PRO FOOTBALL HEAR THEM PASS ROAR WEEK 12: CALVIN JOHNSON NOV AND THE LIONS FACE THE 25-28 UNBEATEN PACKERS IN A THANKSGIVING SHOWDOWN ThANKSGIVING FOOTBALL FEAST Dolphins/Cowboys, 49ers/Ravens join Packers /Lions as the 2011 Turkey Day matchups. CHICAGO AT OAKLAND The Bears begin life without Jay Cutler and put a five-game win streak on the line. NY GIANTS AT NEW ORLEANS Big Blue faces a tall task against $9.95 Drew Brees in the Superdome. MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM THANKSGIVING DAY, 12:35 P.M. GREEN BAY PACKERS (-6) AT DETROIT LIONs Detroit is hoping to end two long streaks on Thanksgiving Day when it hosts Green Bay. The Packers have won 16 straight games and the Lions have suffered seven straight losses (Straight-Up and Against The Spread) on the November holiday. The good news for Detroit is that Green Bay allowed 455 yards of offense to Tampa Bay last week while the Lions hung 49 points on Carolina. Both of these teams have been great over the past two seasons (Green Bay is 20-10 ATS, Detroit is 18-6 ATS), and the Lions are a stellar 14-5 ATS against NFC teams Lions QB Matthew Stafford, coming off a 335-yard, over this same span. 5-TD effort against Carolina, faces a Packers defense that ranks 31st in the NFL against the pass. PLAY ON: DETROIT +6 MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM THANKSGIVING DAY, 4:20 P.M. MIAMI DOLPHINS (+7) AT DALLAS COWBOYS The Dolphins seek their fourth win in a row when they spend Thanksgiving in Dallas, which comes into the game having won three straight. Miami has three consecutive double-digit wins, beating its opponents by a hefty 86-20 margin over that span. And in the past two years, the Dolphins have played better football on the road than at home—they’re 8-5 ATS (62%) outside of Miami in their past 13 away games. Dallas, meanwhile has a habit of playing down to its opponent, as evidenced by the team’s 3-12-1 ATS record (20%) as a favorite in the past two years. The improved play of QB Matt Moore has been a key to Miami’s current three-game win streak: He has six PLAY ON: MIAMI +7 touchdowns and one interception during that span. MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM THANKSGIVING DAY, 8:25 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERs (+3) AT BALTIMORE RAVENs The Harbaugh brothers will spend Thanksgiving together as John Harbaugh’s Ravens host Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers. The Niners just keep paying out: They’re 9-0-1 ATS in 2011. The Ravens, meanwhile, have repeatedly shown up unprepared, letting games slip away to Seattle and Jacksonville, and nearly getting upended by Arizona in Week 8 and Cincinnati last week. LB Ray Lewis (toe) may miss a second straight game, which would be bad news against the 49ers’ power running game. And San Francisco’s elite defense should have little trouble shutting Niners RB Frank Gore has been an absolute down erratic QB Joe Flacco. beast on the road this year, averaging a hefty 6.3 yards per carry away from home. PLAY ON: SAN FRANCISCO +3 MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM SUNDAY, 1 P.M. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERs (+3) AT TENNESSEE TITANs The Titans running game has been inconsistent throughout the season, but they’re going to need it with Matt Hasselbeck (elbow) questionable. The Bucs have allowed 151.2 YPG and 5.1 YPC over their past six games, and things have only gotten worse since DT Gerald McCoy’s season- ending injury. The Titans have struggled against power runners and have allowed 148.7 YPG and 4.8 YPC over their past six games, so they could have their hands full with RB LeGarrette Blount. Tampa got a strong game in Green Bay from quarterback Josh Freeman, who could end up being the difference in this one. Buccaneeers QB Josh Freeman completed 28-of-38 passes for a career-high 342 yards, two touchdowns, PLAY ON: TAMPA BAY +3 and two interceptions against the Packers in Week 11. MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM SUNdAY, 4:15 P.M. CHICAGO BEARS (+4.5) AT OAKLAND RAIDERS Chicago goes for its sixth consecutive win when it travels to Oakland, but it won’t be easy to keep the streak alive without its starting quarterback. Jay Cutler was playing the best football of his Bears career before a broken thumb suffered on Sunday knocked him out for at least six weeks. Backup Caleb Hanie, who has thrown just 14 career regular-season passes, gets the start. Although he has a great running back to rely on in Matt Forte, the Bears have rushed for only 202 yards on 3.0 YPC in the past two games, while Oakland has 353 yards on 4.3 YPC in this The Raiders won’t have to rely on QB Carson Palmer same span, winning both contests on the road. if they can control the clock the way they did in last week’s win against the Vikings in Minnesota. PLAY ON: OAKLAND -4.5 MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM SUNDAY, 8:25 P.M. PITTSBURGH STEELERS (-10.5) AT KANSAS CITY CHIEFS Pittsburgh aims for its sixth victory in seven games when it pays a visit to slumping Kansas City. When the Chiefs don’t show up, they really don’t show up. Going back to last year, they’ve lost by three touchdowns or more in four of their past seven home games. They also got pummeled 34-3 on Monday Night in New Eng- land. Back-up QB Tyler Palko (three intercep- tions and a 49.9 QB rating in the loss to the Patriots) will start against an aggressive Steelers defense coming off their bye week. This is the kind of game that the Steel Curtain defense can outright dominate. Safety Troy Polamalu leads a Pittsburgh defense that has been tough in all areas, ranking third in pass PLAY ON: PITTSBURGH -10.5 defense (183 YPG) and sixth against the run (97 YPG). MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM MONdAY, 8:35 P.M. NEW YORK GIANTS (+7) AT NEW ORLEANS SAINTs Two NFC heavyweights collide when the Saints look for their third win in a row while the Giants try to avoid a third consecutive loss. New York QB Eli Manning has thrown four interceptions over the past three weeks, and he’ll have his work cut out for him against a blitz-happy Saints defense with ball hawks in the secondary. QB Drew Brees and the Saints offense are as good as ever, leading the NFL with an average of 437 total yards per game. The Giants have been below- average in both facets of the defense, surrender- ing 123 rushing YPG (21st in NFL) and 239 passing Saints QB Drew Brees has completed 76% of his YPG (18th in league). passes at the Superdome, throwing 13 touchdowns and only three interceptions in home games. PLAY ON: NEW ORLEANS -7 MORE AT foxsheets.com G E T T H E N EW AND IMPROVED FOXSHEETS AT FOX SHEETS. C OM ARIZONA (+3) BUFFALO (+9) CLEVELAND (+7.5) at at at ST. LOUIS NEW YORK JETS CINCINNATI These teams played an The Bills are reeling When these teams met ugly one in Week 9. Car- with injuries across in Week 1 in Cleveland, dinals QB John Skelton, their offense and sim- it took an Andy Dal- making his fi rst start of ply don’t match up well ton injury and a heady 2011, took two safeties with Gang Green, which quick snap by back-up and still won, engineer- has the secondary to QB Bruce Gradkowski ing a fourth-quarter TD shut down their spread to lift the Bengals to a drive to tie the game — passing attack. In three win. Since then, Cincin- Patrick Peterson’s 99- meetings over the past nati has found success yard punt return won it two seasons, the Jets under Dalton while the in overtime. The Rams have outscored Buffalo Browns continue to outgained the Cards 103-32, and Ryan Fitz- sputter behind QB Colt 383-262 in that game, patrick has completed McCoy and a complete and Josh Brown had just 46.6% of his passes lack of a running game his 42-yard field goal for 319 yards in two with RB Peyton Hillis blocked as time expired games against the Jets (hamstring) out. Cin- in regulation. Skelton the last two seasons. cinnati is without top is coming off a game in The Jets have their CB Leon Hall, but the which he was benched own issues on offense, Browns don’t have the after completing 6-of- with QB Mark Sanchez passing game to ex- 19 passes for 99 yards struggling behind an ploit the weakness. The with no touchdowns underachieving o-line. Bengals have significant and three interceptions Expect this to be a rela- advantages on both in a loss to the 49ers.