Week 15 picks

It's Friday Night/Saturday Morning, which means it's time to give you my picks for the rest of the games in Week 15: Patriots @ Bills -- Earlier in the season, the impossible almost happened. The Bills nearly beat the Patriots. And since then, the Patriots have had an up and down season. The Bills have had a mostly down season. Now they meet again, with the Bills eager to avenge their loss and the Patriots eager to make ground in the race for the playoffs. Both teams have a lot to play for, but both have some glaring deficiencies to overcome. The Pats offense has been solid, but their leading play maker this season has been Wes Welker. This isn't supposed to happen. Welker is supposed to be the guy that runs great underneath routes and can give you yards after the catch, or in other words, a checkdown guy. He's the player you turn to when your deep threats are all covered. And the fact that Welker has seen so many passes is indicative of a lack of downfield threat. Againts the Bills 4th ranked pass defense, that trend may continue. But their real problem is the defense, which has looked very vulnerable of late. Luckily though, help is at hand. The Bills offense to be exact. One week they're going, the next they're lying flat on the their faces. The deep threat to TO has been off and on lately. Even though I don't think the Pats will have a field day, the Bills will struggle to match their opponents if they go over 20. Patriots win. Browns @ Chiefs -- This is a dream match up. A bad dream maybe. God the Chiefs season ticket holders must be kicking themselves that they paid out all that money and then ended up with this turkey on their dinner plate. Well, neither team really stands out to be honest. Based purely on the strength of their run game, I'm going with the Chiefs. Chiefs win. 49ers @ Eagles -- Oh how I would love to take my very own 49ers in this one, but alas I think last weeks fumble frenzy against the Cardinals was a little fluky. Add to that the fact the 49ers offense still struggles to generate anything approaching decent yardage and I think we're all set for another Eagles victory. Eagles win. Texans @ Rams -- The Texans have been explosive offensively this season, just like last year. Compare their high flying, potentially fast scoring offense with the Rams pitiful D and abhorrent pass defense and we have ourselves a victor. Texans win. Dolphins @ Titans -- There is really only one battle that matters. Chris Johnson versus the Dolphins rush defense. I think Johnson edges that battle. But even if he does, Kerry Collins is likely back in the lineup and the threat of Vince Young will be gone. Collins loves throwing interceptions and the Titans staff love giving him opportunities to do so. On top of that, Miami is chomping at the bit to get a piece of the playoff action this year. Dolphins win. Falcons @ Jets -- I like Chris Redman and what he's done for the Falcons. But I like the Jets better rushing attack and standout corner Darrelle Revis to pull them through. Providing the 'Sanchise' doesn't literally throw all their good work away. Jets win. Cardinals @ Lions -- Cardinals win. Raiders @ Broncos -- The Raiders are so confident with the play of QB JaMarcus Russell that on Sunday he will play second fiddle to Charlie Frye. Yeah, so that says it all. Broncos win. Bengals @ Chargers -- After the loss of team mate Chris Henry this week, it's going to be an emotional time for the Bengals. It could go one of two ways. Either they will be steely determined to play their hearts out in honour of his memory, or the reality of what has happened will sink home in a major way. Unfortunately it doesn't help when you have the San Diego Chargers on the opposite side of the field. The Chargers have got their downfield pass game into it's groove and LT is punching home TDs like it was easy. Chargers win. Bears @ Ravens -- On the face of it, these two teams look like equals. In reality, the Ravens are a class above. Their receivers actually run proper routes, their rushing attack is brutal and efficient and their D is steady if not electric this year. The Bears are the polar opposite. Ravens win. Packers @ Steelers -- The Steelers are in a rut. Big time. They just look woeful right now on all sides of the ball. Enter the Packers, who have fixed their early blips and blemishes, and look ready to make a run in the playoffs. This is a mis-match. Big time. Packers win. Buccaneers @ Seahawks -- Honestly, I hate both teams in this. It's that simple. And so in the time honoured fashion of when men wished to settle various disputes, I shall flip a coin. Buc's are heads, Seahawks are tails......... Heads it is. Buccaneers win. Vikings @ Panthers -- Question; which Panthers team will show up? Answer; nobody knows. They might run the ball until DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart have no legs left. Or they might just hurl the ball around trying to re create their favourite Madden plays. Either way, they still won't win. The Vikings are beasts right now. Beasts on offense, beasts on defense. The Panthers are more like worried little pussy cats. Vikings win. Giants @ Redskins -- The Redskins have been surprisingly good of late. The Giants have been surprisingly bad. More to the point, the Redskins have been finding ways to move the ball deep downfield while the Giants have been finding ways to give up huge touchdown plays. This is a bit of an out on a limb type pick, but I'm taking the Redskins to play upset special. Redskins win. So there we have it. I'll be back tomorrow (today?) to round up the Cowboys @ Saints. Until then, have a nice day.