Week 15 sides and totals
Plus a recap of Week 14
Though last week was only a 2-4 week, it was also a signal to me that we’ve reached the part of the season I’ve talked about before where my focus gets pulled away by the fantasy playoffs a bit, and the selections suffer.
One of the wins, Miami -5.5, was one of the more fortunate wins all year when the Dolphins came from behind to force overtime then won in the extra period with a walk-off touchdown. Three of the losses were pretty terrible, including having both Buffalo -3.5 and the under on their trip to Los Angeles where the Rams won outright by out-scoring the Bills. I was confident Buffalo could score, but specifically didn’t think the Rams had that offensive performance in them.
The other clearly bad pick was the over in Tennessee-Jacksonville, where the Titans came right out with eight straight rush attempts on the first drive, a precursor to a game where both teams were not interested in doing much of anything.
It was a reminder motivation is a big part of picking games this time of year, which can be tough to pin down on a weekly basis. I did like the final pick, the under in Arizona-Seattle, where both defenses played well, but Seattle got two short-field touchdowns in the first half off Kyler Murray interceptions (one was only a 19-yard, 1-play drive). That game still only went over by 3.5 points, so basically if one touchdown at some point in the game had been a field goal.
Anyway, Week 14 was a reminder why I’m usually pretty light with my picks this time of year. Next week is also the final iteration of my weekly fantasy column Stealing Signals, and I always wind up re-energized after the holiday and excited to break down the NFL playoffs.
For now, a fair warning to tread cautiously with my picks. Let’s get to the Week 16 picks. As always, all minus bets are bet to win 1 unit, all plus bets are risk 1 unit.