Week 15 is here … and with it, the final home games of the season for a few teams. If your team is based in Jacksonville, New England, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Saint Louis, or Washington, this week is the home finale. Obviously, in Saint Louis and/or San Diego, it may be the last home game in those cities indefinitely.
#Rams win. We’ll see next month if Saint Louis can avoid what happened in 1988 #TBvsSTL #TNF pic.twitter.com/MkhzY7691R
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 18, 2015
I went 9-7 in Week 14, so here’s a brief breakdown on the games I missed:
– The Cardinals continue to burn me in spectacular ways – they shut down Vikings RB Adrian Peterson in the 2nd half and they recovered 3 Minnesota fumbles, marking a season-high turnovers for the Vikings.
– Washington won their first road game of the season, as they benefitted from Chicago K Robbie Gould missing another critical FG.
– I didn’t see that beatdown from the Jaguars coming, as they ran over the Colts for 154 rushing yards and 2 TDs, both season-highs.
– Rams DT Aaron Donald had 3 sacks and CB Trumaine Johnson ran an INT back 58 yards for a TD to eliminate the Lions from the playoff picture.
– Speaking of sacks, Raiders DE Khalil Mack had 5 sacks (all in the second half) and forced a fumble that led to a safety in a 3-point win in Denver.
– Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski returned to score a TD and help get New England a blowout win in Houston.
– The Dolphins may be the dumbest team in football – they ignored RB Lamar Miller after he scored 2 rushing TD, then they forgot to cover New York WR Odell Beckham (season-high 166 receiving yards).
This Gameplan is being released in between the real TNF and the Saturday TNF, but you all know the picks are legit! Also, there’s some consternation about the fact that through 14 weeks, there are 21 teams with losing records – most in NFL history at this point of the season. The flipside to that is that 25 teams are still alive for the postseason. People will complain about anything, especially if they can get some quick shine from it. I don’t feel like the NFL needs to adjust the postseason to account for sorry divisions … and if they do, then they should just do away with division/conference scheduling altogether. Of course, I went on this rant last season too…
2015 #NFL Week 15 picks (9-7 in Week 14, +20 for 2015):
STL, DAL, KC, IND, JAX, MIN, NE, NYG, WAS, GB, SEA, DEN, MIA, SF, PHI, DET
#TheNU
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 16, 2015
Tampa Bay at Saint Louis:
#TNF preview: Come for rookies, stay for the DTs. Big fan of #Rams' Donald, #Buccaneers' McCoy. I'll go with STL pass rush at home #TBvsSTL
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 18, 2015
Case Keenum with a 158.0 passer rating tonight (only 17 passes, so limited records). Perfect passer rating is 158.3
#TNF #TBvsSTL
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 18, 2015
Jameis Winston wasn't sacked tonight, but he was hit 11 times (3 by Aaron Donald, a certified problem)
#TNF #TBvsSTL
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) December 18, 2015
New York Jets at Dallas:
Somehow, the Cowboys are still alive in the NFC Least, and they can stay that way if defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli can overcome their lack of depth in the secondary against New York’s duo of WRs Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker.
Kansas City at Baltimore:
The Ravens don’t even want to win games at this point, while the Chiefs are finally seeing what they have in 2014 1st round OLB Dee Ford with OLB Justin Houston (knee) out indefinitely.
Houston at Indianapolis:
Both teams are 6-7 with relatively soft Weeks 16-17 – but the Colts are going to win the division; I don’t see Houston QB T.J. Yates earning the Texans’ 1st win Indianapolis in what will be the 14th attempt to do so.
Atlanta at Jacksonville:
The Falcons lost by 38 last week, while the Jaguars won by 35; Jacksonville QB Blake Bortles has thrown multiple TD passes in 8 of his last 9 games, while the Falcons allowed a season-high 3 TD passes last week in Carolina.
Chicago at Minnesota:
The Vikings have lost their last 6 games after playing on Thursday the week before, but if they can continue to keep Chicago RB Matt Forte out of the end zone then they can control the game.
Tennessee at New England:
Patriots QB Tom Brady has thrown 10 TD passes and zero INT during his 4-game winning streak vs. Tennessee, and in his last 4 games against Dick LeBeau’s defenses, Brady has 13 TD passes and zero INT.
Carolina at New York Giants:
New York came close to beating the Patriots when they were undefeated, and with Carolina dealing with depth issues at CB outside of Josh Norman, expect WR Odell Beckham to continue his hot streaks and get the Giants back to .500.
Buffalo at Washington:
The Bills have won all six matchups since losing to Washington in the Super Bowl, but Buffalo will be hard-pressed to make it 7 in a row if their thoroughly disappointing pass rush can’t disrupt Washington QB Kirk Cousins.
Green Bay at Oakland:
Here’s another Super Bowl rematch, and another situation where a team has a long winning streak; the Raiders haven’t beaten the Packers since 1987, and unless Green Bay decides not to block Khalil Mack, it will stay that way.
Cleveland at Seattle:
Browns head coach Mike Pettine is leading the worst pass defense in Browns history, but he still found a way to slight Seattle QB Russell Wilson, who happens to be coming off an unprecedented 4-game stretch of 3+ TD passes, 0 INT, and 70% completions in each game.
Denver at Pittsburgh:
This is the only game of Week 15 featuring two teams with winning records; expect the Denver secondary to win their matchup with Pittsburgh’s multi-faceted pass offense due to help from the top-ranked pass rush.
Miami at San Diego:
This may be the last game in San Diego; last year in Miami, Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill threw 3 TD passes and Chargers QB Philip Rivers threw 3 INTs in a 37-0 Miami shutout win.
Cincinnati at San Francisco:
In yet another Super Bowl rematch, the hard-luck Bengals start former Alabama QB A.J. McCarron at San Francisco; the Bengals lost a Super Bowl against the 49ers more recently than the last time an Alabama QB won a start in the NFL (1987).
Arizona at Philadelphia:
Special teams (and DE Fletcher Cox) will have to come up huge again if the Eagles are to upset former NFC Eastern rival Arizona.
Detroit at New Orleans:
Detroit QB Matthew Stafford has thrown 11 TD passes and only 2 INT in his last 5 games, and he gets a great matchup against what is shaping up to be the worst pass defense in NFL history.
The Steelers have had the best offense in the league over the last month, but they’ll have to keep it up against the best defense in the NFL this season. (Photo by Mike Sweeney)