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Stampede Blue’s NFL Week 12 staff picks

NFL: Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

It was a bad week for Stampede Blue’s game picks. Only Chris Shepherd and Andrew Aziz had winning records, and the crew went 62-70 in total. Hopefully with some Thanksgiving cheer, the picks this week will be as full and rich as your turkey.

Thursday starts with a three-game slate of Chicago vs. Detroit, Washington vs. Dallas and Atlanta vs. New Orleans. Chase Daniels is in at quarterback for the injured Mitchell Trubisky, and the Lions get a Bears’ team on an extremely short week. With Colt McCoy in under center for Washington now, the Dallas D-line will try to feast on the career backup by blowing through a beaten and battered Washington offensive line. The Saints are churning right now, probably more than any other team in the NFL, but Atlanta is desperate to keep itself in the wild card hunt and will come out with an offensive explosion of their own on the night game.

A few divisional matchups are sprinkled throughout the 1 o’clock slate: Philadelphia will try to fend off what would be a season-ending loss against a New York Giants football team that’s found its groove over the last two games, the Patriots will look to demolish the New York Jets after New England’s embarrassing loss to the Titans two weeks ago and assistant to the head coach Hue Jackson will look to get his revenge on Cleveland as the Bengals host Baker Mayfield and the Browns.

Jaguars’ head coach Doug Marrone travels up to Buffalo to take on his former team, who may just have rookie Josh Allen back under center after missing extended time. Russell Wilson will look to build off its strong win against the Packers and move to a winning record by traveling to a Carolina team coming off two consecutive losses to the Steelers and Lions. Lamar Jackson might get his second career start against the empty Raiders’ defense, while Jon Gruden and Derek Carr will look to build off their win in Arizona a week ago. The 49ers and the Buccaneers also play, in what should be a game that no one will want to watch.

In the later games, Arizona travels to Los Angeles to take on an angry Chargers team that handed away a win to the Denver Broncos last week. Speaking of Denver, the Broncos will play host to the red-hot Steelers that’ve won six straight contests. Your Indianapolis Colts team will play at home against a Miami Dolphins team that should have Ryan Tannehill under center. If only Darius Leonard and the Colts’ defense could play against Brock Osweiler.

Sunday Night and Monday Night Football are two crucial divisional games. The Packers travel to Minnesota as both teams are fighting for second place in the NFC North, while Tennessee has a chance to help out Indy on Monday night when they travel to Houston to take on the first place Texans in the AFC South.

Here’s an update on the standings, and how your Stampede Blue staff sees Thanksgiving weekend play out.

Brett Mock: 91-54 / Andrew Aziz: 90-55 / Chris Shepherd: 89-56 / Stephen Reed: 88-57 / Jared Malott: 84-61 / Elliot Denton: 83-52 / Zachary Hicks: 59-55 / Blake Pace: 46-22 / Ana Krasuski 5-8

Thursday 12:30 pm ET

Bears (8) @ Lions | Contrarian: Stephen Reed

Thursday 4:30 pm ET

Redskins @ Cowboys (8) | Contrarian: Zachary Hicks

Thursday 8:20 pm ET

Falcons @ Saints

Sunday 1:00 pm ET

Giants @ Eagles (8) | Contrarian: Blake Pace

Jaguars @ Bills

Seahawks @ Panthers (5) | Contrarians: Chris Shepherd, Andrew Aziz, Elliot Denton, Hicks

Raiders @ Ravens

49ers @ Buccaneers (5) | Contrarians: Aziz, Denton, Hicks, Ana Krasuski

Browns @ Bengals (5) | Contrarians: Mock, Denton, Hicks, Pace

Patriots @ Jets

Sunday 4:05 pm ET

Cardinals @ Chargers

Sunday 4:25 pm ET

Steelers @ Broncos

Dolphins @ Colts

Sunday 8:20 pm ET

Packers @ Vikings (5) | Contrarians: Mock, Aziz, Denton, Krasuski

Monday 8:15 pm ET

Titans @ Texans (7) | Contrarians: Reed, Hicks

What are your picks for Week 12?