NFL picks 2017, Week 13: Experts see hope for the Seahawks and Chiefs

There were not many picks for the Giants to begin with this week. And then the Giants went and benched Eli Manning.

Whatever you might think of Manning, who is most definitely in the waning years of his career at 36, he gives the Giants a much better chance to win than Geno Smith or Davis Webb do. Then again, it’s not like things could get much worse for the 2-9 Giants.

That’s the big news this week. So with that, let me say welcome to this week’s red-hot NFL picks column!

This week’s biggest games are in the NFC South. Not a typo.

Atlanta hosts the Vikings this week. With the Saints’ loss to the Rams last week, the Vikings are now the second-hottest team in the NFC, riding a seven-game win streak (the Eagles have a nine-game streak going).

It’s a tough call for our panel, or anyone for that matter. The Falcons found hope again, winning four of their last five. You can pin their success on offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian finally realizing that Julio Jones can do more than catch 5-yard dump offs in the flat. Last week he exploded for a 253-yard, two-touchdown game against the Bucs. They’ve also been force feeding opposing defenses a steady diet of Tevin Coleman. He’s got 223 yards and four touchdowns over the last three games.

They’ll need to score lots of points to keep up with the prodigious output of Case Keenum, yes, Case Keenum. He’s thrown nine touchdowns, 1,154 yards and has a QB rating of 106.1 over his last four games, thanks in part to a mind meld with local-kid-done-good Adam Thielen. The former undrafted free agent 476 yards and three touchdowns over those last four games.

We’ve got six picks for the Falcons and just three for the Vikings. It’s a much tougher game to pick than you might think.

The other big game this week is the Saints hosting the Panthers. Right now, they’re both tied at 8-3, but New Orleans has an edge in the standings thanks to a Week 3 win in Carolina, the game that started their eight-game streak that came to an end in Los Angeles last week.

Drew Brees and Co. are a tough out at home, which is why our panel is decidedly leaning their way in picks this week.

Of course, those aren’t the only games worth watching this week. The NFC’s best team, the Philadelphia Eagles, are in Seattle for the Sunday night showdown. Not much love for the Seahawks from our panel, but even with the Legion of Boom having become the Legion of Backups, the Seahawks have played much better than anyone expected. They owe that to Russell Wilson, who has accounted for 26 of their 27 offensive touchdowns this season. And he’s doing that with no running game and no offensive line help.

The Bills get the Patriots this week, a game that might have been more interesting two months ago. Since then, the Patriots have once again become the AFC’s best team. And that defense everyone was so worried about hasn’t let an opponent score more than 17 points on them since Week 4.

If the Chiefs can’t get their act together this week against the Jets, the Chargers have a good chance of moving into a tie with them atop the AFC West standings. The Chargers are hosting the Browns.

A game you don’t want to watch — none of us do — that has playoff implications is the Lions-Ravens game. Detroit, a slight favorite among our panelists, needs the win to keep its fading wild card hopes alive. Baltimore could further solidify its status as the AFC’s most-laughable wild card team with a win.

Here’s where I go over the rules for our picks again. We allow our panelists to change as many as two picks by the end of the week in order to account for injuries and other changes to the lineup.

This weeks’ guest picker is Chris Gates from The Daily Norseman, SB Nation’s home for all things Vikings.