Week 12 NFL Picks:
2025 Edition

Shoutout to the top performers of Week 11! ZachH12* won for the second time this season as the only entrant with 13 correct picks out of 15 games. In fact, he was the only one with more than 10 correct.

This year we are hosting our pick'em contest on Sleeper, and just because you missed the first three weeks doesn't mean you can't still join and try to catch the pack.

Let's get to our concensus misses and lone wolf picks from Week 12.

*If you want to be shouted out by name, be sure to let us know who you are!

Big Misses

This week featured four games where the three of us were in agreement and went down with the ship together. Those games were:

Buffalo Bills (-2.5) at Houston Texans - All three Sportsballers laid the points, but they got taken to the cleaners by the Bills for a second week in a row. Last week they picked against Buffalo after an abysmal week against the Dolphins, this week they picked Buffalo after a huge win over the Bucs. Both times it was a clean sweep against us, this time with Houston winning the game straight up.

Pool results: 4% took HOU

New York Giants at Detroit Lions (-10.5) - All three Sportsballers laid the points, but the Lions never led until overtime. While they did ultimately win the game, it wasn't by double digits, much less the 11+ our hosts needed them to win by.

Pool results: 21% took NYG

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers (-6.5) - All three Sportsballers took the points, expecting a close divisional game. That expectation did not come to pass as the Packers easily defeated the Vikings in one of the shortest games in recent memory. It took all of 2 hours and 45 minutes of real time for Green Bay to emerge with a 23-6 victory.

Pool results: 55% took GB

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Los Angeles Rams (-6.5) - All three Sportsballers took the points, expecting the Bucs to bounce back from a rough Week 11 outing against Buffalo and at least keep things close in LA. Instead, the Bucs trailed 31-7 at halftime, Baker Mayfield was quickly ruled out after a left shoulder injury just before halftime, and the Rams outscored Tampa 3-0 in the second half.

Pool results: 21% took LAR

Lone Wolf

We also had several games where one of us went off the beaten path. Here are those games and whether our lone wolf got the kill or unexpectedly found himself as the prey:

New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens (-13.5) - Eric was the lone member of the Sportsballers unafraid to lay almost two touchdowns on the Ravens. He came painfully close, but the 23-10 final in Baltimore's favor was just close enough for him to take the loss.

Pool results: 40% took NYJ

Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears (-3.5) - Again, Eric was the lone member of the Sportsballers to lay the points on the home team and again, he came as close as one can while taking the L. Chicago led by 10 through a good portion of the fourth quarter, but the Steelers pulled back to within a field goal with 6:32 left and neither team scored again.

Pool results: 60% took PIT

New England Patriots (-7.5) at Cincinnati Bengals - Eric laid the points again here, going against his two co-hosts. He wasn't quite as close this time as the Bengals lost by just six points, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Sadly for Eric, neither of those are the game he was playing in this early window.

Pool results: 40% took NYJ

Seattle Seahawks (-12.5) at Tennessee Titans - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers unwilling to lay more than 12 points on the road team. Tennessee lost, of course, but they kept the deficit to just half the points they were getting thanks to a strong second half in which they outscored Seattle 21-14.

Pool results: 10% took TEN

Jacksonville Jaguars (-2.5) at Arizona Cardinals - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the points. It was a back-and-forth contest with both teams trading leads and ultimately going to an extra period where Jacksonville hit a game winning field goal to get the win and the cover.

Pool results: 86% took JAC

Cleveland Browns at Las Vegas Raiders (-3.5) - Evan was the lone member of the Sportsballers willing to lay the points. Cleveland went into the Death Star and controlled the game from the start, winning by two touchdowns.

Pool results: 62% took CLE

Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5) at Dallas Cowboys - Eric was the lone member to lay the points on the Eagles. Though Jalen Carter avoided another ejection, the Cowboys not only kept their deficit within the spread like they did in Week 1, they came back from a 21-0 to win the game, giving up zero points over the final 41:35 of game time.

Pool results: 38% took DAL

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints (-1.5) - Evan was the lone member of the Sportsballers to show confidence in New Orleans and lay the point and a half. Atlanta took an early 3-0 lead and the Saints never even pulled back even after that.

Pool results: 62% took ATL

Standings

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