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Nam Y. Huh || AP
Current Standings:
#1 Zach (48-29)
#2 Ryan (48-29)
#3 Patrick (45-32)
#4 Maher (44-33)
#5 James (43-34)
#6 Vince (42-35)
Chicago Bears (6-7) @ Minnesota Vikings (6-7)
Current Lines: MIN -3.0 || O/U 47
Both of these teams need to win out if they want to even sniff a playoff appearance. Chicago looked great last week under former 2nd overall pick Mitch Trubisky. Mitch finished 24/33 with 267 yards and 3 TD’s on the day against Houston in their dominant 36-7 victory. Roquan Smith has been their defensive showstopper all year, he finished last week with 2 sacks and 8 solo tackles, helping shut down Deshaun Watson. The Vikings are one of the better 6-7 teams I've seen in a long time. Obviously defensively they’ve looked lost, but this offense can get cooking and score with the league’s best. Rookie receiver Justin Jefferson is an absolute star, and a downfield threat every single play. Adam thielen is a monster in the redzone, he has a league high 11 TD receptions from within 20 yards. It would be a shame if I left out a top 3 running back in the league, Dalvin Cook has 14 TD’s, averages 5.0 yards per carry, and has rushed for over 100 yards 7 times this year, including a 200 yard performance in week 9. This game is going to feature a great defense vs a great offense with serious playoff implications.
James: Vikings
Vince: Vikings
Zach: Bears
Patrick: Vikings
Ryan: Vikings
Maher: Bears
New England Patriots (6-7) @ Miami Dolphins (8-5)
Current Lines: MIA -1.5 || O/U 41.5
The Patriots blew out the Chargers 45-0 two weeks ago, then followed it up with a 24-3 loss in the season ending game against the Rams last week. The Cam Newton experiment looks all but dead at this point, he has struggled heavily all year throwing the ball, in the last three games he hasn’t reached 20 attempts. The Patriot defense has shown flashes of brilliance, with a top secondary in the league the true fault for this team has come from the offensive production. Miami has been one of the bigger surprises of the year, as they’re in a good position to sneak into the 7th seed in the AFC. Their defense has been elite all year, forcing a league high 25 turnovers, including 3 interceptions last week against MVP candidate Patrick Mahomes. Tua has done a solid job facilitating the offense in his rookie campaign, 9 TD’s and just 1 interception, it will be exciting to see how his Dolphins finish down the stretch with a playoff bid on the line.
James: Dolphins
Vince: Dolphins
Zach: Dolphins
Patrick: Dolphins
Ryan: Dolphins
Maher: Dolphins
Kansas City Chiefs (12-1) @ New Orleans Saints (10-3)
Current Lines: KC -3.0 || O/U 52.5
The undeniable game of the week is being played down in New Orleans this week as the Chiefs take on the Saints with the #1 seed on both sides of the playoffs on the line. Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs somehow look a little more dangerous than last year so far in 2020. Mahomes has gaudy numbers so far, over 4,200 yards thrown, 35 total TD’s and just 5 interceptions. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are both top 5 in receiving yards, Kelce has the most in the league with 1,250. The defending champs have won 8 straight games and are clearly the top dogs in the NFL going into week 15. Saints fans and Alvin Kamara fantasy managers are all ecstatic to announce that future hall of famer Drew Brees will be back under center this week. The Saints took a bad 24-21 loss last week to the Eagles, who were led by rookie Jalen Hurts. Taysom Hill didn’t look bad in his 4 game stint as a starter, he threw the ball better than expected but the turnovers really hurt this Saints offense. The defense in New Orleans is one of the league's best, they rank second in both rush yards allowed and total yards allowed per game. They give up the 4th least points per game and have 20 turnovers forced through 13 contest’s. Star receiver Michael Thomas most likely won't be seeing the field this week, this offense will need to rely on their running game and quick passes to compete against the defending champs.
James: Chiefs
Vince: Chiefs
Zach: Chiefs
Patrick: Chiefs
Ryan: Chiefs
Maher: Saints
Cleveland Browns (9-4) @ New York Giants (5-8)
Current Lines: CLE -6.0 || O/U 44
The Browns might’ve lost last week, but their offense has looked absolutely electric the past few weeks. Baker Mayfield in his last two games has 687 yards, 7 total TD’s, and has his team averaging 41.5 points. He couldn’t have picked a better time to get hot as this Cleveland fan base has been injected with confidence and now defenses have to fear Baker and the passing game along with the two headed monster of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Myles Garrett has been the bright spot for this Browns defense, a unit who has benefited heavily from the bad weather Cleveland, Ohio has brought on this year. If they can get the defense going and Baker can stay hot this Browns team might make some noise in January. The Giants are still in contention for the NFC East crown with the awful record of 5-8. With Dwayne Haskins starting for Washington, The Giants are in a prime position to make a play for the top spot in this division. Daniel Jones and his offense couldn’t get anything going last week in their 26-7 loss to the Cardinals, he ended 11/21 with 121 yards and 0 TD’s. With next week’s game against the Ravens, this week 15 is a must win for New York if they wanna steal the NFC East crown.
James: Browns
Vince: Browns
Zach: Browns
Patrick: Browns
Ryan: Browns
Maher: Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2) @ Cincinnati Bengals (2-10-1)
Current Lines: PIT -12.5 || O/U 41
The biggest spread margin of the week belongs to the Steelers at -12.5 against the 2-10-1 Bengals on Monday night. Big Ben and his Steelers are on a 2 game skid losing against the Washington Football team and Buffalo Bills in back to back weeks. The drops offensively have really hurt Pittsburgh as Diontae Johnson killed multiple drives with drops last week. Pittsburgh features a consensus top 3 defense and the leading candidate for DPOY in TJ Watt. Their run game has struggled heavily the past couple weeks, in their last two games they’ve combined for a league low 68 yards on 31 attempts. Pittsburgh will be hungry this week, wanting to prove to their fan base and the rest of the league that they’re a real contender for a title this year. Cincinnati hasn’t made too many appearances in our weekly Pick Em’s, and for good reason. The devastating injury to Joe Burrow and the lingering problems Joe Mixon have had really took this team out of the headlines. Tee Higgins has been a pleasant surprise for Cincy fans as he has 778 yards on 58 catches, good for second on the team behind just Tyler Boyd. Brandon Allen will lead this squad on Sunday, he’s got 3 TD’s and 2 interceptions since taking over as QB, it seems like the smart move here would be to let the tank happen and finish with a top 3 pick in next year's upcoming draft.
James: Steelers
Vince: Steelers
Zach: Steelers
Patrick: Steelers
Ryan: Steelers
Maher: Steelers
* Cover Photo Via: Nam Y. Huh || AP
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