Rams, Saints battle for wild-card spot

Excited for the holidays? Got the winter blues? Panicked about shopping?

Whatever the case, the NFL is trying to do its part to augment, distract or supplement “the most wonderful time of the year.” And that means a Thursday matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams with massive ramifications for the wild-card portion of the NFC playoff field … and possibly the NFC South. Saturday serves up two more games (Cincinnati Bengals-Pittsburgh Steelersand Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers), the former another affair sure to impact postseason seeding and the latter featuring the Bills – arguably the AFC’s hottest team despite technically residing in ninth place overall in the conference.

A Christmas Eve Sunday is loaded with stocking stuffers, most notably the Dallas Cowboys’ visit to the Miami Dolphinseach club trying to lock down its division and possibly home-field advantage … amid whispers they’re paper reindeer. Christmas Day itself will arrive with three sizable presents under the tree – Las Vegas Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens-San Francisco 49ers in prime time in what legitimately could be a Super Bowl 58 preview.

So see the fam, finish up that wrapping, then grab some eggnog and settle in for kickoff. Happy holidays. (And this is how our experts see the weekend unfolding …)

NFL Week 16 game picks

(Odds provided by BetMGM. Access more BetMGM odds here.)

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Week 16 NFL game-by-game predictions, picks, odds

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