'Thanksgiving Day NFL Picks

Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (-6)

Detroit is desperate. This might be the most meaningful Thanksgiving game they’ve played in recent years and not for the right reasons either. Quite frankly they should’ve ran away with the NFC North weeks ago and now instead are in a dog fight for the divisional crown. I’ve already gone on record saying that should the Lions flop in the next 5 weeks and miss the postseason there should be some serious consideration in the Lions front office to relieve Jim Schwartz of his coaching duties. With no sign of Aaron Rodgers returning this week and the Packers already falling apart without him, Detroit has absolutely no excuses this week. I don’t trust them but I expect a fire lit under their asses for one week.

Lions 34-20


Oakland Raiders at Dallas Cowboys (-9.5)

Hard to believe the Raiders had a chance to grab the #6 seed in the AFC had they did their job and beat Tennessee at home but……it’s the Raider. Why are we surprised. Oh and by the way, Tony Romo did a masterful job of taking the Cowboys down the field in the final minutes to beat the rival Giants and take back control of the NFC East for the moment and no one is talking about that. I don’t expect them to relinquish it from this point. Of course I can’t promise anything cause this is the Dallas Cowboys we are talking about folks.

Cowboys 31-20


Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens (-3)
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While this may not be the sexy battle for first place matchup we’re grown accustomed to in recent years, this game is huge nonetheless as both teams stand at 5-6 and right in the thick of the playoff hunt in the AFC. Pittsburgh has risen from the dead after starting the season 0-4. Baltimore, who happen to be the defending Super Bowl champs in case you forgot, even with the struggles of Ray Rice this season and the much to be desired play of Joe Flacco are still in thick of things. As I predicted on my weekly radio show (Earnestly Speaking) 5 weeks ago, I expected Big Ben to play better and get the Steelers back into the playoff hunt in an otherwise untrustworthy AFC. This game will continue to be the hard hitting affair it always is but Pittsburgh’s offense especially is starting to peak at the right time and I don’t expect that to change much this week even on a short week.

Steelers 21-17