Best NFL Picks for Week 17

Updated: September 19, 2023

Score our best 3 picks for week 17 of the 2021 NFL season below.

Our American football expert takes a look at each of the best games for the week and gives his view on who the winners will be.

Free NFL Parlay for Week 17

1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Los Angeles Rams
3. Arizona Cardinals

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Kansas City Chiefs @ Cincinnati Bengals

The Kansas City Chiefs remain one of the hottest teams in the NFL after another excellent week of football.

They absolutely obliterated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that was pretty much over after the first quarter of action.

Patrick Mahomes looked sharp, their run game looked solid and that defense wouldn’t give Pittsburgh any room to breathe the entire game.

Plus, they were able to do all of that without Travis Kelce in the lineup, he was forced to miss the game once he got placed on the COVID list.

The problem early on in the season was that their defense couldn’t stop anybody, but now that unit is in the top five statistically in the NFL.

There is no telling how deep this team can go in the playoffs and they’ve already clinched a spot. As for the Bengals though, they are a little way to go before clinching the division and making the playoffs again. Joe Burrow is a fantastic quarterback and has benefitted from a phenomenal offense.

Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd are weapons that any quarterback dreams of having in an offense.

Their defense is really what helped turn this squad around though. Trey Hendrickson has had a sack in almost every single game this season and their new additions in the secondary have proven vital in their pass defense.

Cincinnati has had some poor outings this year, but blowing out the Baltimore Ravens twice should get you pretty high up on opposing teams’ radars.

This has all the potential in the world to be a shootout, though these types of games usually catch us by surprise and end up becoming a defensive oriented game.

Either way, I have my money on the Chiefs this week. They have been far more consistent on both sides of the ball since their slow start.

Pick: Kansas City Chiefs

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Los Angeles Rams @ Baltimore Ravens

The Los Angeles Rams desperately need to keep on winning if they want any chance to clinch the division and take a run at the number one seed in the NFC.

Matthew Stafford looked horrible in their last win, throwing three interceptions.

However, they were able to play well enough defensively to pull away.

Cooper Kupp is on pace to shatter receiving records and Odell Beckham Jr has become a scoring machine in the red zone.

The Rams have also started to rely more upon their run game behind Sony Michel and it’s starting to pay off.

Cam Akers will also be making his long-awaited return from what was supposed to be a season ending injury during the offseason, though he healed faster than anticipated.

Then on the other side of the field, we all know what Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey are going to bring.

This is a stellar all-around team, the only time they have trouble is when they beat themselves with penalties and turnovers.

Flipping over to the Baltimore Ravens now, they badly need to win. They have lost four straight games, three of them being lost by a combined four points.

Lamar Jackson is badly needed on this roster, and he has missed three straight games now with an ankle injury, being listed as questionable for this game.

If Baltimore loses again, they have a solid chance of missing the postseason entirely.

Tyler Huntley can manage this offense just fine, but Josh Johnson just isn’t a viable option against a stacked defense like Los Angeles.

Then on the other side of the field, Baltimore is one of the worst statistical defenses in the NFL. Their run defense isn’t bad actually, but the pass defense couldn’t be worse.

They are missing three of their best players in the secondary and now have to face a veteran quarterback with two of the best receivers in the league.

The Ravens have a shot in this game if they play like this is the end of their season, but the Rams are far more talented and put together and will win in the end.

Pick: Los Angeles Rams

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Arizona Cardinals @ Dallas Cowboys

Arizona Cardinals

What in the world is happening to the Arizona Cardinals?

It feels like we talk about this every week now but the question just isn’t being answered.

Kyler Murray is a top ten quarterback in the league even without DeAndre Hopkins in the offense, but there is just something missing from this squad.

Whether that is poor play calling or lack of motivation now that they have clinched a playoff spot, we just don’t know.

However, we do know that they have to turn it around and fast or they risk spiraling out of control like last season.

We shouldn’t worry about Arizona defensively; in fact, they have played really well during this losing stretch.

It’s that offense that has sputtered. They can’t afford to slow down this week either against the Dallas Cowboys.

Dak Prescott led this team to 42 first half points against the ailing Washington Football Team last weekend.

The team rested almost all of their starters the entire second half and still put up 56 points. When they are all firing at once, they are unstoppable offensively.

Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and Ceedee Lamb are so much to worry about in the pass game that teams almost forget Ezekiell Elliott and Tony Pollard are in the backfield.

The Cowboy’s defense has had some really bad games but Micah Parsons is a superstar in the making at linebacker for them and Trevon Diggs leads the league with double digit interceptions.

This will be a fantastic test for two stellar NFC teams that are both already locked into the playoffs.

Arizona badly needs this to prove that they can keep on winning while Dallas remains one game out of the top seed in the conference.

I am going to stick with my gut here and roll with the Cardinals. It just seems so unlikely that this losing streak continues for a team that has all the talent in the world to succeed.

Pick: Arizona Cardinals

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