NFL Football Free Picks

In this week’s Monday Night Football matchup the 3-8 Jacksonville Jaguars will play their first game since the firing of longtime coach Jack Del Rio.  The Jags host the 4-7 San Diego Chargers, who have lost six straight games and have been the most disappointing team in the AFC this season. Can the Chargers right the ship in Jacksonville or have they quit on coach Norv Turner?

The Chargers are three-point road favorites, but have only covered the spread twice in 11 games this season. The Jaguars haven’t been much better against the spread, going 4-7 ATS this year. The Chargers are also just 1-4 on the road this season. The Jags are 2-3 at home, and one of those wins was a 12-7 home upset of the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football in Week 7.

The New York Giants will look to end a two-game losing skid on Monday Night as they face the New Orleans Saints as heavy road underdogs (seven- to 8.5-point spread, +275 to +290 money line). The Saints have won two straight and will look to stay atop the NFC South, while the Giants need a win just to keep pace with the Dallas Cowboys who won by the slimmest margins on Thanksgiving Day.

The Saints are a perfect 4-0 at home this season, with three of those wins coming by 11 points or more. The Giants are 3-2 on the road this season, losing the season opener by 14 to the Washington Redskins, and losing two weeks ago at the San Francisco 49ers by seven. The Giants have also only covered the spread once in their last six games, while the Saints are 6-4 ATS for the year.

The NFL’s Thanksgiving nightcap is a belly-buster of a matchup: San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh takes his 9-1 team east to face his brother John Harbaugh’s 7-3 Baltimore Ravens squad. Brother Jim has harped on his team having to fly three time zones and play four days after beating the Cardinals in San Francisco on Sunday, but his team is 4-0 on the road this season.

The Ravens are a perfect 5-0 at home this year, with big wins over the Steelers, Jets, Texans and Bengals. The Ravens are three-point home favorites against the 49ers. Baltimore is just 5-4-1 against the spread this season, while San Francisco is a near perfect 9-0-1 ATS this year.

The Over/Under for the game is 38.5 points. Seven of 10 Ravens games have gone Over this season, while 49ers games have evenly split between Over and Under. Recently, four of five Ravens games have gone Over, but four of five Niners games have gone Under.

Aaron Rodgers and the 10-0 Green Bay Packers may be facing the biggest obstacle in their path to a perfect regular season on Thanksgiving as they visit the Detroit Lions. After a 5-0 start, the Lions have cooled off considerably, going 2-3 since with their only wins coming against Cam Newton and the Panthers and Tim Tebow and the Broncos. The Packers are six- to seven-point favorites.

The last time these teams met last December, the Lions beat the Packers 7-3 in Detroit, ending a 10-game losing streak against Green Bay. They’ll need another tremendous defensive effort if they hope to pull the upset against the defending Super Bowl champs, who lead the NFL in points per game with a 35.5 average.

Both teams have fared well against the spread this year: the Packers are 7-3 ATS, while the Lions are 6-3-1. Detoit has won five of its last seven home games, with the two losses coming last month against the 49ers and Falcons.