Here are the picks:

New Orleans at Atlanta

The Saints had a chance to get back in the playoff hunt last week, but Drew Brees threw a couple of costly interceptions for TDs. Brees has always been a mistake prone quarterback, who usually makes up for those miscues with great throws, but things just don’t seem to be going the Saints’ way this season.

FALCONS 27, SAINTS 21

Jacksonville at Buffalo

Neither of these teams are headed anywhere, but Chad Henne has given the Jaguar offense a slight boost and that could be enough to win in Buffalo. Then again, I can’t pick a Florida team playing up north in December.

BILLS 24, JAGUARS 21

Seattle at Chicago

The Seahawks have the formula to beat the Bears, a good defense, a solid running game and a quarterback who doesn’t make mistakes. The Bears actually looked pretty bad against the Vikings until Christian Ponder handed them the game on a silver platter. I think Seattle will play mistake-free football long enough for this one to go down to the wire.

SEAHAWKS 17, BEARS 14

Indianapolis at Detroit

At some point the Lions are going to give up and it could be this week.

COLTS 28, LIONS 24

Minnesota at Green Bay

The Vikings are catching the Packers at a bad time. Green Bay just played its worst overall game of the season on national television and Greg Jennings is expected to be back in the lineup to bolster the offense. If the Packers lacked emotion in the loss to the Giants, I think they will be overflowing with it in front of their home fans on a Sunday afternoon in early December.

PACKERS 34, VIKINGS 17

Houston at Tennessee

The Texans looked very shaky in closing out Detroit, but they should handle business against the punchless Titans.

TEXANS 30, TITANS 14

Carolina at Kansas City

I made proposal to one of my friends last week while watching the Chiefs’ offense stumble over itself in the final minutes of their 10th loss of the season. If you gave Brady Quinn and the Chiefs eight minutes with unlimited downs, could they go 80 yards? I also added that if KC turned the ball over, they would just get it back at their own 20.

If you want to know how bad KC is this year, let’s just say neither of us liked the Chiefs’ chances in that scenario.

San Francisco at St. Louis

The 49ers are preparing for the playoffs and the Rams are probably starting to think about getting the year done with.

49ERS 38, RAMS 16

New England at Miami

There’s something about Tom Brady and the Dolphins. They always seem to get him at least once a year and it’s usually when you least expect it. There’s also the ridiculous stat that New England hasn’t lost any of its last eight regular season games in the past three seasons.Something has to give.

PATRIOTS 24, DOLPHINS 23

Arizona at N.Y. Jets

This one has ugly written all over it.

JETS 6, CARDINALS 3

Tampa Bay at Denver

A much better game than originally anticipated, I see the Bucs establishing the run and putting the Broncos on their heels. In return, Peyton Manning panics and finally looks like a guy coming off a year without football.

BUCS 34, BRONCOS 20

Cleveland at Oakland

I’d like to give the Browns credit for beating the shorthanded Steelers, but Pittsburgh turned the ball over eight times and Cleveland barely held on.

RAIDERS 27, BROWNS 20

Cincinnati at San Diego

The Chargers just aren’t very good.

BENGALS 24, CHARGERS 13

Pittsburgh at Baltimore

The Ravens catch another break as they get a beat-up Pittsburgh team.

RAVENS 20, STEELERS 10

Philadelphia at Dallas

A game nobody should care about.

COWBOYS 31, EAGLES 17

N.Y. Giants at Washington

The Giants looked tough on Sunday night and they’ve probably heard enough Robert Griffin III to try and knock him into next season. It’s possible they’ll do it as much as the Redskins like to run their rookie QB.

GIANTS 38, REDSKINS 24

Last week: 9-7; Overall: 98-66