Who’s going to lead their team to victory when Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers host Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons? Can anyone stop New York Giants rookie Saquon Barkley? Will Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints avoid consecutive losses when they take on Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an intriguing matchup?
With Week 14 of the 2018 NL regular season just days away, it’s time to offer up some more fun-filled predictions for this week’s action.
Rodgers Lights Up Falcons
Packers future Hall of Fame signal-caller Aaron Rodgers is generally recognized as the best quarterback in the NFL, but that certainly hasn’t been the case this season as both, Rodgers and the Packers have underachieved mightily heading into their Week 14 home date against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. Rodgers has been limited to a modest three TD passes in a pair of games this season and enters Week 14 having thrown just one TD pass in each of last two games combined. Still, though, I’m going to predict that Rodgers is going to toss at least three TD passes against Atlanta’s porous pass defense. While neither one of these teams has much to play for, I’m thinking their meetings coming on Sunday is a high-scoring affair just waiting to happen.
Barkley Totals 175 Yards, 2 Scores vs. Skins!
New York Giants rookie running back Saquon Barkley is a legitimate superstar in just his first season in the league. The former Penn State standout has 954 rushing yards and eight touchdowns while catching 74 passes for an additional 602 yards and four scores. Barkley heads into New York’s Week 14 matchup against Washington having rushed for at least 101 yards in each of his last three games and a combined three rushing scores and two receiving TDs during the span. I know Washington has a very good defense this season, but the streaking Giants look like they could win for the fourth time in their last five games – and I expect Barkley to have a big hand in the outcome of this contest. I’m going with the superstar rookie to rush for 125 yards and one score while adding another 50 receiving yards and another score!
Winston, Bucs Nearly Beat Saints!
Sure, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have underachieved this season (again) while playing musical chairs at quarterback early on. Now that the Bucs have gone back to former starter Jameis Winston, they look at least competent again. After watching the Bucs get past Carolina 24-17 last weekend and New Orleans suffered a stunning road loss at Dallas, I like Tampa Bay to cover the spread at home against New Orleans this coming weekend while pushing the Saints really hard for the outright win.
Lindsay Rushes For 150!
Saquon Barkley isn’t the only rookie running back I’m expecting big things out of this coming weekend. Denver’s Philip Lindsay has been impressive in rushing for a team-high 8-931 yards. The former Colorado star has rushed for a combined 267 yards and one score the last two weeks while rushing for at least 90 yards in four of his last six starts. Lindsay rushed for 157 yards last weekend and I expect him to be right around that figure again when this one ends.
Big Ben Tosses 5 TD Passes
Pittsburgh has dropped two straight heading into their Week 14 matchup against Oakland, but I’m expecting a huge performance out of Denver’s defense – and Philip Lindsay to get the win. Oakland is borderline incompetent defensively and I believe they’re going to be ripe for the picking against the suddenly-desperate Steelers. Roethlisberger tossed five TD passes in Week 10 against Carolina and I believe he’s going to repeat that feat against the Raiders this weekend!
