Week 18 NFL Picks:
2025 Edition

Shoutout to the top performers of Week 17! ZachH12* won on the MNF tiebreaker with 10 correct picks! It was their third weekly win of the season!

This year we hosted our pick'em contest on Sleeper. Keep an eye out next year for our 2026 picks contest!

Let's get to our concensus misses and lone wolf picks from Week 18.

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

Big Misses

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

Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (-10.5) - All three Sportsballers laid the points. Riley Leonard put together a strong performance against an excellent defense and a late pitchy-pitchy-woo-woo defensive touchdown for the Texans was not enough to cover the double digit spread.

Pool results: 35% took IND

Dallas Cowboys (-4.5) at New York Giants - All three Sportsballers laid the points and saw the Giants play themselves out of #1 draft pick contention by doubling up the Cowboys.

Pool results: 15% took NYG

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:

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.5) - Eric forgot to put his picks in in time for the mid-day Saturday contest. Though the Bucs ultimately won the game, keeping their playoff hopes alive until the Saints lost on Sunday, the Panthers kept the margin to two points, giving Eric the 'lone wolf' loss.

Pool results: 80% took CAR

Seattle Seahawks (-1.5) at San Francisco 49ers - Evan was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the Seahawks and lay the points. Seattle's defense shut down the 49ers offense as Seattle locked up the NFC West and the conference's #1 seed with a 10-point victory.

Pool results: 37% took SEA

Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-11.5) - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the points on the large spread. Tennessee opened the scoring, but Cam Ward got hurt and the Jags scored the game's last 41 points.

Pool results: 70% took JAC

Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears (-2.5) - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the points. Despite his recent emotional hedging, he refused to believe his Lions would finish the season with a losing record. It came down to the wire, but the Lions ultimately pulled out the win on a Jake Bates field goal as time expired.

Pool results: 27% took DET

Los Angeles Chargers at Denver Broncos (-11.5) - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers unafraid to lay the points. The Broncos defense shut down the Chargers and the offense did enough to pull out a 19-3 victory and cover the spread.

Pool results: 36% took DEN

Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots (-10.5) - Eric was the lone member of the Sportsballers unfraid of this game's spread as he laid the points on the Pats. The Dolphins cut New England's lead to 14-10 late in the second quarter, but the Pariots put up 24 unanswered from there.

Pool results: 48% took NE

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-5.5) at Miami Dolphins - Cory was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the points. Tampa's recent struggles continued today and Miami surprised their in-state, inter-conference rivals.

Pool results: 35% took MIA

Kansas City Chiefs (-5.5) at Las Vegas Raiders - Evan was the lone member of the Sportsballers to lay the points. The Raiders wound up winning on a 60-yard Daniel Carlson field goal but an earlier Giants win kept the Raiders in the #1 spot for the upcoming NFL Draft.

Pool results: 52% took LV

Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles (-7.5) - Evan was the lone member of the Sportsballers to take the points. Philadelphia decided to rest their starters despite an opportunity to climb to the NFC's #2 seed, an opportunity they could have taken advantage of thanks to the Lions victory over Chicago. Instead, Washington won by a touchdown.

Pool results: 26% took WAS

Baltimore Ravens (-3.5) at Pittsburgh Steelers - Eric was the lone member of the Sportsballers to lay the points on the road team. When the Ravens lined up to attempt a game-winning field goal as time expired, it already sealed a Steelers win against the spread, then Tyler Loop's field goal sailed wide right vaulting Pittsburgh into the playoffs.

Pool results: 48% took PIT

Standings

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