2020 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 14

Indianapolis Colts (8-4) at Las Vegas Raiders (7-5)

Sunday, December 13, 4:05PM ET

At this point, the Las Vegas Raiders may be the most unconvincing playoff contender in the NFL. They’ve stumbled their way through the last few weeks, culminating in a near-defeat at the hands of the winless New York Jets. Let’s just say it’s been an ugly run for Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts are doing their very best to make a run at the AFC South championship. Losing to the Titans a couple of weeks ago didn’t help, but they pulled back even with Tennessee in Week 13. Now they need to keep winning to avoid falling behind in what’s turned out to be a tight divisional race.

While the Raiders have been good at times in 2020, I don’t trust them to come out firing on all cylinders in Week 14. Derek Carr has been inconsistent at best this season, and the Las Vegas defense hasn’t had much luck with slowing opponents down. Although the Colts don’t boast an explosive offense, their defense does a great job of keeping things from getting out of hand.

In this one, the Colts defense does much of the job while the offense relies on the ground game to create points. That minimizes Philip Rivers’ opportunities to turn it over, and the Raiders can’t move it enough against one of the NFL’s elite defenses to get the win.

Prediction: Colts win 23-16