Rick's Week 16

Grr... I was going to pick San Diego to beat Tennessee, but got so caught up in Christmas preparations that posting my prediction completely slipped my mind. Believe it or not, I actually started my predictions on the 23rd, but wasn't able to finish them. Oh well, since Mardi also missed the post, that game is a wash. But here we go with my Week 16 predictions.

Buffalo at Atlanta (Atlanta)
Kansas City at Cincinnati (Cincinnnati)
Oakland at Cleveland (Oakland)
Seattle at Green Bay (Green Bay)
Houston at Miami (Houston)
Jacksonville at New England (New England)
Tampa Bay at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Carolina at New York Giants (New York Giants)
Baltimore at Pittsburgh (Baltimore)
St. Louis at Arizona (Arizona)
Detroit at San Francisco (San Francisco)
New York Jets at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Denver at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Dallas at Washington (Dallas)

Monday Night:
Minnesota at Chicago (Minnesota 24-14)

Houston is in a must win situation against Miami. Both Miami and Houston are facing complete elimination on Sunday. Houston has an outside, but slim chance of making the playoffs this year. The only way they can stay alive is to win this game. Matt Shaub and Andre Johnson should both have a good day against the suspect pass defense in Miami. Hopefully New England will give us a hand and beat Jacksonville on Sunday as well.

As far as Minnesota goes, they have already clinched the NFC North and are guaranteed a playoff spot. They had a chance to fight for the number 1 seed, but that was dashed in their upset loss to Carolina. Chicago can defend the pass, but is not so good with defending the run. Adrian Peterson will need to have a good day against Chicago for his team to succeed and secure the number 2 seed. It also doesn't hurt that Chicago's offense isn't very good.