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After playing on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys and Saints are back again for Thursday Night Football in Dallas. Drew Brees and Co. have rattled off 10-straight wins, while the Cowboys have moved to first in the NFC East through a strong front seven and the emergence of Amari Cooper.
Chase Daniel will make his second start for the Bears this Sunday in New York, as usual starter Mitchell Trubisky is sidelined for another week. The vaunted Bears’ defense will be tasked with the excellent skill players of Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr.
Aaron Rodgers laid out the plan to make the playoffs in his post-game press conference after losing to the Vikings, which started with beating Josh Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals. Elsewhere, the Carolina Panthers will try to turn their season around and end a three-game skip as they travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers.
Indianapolis hits the road for a divisional matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who’re now led by quarterback Cody Kessler. The Bills, who just beat the Jags last week, will play in Miami in an AFC East bout with the Miami Dolphins.
Lamar Jackson will hit the road for his third career start as the Ravens take on the beaten and battered Atlanta Falcons, who’ve dropped three straight games. The Cincinnati Bengals, who’ve also dropped three in a row, will host the red-hot Denver Broncos.
The Texans, winners of eight games in a row and first-place of the AFC South, will take on the Cleveland Browns in a game of former Brock Osweiler employers.
In the mid-afternoon slate, the Chiefs will try and beat up on the dismantled Oakland Raiders, the Titans and Jets will battle it out in Tennessee and the 49ers take on the Seattle Seahawks.
Kirk Cousins will take his Vikings’ troupe to New England to face Tom Brady and the Patriots in what could be the game of the week. Another possibility for stealing the show is Sunday Night Football, where Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger will duke it out on primetime. Week 13 ends with a NFC East contest between the slowly falling Redskins and slowly rising Eagles.
As for the Stampede Blue staff, three have moved into the century mark with wins, and every writer has a record of .500 or above. Here’s this week’s picks.
Brett Mock: 102-58 / Chris Shepherd: 101-59 / Andrew Aziz: 100-60 / Stephen Reed: 97-63 / Jared Malott: 95-65 / Elliot Denton: 94-66 / Zachary Hicks: 69-60 / Blake Pace: 57-26 / Ana Krasuski 14-14
Thursday 8:20 pm ET
Saints @ Cowboys
Sunday 1:00 pm ET
Bears @ Giants
Cardinals @ Packers
Colts @ Jaguars
Browns (6) @ Texans | Contrarians: Stephen Reed, Jared Malott, Blake Pace, Ana Krasuski
Panthers (8) @ Buccaneers | Contrarians: Chris Shepherd, Krasuski
Bills @ Dolphins (6) | Contrarians: Elliot Denton, Zachary Hicks, Pace, Krasuski
Broncos (9) @ Bengals | Contrarian: Krasuski
Ravens (6) @ Falcons | Contrarians: Shepherd, Reed, Aziz, Blystone
Rams @ Lions
Sunday 4:05 pm ET
Chiefs @ Raiders
Jets @ Titans
Sunday 4:25 pm ET
Vikings @ Patriots (6) | Contrarians: Chris Blystone, Denton, Malott, Hicks
49ers @ Seahawks
Sunday 8:20 pm ET
Chargers @ Steelers (8) | Contrarians: Aziz, Denton
Monday 8:15 pm ET
Redskins @ Eagles (9) | Contrarians: Aziz