NFL Week 18 Picks – Can Detroit Do It?

NFL Week 18 Picks – Can Detroit Do It?

We have arrived at the final Week (#18) of the NFL season here at Wannamakeabet.com.  Some of you are coming to the end of your leagues but most of you are preparing for the post-season and will be getting more points in your private leagues.  No matter what your position is, we hope you have had a great season with us at WANNA and we wish you the best of luck (which you’ll need) during the post season.  Listen to our Podcast on Spotify and Apple music with Jack and Cello every week to get a data driven, bourbon infused deep dive opinion on every single game on the card.  Here’s everything going on at the site this weekend:

Website Updates

• Invites are out for the January All Sports Cash League.  Just log in, accept the invite and you’re in.  Everyone received their weekly 50K points this morning.
• The Bowl Bonanza League is ending tomorrow night after the National Championship Game between Georgia and TCU.  Make sure you fire in your bets if you’re still alive.   Winner gets $100 cash! Everyone is chasing member “eMachine” who currently has 340K points.  Good luck to all!
• Chiefs / Raiders preview from NFL analyst Thomas Quaynor.
• National Championship Game preview from College Football analyst Gabriel Rauch.
• We have refunded all the action from the cancelled Cincinnati / Buffalo game, let us know if you have any questions.

 

AND NOW… Week 18 NFL Commish Picks

The commish went 4-1 AGAIN last week as my only loss was Chiefs and their lackluster defense.   The season record now stands at 46/76 (60.52%).   For a full preview of every single game on the card, make sure you listen to our podcast.  Here’s who the commish likes this week for my top 5, all lines are from WANNA at the time of this posting.

 

Jacksonville Jaguars – 6 over Tennessee Titans

T-Law gets his big moment today and I’m expecting him to come out shining. The commish power rankings (DVOA from footballoutsiders adjusted for recency bias) has the Jags ranked 4th and the Titans ranked 29th.  Jags are clicking on all cylinders with all skill players healthy.  Pederson is going to dial up a defensive scheme that sells out against the run to stop Henry and put DBs in single coverage against a weak receiving core whose best player (Burks) has a bit of a groin issue.  Tennessee is spiraling out of control and Josh Dobbs is not the answer.  The nail in the coffin on a miserable season comes today.

 

Miami Dolphins – 3 over New York Jets

The Jets are done.  And since they were just eliminated last week in that putrid performance against the Hawks there clearly won’t be anything left in the tank against Miami on Sunday.  And on top of that they’re putting third string totem pole Joe Flacco out there just to kick sand in the fans’ faces. Miami is very much alive for a wildcard.  With a win and Buffalo win, they’re in. The only X factor for this game is Miami is putting QB Skylar Thompson out there, the dual threat rookie from KState because Tua is still concussed and Teddy broke a finger.  Either way, coach Mike McDaniel will dial up a winning scheme to get the W for Miami and get them into the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Steelers – 3 over Cleveland Browns

The Steelers are #1 against the run in my power rankings and that’s what the Browns do best.  And the last time the Browns faced a defense this good (Saints two weeks ago) things did not go well.  Sure, Watson is getting better each game but he just doesn’t have the weapons to beat Pittsburgh in a game that matters this much to the Steelers.  An aging Cooper and inconsistent Njoku and Peoples-Jones won’t be enough on Sunday.  But the big story will be the Steelers rush offense against the Browns inability to stop the run. Steelers win by a TD but it’s all for nought as Miami and Buffalo both roll.

Buffalo -7 over New England

Damar Hamlin will be the emotional lightning rod of the year that propels this Buffalo team through the playoffs and into the Super Bowl and it all starts on Sunday.  Nothing brings a team together like adversity.  Couple this with the fact that the Patriots offense is truly broken and we have the script for a blowout in Orchard Park.  Tears of joy all around as the offense rolls and the defense may even pitch a shutout.

Detroit Lions + 5 over Green Bay Packers

If I extend the lookback window on my power rankings to 8 weeks, Detroit is ranked 4th and the Packers 6th.  And over that time period Jared Goff has been the best QB in the league.  Detroit needs Seattle to win their game against the Rams earlier on Sunday to get the wildcard but even if that doesn’t come to fruition, they’re going to bring all they have for this final game of the year against the hated Pack.  Dan Campbell deserves coach of the year (even though they’ll likely give it to Sirianni) and this team wants to play hard for him and themselves.  Winning a game in Lambeau at the end of the year against Aaron Rodgers is next to impossible, but if there is any team that can pull it off it’s these Lions.  Even if they don’t, getting 5 points is more than enough to get me to the window for this one as most of the country will be betting on the Packers and may push this to 6 by game time.

Good luck with your selections, you’ll need it to cover today.

Commish

Wannamakeabet.com