Indianapolis (-3.5) at Cleveland
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For as good as the AFC North has been, they’ve struggled against the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are 2-1 against the North and took on a Cleveland team unsure of their quarterback. They’re going with Brian Hoyer this week and he is too limited to match points with the #1 passing offense and total offense in the NFL. This is where the Browns season starts to fade. With Houston playing well, Indianapolis needs to keep winning to secure the AFC South title.
THE PICK: Colts (-3.5)
Houston (-5) at Jacksonville
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Jacksonville came back from a 21-0 deficit against the New York Giants at home to win last week. The big story is that they were down 21-0 to the Giants, who aren’t very good and don’t possess J.J. Watt on their defensive line. Houston is trending upwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick must feel good after his six touchdown outbreak against Tennessee last week.
THE PICK: Texans (-5)
N.Y. Giants at Tennessee (PICK)
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Game stinks. Tough to pick these games when both teams stink and have nothing to play for. Usually we favor the home team in a PICK ‘EM game, but Tennessee is really bad and we don’t know if Zach Mettenberger will be under center or Jake Locker. We don’t trust either guy and imagine the Giants will play hard for Tom Coughlin after last week’s collapse.
THE PICK: Giants (PICK)
Carolina at New Orleans (-9.5)
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Normally in this spot we’d say “Carolina needs the game, they’ll be desperate,” but that could have been said about last week’s contest with the Vikings and they “no-showed.” Carolina just isn’t very good right now and after a huge road win for the Saints, you can bet they’re pumped to come back home and show that three game home losing streak was just a fluke.