either. Will
Golden Tate, who tends to have a huge day one week, then is barely noticeable the next? How about
Marvin Jones, who hasn't enjoyed a 100-yard day since putting up two hundy back in
Week 3? There are matchups to exploit in the
Cowboys' secondary, with
Morris Claiborne still out. Whether Detroit can do so is the key to this game. And if
Lions right tackle
Riley Reiff can slow
David Irving, who literally was the king of the last two Bucs drives
last Sunday night.
Randy Gregory is
eligible to return for this contest, but I wouldn't expect too much. I
would, however, expect this to be a heckuva football game.
#DETvsDAL
