Week 15: Consensus Week

After struggling early in the season, Russell Wilson
has the Seahawks flying high once again.

This is a week of agreement.  In fact, it took us until the 16th and final pick to disagree on a game.  We'll have to see if we're really that smart after having watched the previous 14 weeks, or if we're just equally ignorant toward some potential upsets.  In the interest of the blog, we'll argue a little bit about the confidence with which we each took these games.

Either way, here's who we (both) picked to win every game except for Buffalo at Washington:

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Seattle over Cleveland

Austen: The Seahawks are the hottest team in the NFL not named the Panthers. The Browns are still the front runner for the first pick in the draft. This has to be the unquestioned top pick. 

Stally: Seattle doesn't have anyone prominent to carry the rock, but the way QB Russell Wilson is throwing the ball around the yard, it doesn't need one this week.  This is going to be a blowout.

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@New England over Tennessee

Stally: There was small concern around Patriots Nation when QB Tom Brady was listed as questionable with an illness.  That concern was over blown.  He's healthy and playing and should torch a Titans team that can't defend the pass.

Austen: The Pats could probably beat the Titans without Tom Brady, as well as all their other injured players. 

Austen's Seven-Point Pick
Kansas City over @Baltimore

Austen: Jimmy Clausen is starting for the Ravens. As long as that is the case, I will bet against them. The Chiefs have been on fire and have to win this game to stay in the playoff race. This should be a blowout. 

Stally: Baltimore could well be on its way to a 4-12 finish, which inexplicably seems to happen to this team every five years or so.  This is its best chance to win.  The Chiefs looked pretty bad at home but did what they needed to in order to beat the Chargers last week.  This one might be closer than Austen thinks, but Kansas City should still win.

Stally's Seven-Point Pick
Carolina over @New York Giants

Stally: I pledge allegiance to the Panthers.  After doubting them for so long, I'm going to keep picking them strong, even at New York against a team that is known for trying to wreck perfect seasons.

Austen: Couldn't agree more. Giants could surprise people but with no run game, Eli Manning should have a rough day behind this OL. 

Austen's Six-Point Pick
New York Jets over @Dallas

Austen: The Cowboys have found a way to lose all year long without Tony Romo in the lineup. I feel no remorse taking this game this high despite the close final score. 

Stally: This was on over-pick on Austen's part, as proven by the overtime outcome.  Sure, the Cowboys aren't very good, but the Jets aren't an elite team in the league, and it's tough to go on the road on a short week.

Stally's Six-Point Pick
Cincinnati over @San Francisco

Stally: No Andy Dalton, no Tyler Eifert, no problem.  Austen and I have staid all along that the Bengals are a very complete team.  Time to put my money where my mouth is and not doubt them against a 49ers team that just lost to Cleveland.

Austen: After getting creamed by the Browns last week, the hope that the 49ers are on an upswing is all but crushed. I think this will be closer than Stally is letting on, but the 49ers just don't have the pieces in place to close out tight games. 

Austen's Five-Point Pick
Arizona over @Philadelphia

Austen: I've been saying it pretty much all season long, the Cards are the best all around team in the league. The Eagles lack any identity on offense or defense and should get run over in this one. 

Stally: A few wins in a row doesn't make the Eagles a great team like the Cardinals, that's for sure.

Stally's Five-Point Pick
Green Bay over @Oakland

Stally: This might be an over-pick on a Green Bay team that really hasn't inspired confidence.

Austen: After an inspiring start to the year, the Raiders had fallen off a cliff until knocking off the Broncos last week. I think the Riaders might actually be the better all around team, but they still turn the ball over too often to be trusted against a quarterback of Aaron Rodgers' caliber. The Raiders will lose a close one. 

Austen's Four-Point Pick
@Pittsburgh over Denver

Austen: Best offense in the league against the best defense in the league. This is the game to watch this week. Despite the old saying, it has been offensive teams that have been winning these types of games for the last decade or so. It also helps the Steelers have a Hall of Fame quarterback playing the best football of his career. 

Stally: The Broncos loss to the Raiders was surprising, but considering the amount of times they've pulled a horseshoe out of their butts to win a game, it's about time the luck ran out.  The Steelers are playing good football and should take down Denver.

Stally's Four-Point Pick
@Minnesota over Chicago

Stally: As I told Austen when I picked this game, the Bears were a pumpkin, then turned into a chariot, then turned back into a pumpkin.  Minnesota struggles against good teams, but has cleaned up the crappy ones this year, and Chicago is the latter.

Austen: This is an over draft. The Vikings are a decent team when healthy, but they are down their top 2-3 defensive players this week. I'm taking the Vikes only because they are home. Neither of these teams are good. 

Austen's Three-Point Pick
@New Orleans over Detroit

Austen: When two bad teams are playing against each other, I'll take the home team with the better quarterback 100/100 times. Both of these franchises will probably have different coaches in 2016. 

Stally: This is a really tough game to call.  The Saints are capable of being bad enough and the Lions are capable of being good enough that this could be lopsided in the other direction.  New Orleans is the logical pick, but the outcome of this one could be highly variable between two inconsistent teams.

Stally's Three-Point Pick
Houston over @Indianapolis

Stally: The Texans are banged up on offense, but how healthy do you need to be to put up points against a team that just gave up 51 points to Jacksonville and 45 the week before to Pittsburgh.  The Texans defense is its strength, so the offense should perform well enough against the Colts porous D to win this one.

Austen: The Texans are 0-13 in Indianapolis. That's a big hump to get over for a very bad football team, even against another bad team. I'm starting to lean towards the Colts in this one. 

Austen's Two-Point Pick
@St. Louis over Tampa Bay

Austen: This is my second locked in pick of the week, so I'll take my 8 point lead into Sunday. I feel/felt like these were evenly matched teams with very different make ups. However the Rams tend to play their A game at home. Even if their A game is not all that good, it's enough to knock off a Bucs team that was barely hanging onto playoff contention. 

Stally: If anything, Tampa Bay was farther away from winning this game than either of us expected.  Only a late rally made it close, but it was St. Louis' game throughout.

Stally's Two-Point Pick
@Jacksonville over Atlanta

Stally: It's gotten this bad for the once 5-0 Falcons.  They've now lost six straight and project for another loss against a Jacksonville team gaining momentum.

Austen: This game should probably have been taken higher. The Jags are missing a lot of crucial pieces on offense this week, but has there been a worse team in the league since the Falcons started 5-0? I don't think so. 

Austen's One-Point Pick
Miami over @San Diego

Austen: Lamarr Miller is going to go gang busters against this atrocious Chargers defense. The question is, will they give him the ball? If Miller gets 20+ touches, this will be a blowout. 

Stally: Miami is terrible, which poses the question: how terrible must the Chargers be for us to pick the Dolphins in San Diego?  Really, really terrible.

Stally's One-Point Pick
Buffalo over @Washington

Stally: This is our one disagreement.  I'm going to go with Sexy Rexy and the Bills.  Buffalo tends to be competitive in most games and will challenge a Washington team that hasn't earned me confidence.

Austen: The Bills players are borderline revolting against Rex right now. Mario Williams is not showing up to practice and asking to get out of town away from me his guy. Isn't he supposed to be a players' coach? Things have gone off the rails in Buffalo and the Redskins are going to win the NFC East.