His final results for this season:
Best bets record: 13-13-1
Player props record: 6-2
Here are my selections for Week 14. All spreads and totals taken Tuesday from the consensus odds at VegasInsider.com.
Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions (-1½)
Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox
Pick: Over 52½ points. (By Thursday afternoon, this total had moved to 51½)
This is the highest total on the Week 14 board, and I don’t think it’s high enough. Both defenses have been extremely generous.
On Sunday, the Jets drove into the Vikings’ red zone on all six of their second-half drives but only managed three field goals and a touchdown. (One drive ended on downs at the Minnesota 1, and another ended with an interception at the Minnesota 1.) Guess who leads the NFL in red-zone touchdown percentage? It’s the Lions, who have crossed the goal line on 73.9 percent of their red-zone possessions. Detroit doesn’t often settle for three points, ranking fifth in fourth-down conversions per game (1.1) and just 28th in field goal attempts per game (1.5). The Lions average 2.45 points per drive, trailing only the Chiefs, Eagles and Bills.
Switching sides, Detroit’s defense is improving but still is allowing an NFL-worst 6.2 yards per play. Getting to quarterback Kirk Cousins is key to throwing the Vikings’ offense off balance — in a 40-3 blowout Nov. 20, the Cowboys sacked him seven times — but the Lions have registered a sack on only 5.05 percent of their opponents’ drop-backs, which ranks 26th in the NFL.
The past two games between these NFC North rivals have featured 56 and 52 points, and I think Sunday’s contest will be high-scoring as well.
Cincinnati Bengals (-5½) vs. Cleveland Browns
Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS
Pick: Bengals -6 (By Thursday afternoon, this spread had moved to Bengals -5½.)
Whether it was because Deshaun Watson was rusty or because their offense struggled with the midseason change at quarterback, the Browns’ offense wasn’t great Sunday against the Texans. Cleveland won, 27-14, but its offense didn’t score a touchdown, with the team instead getting scores via fumble return, punt return and interception return. (It was only the fourth time since 2001 that one team got scores of that nature in the same game.) Of its 11 non-kneeldown drives, the Browns punted six times and had three others end because of turnovers or a safety, and one of its two field goals came after a drive of only eight yards. Watson averaged a terrible 3.91 adjusted yards per attempt.
The problem for Cleveland is that its defense (27th in DVOA) and special teams (25th in DVOA before Sunday’s game) usually are pretty lousy and probably can’t be counted upon to produce two games in a row, particularly when the opponent is not the awful Texans but rather a surging team like the Bengals, who have won four straight since a 32-13 loss to the Browns on Oct. 31.
In that game, the Browns sacked Joe Burrow five times, which represents 20 percent of their sacks this season. Burrow’s protection has gotten a lot better, however: In the season’s first eight games, ending with the first game against Cleveland, the Bengals were allowing 3.6 sacks per game. In the four games since that Browns loss, Cincinnati has given up only five sacks total.
The Browns’ rushing defense ranks 31st in DVOA, so the Bengals also shouldn’t have much trouble moving the ball with its running backs, whether it’s Joe Mixon (who has missed the past two games with a head injury) or Samaje Perine (who had 106 rushing yards against the Chiefs on Sunday while also catching six passes). Running backs are averaging 4.8 yards per attempt against the Browns (26th in the NFL).
With Watson clearly not in game shape and the Bengals on the rise, I’ll take the favorite here.
Here are the rest of this week’s matchups and point spreads.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans (-3½)
Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS
Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars +3½
New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (-10)
Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS
Pick: New York Jets +9½ (By Friday morning, this spread had moved to Jets +10.)
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers (-1½)
Sunday, 1 p.m. | CBS
Pick: Baltimore Ravens +2½ (By Friday morning, this spread had moved to Ravens +1½.)
Philadelphia Eagles (-7) at New York Giants
Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox
Pick: Philadelphia Eagles -6½ (By Friday morning, this spread had moved to Eagles -7.)
Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys (-17½)
Sunday, 1 p.m. | Fox
Pick: Dallas Cowboys -17 (By Wednesday morning, this number had moved to Cowboys -17½.)
Kansas City Chiefs (-9½) at Denver Broncos
Sunday, 4:05 p.m. | CBS
Pick: Kansas City Chiefs -9 (By Wednesday morning, this number had moved to Chiefs -9½.)
Carolina Panthers at Seattle Seahawks (-4)
Sunday, 4:25 p.m. | Fox
Pick: Carolina Panthers +3½ (By Thursday afternoon, this had moved to Panthers +4.)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at San Francisco 49ers (-3½)
Sunday, 4:25 p.m. | Fox
Pick: San Francisco 49ers -3½
Miami Dolphins (-3½) at Los Angeles Chargers
Sunday, 8:20 p.m. | NBC
Pick: Miami Dolphins -3 (By Thursday afternoon, this had moved to Dolphins -3½.)
New England Patriots (-1½) at Arizona Cardinals
Monday, 8:15 p.m. | ESPN, ESPN2
Pick: Arizona Cardinals +1½
Las Vegas Raiders (-6½) at Los Angeles Rams
Thursday, 8:15 p.m. | Prime Video
Pick: Las Vegas Raiders -6 (By Wednesday morning, this spread had moved to Raiders -6½.)