A D.C. STUFFING
Skins will be Giant turkeys on Thanksgiving
BEN McAdoo, I feel your pain. Just as the Giants coach enters Week 12 with a 2-8 record, this column must claim ownership of an ugly 3-8 mark on Locks of the Week. Fortunately, the people who run this place are as benevolent as John Mara and Steve Tisch, and will wait until after the season to reevaluate.
To those who have been making rent by reversing these picks, know this: I believe, like McAdoo does, that there’s a good run of victories just ahead. So, c’mon Ben, let’s do this together, starting Thanksgiving night in D.C.
The Giants are coming off a windswept, 12-9 overtime win over a good Chiefs team that’s in a bad way. The key word there is “win.” Now, Big Blue has to prove it wasn’t a once-a-month phenomenon.
The Redskins come in having lost four of their past five and have been decimated by injuries. At their best, they’ve beaten the Rams in Los Angeles and the Seahawks in Seattle, and have had good battles in losses to the Eagles, Vikings and Saints.
Last week, coach Jay Gruden laid it all out there, even trying a successful fake punt at his own 15-yard-line, but couldn’t hold off the Saints’ charge. It will be tough for a banged-up team to recover from that loss in four days.
LIONS (+3) over Vikings: Rematch of last year’s Motown Turkey Showdown, won by Detroit, 16-13. Lions won earlier this season, 14-7, in Minnesota, and come in with three-game winning streak. They’re playing a tough brand of football this season. If they can only stay away from the Stupid Lion Tricks that befall them on many a Thanksgiving ...
COWBOYS (pick) over Chargers: If Tyron Smith can return healthy, the Cowboys’ running back replacements for Ezekiel Elliott can do enough to ge t a desperate team by the Chargers. LA had lost two in a row before getting the Nathan Peterman gift from the Bills.
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JETS (+41/2) over Panthers: Expecting the Jets to get back to the level of effort they failed to bring to Tampa. Even with that, they are 6-1-1 versus the spread in their past eight, and there’s some wiggle room in this number.
EAGLES (-131/2) over Bears: Thinking the final margin is going to end up somewhere in this vicinity in a best-case scenario for the Bears. So why not just ride a Carson Wentz machine that’s put up at least 33 points in five of the past six games?
BENGALS (-8) over Browns: Cleveland is on a 4-43 streak, the worst 47-game stretch in NFL history. And as the Browns showed last week, they’ll give away the sack-fumble-TD at the end to blow the cover.
PATRIOTS (-161/2) over Dolphins: This spread is gigantic, and if Miami covers it, so be it. But if you’ve learned only two things this season, No. 1 is don’t bet against the Patriots and No. 2 is don’t bet the Dolphins.
CHIEFS (-10) over Bills: No decision whether Nathan Peterman will get a shot to start after throwing five interceptions in the first half at the Chargers. In the bigger picture, the sagging Chiefs should start scoring again against a Bills team that has given up 135 points in the past three games and is 1-4 on the road.
Buccaneers (+10) over FALCONS: Tough scheduling for the Falcons, who had a cross-country trip on a short week after holding off the Seahawks. There were too many holes in that defense to warrant giving up more than a TD here.
COLTS (+31/ 2) over Titans: The Colts have covered 13 of their past 16 as home underdogs, according to ncsports.com, and lost 20-17 two weeks back to a Steelers team that destroyed the Titans last Thursday. 49ERS (+7) over Sea hawks: The 49ers lost 12-9 in Week 2 to a much healthier Seattle team. Should be able to at least keep this tight now
that Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor are out. It’ll be fun to see if the amazing Russell Wilson can keep this heap of injuries and penalties in contention.
RAMS (-21/2) over Saints: Rams are without WR Robert Woods but will be refocused off a loss at Minnesota. Saints have won eight straight, but last week was Bourbon Street magic more than it was dominance.
CARDINALS (+5) over Jaguars: Blaine Gabbert wasn’t bad in his Cardinals debut, throwing for 272 yards and three TDs in a loss at Houston. He developed a quick rapport with Larry Fitzgerald (9-for-91, TD) and will have the revenge factor against the team that drafted him 10th overall but bailed on him early in Season 3.
RAIDERS (-5) over Broncos: Will this be the week the Raiders finally nab their f irst interception of the season, or the week the Broncos stop throwing them? John Elway called the Broncos soft last week and they didn’t respond. Maybe they just are.
STEELERS (-14) over Packers: The Pack’s a mess — off a Lambeau shutout, missing Aaron Rodgers, their top two RBs and now, possibly, LB Clay Matthews. Steelers finally put up a 40-spot versus the Titans. Don’t see many barriers to another here.
MONDAY