Oakland, 6-6, will play against the Jaguars, 7-5. The Raiders will be coming off of a big win against the Chargers. However, in the three games before last week’s win, Oakland had allowed 452 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Jacksonville, which has a very high chance of winning the AFC South, is second in the NFL averaging 151.5 rushing yards per game behind Maurice Jones-Drew. He is one of the best runners in the league and will run wild on Sunday against.
Winner: Jaguars
The Dolphins, 6-6, will travel to New York to play the Jets, 9-3. Last week against Rob Ryan’s defense, Chad Henne played terribly, throwing three interceptions and only one touchdown. Expect similar numbers against Rob’s twin Rex Ryan.
The Jets will look to put last week’s embarrassing loss behind them. Ryan will confuse the struggling Henne by mixing up coverages and disguising different blitzes. They are one of the best teams at forcing turnovers, and that should increase against the Dolphins, who have the sixth worst turnover differential in the league.
Winner: Jets
New England, 10-2, will face the Bears, 9-3. Chicago has nine wins this season but only two are against teams over .500. As a team, they have thrown 15 interceptions, which is the eighth most in the league this season.
The Patriots will be looking to take advantage of this. They have seven interceptions in the last three games and have just been confusing the opposing quarterback. Tom Brady will continue playing MVP-like football by picking apart the Bears secondary.
Winner: Patriots
The Chiefs, 6-3, will square off against the Chargers, 6-3. Kansas City is on a three game winning streak, but the teams that they have beaten have a combined record of 12-24. They have also struggled passing the ball, averaging only 198.7 yards per game.
San Diego is the best team in the NFL at stopping the pass. They have only allowed 186.3 yards per game, which is due to its deadly pass rush. Philip Rivers is also having a great season. He is second in the league in passing and if the team wins the turnover battle, they will win the game.
Winner: Chargers
The Texans, 5-7 will host the Ravens, 8-4. Houston has struggled mightily on defense this season, especially at stopping the pass. They average a league worst 287.4 opponent passing yards per game and have allowed the forth most total yards per game on defense this season.
Joe Flacco has not put up the incredible stats this year as most would have expected, but he has kept his team in every game. He has taken advantage of the many different offensive weapons at his disposal. Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason should be able to take advantage of the weak Texan secondary.
Winner: Ravens
Joe Beaudoin can be reached at jbeaudoin@spartans.ut.edu.
College newspapers should never cover professional sports. This is nothing against the writer here, but why would students want to read an opinion from a college student rather than an expert? Cover the local collegiate sports or amateur sports. I can read this article on foxsports.com or espn.com from someone who has considerably more insight and more resources.
Jacksonville is in the AFC South… not North.