Nov 24, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) reacts after a catch against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.
It turns out the football gods were in a giving mood over Thanksgiving after all, and on the weekend, the Week 12 picks went 6-1. Now, we turn the page over to the Week 13 NFL picks, but before we do that, here’s a look back at Week 12 one last time:
Season Record: 42-42-3
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Frey’s Pick: Patriots +3.5, U43.5 points
Josh Allen is still working through an elbow injury that limited him over the past couple weeks, and the Patriots are coming off a loss to the Vikings where their defense struggled.
New England is approaching must-win territory as we get into the final third of the regular season, especially if they hope to keep up with the other teams in the AFC East. They will at least keep this one close with their defense.
Frey’s Pick: Vikings -3
The Minnesota Vikings secondary is starting to get healthier after their mini-bye week following their Thanksgiving victory over the Patriots. Akayleb Evans and Dalvin Tomlinson both look close to returning to the field, and this may be the week where they come back.
On the other side, Mike White has been a mixed bag of results throughout his young career. He’s coming off a spectacular game last weekend, so it may be wise to anticipate him coming back down to earth in Week 13. The Vikings should win this game comfortably.
Frey’s Pick: Titans +5
It’s been a strange past few weeks for the Philadelphia Eagles, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Over the last three weeks, they’ve allowed 27 points per game, and they are most recently coming off letting the Green Bay Packers score a season-high 33 points.
Granted, Philly has been able to come out with wins in their last two games of this stretch, but it’s been much harder than expected. The Tennessee Titans are masters of exploiting teams that should be superior to them, and with Derrick Henry coming off a disappointing game, expect him to have a huge performance this weekend.
Frey’s Pick: O53 points
This week, we get to see a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. Both these teams are among the top five scoring offenses in the NFL, and the Chiefs are once again atop the league in scoring.
Cincinnati’s offense has been off-and-on over the past few weeks, but they should see a resurgence with the imminent return of Ja’Marr Chase. This spread is too close to pick a side, so I’ll be rooting for points in this game.
Frey’s Picks: Dolphins +4, O46.5 points
The 49ers are going through some injury troubles in their backfield right now with Elijah Mitchell out for 6-8 weeks, and Christian McCaffrey could be out this week with a knee injury of his own. In order to hang with the Dolphins, they might have to rely on Jimmy Garoppolo to push the ball downfield.
That’s something that nobody has been better than the Dolphins at, though. Heading into Week 13, the Dolphins have the second most passing yards in the NFL, despite Tua Tagovailoa missing a significant stretch of the season. When healthy, Tua has been one of the best QBs in the entire NFL and should be among the favorites for MVP.
The Dolphins could be able to come into San Francisco and pull off an upset, but either way, plenty of points should go on the board this week.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.