Happy Holidays, all, first and foremost. Now last week, wasn’t that some fun in the NFL slate of games?
The Christmas games were a little “meh”, as these match-ups probably looked great before the season. Commanders, Lions and Chiefs? So much for explosive offenses, especially with Josh Johnson starting in Washington, Goff and company in Detroit losing in a game where Max Brosmer and Minnesota had 3 net yards passing in the game, and finally Chris Oladokun putting up 66 yards passing in the Kansas City loss to Denver.
Saturday--going head-to-head with the CFP--the Texans battered the Chargers, barely holding on after jumping out 14-0, and the Ravens ran all over the Packers--and more importantly, Derrick Henry ran my fantasy football team into the finals (yeah, finals in week 18--don’t blame me, I’m not the commissioner).
Sunday’s slate saw the Seahawks defense hold down the Panthers, Joe Burrow getting ready for 2026 against the Cardinals, the Jaguars hold off the frisky Colts, and the Dolphins do their part to set up this week by beating the Bucs.
The Saints and Tyler Shough looked like the most improved team of the second half of the season beating the Titans while Drake “Drake Maye” Maye looked like the MVP as he led New England on six consecutive touchdown drives before calling it a day in the third quarter up 42-3 over the Jets.
The upset of the day was Cleveland holding off the impotent Aaron Rodgers and Steelers’ offense 13-6 in an old fashioned AFC North grudge match.
The late window had two games, first was the Giants helping out the Raiders by destroying them and setting them up for the number one overall pick. The Eagles and Bills played what from the boxscore looked like a gritty defensive battle but was actually for those of us watching the game was really just two sputtering offenses. Josh Allen missed on his throw to an open Khalil Shakir on the two-point conversion and Buffalo lost, clinching the AFC East for New England.
Sunday night was an epic offensive showdown as the 49ers barely outlasted the vastly improved Caleb Williams and the Bears. On Monday night, the Falcons shocked the Rams, holding off a late rally and playing spoiler and letting the 49ers and Seahawks battle it out for the NFC West and top seed this week.
Speaking of this week, this slate of games has some doozies. Saturday has the Carolina at Tampa Bay game, winner takes the NFC South--maybe! The pesky Falcons, playing on Sunday against New Orleans, could still spoil the party for Tampa if they win, so it is kind of a “win and in” game.
Saturday night is the aforementioned 49ers and Seahawks game, which has all of the number one seed, a bye, home field advantage through the playoffs implications up in the air for the winner.
Sunday early window features the Falcons trying to beat the red hot Saints, Cleveland and Cincinnati playing out the string, Indianapolis trying to affect Houston’s playoff seeding, Tennessee trying to do the same to Jacksonville, Green Bay--locked into the seventh seed--against Minnesota, and finally the yawn-fest Cowboys and Giants.
Buffalo doesn’t have much to play for versus the Jets, but the Patriots do as they host Miami and try to finish 2025 with 14 regular season wins after winning just four games last season.
The Chargers visit Denver and despite LA resting Justin Herbert, many think they have a chance to help the Patriots out and knock Denver from the top seed. Detroit plays Chicago as the Bears try to figure out where they slot in the playoff picture along with Washington at Philadelphia and the Eagles jostling for position like Chicago.
The Rams don’t have much to play for now after losing to Atlanta last week, but they host Arizona and finally the Chiefs play out a playoff-less string in Las Vegas as the Raiders try to lock up the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Sunday night is the real winner take all battle, as the sad-sacks of the AFC North battle as Baltimore and Pittsburgh try to weasel into the playoffs and get a home game against a far superior Wild Card team next week.
Each week during the season, I make my picks with my buddy David on his SportsKrunch with DKrom podcast as we’ve done regularly for the past five years (and many appearances pre-pandemic as well).
Check out this week’s episode as we recapped week sixteen, handed out our weekly awards and rated the playoff teams, checked in on the head coaches on the hot seat, and of course all the game predictions and prognostications with our bold predictions--it is available here.
Please give a listen each week on your preferred podcast provider. All back episodes are available here at Apple podcasts.
Last Week: Straight up: 8-8; Against the Spread: 7-8-1
Season Totals: Straight up: 160-95-1; Against the Spread: 122-131-3
Lock of the Week: 13-4
Upset Special: 4-14
Now, on to the week eighteen picks!
2025 NFL Week 18 Picks
SATURDAY
PANTHERS 27 @ BUCCANEERS 29
Spread: Buccaneers -3: Panthers
Moneyline: Buccaneers -155, Panthers +130: Bucs
O/U: 44.5: Over
SEAHAWKS 27 @ 49ERS 24
Spread: Seahawks -1.5: Seahawks
Moneyline: Seahawks -120, 49ers +100: Seahawks
O/U: 49.5: Over
SUNDAY 1:00PM
COLTS 21 @ TEXANS 24
Spread: Texans -10: Colts
Moneyline: Texans -575, Colts +425: Texans
O/U: 40.5: Over
TITANS 20 @ JAGUARS 23
Spread: Jaguars -12.5: Titans
Moneyline: Jaguars -850, Titans +575: Jaguars
O/U: 47.5: Under
BROWNS 15 @ BENGALS 24
Spread: Bengals -7: Bengals
Moneyline: Bengals -360, Browns +285: Bengals
O/U: 44.5: Under
COWBOYS 29 @ GIANTS 27
Spread: Cowboys -5.5: Giants
Moneyline: Cowboys -245, Giants +200: Cowboys
O/U: 52.5: Over
PACKERS 20 @ VIKINGS 17
Spread: Vikings -6.5: Packers
Moneyline: Vikings -290, Packers +235: Packers
O/U: 37.5: Under
SAINTS 27 @ FALCONS 24
Spread: Falcons -2.5: Saints
Moneyline: Falcons -142, Saints +120: Saints
O/U: 43.5: Over
SUNDAY 4:25PM:
CHARGERS 12 @ BRONCOS 27 (LOCK OF THE WEEK)
Spread: Broncos -7.5: Broncos
Moneyline: Broncos -345, Chargers +275: Broncos
O/U: 39.5: Under
DOLPHINS 17 @ PATRIOTS 30
Spread: Patriots -11.5: Patriots
Moneyline: Patriots -675, Dolphins +490: Patriots
O/U: 45.5: Over
JETS 6 @ BILLS 17
Spread: Bills -8.5: Bills
Moneyline: Bills -425, Jets +330: Bills
O/U: 39.5: Under
CHIEFS 24 @ RAIDERS 20
Spread: Chiefs -5.5: Raiders
Moneyline: Chiefs -245, Raiders +200: Chiefs
O/U: 36.5: Over
LIONS 20 @ BEARS 30
Spread: Bears -2.5: Bears
Moneyline: Bears -135, Lions +114: Bears
O/U: 50.5: Under
COMMANDERS 10 @ EAGLES 20
Spread: Eagles -8.5: Eagles
Moneyline: Eagles -375, Commanders +295: Eagles
O/U: 42.5: Under
CARDINALS 27 @ RAMS 24
Spread: Rams -9.5: Cardinals
Moneyline: Rams -485, Cardinals +370: Cardinals
O/U: 47.5: Over
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
RAVENS 20 @ STEELERS 21 (UPSET SPECIAL)
Spread: Ravens -3.5: Steelers
Moneyline: Ravens -175, Steelers +145: Steelers
O/U: 41.5: Under
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