Week 16 Panel Picks
There are only three weeks left to be played in the 2024-2025 NFL regular season. It’s been a flurry of a year. Stunning upsets became a popular commodity for the first month or two and now, the playoff picture is finally falling into place as the favorites tighten their stranglehold on the rest of the league.
As you have hopefully recognized, the panel has rounded into form too, including a 101-35 record last week. Week 16, headlined by marquee matchups this afternoon, is another opportunity to improve upon a great season, but also for those trailing in the panel race to make up some ground.
George still holds a comfortable lead after 15 weeks.
I’ll remind you that playoff games are worth multiple wins, so while the NFL season nears a close for 18 teams, the panel’s season is still very much alive.
Let’s jump into this week’s picks.
Primetime Games
Early Window
Late Window
Most alike picks: Last year’s winner and this year’s leader, George and Theo, picked two different results
Least alike picks: There was a great deal of disparity in picks this week but no duo with more drastic differences the Josh and Rahul who picked 10 games differently. Without revealing anything, let’s just say that Josh needs this week’s games to go his way more than you could ever imagine.
Most upsets picked: I picked six upsets this week in an attempt to climb a few spots.
Fewest upsets picked: George, Theo, and Jackson chalked it up with two upsets a piece.
Most picks with majority: Ray, George, and Theo picked with the majority all but once.
Most picks against majority: Rahul was in the minority for five of the games.
What Stands Out?
I mentioned that the Saturday games are the headliners on this week 16 schedule. In those games, the panel picked the Chiefs over the Texans and the Ravens over the Steelers. That would put the Chiefs one win away from securing a first-round bye and would tie the Steelers and the Ravens at the top of the AFC North (Pittsburgh owns the tiebreaker).
The Bengals were picked 7-1 over the Browns by the panel. Why is that important? It turns out that if the Bengals win out and the Broncos lose out, Cincinnati will make the playoffs. And because the Bengals play the Broncos in week 17, Cincy only needs four results to go their way for that to happen.
The Rams and the Bucs are two of the hotter teams in the NFL. Both have to go on the road this week to face two tough outs in the Jets and Cowboys. The panel picked both LA and Tampa 7-1. These two teams appear to be in lockstep right now and if they win out, they’ll both be division winners.
There’s all sorts of nonsense to dissect in the Falcons vs Giants game. First of all, the line moved from -7.5 to -8.5 for Atlanta which shows you how badly Kirk Cousins was playing. Secondly, three panelists picked the Giants?!? Truthfully, it’s because six of us needed to pick a seven-point upset this week. But still.
The Chargers comeback win over the Broncos on Thursday Night gives George a five-game lead over Ray who is doing everything he can to tighten the race. Looks like I won’t even be the top finisher with the last name Constable.
Playoff Picture
Let’s pretend our majority pick in each matchup won this weekend. Here are the projected playoff matchups on Wild Card Weekend.
AFC
(1) Kansas City Chiefs vs BYE | Kansas City needs two more wins to clinch the 1st seed.
(2) Buffalo Bills vs (7) Denver Broncos | Denver just needs one more win to clinch a playoff berth.
(3) Pittsburgh Steelers vs (6) Los Angeles Chargers | With their win over Denver, LA now has a 98% chance of making the playoffs.
(4) Houston Texans vs (5) Baltimore Ravens | Houston clinched the AFC South last week.
NFC
(1) Detroit Lions vs BYE | If Detroit wins out, they clinch the 1st seed.
(2) Philadelphia Eagles vs (7) Washington Commanders | Philadelphia is 13-3 in its last 16 games against Washington.
(3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs (6) Green Bay Packers | On average, these are the hottest and the coldest cities in the NFC.
(4) Los Angeles Rams vs (5) Minnesota Vikings | LA beat Minnesota 30-20 in week eight of this season.
Does Rahul ever not pick Seattle to win