2014 #NFL Week 13 picks (8-7 in Week 11, +39 in 2014): DET, DAL, SEA, BAL, BUF, TEN, IND, NYG, CAR, PIT, STL, CIN, ARI, NE, KC, NYJ
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) November 27, 2014
No more bye weeks! Let’s get into it!
Chicago at Detroit: The holiday season is upon us, and while official previews weren’t provided in depth for the Thanksgiving games, the picks were in and I went 2-1 to start Week 13. I thought Detroit WR Calvin Johnson and the rest of Detroit’s offense would get it going at home after two brutal road performances against teams that were ready for them.
Hello, Megatron. Hello, end zone. #CHIvsDET — Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) November 27, 2014
The Lions may be thankful for the Chicago Bears, but they still have work to do. After all, they blew out the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving last year, only to drop out of the playoffs by losing their last four games of the Jim Schwartz era.
Philadelphia at Dallas: I similarly expected Dallas WR Dez Bryant to go off on Philadelphia’s burnable CBs for Thanksgiving. Instead, Philadelphia went on the road and scored on seven of their first nine drives, with RB LeSean McCoy performing like we all thought he would for most of this season. 1
Game over … I’m shocked. Another winning season for Philadelphia though #PHIvsDAL
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) November 28, 2014
Seattle at San Francisco: Two out of three ain’t bad, as the resurgence of the Legion of Boom continued at Levi’s Field, quite possibly the sorriest home field advantage in the NFL right now. San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick was embarrassed by Seattle CB Richard Sherman, who served as the open man on Kaepernick’s two INTs.
Santa Clara #49ers for games like tonight “@BontaHill: That doesn’t happen at the Stick. No way.”
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) November 28, 2014
San Diego at Baltimore: Former Baltimore RB Ray Rice was reinstated by the NFL today. Ironically, this is what happened when these two teams last played: 
Needless to say, Rice shouldn’t be playing this year. Not just because of the PR hit, but because he was thoroughly ineffective last season for the Ravens, failing to gain 1,000 yards from scrimmage despite 272 touches from scrimmage. 2 Baltimore is coming off a short week, but they’re home, while the Chargers have to travel and find a way to deal with Baltimore’s pass rush on the road.
Cleveland at Buffalo: The Buffalo Bills return to Ralph Wilson Stadium after playing at Ford Field Monday night. They will be hosting Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine, who was the Buffalo DC in 2013. The Browns hosted the Bills last season, knocking them off 37-24 in a Thursday night game that saw Cleveland QB Brian Hoyer tear his ACL. The challenge for the Browns will be keeping Hoyer from having to face Buffalo’s league-leading pass rush. Expect another run-heavy attack from the Buffalo offense, as Cleveland allows 4.5 yards per rush.
Tennessee at Houston: Much like last week’s AFC South matchup, this will be a road game for a rookie QB going against the team he made his first notable NFL appearance against. Last week it was Jacksonville rookie QB Blake Bortles, and he underwhelmed in Indianapolis, so the Titans are hoping to see rookie QB Zach Mettenberger fare better in Houston. The Texans will get back RB Arian Foster after missing two games with a groin injury, while QB Ryan Mallett’s season-ending pectoral tear thrusts QB Ryan Fitzpatrick back into the lineup. Houston will be without CB Kareem Jackson and rookie OLB Jadeveon Clowney. Tennessee has to force Fitzpatrick to beat them; Foster had a season-high 173 total yards and three TDs in Tennessee last month.
Washington at Indianapolis: Well, this was going to be the first QB head-to-head matchup between QBs drafted one and two overall in the same class since 1998, when Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning faced San Diego Chargers QB Ryan Leaf. But Washington head coach Jay Gruden went ahead and benched Washington QB Robert Griffin, who simply failed to produce. Griffin has only two TD passes in 119 attempts this season while taking 20 sacks, numbers that resemble John Beck in his last season in Washington. So now Washington goes back to QB Colt McCoy, who presumably will take fewer sacks than Griffin while throwing fewer INTs than QB Kirk Cousins. Regardless of who was starting for Washington, Indianapolis QB Andrew Luck was always going to light up the worst pass defense in the NFC.
New York Giants at Jacksonville: This will be the only matchup Sunday between two teams mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Yes, that means that the Giants will have missed the playoffs six of the last seven seasons, but New York head coach Tom Coughlin should be back next year to beat New England in the Super Bowl again. Coughlin was Jacksonville’s first head coach, from 1995 until 2002, and he lost his only game in Jacksonville as New York’s head coach back in 2006. The Jaguars have a top-five pass rush, but they aren’t very good defending the pass, which will be a problem against a hot WR like New York rookie Odell Beckham. If New York is going to end the longest current losing streak in the league, their NFC-worst run defense needs to contain Jacksonville RB Denard Robinson.
Carolina at Minnesota: The Giants may have the NFL’s longest losing streak at six games, but the Panthers share a piece of the league’s longest winless streak, as they last won on October 5 as well. Carolina was fortunate to tie Cincinnati in Week 6, and they have lost five in a row since. The Panthers are coming off a bye week that saw the other three chumps in the division lose, and they’re the only team in the NFC South facing an opponent with a losing record in Week 13, so they could be leading the division if they can do what they did last year and blow out the Vikings in Minnesota. The key will be how healthy Carolina QB Cam Newton looks behind an offensive line that has done him few favors in pass protection this year. Minnesota will flip-flop inactive backs this week against Carolina’s bottom-ten run defense; rookie RB Jerick McKinnon is out, while RB Matt Asiata returns.
New Orleans at Pittsburgh: 
Black and Gold versus Black and Yellow … I prefer gold over yellow bellies, personally. The Saints messed around and lost three home games in three weeks for the first time since 1997, back when Heath Shuler, Danny Wuerffel, and Doug Nussmeier were failing at QB. 3 Now New Orleans goes into Heinz Field against a Pittsburgh team coming off a bye and fully capable of getting big games from RB Le’Veon Bell and WR Antonio Brown. Pittsburgh’s bye week should help their defense get healthy, as they may get back rookie ILB Ryan Shazier, CB Ike Taylor, and SS Troy Polamalu. All three players may be factors in slowing down New Orleans’ best weapons, TE Jimmy Graham and WR Marques Colston.
Oakland at Saint Louis: These two teams used to be based in Los Angeles, with both teams leaving after the 1994 season – who knows what will happen after the 2014 season. The Raiders are coming off an extra few days of rest after winning their first game of the season last Thursday night against Kansas City, while the Rams blew another upset opportunity at San Diego Sunday. Oakland rookie QB Derek Carr averages a putrid 5.5 yards per pass attempt, one of the ten lowest rates in league history for a player with at least 400 attempts. It would help if Carr got back WR Rod Streater, but it looks like he will sit out another week, along with explosive RB Latavius Murray. Saint Louis may get back DE Chris Long, but they need more consistent play from QB Shaun Hill to make up for Hill’s three-turnover letdown in SoCal.
Cincinnati at Tampa Bay: The Bengals have lost six straight games to the Buccaneers from 1995 to 2010, and the only time the Bengals won in Tampa was 1983, months after Cincinnati dumped 1st-round bust QB Jack Thompson onto Tampa and intercepted him three times in a 23-17 victory. Tampa Bay had a chance to win a seventh-straight game against an opponent earlier this season, but the opportunity was stripped away in overtime by Minnesota rookie OLB Anthony Barr. The key to this game will be Cincinnati’s pass rush. Cincinnati has struggled mightily to get sacks, ranking dead last in sack percentage, but Tampa Bay’s offensive line has been poor most of the season. Tampa Bay’s defense hasn’t been as embarrassing since the bye week, but they still have to deal with Cincinnati WR A.J. Green.
Arizona at Atlanta: The Cardinals have lost six straight games in Atlanta, but the Falcons offense was disturbing in a 27-13 loss at Arizona last season. Atlanta QB Matt Ryan saw his RBs rush for only 14 yards on 13 carries, while Ryan threw 61 passes, gaining only 301 yards with a garbage-time TD to WR Drew Davis and four INTs. In 2012, Ryan threw a career-worst five INTs with zero TDs in a game the Falcons somehow won 23-19. 4 While Ryan’s 2013 game was without WRs Julio Jones and Roddy White, his 2012 disaster-bomb had Jones and White on the field. Arizona needs more from the running game: RB Andre Ellington has only 89 yards on his last 47 carries (three games, 1.9 yards per carry), but he ripped Atlanta for 154 rushing yards last season, 80 coming on a TD run.
New England at Green Bay: This is the Networks United’s Game of the Week, featuring Super Bowl MVP QBs in New England’s Tom Brady and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has seen Brady shred this Green Bay defense up close twice. In 2006, Rodgers backed up QB Brett Favre while Brady threw four TD passes at Lambeau Field for a 35-0 shutout. 5 Rodgers sat out the 2010 meeting with a concussion, while Brady threw two TDs in a 31-27 come-from-behind Patriots win. 6 I think New England will run the football and use a similar gameplan to the one they had in Indianapolis, because something will have to give when Rodgers has the ball: Green Bay is 5-0 at home this season, scoring at least 31 points in every home game, while New England hasn’t allowed more than 25 points during their seven-game winning streak.
Denver at Kansas City: First of all, The NU wishes a speedy recovery to Kansas City Pro Bowl SS Eric Berry, who will miss the rest of the season on the non-football illness list. Second of all, Kansas City may have been looking past Oakland towards this game, an opportunity to tie Denver atop the AFC West. Kansas City got a few extra days off to think about how they let Oakland win a game. Third of all, these two teams battled down to the last play in Denver earlier this season, and RB Jamaal Charles left injured after only three touches. And finally, the Broncos didn’t fare too well in their last trip to Missouri against a top-pass rushing defense, while the Chiefs got after 2013-2014 Conference finalists New England and Seattle in their trips to Arrowhead Stadium.
Miami at New York Jets: The Jets had to play last Monday, so they’re in a bit of a logistical disadvantage. Anything can happen in the Meadowlands, and it is worth seeing what New York QB Geno Smith can do to save his season on national television. The weapons for New York have certainly been worse than WRs Eric Decker and Percy Harvin and RBs Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson. Smith needs to take care of the football and give New York a chance against a Miami defense that ran out of ammunition in Denver. The Jets are also missing DE Muhammad Wilkerson, so they’ll be relying on the pass rush to cover up their league-worst pass defense.
I don’t get all excited about head-to-head quarterback matchups. But we’ve never seen Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers start a game opposite New England QB Tom Brady. (Jon Zimmer/Courier-Journal).