The 2021 NFL standings have twisted and turned over the past few weeks, and the NFL playoff picture is seemingly shaken up every single week. What does that mean for the landscape of the NFL in Week 15, and how do the sportsbooks view this week?
The NFL Week 15 schedule is underway – and changing. After the Thursday night game, there were supposed to be two Saturday games, but now there is just one as the league rearranges the schedule due to the COVID-19 positive tests that have been rampant around the league this week. There are now two Monday games and two Sunday games have been moved to Tuesday night.
Lets begin:
Carolina Panthers at Buffalo Bills
Buffalo once a main favourite to win the AFC, now they are desperately fight for the wild card spot for the post season. This is a must win for them and they will definitely looking to deliver. The home advantage and the weaker opponent can help for them to win this battle.
The Bills need this one to break out of a funk where they have lost four of their last six games. The Panthers offer a chance for a get-right game knowing they have a -8 turnover ratio and struggle to run the ball. Josh Allen gets Buffalo back on track with a monster game.
Prediction: Bills -12.5
Arizona Cardinals at Detroit Lions
Cardinals despite playing their season superbly they dropped the leading position in the NFC division as they are now placed 2nd with a same score with Buccanners who took over the leading position despite having the same score 10-3.
Anyways the Cardinals expect to deliver an easy win against a terrible 1 win only Lions team. Arizona will get off defensively as well and I suspect they get at least one pick-six off Jared Goff, a limited QB they know all too well. Cardinals can both control the clock and also score quickly with explosive plays. … They will do plenty of both in this affair. This has the makings of a true blowout by three scores or more and I don’t see much hope for a backdoor cover given the Lions’ personnel limitations.
Prediction: Cardinals -13
Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants
Dallas has beaten New York in eight of the last nine matchups, including a 44-20 throttling on Oct. 10. Dak Prescott went for 302 yards and three TDs passing, but the fewer attempts for Dak, the better. Dallas is 5-0 when Prescott throws 32 or fewer times per game, and 3-4 when he’s over that mark. New York is bottom 10 vs. the run, which aligns well with the Cowboys’ path to success. Dallas is one of the biggest favorites in NFL Week 15 odds.
The Giants offense has suffered an outage. It scored just 32 points in three games before managing 21 in Week 14 vs. the Chargers, though the Giants trailed 30-7 going into the fourth quarter. Daniel Jones (neck) remains out, putting more emphasis on Saquon Barkley and the run game to pick up the slack. Barkley’s season-high is just 64 yards.
Prediction: Cowboys -11.5
Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers
Just a week ago, Pittsburgh closed as a 3.5-point underdog in Minnesota against a 5-7 Vikings team that was better than its record indicated. To close as a small favorite against Tennessee, implying a significant gap between the Vikings and Titans right now, seems off to me.
Tennessee hasn’t been great since Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown got hurt, but its defense is stout and has a definite advantage over Pittsburgh’s horrible offense. And the Titans offense? It won’t have to do much here to get the job done. If you watched Minnesota gash the Steelers on the ground last Thursday, it’s easy to imagine Tennessee will have some success too.
Trust head coach Mike Vrabel and Ryan Tannehill to take care of Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger on the road.
Prediction: Titans ML