Chris Stout

At Atlanta -11 Jacksonville
The game is in Atlanta, the Falcons need the W and the Jags secondary is a mess. Sure, MJD is
Pick: Falcons -11

Dallas -7 At Tampa Bay
The Bucs gave up last week. The Cowboys found another way to lose late. Look for Dallas to get back on track against a sinking ship.
Pick: Cowboys -7

At NY Giants -7 Washington
If you’re desperate for a QB in fantasy football, Rex might help you out against this suspect secondary. But if you want to chose the right side of this shootout, go with the G-men.
Pick: Giants -7

Green Bay -14 At Kansas City
If you read between the lines of all the comments coming out of Green Bay, the Packers have no intention of letting up. They’re going to be going full throttle against Kyle Orton with a broken finger or rookie QB Ricky Stanzi. Even if Matt Flynn makes an appearance, the Packers should cover.
Pick: Packers -14

New Orleans -7 At Minnesota
Brees vs. a mediocre secondary, that’s a juicy matchup in any week. AP may be back in action, but he can’t match points with the Saints single-handedly. Percy Harvin’s finally getting the looks he deserves in this offense, but Ponder’s made his fair share of mistakes with the football. I don’t see the Saints easing up here. They’re going to exploit a sweet opportunity and put up a ton of points.
Pick: Saints -7

At Chicago -3.5 Seattle
Caleb Hanie is 0-3 as a starter. With Cutler and Forte in the mix, the Bears looked like a playoff lock. Now they’re on the bubble. It’s must-win time, and the Bears get a home game. Seattle has made some noise late in the year, but not on the road. Only two of the team’s six wins have come on the road, and one of those W’s was against St. Louis. Chicago should be able to semi-contain Marshawn Lynch, who’s been in beast mode for weeks now. Seattle’s D is decent, but the Bears are due. The .5 hurts in what’s sure to be a low scoring game, but you gotta take the Bears.
Pick: Bears -3.5

At Buffalo PK Miami
Miami’s late surge wasn’t enough to save Sparano. Which is kinda sad. I mean, you can’t start 0-7 and expect to keep your job, but the Fins battled back. They got manhandled by the Eagles last week, and their head coach got the boot. Now the team travels to Buffalo to face a Bills squad that started the season 5-2 and went on to lose six in a row. During that stretch, Ryan Fitzpatrick has thrown six TDs and nine INTs. In last week’s beatdown in San Diego, Fitzpatrick threw two picks and didn’t find the endzone once. This is a true coin flip situation, and Vegas knows it. I’m going with the home team redemption story over the team that just dumped their head coach.
Pick: Bills

At Houston -6.5 Carolina
The Panthers can’t stop the run. Like, at all. TJ Yates played fantastic last week, and he’s got two top-tier backs to lean on. Start Ben Tate if you can and enjoy the ground and pound game plan. Houston wins easy.
Pick: Texans -6.5

Tennessee -6.5 At Indianapolis
Caldwell needs a win or he’s out. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. The Titans stifled the Saints for a couple of quarters. They should be able to contain a winless team.
Pick: Titans -6.5

Cincinnati -6.5 At St. Louis
The Bengals aren’t out of the playoff mix just yet, and the Rams are just terrible. Start your Bengals players and look for Cincy’s D to put up some solid fantasy numbers against fill-in journeyman QB Kellen Clemens
Pick: Bengals -6.5

Detroit -1 At Oakland
Tight contest with lots of scoring should be expected here. Carson’s throwing too many picks and Stafford’s got his groove back. I think the edge goes to the Lions.
Pick: Lions -1

New England -6.5 At Denver
Brady doesn’t play well in Denver. He’s 1-5 when playing in Mile High conditions (1-6 if you count the playoffs). The Pats offense is obviously dangerous, and the Broncos haven’t faced a decent QB since they lost to Detroit in Week 8. Six wins later, Denver is sitting atop of the AFC West. If the Broncos can use their top-ranked rushing attack to shorten the game and keep Brady off the field, Tebow may be in position for another 4th quarter comeback. Take Denver and the points, pray that things don’t get out of hand during the first three quarters and hope for some more late game magic.
Pick: Broncos +6.5

At Philadelphia -3 NY Jets
The Jets need it more. Philly finally got a win against Miami, but the Jets are going to run all over this team.
Pick: Jets +3

At Arizona -6.5 Cleveland
The Cards are hot, and they’ve played themselves into long shot playoff status. The Browns are rolling without McCoy, after the young QB got lit up by James Harrison last Thursday. Seneca Wallace came in for one play and threw a sharp pass before McCoy returned to throw a game clinching interception to William Gay. Wallace gets the start and could provide a spark, but I like Arizona to cover.
Pick: Cards -6.5

Baltimore -2.5 At San Diego
Rivers has all his weapons and he’s putting up points and minimizing mistakes. This is the last challenging game on Baltimore’s schedule. With the Steelers in the rear view, they can’t let up. The Chargers likely won’t make the playoffs, but this team loves late season wins. I think they’ll edge out the Ravens at home.
Pick: Chargers +2.5

At San Francisco -3 Pittsburgh
The 49ers haven’t played a good team since Baltimore, and they lost that game. The Steelers won’t run the ball on this team, but if Big Ben plays (and with the AFC playoff picture being so tight, I don’t think he has a choice), then Pittsburgh superior air attack should be able to best San Francisco’s conservative offense and strong D.
Pick: Steelers +3

Week 14: 8-8
Season: 116-87-10

At Pittsburgh -14 Cleveland
If there’s one thing the Steelers hate, it’s covering big spreads. But the pressures on for the team to separate from the rest of the AFC pack. Baltimore owns the tie-breaker with two wins over the Steelers. The Texans also beat the Steelers, so even at 9-3, this team is in must-win mode. Their chances for the playoffs look good, so even against a stiff pass defense, the Steelers should be able to win and win big.
Pick: Steelers -14

At Baltimore -16.5 Indianapolis
Ravens win big and Colts don’t do enough in garbage time to cover this week’s massive spread deficit.
Pick: Ravens -16.5

At Cincinnati -3 Houston
The Texans don’t need an elite QB to beat a second-tier AFC team. The Bengals will put up points, but the Houston will control the pace of the game with their relentless rushing attack.
Pick: Texans +3

At Green Bay -11 Oakland
The spread’s a bit large, but the Packers can cover. The Raiders are still hurting and Green Bay just can’t be stopped.
Pick: Packers -11

At NY Jets -10 Kansas City
The Jets are in full-blown end of the regular season mode. They always finish hot. The Chiefs are still in the hunt for the AFC West, but injuries and meager offensive showings are piling up. The Jets will keep winning.
Pick: Jets -10

At Detroit -8 Minnesota
This is the perfect bounce back game for Stafford. Minny’s secondary is a mess, and with Ponder likely to miss this game, the stars are aligned for a Lions victory.
Pick: Lions -8

New Orleans -3.5 At Tennessee
Tennessee may fancy themselves a tough team with a strong D and capable offense. And there’s no denying that Chris Johnson has finally found his stride, but even if the Titans can move the ball up and down the field, Drew Brees is playing too amazing to be denied a road victory. Go with the Saints.
Pick: Saints -3.5

At Miami -3 Philadelphia
It’s been a tale of two seasons for Miami. They started so terribly and yet here they are knocking out quality opponents on a weekly basis. These guys are playing with all kinds of heart, and you know with the type of turnaround they’ve had, they’re playing hard for their embattled coach. Andy Reid’s seat is getting pretty hot as well, but this just isn’t Philly’s year.
Pick: Dolphins -3

New England -8 At Washington
Brady v. Grossman. Rex may deliver a good stat line, but Brady will deliver the W.
Pick: Pats -8

Atlanta -2.5 At Carolina
If the Falcons want to make some noise this postseason, they can’t get tripped up by a high-flying outdoor team playing for pride. Michael Turner was a big disaapointment last week. So were Atlanta’s receivers. If Matt Ryan can get some help on the ground and some assistance from his receivers actually holding on to the ball, the Falcons should be okay.
Pick: Falcons -2.5

At Jacksonville PK Tampa Bay
Two teams with not much to play for. It’s a pick’em, and I’ll pick the team who needs to show up to keep their head coach from getting fired. With all the holes on the defensive side of the ball, the Bucs should have a chance to get their first win in awhile.
Pick: Bucs

San Francisco -4 At Arizona
Even if the Niners start resting starters, the second team should be able to handle the Cardinals.
Pick: 49ers -4

At Denver -3.5 Chicago
Remember last year in the playoffs when Caleb Hanie was the third string QB and he came in against Green Bay and actually made it a game for the Bears? Yea, no one else remembers either. The only thing people remember about Hanie is that he’s thrown six picks in the last two weeks. Six picks to two TDs isn’t gonna get it done. So the once mighty Bears now find themselves going into Denver as dogs. When the Broncos win, it’s usually by a field goal. It’s gonna be tough for the Bears to score points, but they should keep this game close. Still, they don’t have God on their side. I’m not betting against Tebow until the streak ends.
Pick: Broncos -3.5

At San Diego -7 Buffalo
The Chargers looked scary last week. Granted, it was against a team without a secondary, but Rivers has all his weapons back for the first time in a long time. The Bills are in a freefall. They got some good production out of CJ Spiller, but they just don’t feel like a team that can win anymore. Expect a lot of points.
Pick: Chargers -7

At Dallas -3.5 NY Giants
If Dallas wins this game, they pretty much lock down the division. The Giants went toe-to-toe with the champs last week and came up short. It’s been a tough few weeks for the G-men, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the Cowboys this year, they can certainly find a way to lose games. I like New York to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Pick: Giants +3.5

At Seattle -5.5 St. Louis
In a season full of unwatchable Monday night games, this may be the worst one yet. Edge goes to the Seahawks who’ve been surging, playing well at home and clamping up on D. They’re going against a third-string QB who’s never thrown an NFL pass, and that porous Rams rush defense should be very much afraid of what Marshawn Lynch is going to do, with or without a bag of Skittles to fuel him.
Pick: Seahawks -5.5

Week 13: 8-8
Season: 108-79-10