Doc Brown’s been having a rough time on his picks. We’re down to around .500 on picks against the spread, but with some strong picking the rest of the way, there’s plenty of time to put things together. The Thanksgiving games did not treat the Doc kindly, but we’re expecting a turnaround Sunday and Monday.
Here are Doc Brown’s NFL picks for Week 12, along with analysis below.
(ATS = Against the Spread, SU = Straight Up)
The Doc likes Pittsburgh giving the points for the same reason he liked the Pats giving the points last Monday night: Tyler Palko. Did you see him against New England? He could scramble a bit, and he could hit a check down, but couldn’t do anything downfield. That was against the Patriots’ secondary. What’s he going to do against the Steelers? It won’t be pretty. The only issue is if Pittsburgh’s offense will struggle to put up enough points to cover the line. I think they will.
The Bills offense is no longer a mystery. Their early season success has rapidly halted, and they’ve struggled to score the last three weeks. That’s not going to change against the Jets who had their number the last time the teams played. And without Fred Jackson, scoring will be even more difficult for the Bills. The only worry I have here is about the Jets offense. They’ve been dreadful this week. Will they be able to put up the 17 or so points they need to cover? That’s the only question.
The Browns are a rotten team. They haven’t scored more than 17 points in a game since Week 2. I don’t care what running backs they’re getting back for the game, they won’t score more than 10 points against Cincinnati. The Bengals on the other hand have been productive offensively, and they’re getting A.J. Green back. They should win at least 21-10. The only thing that would blow this is a late score to give the Browns a backdoor cover.
Sam at Play Action Picks has more NFL picks if you’re interested.
