Brandon Wade

Is this the most fun football week of the year?

Three games on Thursday accompanied with good food, a full Sunday slate and Monday night, plus Patriots vs. Jets.

This week could start to provide clarity in the playoff picture as well as in our picks race.

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Nick Wass

Last week

Last week was certainly not the most fun week ever for the MassLive wanna-be experts as three of the four of us were below .500.

Here's the standings to here:

Jim Pignatiello: (10-4-0) 96-50-2 (5-8) 101-58-2

Nick O'Malley: (10-4-0) 94-52-2 (7-6) 101-58-2

Andrew Callahan: (8-6-0) 94-52-2 (6-7) 100-59-2

Matt Vautour: (8-6-0) 90-56-2 (6-7) 96-63-2

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Paul Sancya

Thursday: Chicago at Detroit, 12:30 p.m. CBS

Line: Chicago -3.0

Over/Under: 43.5

Without Mitchell Trubisky playing for the Bears, this is actually much more of a game, which is good because this is the game most people will see before dinner.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Bears

O'Malley: Bears

Callahan: Bears

Vautour: Lions

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Tim Sharp

Washington at Dallas, 4:30 p.m. FOX

Line: Cowboys -7.0

Over/Under: 41

Dallas vs. Washington with first place in the division on the line on the Thanksgiving? You'll watch that for sure.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Cowboys

O'Malley: Cowboys

Callahan: Cowboys

Vautour: Cowboys

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Bill Feig

Atlanta at New Orleans, 8:20 p.m. NBC

Line: New Orleans -13.0

Over/Under: 60.5

The Saints (-1.0) offense vs. Turkey Tryptophan Coma is a better matchup than this game is shaping up to be.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Saints

O'Malley: Saints

Callahan: Saints

Vautour: Saints

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Steven Senne

Sunday: New England at New York, 1 p.m. CBS

Line: NE -9.5

Over/Under: 46

If the Jets could do it all over again would they still have fired Rex Ryan? They were at least occasionally good and always interesting. Neither of those things are true now.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Patriots

O'Malley: Patriots

Callahan: Patriots

Vautour: Patriots

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John Raoux

Jacksonville at Buffalo, 1 p.m. CBS

Line: Jax -3.0

Over/Under: 37

When a road team from Florida is favored on the road in Buffalo on late November with an over/under of 37, you can deduce, this is not going to be a good football game.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Jaguars

O'Malley: Jaguars

Callahan: Jaguars

Vautour: Jaguars

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David Richard

Cleveland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. CBS

Line: Cincy -3.0

Over/Under: 47.5

On the same weekend as Ohio State vs. Michigan, this battle for Ohio actually has some juice to it. This might be the last year for a while that the Bengals come in as the better team.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Bengals

O'Malley: Browns

Callahan: Browns

Vautour: Bengals

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Butch Dill

New York Giants at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. FOX

Line: Philly -5.5

Over/Under: 46

It was pretty apparent when it was happening that it took the Eagles a long time to transition from celebrating last year to getting locked in for this year, but it was hard to picture they'd struggle this much. Still the Giants are struggling worse.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Eagles

O'Malley: Eagles

Callahan: Eagles

Vautour: Eagles

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Bill Kostroun

San Francisco at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. FOX

Line: TB -3.5

Over/Under: 54.5

How many active quarterbacks on either roster will still be there in 2019? Good chance none. How many people outside of these respective bay areas will watch this game? Only slightly more.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Bucs

O'Malley: 49ers

Callahan:Bucs

Vautour:Bucs

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Elaine Thompson

Seattle at Carollina, 1 p.m. FOX

Line: Carolina -3.5

Over/Under: 47.5

This is a pretty big game between the Seahawks (5-5) and the Panthers (6-4) who are both fighting for air in a very tight wildcard race.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Panthers

O'Malley: Panthers

Callahan: Panthers

Vautour: Panthers

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Rick Scuteri

Oakland at Baltimore, 1 p.m. CBS

Line: Baltimore -10.5

Over/Under: 43

When you're a team that really needs a win to stay in the playoff hunt, it's nice to play a team that really needs a loss to stay in the first round draft pick hunt.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Ravens

O'Malley: Ravens

Callahan: Ravens

Vautour: Ravens

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Kelvin Kuo

Arizona at Los Angeles Chargers, 4:05 p.m. FOX

Line: LAC -12.5

Over/Under: 45

Don't look now, but the Chargers will be only a game back of idle Kansas City in the AFC South if they beat the hapless Cardinals. The Chargers are a team nobody is talking about that could make noise in January.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Chargers

O'Malley: Chargers

Callahan: Chargers

Vautour: Chargers

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Phelan M. Ebenhack

Pittsburgh at Denver, 4:25 p.m. CBS

Line: Pit -3.0

Over/Under: 46.5

In most years this is a playoff preview. This year it's a game the Steelers need to stay in the race for a bye and home field and a first round bye.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Steelers

O'Malley: Steelers

Callahan: Broncos

Vautour: Steelers

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Michael Conroy

Miami at Indianapolis, 4:25 p.m. CBS

Line:

Over/Under:

You wouldn't have thought this possible when the Colts were 1-5, but they've won four in a row and are in the thick of a very tight wild card race that should get some clarity this weekend.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Colts

O'Malley: Colts

Callahan: Colts

Vautour: Colts

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Jim Mone

Green Bay at Minnesota, 8:20 p.m. NBC

Line: Minn -3.5

Over/Under: 48

This game always matters, but both teams need it pretty badly for playoff purposes which should make it required viewing on a good TV weekend.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Vikings

O'Malley: Vikings

Callahan: Packers

Vautour: Vikings

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Paul Sancya

Monday: Tennessee at Houston, 8:15 p.m. ESPN

Line: Houston -6

Over/Under: 41

Patriots fans can start looking over their collective shoulder at the Texans. They're both 7-3 with the Patriots holding the head-to-head tie-breaker.

Picks:

Pignatiello: Texans

O'Malley: Titans

Callahan: Texans

Vautour: Texans