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Week 15 of the 2024 NFL season began with a “Thursday Night Football” slog with the Los Angeles Rams prevailing 12-6 on the road against their heated NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers. That game was the first in the NFL without a touchdown this season and the first in that rivalry without touchdowns scored, according to CBS Sports Research.
Week 15, the start of the Fantasy Football playoffs for many, promises to be much more exciting. Here are five surprising possibilities in our latest crop of bold NFL predictions from CBS Sports.
The Detroit Lions are off to their best 13-game start in franchise history with a 12-1 record, and their 11-game winning streak is the longest in team history. That winning streak will end at home on Sunday when Josh Allen and the 10-3 Bills come to town, fresh off a 44-42 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14.
Yes, the Bills became the first team in NFL history to lose a game with six or more touchdowns and no turnovers committed last week, but they’re going to take down the Lions in their Detroit lair on Sunday. Why is that? It’s because Allen is going to beat the Detroit Lions defense.
Detroit’s second-leading scoring defense (18.0 points per game allowed in 2024) relies heavily on its blitz. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has blitzed 36.4% of the time this season, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL in 2024, but has generated the seventh-lowest quarterback pressure rate when blitzing (38%). To make up for the loss of Pro Bowl running back Aidan Hutchinson, who was the early-season favorite to be the 2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year before a season-ending leg injury in the Week 6, Glenn has featured for the Heat, attacking 41.1% of the time since Week 7, the highest rate in the entire league in that span. However, they are allowing the NFL’s lowest passer rating (67.7) when blitzing, in part due to their seven interceptions on such plays, second most in the league behind only the Minnesota Vikings. who have 11. Allen’s passer rating of 123.8 vs. . The blitz is fourth-best in the NFL, and his 14 touchdown passes when targeted are the best in the league.
Allen is currently playing the most efficient football of his career, producing his lowest turnover rate (1.4%) and sack rate (3.2%) of his career. Their offensive line has been stable, allowing the 10th-lowest quarterback pressure rate this season (32.2%), as well as the seventh-lowest in the NFL when blitzed (36.9%). Allen isn’t afraid to throw it to anyone, either: He threw a touchdown to 12 different players, including himself, in 2024. The NFL MVP favorite’s 2024 odds (-400 according to Caesar’s Sportsbook) will play like an MVP Sunday in Detroit. by overcoming the Lions’ blitz, thus leading the Bills to victory.
Steelers snap 10-game road losing streak against Eagles
The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost 10 straight road games against the Philadelphia Eagles and their last win was in 1965. That ends Sunday for a few reasons.
One of them is Russell Wilson’s efficient play: He threw for 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions this season, which is why the Steelers are 6-1 in his seven starts in 2024. Another is Pittsburgh’s fifth-ranked scoring defense ( 18.3 points per game allowed). The Steelers’ strength is defending the run, as they allow just 91.5 rushing yards per game, fourth-fewest in the NFL. That’s exactly what it will take to derail the 2024 rushing yards leader: Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Having Hurts throw after stopping the run is the exact recipe for beating this Eagles group because he’s averaging just 200.2 passing yards per game this season, which ranks 24th among qualified quarterbacks, and that This figure would be the lowest in a season since he became a complete player. -starting quarterback time in 2021. That also led No. 1 receiver AJ Brown to average Eagles career lows in sacks per game (4.8) and receiving yards per game. (83.6), as well as his teammate Brandon Graham speculate on the duo’s friendship in the midst of the struggles in the aerial game. Pittsburgh jumps on that weakness Sunday to earn a generational road victory against its in-state foe. The Steelers will celebrate in Philadelphia like it’s 1965.
The New England Patriots have won three in a row (2016, 2020 and 2022) against the Arizona Cardinals, and that will continue in 2024 even though the Patriots are 3-10 and the host Cardinals are 6-7 and are in a fight for an NFC. West crown. This will happen because this game features two quarterbacks whose production is going in two completely different directions.
Arizona has lost three in a row after a 6-4 start, and that’s largely because Kyler Murray threw five interceptions (tied for the most in three games of his career) and just three touchdowns during the losing streak. .
On the other hand, the Patriots’ 2024 third overall pick quarterback Drake Maye is playing. He is the fifth quarterback to average more than 200 passing yards per game (209.3) and more than 40 rushing yards per game (41.6) in his first eight starts since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, according to CBS Sports Research. The other four members of that club include Robert Griffin III (2012), Deshaun Watson (2017), Jalen Hurts (2020-2021) and draft mate Jayden Daniels (2024). Maye also threw career highs in completion percentage (24-of-30, 80%) and passing yards per attempt (7.9) in his final game of Week 13 against the Indianapolis Colts, a narrow 25-24 loss.
In Week 15, these trends continue as Maye outplays Murray and leads the Patriots to victory.
Chiefs defeat Browns for rare double-digit victory
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are huffing and puffing through the 2024 season, despite what their 12-1 record says. They have the lowest point differential (+56) for a team with a record of 12-1 or better in their first 13 games in NFL history, according to CBS Sports research, and their 10 wins by one to seven points in 13 games are also the almost all the time.
Why is that? Patrick Mahomes is both elite and suffering his worst season in terms of passing yards per attempt (6.9) and passing yards per game (245.3). However, he and the Chiefs will surprisingly easily win a game against the Cleveland Browns (3-10). Yes, this is a bold prediction considering Kansas City barely beat the Carolina Panthers (3-10) in Week 12, winning 30-27.
The difference in Week 15 will be that Cleveland will turn the ball over too much, giving Mahomes too many short fields. Quarterback Jameis Winston has thrown nine interceptions since becoming the Browns’ starting quarterback in Week 8, which is the most in the league in that span.
Alvin Kamara goes for eighth straight game without a touchdown against Commanders
New Orleans Saints five-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara has long been one of the NFL’s best, and he’ll do it again in 2024. Kamara is third in the NFL in yards from scrimmage this season (1,423) and third in touches (287). ). However, he is surprisingly on a seven-game touchdown streak, the second-longest drought of his career. The longest streak of his career is a nine-game streak in 2019, and he will see his 2024 streak increase to eight against the Washington Commanders in Week 15.
That’s bold considering Washington has allowed the 10th-most rushing touchdowns to running backs this season (36). However, the Commanders have the fourth-lowest missed tackle rate this season (11.6%), according to NFL Pro, so they will keep Kamara in range and out of the end zone.
