Super Bowl 55 is scheduled for February 7 in Tampa, Florida, and NFL fans may see a preview of that game this Sunday when Kansas City visits New Orleans.
NFL Week 15 Point Spreads
Here’s a quick look at all the Week 15 matchups with Sports Interaction’s NFL odds. Games Sunday unless noted.
Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders, Thursday
The Raiders look for the season sweep as they prevailed 31-26 in Los Angeles in Week 9. The Chargers largely dominated statistically and looked as if they scored the winning TD on the final play but it was overturned. L.A. won close Sunday over Atlanta, while Las Vegas was blown out at home by Indianapolis as the Raiders’ defence continued to struggle. The coordinator on that side of the ball was fired Sunday night by Jon Gruden.
Pick ATS: Las Vegas (alternate line of -2.5)
Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos, Saturday
Yep, there are Saturday games this week and next. This could be a trap game for Buffalo, which is on the verge of winning the AFC East for the first time since 1995, following a huge home win Sunday night over Pittsburgh. The jury is still out on Broncos second-year QB Drew Lock, but he had a career-high four TD passes in Sunday’s upset at Carolina.
Pick ATS: Denver
Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers, Saturday
Green Bay not only won in Detroit on Sunday behind four total touchdowns from Aaron Rodgers, but the Saints lost. That means the Packers will be the NFC’s top seed in the playoffs by winning out. Carolina is playing out the string and hopes to get back running back Christian McCaffrey (missed Sunday, limited to three games this season due to injury) and top WR DJ Moore this week (missed Sunday on COVID list) for this one.
Pick ATS: Carolina
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
First meeting of the season between these division rivals, and this is essentially the latest they could meet for the first time without playing in back-to-back weeks. Atlanta visits Tampa in Week 17. The Bucs came out of their bye and didn’t look great but ended a two-game skid to beat Minnesota on Sunday. Atlanta was a last-second loser at the Chargers as the Falcons play out the string.
Pick ATS: Tampa Bay
Detroit Lions at Tennessee Titans
The Titans rode Derrick Henry’s 215 yards rushing and two touchdowns to an easy win in Jacksonville on Sunday. Henry is going to win a second straight NFL rushing title and might join the 2,000-yard club. Will Detroit have starting QB Matthew Stafford here? He left Sunday’s 31-24 home loss to Green Bay with a rib injury. Normally, Stafford plays through such things, but the Lions have nothing to play for so the team could hold him out.
Point spread: Titans -8 (may change depending on Stafford)
Pick ATS: Tennessee
Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts
The Colts won in Houston 26-20 two weeks ago when Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson couldn’t handle a low snap from the Indianapolis 2-yard line with just over a minute to play. The Colts recovered and closed it out. Houston looked terrible in Sunday’s loss at Chicago, while Indianapolis dominated in a win at Las Vegas.
Pick ATS: Indianapolis (alternate line of -6.5)
New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins
New England beat Miami 21-11 in the season opener and the franchise’s first game post-Tom Brady (who used to struggle in Miami for whatever reason). Cam Newton rushed for two scores, while Ryan Fitzpatrick was picked off three times. The Pats lost last Thursday night at the Rams – that record streak of double-digit win seasons is over — with Newton really struggling, but Coach Bill Belichick says no QB change. Miami was a home loser to Kansas City on Sunday.
Pick ATS: Miami
Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota won in Chicago 19-13 on Monday in Week 10. The Bears embarrassed themselves offensively with 149 yards and just two third-down conversions. Chicago has looked much better on offence the past three weeks with Mitchell Trubisky back under centre and is now 4-2 with him as the starter in 2020 following Sunday’s blowout win over Houston. Minnesota might be looking for a new kicker this week after Dan Bailey missed three field goals and a PAT in Sunday’s loss at Tampa Bay.
Pick ATS: Minnesota (alternate line of -2.5)
San Francisco 49ers at Dallas Cowboys
Was to be a meaningless Sunday night game, so it was flexed out. Any slim Wild-Card chances the Niners had disappeared in a 23-15 home loss to Washington on Sunday. San Francisco turned it over three times and two led to Washington defensive touchdowns. Dallas is still alive in the NFC East following a 30-7 win in Cincinnati on Sunday, easily the best one of the NFL’s worst defences has played this year.
Pick ATS: Dallas (alternate line of +3)
Seattle Seahawks at Washington Football Team
Don’t look now, but the Washington Football Team is on a four-game winning streak and solo alone atop the NFC East. The WFT defence scored twice in Sunday’s win vs. San Francisco, but QB Alex Smith went down with a calf injury. Too early to know if he will be able to start this week or if it will 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins. Seattle basically had a scrimmage on Sunday in trashing the winless New York Jets.
Pick ATS: Washington
Jacksonville Jaguars at Baltimore Ravens
Short week for Baltimore after visiting Cleveland on Monday. The Ravens finally were COVID-19 healthy for that one after a couple of weeks missing several players. Jacksonville lost its franchise-record 12th in a row Sunday and barely put up a fight vs. Tennessee. Gardner Minshew III replaced an ineffective Mike Glennon at QB, and we’d expect Minshew to start here.
Pick ATS: Baltimore
Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals
The Eagles might have saved their season and did keep their NFC East hopes alive by starting rookie Jalen Hurts at quarterback Sunday over Carson Wentz, and Hurts led an upset of New Orleans. Hurts threw for a TD and rushed for 106 yards. Coach Doug Pederson says he hasn’t decided who starts this week, but that’s ridiculous. Arizona snapped a three-game skid with an easy win at the Giants to get back into the NFC playoff field.
Pick ATS: Arizona
New York Jets at Los Angeles Rams
The winless Jets had actually played well for a couple of weeks, but they completely laid down in Sunday’s 40-3 loss in Seattle. Now just three games until 0-16 infamy and the top pick in the 2021 draft. The Rams’ top-ranked defence was extremely impressive last Thursday in a 24-3 win over New England. Rookie Cam Akers exploded for 171 yards rushing.
Pick ATS: NY Jets (alternate line of +17.5)
Kansas City Chiefs at New Orleans Saints
One might think this would be flexed into primetime, but each American TV network is allowed to protect one game a week and there was no chance CBS was giving this up. It could easily be a Super Bowl 55 preview. The Chiefs are now the AFC’s top seed, but the Saints slipped from the top spot in the NFC with Sunday’s upset loss in Philadelphia. Will Drew Brees return from injury this week? Probably not.
Pick ATS: New Orleans
Cleveland Browns at New York Giants
This was flexed into the Sunday night window. Short week for Cleveland after hosting Baltimore on Monday night. The Giants fell out of first in the NFC East with Sunday’s home blowout loss to Arizona. QB Daniel Jones was questionable to play with a hamstring injury. He did play but clearly wasn’t 100 per cent and eventually replaced, so monitor that this week.
Point spread: Browns -3 (may change after Monday)
Pick ATS: Cleveland (alternate line of -2.5)
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals, Monday
The Steelers go for the season sweep, which is pretty common in this series, as they beat Cincinnati 36-10 in Week 10. Joe Burrow was still healthy then for the Bengals but was a bit overmatched. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and four scores. Canadian rookie Chase Claypool caught two of the scores. Pittsburgh has definitely taken an offensive step back in back-to-back losses to fall out of the top spot in the AFC. The Bengals have done nothing on offence since losing Burrow in Week 11 to a season-ending injury. They enter on a five-game skid.
Pick ATS: Cincinnati
