NFL Week 12: How to survive and advance in your knockout pool

The Saints? The Steelers? The Browns? The Falcons? Tough decisions to make in Week 12.

Go for it


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Lost in the melee between Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett was a solid Browns victory over a team they always had trouble handling, the Steelers. The defense was solid. Baker Mayfield didn’t make mistakes. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt are a nice tandem in the backfield and we haven’t addressed Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry as options in the receiving game. Landry will definitely want to stick it to his former team, the Dolphins. The big question is will the loss of Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi weaken the defensive line to the point where Miami can menace. If Cleveland wants to have any playoff hopes it has to run the table, which means it simply can’t flop against the Fish, who came back to reality Sunday against Buffalo. The risk has to be is there any way to confidently play a team that has four wins? An alternative: The Saints got back in gear while the Panthers fell for the second week in a row and now stand at 5-5. Easy to think New Orleans isn’t going to lose two in a row at the Superdome since the Falcons stunned them in their last game there. The Panthers are crumbling and tumbling. Still, they have Christian McCaffrey and found a way to get to 5-3. Take a team that is 4-6 against a team that is 2-8 or take a team that is 8-2 against a team that is 5-5. Decisions, decisions.