The twelfth week of the NFL’s regular season means not one game on Thursday but three tilts on Thanksgiving Day, starting at 1:00 Eastern time and going late into the night. We don’t have legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden giving out his turkey legs anymore for great plays, but the turkey itself still survives with variations on FOX, NBC and CBS. This week also means that divisional races are starting to solidify themselves — although the NFC East is basically decided, with 9-1 Philadelphia sitting four games ahead of a Dallas team that appears to have given up, based on the performance they gave in the teams’ matchup on Sunday night. Take a look at our primo NFL betting picks for the coming week.
These Giants are hard to figure out. They have won two games this year — once at Denver and then this past week at home over the Chiefs in a 12-9 slugfest. In between those wins, they have lost to the Rams by 34 and lost to the previously winless 49ers by 10. Now they prepare to head to Washington to take on a team with only two more wins and who have scored 61 points in the last two games and have lost both. The Giants’ defense showed up on Sunday — but will they show up on Thursday? This is a big line given the division rivalry and given the inconsistency that both teams have shown, but the Redskins have been scoring a lot on teams with solid defenses, such as the Saints this last week.
NFL Betting Prediction: Washington 31, N.Y. Giants 20
Top NFL Betting Picks for Week 12
We present to you the current NFL Playoff Picture. Which is the most surprising team on the list? pic.twitter.com/UFO35ktXWc
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 21, 2017
Thursday, November 23
Minnesota (-3) at Detroit (12:30pm ET, FOX)
If you expected the Vikings to thrash the Rams by 17 points last week, kudos to you — I thought that Case Keenum would crash and burn against that stout Ram defense, but it was the Vikings’ defense that did the talking, holding the high-powered unit piloted by Jared Goff to a single touchdown. Now they head to Detroit to take on a Lions team that sits at 6-3 and are on a three-game winning streak — although they needed a late Matt Prater field goal to escape Chicago with a win last week. The Lions already beat the Vikings in Minnesota back on October 1, but the Vikings have come a long, long way since then, thanks to the running of Latavius Murray. I see the Vikings evening the season series between the NFC North rivals. NFL Betting Prediction: Minnesota 27, Detroit 23L.A. Chargers (+1) at Dallas (4:30pm ET, CBS)
The Dallas Cowboys have scored 16 points in their last two games. The nine points they put up in that Sunday night game against Philadelphia makes a little sense — their current left tackle is a traffic cone either named Chaz Green or Byron Bell, depending on the down. Starter Tyron Smith is expected to return against the Chargers, so we should see a little more offense on Thanksgiving. On defense, though, they are still missing Sean Lee at linebacker, and their other top linebacker, Anthony Hitchens, somehow hurt his groin while missing tackles against Philadelphia. So they’re relying on depth on defense against the Chargers, and if we know one thing about the Jerry Jones era in Dallas, it’s that depth is just too expensive. The Chargers just hung 54 points on a Buffalo team that had been playing stout defense for much of the season. Given how Dallas looked like they just quit in the fourth period last week against the Eagles, I don’t see much of a Thanksgiving celebration in Dallas this year. NFL Betting Prediction: L.A. Chargers 34, Dallas 27N.Y. Giants (+7.5) at Washington (8:30pm ET, NBC)
These Giants are hard to figure out. They have won two games this year — once at Denver and then this past week at home over the Chiefs in a 12-9 slugfest. In between those wins, they have lost to the Rams by 34 and lost to the previously winless 49ers by 10. Now they prepare to head to Washington to take on a team with only two more wins and who have scored 61 points in the last two games and have lost both. The Giants’ defense showed up on Sunday — but will they show up on Thursday? This is a big line given the division rivalry and given the inconsistency that both teams have shown, but the Redskins have been scoring a lot on teams with solid defenses, such as the Saints this last week.
NFL Betting Prediction: Washington 31, N.Y. Giants 20
