NFL against the spread picks: Does anyone have to win the NFC East? – Yahoo Sports (blog)
Picture it now: You’re settling in for the start of the NFL playoffs, on that glorious Saturday afternoon of wild-card weekend.
And here comes the NFC East to screw it all up.
Though, with the networks’ infatuation with the NFC East, whoever wins that division might end up on prime time anyway. Not that anybody really wants that. But the point stands that the NFC East is going to host a playoff game. It’s in the rules.
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But who? The answer is probably the Washington Redskins, who are tied with the New York Giants for first place at 5-6. Washington doesn’t play another opponent that has a winning record (the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills are each 5-6). The New York Giants play three winning teams (New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings), the Philadelphia Eagles play two of the best teams in football (New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals), and the Dallas Cowboys without Tony Romo play two winning teams (Green Bay Packers and Jets).
Washington also has a tiebreaker edge, with just one loss in the division so far. The Eagles and Cowboys have two each and the Giants have three.
So all signs are pointing to Washington hosting one of those four playoff games on opening weekend. The Redskins aren’t a great team but they might not even need to be .500 to win the division. And they’ve been the most solid of those up-and-down teams, even though their 5-1 home record and 0-5 road record kind of sum things up.
Washington looks like the clear favorite but with the way the NFC East has gone, assuming anything is probably a mistake.
Here are the Week 13 NFL picks:
Green Bay Packers tight end Richard Rodgers (82) reaches to catch the game winning pass on the last play of an …
Texans (+3) over Bills: I’m believing in this Texans defense. Houston has held the opponent without a touchdown in three of its last four games.
Bears (-7) over 49ers: San Francisco has battled hard, but I can’t see them beating a Bears team that is pretty hot and has some extra rest.
Bengals (-7) over Browns: I don’t know why Austin Davis is starting for the Browns here. It’ll get ugly.
Titans (-2.5) over Jaguars: When they played in Jacksonville last month, the Titans outplayed the Jaguars for much of the game.
Cardinals (-5.5) over Rams: St. Louis looks like it has basically given up trying to be a competitive team, so I’m giving up on them too.
Ravens (+4) over Dolphins: I don’t love the Ravens and all those injuries, but I also don’t love changing an offensive coordinator — and basically dumping an entire scheme — at this point in the season either, as Miami is doing.
Vikings (pick ’em) over Seahawks: Not sure where all this “The Seahawks are back!” momentum is coming from. They gave up almost 500 passing yards at home last week. They can’t rely on Russell Wilson to have five-touchdown games. Until the defense returns, I’m not buying Seattle.
Giants (+2) over Jets: The strange “road game in their home stadium” scenario for the Jets. The Giants came a fourth-and-10 stop from beating the Patriots, then got completely outplayed by Washington. Who knows what they’ll do this week?
Falcons (+2) over Buccaneers: Atlanta out-gained Tampa Bay 496-290 just a few weeks ago. As long as the Falcons don’t turn the ball over, as they did in that first meeting, they should be able to get a much-needed win.
Raiders (+3) over Chiefs: If Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston misses this game, as it appears he will with a hyper-extended knee, that’s a huge loss. It’ll be a tough road test for one of the NFL’s hottest teams.
Broncos (-4) over Chargers: I’ll keep riding Denver until the oddsmakers give me a reason not to.
Patriots (-10) over Eagles: I get that injuries are piling up, but the Eagles can’t stop anyone and the Patriots are going to be an angry football team.
Saints (+7) over Panthers: Crazy, but I think at the Superdome the Saints can keep it close.
Colts (+10) over Steelers: Too many points. The Matt Hasselbeck Colts have been a pretty good team.
Redskins (-4.5) over Cowboys: There was so much optimism with Tony Romo’s return. I can’t see how this team gets up for another go-around with Matt Cassel.
Last week: 10-6
Season to date: 87-84-4
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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