NFL: Tips Week 12: Vikings! Packers! It’s all about

For the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, Week 12 is about the playoff chance; the Panthers and the Seahawks also meet for a critical wildcard duel. Also: Thanksgiving football with three games on Thursday – and can the Eagles finally turn the corner? SPOX takes a quick look at all games of the upcoming matchday – including the forecast by NFL editor Adrian Franke, the Sunday games are as usual in the RedZone conference live on DAZN.

Bye-Week: Rams, Chiefs.

Does Mitch Trubisky play despite his shoulder injury, or doesn’t he? This of course has a massive effect on this game: as inconstant as Trubisky continues to be as Passer, he is currently the most dangerous scrambling quarterback in the NFL and would cause this Lions front bigger problems. Without Trubisky, it would also be difficult for the Bears, although the Lions are the most inconstant team in the league alongside Tennessee. This starts with the Offense, which had considerable problems against good Pass-Rushs in the last weeks. The Bears are perhaps the most dangerous of the league at the moment.

Tip: Lions vs. Bears 20:23.

The cowboys now look like the favourite for the Division victory – and that despite the fact that in today’s NFL they come along with a clearly limited passing game. However, Dallas seems to be the most balanced team in the division, whose offense with Amari Cooper has become more dangerous and will have the best running back of the season in Ezekiel Elliott. The offensive line has also stabilized, while the defense is pushing more and more towards the top-5. And Washington on the other side? After several failures in the Offensive Line and in the Receiving Corps, Alex Smith was also caught on Sunday, and the bad; can Colt McCoy defend the division leadership with shaky protection and few weapons? The defense would have to play better than last time.

Tip: Cowboys vs. Redskins 24:17.

Atlanta has its defensive pillar back with the return of Deion Jones – but it seems too late. Against the Saints this gives the Falcons at least a reasonable answer to Alvin Kamara and potentially also to Michael Thomas out of the slot, but will that be enough? New Orleans can also win games via its Run Game, has one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and should be able to eliminate the already shaky Pass-Rush of the Falcons. At the same time, the Saints-Defense has recently been visibly improved and will be able to cause Atlanta problems with lightning as well.

Tip: Saints vs. Falcons 34:24.

The Bills come out of Bye Week with a – by their standards – very good feeling. After the unexpectedly dominant victory over the jets, quarterback Josh Allen is likely to return now, and the matchup looks good at least for their own defense: the Jaguars tried to hide Blake Bortles without success last week and Jacksonville’s offense should – whether over Bortles or over the run – see quite a few stabs against a good Bills defense. On the other hand, the mismatch may be even bigger; the Jags Pass rush, which has been shaky several times recently, gets a chance against Buffalo’s Offensive Line on the silver platter, Jacksonville’s Secondary should dominate Buffalo’s receiver completely. The X-Factors: Does a team manage a defensive touchdown? And can Allen, as a runner, possibly shape the game?

Tip: Bills vs. Jaguars 14:17.

Bengal Defense has been having alarming problems for weeks. Also against the Ravens Cincinnati was much too passive and susceptible again, and such an approach can no longer be afforded against the Browns. Cleveland should be successful with his running backs and tight ends in the passing game against the linebackers of the Bengals and Cincinnati’s offensive line with Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi should cause problems. Cincy must hope that A.J. Green not only comes back, but is also at 100 percent. Otherwise the Offense expects a very heavy piece of work.

Tip: Bengals vs. Browns 20:24.

Desolate appearance of the Jets against the Bills before Bye Week, but Todd Bowles remains the head coach in New York – at this point it would be a shock if Bowles still played this role in January. Now a Patriots team is waiting, which is still in the middle of the race for the top seeds, which Rob Gronkowski gets back, whose offensive line should neutralize the pass rush of the jets and whose secondary should have the clear upper hand against New York’s weapons. It seems almost secondary whether jet rookie QB Sam Darnold (foot) gets fit in time or Josh McCown plays. Both did not make a good impression in the end.

Tip: Jets vs. Patriots 13:27.

For the Eagles, the moment of truth has arrived. For weeks now, the defending champions have been hoping for a turnaround, but over the last four games the Eagles – in addition to a win over the Jaguars – have given up a clear lead over the Panthers, lost at home to Dallas in prime time and experienced a 7-48 debacle in New Orleans. Philly has various problems in play calling, the offensive line, the run game and against the Saints Wentz was also weak. Given the insanely fragile Secondary, more of the Giants’ own offense must come against them; at the same time, the best chance for the Eagles in this game could be their own pass-rush. Here the Eagles are still the strongest, and here the Giants Opense gets potentially huge problems.

Tip: Eagles vs. Giants 30:27.

A very difficult game in the forecast, because both teams have blatant shortcomings. The Bucs are a debacle week after week in Secondary, and the fact that the pass-rush with the most harmless is the NFL doesn’t help much. Jameis Winston may now start offensively again and against a more than beatable Niners defense – also here: in the pass rush, as well as in the secondary – Winston should be able to play a good game. At the same time, Konstanz is not exactly the word one associates with the passing game of the Bucs. Conversely, it takes little imagination to imagine that Kyle Shanahan gets free against this defense via the Scheme Receiver and Nick Mullens has time in Pocket Time. There is definitely potential for a shootout here.

Tip: Buccaneers vs. 49ers 33:30.

Absolutely critical game in the wildcard race of the NFC. Seattle has finally returned to the playoff race with the victory over the Packers, but can no longer afford to slip up. Carolina on the other hand comes with two disappointing failures – the debacle in Pittsburgh, followed by the surprising defeat in Detroit. Can the home strong Panthers in Charlotte find their way back to their former strength? Both teams take a similar approach – run game and controlling defense; who better to implement this approach? On paper, Seattle’s Run Defense is more susceptible and the Panthers’ Run Game is much more versatile. But can Carolina now show this again?

Tip: Panthers vs. Seahawks 27:24.

Exciting starting debut of Lamar Jackson, who is expected to start again against the Raiders – Joe Flacco’s hip injury is still a problem for him. The Ravens could go into the game against Oakland with a similar game plan as last week, and the Raiders Defense could face huge problems with their Run Game, Zone Reads and Quarterback Runs. On the other side of the ball, Derek Carr will again be under considerable pressure; not good conditions for this raiders team.

Tip: Ravens vs. Raiders 20:9.

The Chargers stumbled against Denver surprisingly – a repetition is not to be expected against the Cardinals. Arizona once again presented themselves as one of the worst teams in the league against Oakland, the offensive line will be a huge problem again against the Chargers’ pass rush and the Chargers should be able to win this game alone through their run game against a still fragile run defense from the desert.

Tip: Chargers vs. Cardinals 27:14.

Against the Chargers, the losses in Denver’s offensive line surprisingly did not become the Broncos’ undoing – is that going to change this week? Pittsburgh has one of the best run defenses in the NFL, significantly influenced by its own defensive line. And the Steelers should be able to eliminate the Broncos’ pass-rush at least to some extent. If this happens, Denver’s Secondary is definitely beatable; Pittsburgh’s Offense should have the upper hand in this game, while Case Keenum on the other side is still a wonder bag with too few consistently good performances.

Tip: Broncos vs. Steelers 23:26.

The failure of Ryan Kelly, should the center be missing for a longer time, could still become a problem for the Colts – but against Miami this will presumably not be the case. The Dolphins are too vulnerable in pass-rush and too beatable in coverage, Indianapolis should be able to attack the linebackers with their tight ends. Hope for Miami: Ryan Tannehill finally returns and should make the Offense many times more dynamic than it was with Brock Osweiler. But also Tannehill had several weak games before his injury.

Tip: Colts vs. Dolphins 30:21.

For the Packers, it’s all about everything now: After the bankruptcy in Seattle, Green Bay can’t afford a defeat anymore, and that starts with the Sunday Night Game at the Division rival. Can the Packers finally get their Scheme and Aaron Rodgers on the same wavelength? Minnesota should be able to limit Aaron Jones’ influence on the game unless Mike McCarthy does it himself. Conversely, the Packers Pressure and Lightning packages will be a huge problem for Minnesota’s Offensive Line – and for Kirk Cousins, who hasn’t played at the level he had at the start of the season for a few weeks now.

Tip: Vikings vs. Packers 24:25.

The Titans have dismantled the cowboys in Dallas, beaten the Patriots at home – and then brought a medium disaster on the lawn with the Colts. That sums up Tennessee’s season well up to this point, this team is completely inconsistent and fears once again for the beleaguered Marcus Mariota. Houston, meanwhile, has now been able to win several tight games in different ways; against Tennessee, his own pass-rush should determine the game, which already massively limits the Titans. Will Tennessee succeed in return? If not, then the Titans season could be put under another damper here.

Tip: Texans vs. Titans 24:21.