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| Friday, December 15, 2023 |
| Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| The NFL weekend is off to a wild start, thanks to the Los Angeles Chargers. After getting hammered 63-21 by the Raiders last night, the team responded by firing Brandon Staley. In a move that was announced less than 12 hours after the conclusion of the game, not only did the Chargers make the decision to dump Staley, but they also fired general manager Tom Telesco, who had been with the team since 2013. |
| If you want more coverage of the two firings, be sure to read our full story here. |
| As for the rest of the newsletter, we'll be grading both teams from last night's game and taking a look at nine crazy stats from the Raiders' win, plus we'll be making some picks and bold predictions for Week 15. Also, just as a friendly reminder, don't forget that there's football on tomorrow. The NFL has a tripleheader scheduled and that will be kicking off at 1 p.m. ET with Vikings at Bengals (All three games will be on NFL Network). |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. Actually, you don't even have to tell all of your friends, just tell one friend and I'll be happy. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let's get to the rundown. |
| 1. Today's show: Best bets for Week 15 |
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| If you're a regular listener of the "Pick Six NFL" podcast or a regular reader of this newsletter, then you know what we do on Fridays: We make picks. And then just when you think there's no way we'll make any more picks, we make more picks. |
| For today's show, host Katie Mox was joined by Will Brinson along with R.J. White and Alex "PropStarz" Selelnick -- two of our gambling gurus over at SportsLine -- and the three of them offered some of their best bets for Week 15. |
| The crew spent an entire hour handing out picks, and we're going to go over a few of their best bets here. |
| Will Brinson (0-3 in picks we shared here last week, 20-21-1 on the season) |
| Titans (-2.5) to cover against TexansRavens at Jaguars OVER 42.5 total pointsBills (-1.5) to cover against Cowboys |
| R.J. White (0-2-1 in picks we shared here last week, 19-21-2 on the season) |
| Packers (-3.5) to cover against BuccaneersGiants (+6) to cover against SaintsBears (+3) to cover against Browns |
| Katie Mox (2-1 in picks we shared here last week, 20-18 on the season) |
| Bengals (-2.5) to cover against VikingsBroncos (+4) to cover against Lions49ers team total OVER 30.5 points against Cardinals |
| As for PropStarz, he handed out a few of his favorite props for the weekend, because when your nickname is PropStarz, that's what the people expect. |
| Bears at Browns: Justin Fields UNDER 186.5 passing yardsRavens at Jaguars: Lamar Jackson UNDER 214.5 passing yardsSteelers at Colts: Jaylen Warren OVER 8.5 rushing attempts |
| PropStarz went 2-1 with his picks last week and is now 22-17 on the season. |
| To hear what the rest of the best bets are for Week 15 -- and there are quite a few -- be sure to click here so you can listen to the entire episode of the podcast. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here. |
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| 2. Thursday night grades after Raiders destroy the Chargers |
| The Chargers totally no-showed on Thursday night during a 63-21 loss to the Raiders and we're going to cover it below with our grades from the game. |
| CHARGERS GRADE: F |
| The Chargers were so bad in this game that it was almost like they were trying to get their coach fired. The Chargers looked totally unprepared and when that happens, that usually falls on the coach. A big reason the Raiders were able to score 63 points is because the Chargers turned the ball over five times, including a pick-six in the second half by Easton Stick. The other four turnovers were all fumbles. As for Stick, he seemed to be in way over his head. Although his numbers were decent (257 yards, three touchdowns), he produced almost all of that in garbage time. At this point, the Chargers might want to just wave the white flag on 2023 and start figuring out how they can make this team better in 2024. |
| RAIDERS GRADE: A+ |
| After getting shut out in Week 14, the Raiders responded by taking out all of their anger on the Chargers. The Raiders played a nearly perfect game on Thursday on both sides of the ball. The decision to stick with Aidan O'Connell paid off big time as the rookie QB threw four TD passes during a first half where Las Vegas shot out to a 42-0 lead. The Raiders had six different receivers catch at least two passes and four different receivers catch at least one TD. As good as the offense was, the reason this blowout happened is because of the defense. The Raiders forced five turnovers and they ended up scoring 35 points off those turnovers with the most impressive play coming from Jack Jones, who had a one-handed pick-six in the second half (You can see that here). Jones' TD came 29 seconds after John Jenkins returned a fumble for another defensive TD. The Raiders beat up on Easton Stick and they never let the Chargers get their ground game going. If Antonio Pierce is aiming to get the full-time head coaching job in Las Vegas, this might end up being the win that puts him over the top. |
| If you want to check out more of our takeaways from the game, be sure to click here. |
| 3. Inside the numbers: Raiders and Chargers set multiple records in Vegas' blowout win |
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| To give this game justice, we have to go over all the records that were broken on Thursday night, so that's exactly what we're going to do here. |
| Here's a look at nine fascinating stats from the game: |
| Raiders set franchise record for most points scored. The Raiders' 63 points against the Chargers topped the team's previous record of 59, which was set in 2010 against the Broncos. The Raiders' point total was also the third highest of any team in the Super Bowl era, trailing on the Dolphins (70 in 2023) and Washington (72 in 1966). First-half fireworks. The Raiders led the Chargers 42-0 at halftime, which was tied for the second-largest halftime lead ever in NFL history. The only team that ever held a bigger lead was the Patriots, who were up 45-0 at the half against the Titans in 2009. Touchdown party for Raiders. The Raiders had eight different players score a TD, which is the most by any team in nearly 75 years. The last team to pull off that feat was the Rams back in 1950. From zero to 60 in three days. The Raiders scored the SECOND-most points in NFL history for a team that was shut out in its prior game. The record for the most points belongs to the Eagles, who scored 64 in 1934 one week after being shut out. Rookie record. With four TD passes in the first half, Aidan O'Connell is now tied with Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston for the most first-half TD passes by a rookie in a single game over the past 30 years. Antonio Pierce makes his case for the job. The Raiders' 42-point win was the largest ever by an interim coach since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Pierce came up just short of the largest ever, which came in 1942 when the Bears beat the Rams 47-0. Most points allowed in Chargers history. Before Thursday, the Chargers had never surrendered 60 points or more in a game. Their previous record for most points allowed was 57, which came in a 2000 game against the Rams. Third-largest loss in Chargers history. The 42-point point difference was the third largest in Chargers history, but interestingly enough, it's not even the largest loss they've suffered over the past five years. Back in 2020 they suffered a bigger loss when the Patriots beat the Chargers 45-0. That game still holds the title for biggest blowout loss in Chargers history. Easton Stick joins an exclusive club that no one wants to be in. This was the first start for Stick and he became only the second QB this century to lose his first start by 42 points or more. This was the biggest loss by a first-time starter since 2000 when Spergon Wynn and the Browns lost to the Jaguars 48-0. |
| We also got a scorigami last night: The 63-21 final score marked the first time that score has ever happened. For more crazy facts about the game, be sure to click here. |
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| 4. NFL Week 15 picks: Bills top Cowboys, Bengals beat Vikings by double digits |
| I hope you're not burnt out on picks yet, because we have even more of them coming at you right now. This batch will be coming from NFL senior writer Pete Prisco and Will Brinson, along with Jordan Dajani, Tyler Sullivan and myself. After a rough patch during the middle of the season, we have now gone .500 or better in six straight weeks. |
| We went 3-2 against the spread last week, which means that heading into Week 15, we now have a 37-30-2 record against the spread with our picks that have been featured in the newsletter. |
| Here's how things are going to work: I'm going to give you one pick from each guy and then direct you to the rest of their picks. That way, if you like their pick, you'll be able to read the rest of them, but if they pick against your favorite team, you can ignore the rest of their picks and move on. |
Pete Prisco: Ravens (-3.5) 33-27 over Jaguars. From Prisco: "The Jaguars have lost two straight and have big injury issues to go with poor defensive play the past two weeks. The Ravens are in the top spot in the AFC. Their defense has struggled some lately as well. This could be a shootout between Lamar Jackson and Trevor Lawrence. I'll go with the better defense and take the Ravens." For the rest of Prisco's Week 15 picks, be sure to click here.Tyler Sullivan: Packers (-3.5) 24-20 over Buccaneers. From Sullivan: "Tampa Bay's secondary is giving up 7.2 yards per pass attempt this season, which is tied for the third most in the league. They've also struggled to get off the field, ranking in the bottom third of the league on third down. At Lambeau Field, Jordan Love has a high completion percentage, passer rating, and averages roughly 40 more passing yards per game this season than he does on the road. ... The Packers bounce back with a win at home to remain inside the playoff picture." For the rest of Sullivan's Week 15 picks, be sure to click here.Will Brinson: Bills (-1.5) to beat Cowboys. From Brinson: "The Bills are in 'playoff mode' right now and need to win every single game the rest of the way. I think they might do it." For the rest of Brinson's Week 15 best bets, be sure to click here.
Jordan Dajani: Titans (-3) 20-14 over Texans. From Dajani: "We don't even know if C.J. Stroud will even suit up due to a concussion, while Nico Collins, Will Anderson Jr., Blake Cashman, George Fant and Laremy Tunsil have all missed practice this week due to injuries. Tennessee is 4-1 at home this year, and wearing the OILERS THROWBACKS. I gotta take the Titans." For the rest of Dajani's Week 15 best bets, be sure to click here.John Breech: Bengals (-3) 27-17 over Vikings. From me: "Over the past three weeks, I'm not sure if I've been watching Jake Browning or Joe Burrow play QB for the Bengals. I've been told it's Browning, but I can't be sure, because he's playing like Burrow. I think the Bengals get at least one more big game from Browning and they pull off the win here." For the rest of my Week 15 picks, be sure to click here . |
| For more Week 15 NFL picks, you can check out out our CBS Sports picks page here. |
| 5. Bold predictions for Week 15: Bills and Bears both pull off major upsets |
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| Since you're probably tired of picks at this point, we're going to spice things up by giving out some bold predictions, which are like picks, except spicier. Garrett Podell has five bold predictions for Week 15, and we're going to share three of them below. Last week, Garrett boldly predicted that the Bills would upset the Chiefs AND that the Bears would upset the Lions. |
| Let's see what Garrett has in store for us this week. |
| Bold predictions for Week 15: |
| 1. Giant win. Tommy DeVito becomes the first undrafted rookie QB in NFL history to win his first four career starts by beating the Saints. |
| 2. Broncos pull off upset. Sean Payton leads the his team to a big win on the road in Detroit against the Lions. |
| 3. Colts end 15-year losing streak to Steelers. The Colts will pick up their first win against the Steelers since 2008 and Gardner Minshew will become the first Colts QB since Peyton Manning to beat Pittsburgh. |
| Garrett actually has five bold predictions for Week 15, and if you want to see each prediction along with his explanation for each prediction, you can check those out here. |
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| 6. Extra points: Joe Flacco finally signs with Browns |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
Browns sign Flacco to one-year deal. Before Thursday, Joe Flacco was technically a free agent on Cleveland's practice squad who could be signed by any team, but that's no longer the case. The Browns have signed Flacco to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $4.05 million. The incentive-laden deal will give Flacco a $75,000 bonus for every regular-season game he wins. He'll also get $2 million in bonus money if he leads the Browns to a Super Bowl win (You can see his full bonus structure here). Jaguars employee pleads guilty to stealing $22 million. Well, this case didn't take long. Amit Patel has pleaded guilty to embezzling money from the team. The former Jaguars employee now faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, according to ESPN.com.
Josh Dobbs demoted to third string. Not only did Dobbs get benched for this week, but he was actually demoted all the way down to third string . Nick Mullens will be starting on Saturday against the Bengals and Jaren Hall will be serving as his backup. Dobbs will be the emergency QB for Minnesota in Week 15. C.J. Stroud likely out on Sunday. The Texans rookie QB missed another day of practice and it's looking more and more like he's not going to be able to play on Sunday against the Titans. If Stroud can't go, that means the 7-6 Texans will be turning to Davis Mills, who will be trying to keep the team's playoff hopes alive. |
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| | | | | College Basketball on CBS | | NFL on CBS | This Saturday, college basketball is back and it's gonna be big. Watch #2 Kansas face off against Indiana at 12:30 PM ET followed by the CBS Sports Classic live from Atalanta. Watch the best of college basketball on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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| | Sunday, the NFL is on CBS. Week 15 features key games in the playoff race, when the Bucs head to Lambeau to face the Packers, or an AFC matchup between the Jets and Dolphins. It all begins at 12:00 PM ET with JB and the guys on “The NFL Today.” Watch on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+.
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