Casino City's Week 17 NFL Circa Million IV Pro Football Contest Picks

With two weeks left in the regular season, it is do or die time for NFL teams in the playoff hunt. Unfortunately, for the Casino City team, we need to have a solid week in order to have a shot at finishing .500 or better on the season. That said, despite back-to-back weeks of sub-par picks, we still knocked our heads together to come up with five games we’d like to attack on New Year’s Day.

#CircaSportsMillion IV ????
Week 17 Contest Point Spreads

?? PDF: https://t.co/24jSy27FN7 pic.twitter.com/HnylNdBKuf
— Circa Sports (@CircaSports) December 29, 2022

Tampa Bay -3 over Carolina
Two teams in the weakest division in the NFC will battle it out this Sunday and the Buccaneers have an opportunity to clinch the NFC South with a win.

Sure, the Bucs have struggled on numerous occasions this season while going a league worst 3-11-1 against the spread, but Tom Brady in such an important game is the reason we lean toward the home favorite.

The Panthers have a brutal 1-5 road record with the lone win coming against Seattle just a few weeks ago.

Both teams average less than 20 points per game so this could easily come down to the final possession in a low-scoring affair. If that is the case and Tom Brady has the ball in his hands…well we have all scene that movie before an it typically ends with a game-winning drive.

“It's a big challenge. It's a great opportunity.”

???: @TomBrady on Carolina pic.twitter.com/qNBwoSBMoq
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) December 29, 2022

Arizona +3.5 over Atlanta
In game that pits two even teams with nothing to play for, we'll gladly snatch up the 3.5 points with the Cardinals.

With third-string QB Trace McSorley mercifully heading back to the bench, Arizona will start Colt McCoy under center. McCoy is a more than capable back up and although his numbers in limited time this season aren't impressive, keep in mind he had to come off the bench to face New England when starter Kyler Murray went down on the team's first possession and then he had to face Denver on the road on a short week. Denver and New England have two of the better defenses in the NFL so it will be a huge stepdown for McCoy this week as he'll get to feast on an Atlanta stop unit that ranks near the bottom of the league.

Meanwhile, the Falcons will be giving QB Desmond Ridder his third start and in his first two games the rookie from Cincinnati has led Atlanta to a total of 27 points while posting QB rating of 42.2 with zero TDs. In fact, Atlanta has failed to score more than 18 points in six of its last seven games so you simply can't justify this team laying over a field goal to anyone right now. Take the points!

Detroit -6 over Chicago
The Panthers are a bad road team, yes, but the Chicago Bears are the second-worst road team in the NFL at 1-6, only trailing the Denver Broncos at 1-7.

The Bears travel to Detroit for a Sunday afternoon game and the Lions need a win in order to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Bears are obviously eliminated from the playoffs with their 3-12 record and now can turn their focus on where the team’s first round pick will be and who they want to draft.

Don’t be surprised if you see Chicago just going through the motions. Detroit looks like a focused team that is all in on this week to make next week’s game against the Green Bay Packers mean that much more.

New York Giants -5.5 over Indianapolis
In the middle of November, Jeff Saturday took over as head coach for the Colts and won his first game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Since then, it has been an unbearable free fall for the Colts, especially the last three weeks. On Monday night, the Colts managed only three points in a loss to the Chargers. The week before they choked away a 33-0 lead against the Vikings, and three weeks ago they gave up 54 points to the Cowboys.

Not much has gone right for the Colts and we don’t expect any to come this weekend.

The New York Giants control their own destiny when it comes to making the playoffs. The simplest way of them all, win this week and you are in.

Against a struggling Colts team, and their final game next week against the top-seeded Eagles, the Giants should come out and try to put this team away early and leave no doubt in this one that they will be in the playoffs.

Coach Daboll: 'Our focus is on this game'

Full video: https://t.co/csFsAsjCv8 pic.twitter.com/pYNZYDUT54
— GiantsTV (@GiantsTV) December 28, 2022

Seattle +1.5 over New York Jets
If you are a New York Jets fan, it is probably safe to say you are done watching Zach Wilson take snaps after last week and couldn’t be more ready for Mike White to come back from injury this Sunday and try to put together a winning performance that is desperately needed if they want to play football in mid-January.

Both of these teams could have had playoff spots locked up, but the Jets have lost four straight and the Seahawks are currently ride a three-game losing streak. Now, Week 17 is a must win for both and the Seattle fans (The 12th Man) will be fired up for this one.

In the beginning of the year, if you had told us the Geno Smith and Mike White would be battling it out to keep playoff hopes going for these teams, we wouldn’t have believed you, that’s for sure. But that is where we are and it would be textbook Jets style to fall just short.

If Kenneth Walker III and Geno Smith are moving the ball offensively, the Jets’ offense will not be able to keep up with the scoring.

Week 16 Results: 1-3-1
Season Record: 36-39-3