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Wunderdog NFL Picks and Pro Football Predictions 2002 Weekly NFL Picks Regular
Season Week 15 Welcome to the 2002 Week 15 Wunderdog Paid Subscription NFL Newsletter CHICAGO +6.5 OVER NEW YORK JETS Letdown time for the Jets.
NY has been under tremendous pressure recently. After starting 2-5 they won 4 straight when they "had nothing to lose" to re-enter the playoff hunt. They then lost a close one to Oakland and beat Denver to keep their hopes alive. Their five wins in the last four weeks have included wins over Miami, Buffalo, San Diego and the aforementioned Broncos. After this game they have New England and Green Bay. I am tired just thinking about it. The Jets simply can't keep up this level of performance for nine straight weeks. There will be a letdown and this is the most likely week, against the 3-10 Bears (without their starting QB) following a brutal squeaker against Denver.
We know the Bears are really struggling this year but statistically this is a pretty close match-up and my Matchup Ratings indicate that the Bears are getting more points than they should be. Despite their recent turnaround, the Jets are still ranked in the bottom quarter of the league in both offense and defense.
The Bears somehow keep this one close enough to cover.
ARIZONA +11 OVER ST. LOUIS I know, I know. After the Cardinals got spanked by the Raiders a few weeks ago I said I would never bet on a Plummer-led team again. Well, never say never.
I still think Plummer should be a backup quarterback but this matchup is too good to pass up. Less an endorsement of Arizona and more of condemnation of St. Louis, I'll take the 11 points to the bank.
St. Louis is in the strange position of officially being out of the playoff hunt. They have lost three in a row by an average score of 10-26. They simply aren't good enough this season to lay 11 points. They should win this one but a rusty and still injured Marc Bulger-led team won't be able to win by this many.
Arizona wants this game more, as they will be seeking revenge for a week nine 14-27 loss. Arizona is playing hard with their starters and everyone from the head coach to their quarterback are playing for their jobs. These players will be attempting to prove themselves to Cardinals management as well as the rest of the league in a rare prime time nationally televised game.
Meanwhile, St. Louis has packed things in and is treating the remaining games like preseason games. Marshall Faulk won't even start.
CLEVELAND +2.5 OVER INDIANAPOLIS It's December all right. A must-win game for both teams but make no mistake about it - this is the biggest game yet for the "new" Cleveland franchise. They are on an emotional high after last week's Hail-Mary win and they smell the rare scent of the playoffs.
Cleveland has lost a few games this year that could have gone the other way and they are now on a roll winning 3 of their last four and 5 of their last 7. RB William Green is improving weekly and the Browns have just been finding ways to win.
Home underdogs in December cover the spread 60% of the time and my power ratings favor Cleveland in a strong way. Take the Browns to win outright.
HOUSTON +3 OVER BALTIMORE The Texans came through for me last week and I like them to do it again this week. Give an expansion team confidence and they just might forget they aren't supposed to win games!
Baltimore is scoring just 19.2 points per game and a solit Texan defense should be able to keep Baltimore on the south side of that average. The Ravens passing game (ranked 31st in the league) should especially struggle against Houston's pass D (ranked 10th).
Houston is 4-1 as a home dog this year and I expect them to keep this one close.
CAROLINA +8.5 OVER PITTSBURGH Pittsburgh is reeling after losing to Houston as a 13.5 point favorite. That's the kind of loss that can affect a team for the rest of the season. Flash back to 1998 when the Steelers lost another strange game (Jerome Bettis overtime coin flip dispute in Detroit) that left them a 7-5 (as they are now). They went on to lose five straight to end that season.
Head coach Bill Cowher has elected to stick with Tommy Maddox despite the loss and three turnovers which led to 21 Texan points. You can bet the whole team isn't behind that decision after Kordell Stewart's recent 2-0 performance.
Meanwhile, Carolina is riding high after putting up 52 points last week. They still have a great defense (ranked 8th in the league) that should keep this game within a touchdown.
KANSAS CITY +3.5 OVER DENVER Another must win game for both teams. One is going up (has won by a combined score of 98-10 the last two games) while one is going down (has lost four of last five to essentially drop out of the playoff hunt). And, the team with the momentum is in a revenge situation and has a Super Bowl winning coach. To top it off, this team is getting 3.5 points. Go figure.
The Chiefs have shown they can blow out just about any team. Their record doesn't do them justice. With three games to go, they have already tied the NFL record of eight games scoring over 30 points. Their defense has stepped up, to say the least, since they lost to the Broncos back in week eight. They have held four of the league's best offenses (Oakland, San Francisco, Buffalo and St. Louis) to 17 points or less. They have gone from allowing 33 points per game in their first eight to 15 points per game in their last six.
Denver is struggling across the board. Key positions are inconsistent or consistently bad (quarterback & kicker). Their defense has been horrible since Oakland riddled them on Monday night in week 10.
My power ratings indicate that Kansas City should be favored in this game and my intuition agrees. Kansas City has too many weapons and they will key on Shannon Sharpe this time.
These teams usually play tight games and Kansas City wins half the time they travel to Denver. If KC doesn't win this game (which I think they will), they will surely keep it under a field goal.
Good luck!
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