NFL 2022 Weekly Preview: Week 16
Welcome to our Christmas Weekly Preview.
We hope we can act like a grown up version of Santa Claus and provide five winners in five days for you.
We know that everyone likes a little extra coin under the tree, so we made sure to check over our selections twice like Santa would do.
Mrs. Claus has approved these selections so get your gingerbread cookies out of the oven and enjoy these wonderful winners
If this is your first time reading our Weekly Preview, we have a winner for each of the 5 days of football.
This covers the NFL Thursday Night Football, a Friday college football game, a Saturday college football game, a Sunday NFL game and finally the Monday Night Football game to end the week!
With that said, let’s get into the winners for the week!
NFL – Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Jets
Are you ready for some Thursday Night Football?
This week we get two teams with playoff aspirations in the 6-8 Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the 7-7 New York Jets.
The Jaguars have won 3 out of their last 4 and have a ton of momentum on their side after coming back from a 17 point third quarter deficit and winning with an interception return in overtime.
On the contrary, the Jets have lost 3 in a row and gave up a 51 yard go ahead touchdown pass with under 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
They had a chance to send the game to overtime but missed a 58 yard field goal and now find themselves staring outside of the Playoffs.
Believe it or not, the Jaguars are in control of their Playoff destiny due to a weak AFC South.
Trailing one game behind the Tennessee Titans, the Jaguars will host them for the division in Week 18.
While the Jets will come in fighting for their life, we believe that Trevor Lawrence and this red-hot Jaguars team will stay hot in frigid New York.
While we usually don’t like to back warm weather teams heading up north to play in the cold, we are very confident in what we see on both sides of the ball from the Jaguars.
On the contrary, the Jets are a complete mess at the moment, and we believe they will ultimately find a way to lose again this week.
Take the 2.5 points for a bit of a safety cushion hunt don’t be surprised if the Jaguars pull the outright upset!
Selection: Jacksonville Jaguars +2.5 @ 1.91
College Football – Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns @ Houston Cougars
For Friday, we shift our focus on the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against the 6-6 Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns and the 7-5 Houston Cougars.
With this game being played in Shreveport, Louisiana we would assume that the Ragin Cajuns would have a home crowd advantage.
The Ragin Cajuns needed a win to qualify for a bowl game in their last regular season game and took care of business by blowing out Texas State.
On the contrary, the Houston Cougars were a 13 point favourite in their last game and lost to Tulsa.
Motivation is always a very important factor when it comes to bowl games, and we believe that the Ragin Cajuns will definitely be the more motivated team.
Every year the Ragin Cajuns show up in their bowl games.
They have won 3 straight bowl games and are usually a tough match up with an underdog chip of their shoulder.
This year we are getting 7 points gifted to us in what we see as a flip of a coin match up.
The Cougars defense is terrible and gives up a whopping 430 yards per game. With a potent offense, we believe the Ragin Cajuns can keep up with the Cougars offense.
Therefore, we recommend taking the points in this match up in what should be a great Friday bowl game. It wouldn’t shock us if the Ragin Cajuns win outright but take the 7 points as an early Christmas present!
Selection: Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns +7 @ 1.89
NFL - Detroit Lions @ Carolina Panthers
Are you ready for a full slate of Christmas Eve football?
We are focused on the Detroit Lions heading into Carolina to take on the Panthers.
Believe it or not, both of these teams are still hoping to make the Playoffs.
Detroit is half a game out of the Wildcard and have a great shot of winning out with their favourable schedule.
The Carolina Panthers play in the worse division and are only a game behind the Buccaneers.
Therefore, this is a huge game for both teams. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they will have a tough time matching up with these red-hot Lions.
Detroit has won 3 in a row and 6 out of 7 of their last games.
They are coming off a thrilling come from behind win against the New York Jets and can easily be sitting in the Wildcard spot when the week is over.
The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders are ahead of them but both teams are facing fierce competition this week in the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.
Therefore, if both the Seahawks and the Commanders lose and the Lions win, the Lions will be holding on to the last Playoff spot.
With the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers left on the Lions schedule, this team can easily finish the year 10-7.
While the Panthers may keep it close up until halftime, we can’t see them keeping pace with this high octane Lions offense.
Take the hottest team in the league and expect them to win again on the road against the Carolina Panthers.
Selection: Detroit Lions -2.5 @ 1.81
NFL – Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Arizona Cardinals
Merry Christmas everyone!
Luckily for us, Santa has given us an absolute winner for Christmas.
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-8) head into the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals (4-10).
Luckily for the Buccaneers, the Cardinals are on their third string quarterback. Trace McSorley will be making his first career start.
We love to fade quarterbacks making their first start in Primetime, and we can’t think of a bigger occasion then fading a quarterback on Christmas Day.
McSorley has looked terrible with the limited opportunities he’s had so far this year.
He’s thrown 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and we believe the Buccaneers defence will definitely force him into making some boneheaded plays.
Tom Brady is coming off one of his worse games in his career where he turned over the ball four times.
Tampa blew a 17 point lead against the Bengals, and we would be absolutely shocked if they don’t come out hungry and motivated against a Cardinals team that has absolutely nothing to play for.
Tom Brady has only lost three games in a row twice in his career and one of those streaks happened this year.
Tampa Bay is not going to lose 3 in a row again especially with a big match up against the Carolina Panthers next week.
Lay the 7.5 points with the Buccaneers here and expect them to destroy the Cardinals who play terrible at home.
Selection: Tampa Bay Buccaneers -7.5 @ 1.90
NFL – Los Angeles Chargers @ Indianapolis Colts
We all get the privilege of seeing the biggest laughingstock in the NFL on Monday Night.
The Indianapolis Colts (4-9-1) hosts the Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) in what should be an absolute blowout.
If the season ended today, the Chargers would be in the Playoffs.
Winners of 2 in a row and 3 out of their last 4, Los Angeles has been playing great football on both sides of the ball.
With winnable games against the Rams and Broncos to finish their season, the Chargers should be able to finish their season with a 11-6 record.
The Colts on the other hand are downright terrible. Losers of four straight, they have decided to switch quarterbacks and start Nick Foles over Matt Ryan for the rest of the season.
We can’t blame the Colts for doing this after Matty “Ice” blew a 33-0 lead.
After giving up 33 points to the Cowboys in the fourth quarter, we thought a bye week would get the Colts hungry for a win.
The Colts decided to try to milk the whole second half and ended up blowing the biggest lead in NFL history.
We can’t imagine any motivation for this Colts team which had Super Bowl aspirations heading into the season.
Therefore, we highly suggest you take the Chargers here and lay the 4.5 points on the road.
The Colts will show little resistance and the Chargers should definitely win by double digits on the road.
Selection: Los Angeles Chargers -4.5 @ 1.88
We hope that we can bless everyone with these five winners and hit our 2nd multi of the season.
This week our multi pays 23/1, and we are quite confident that we will hit it. Enjoy these wonderful games and have a Merry Christmas!
