It's time for another round of bold predictions from the Around The NFL team. Remember, these fearless prognostications are not for the faint of heart.
Palmer overtakes Brady in MVP race
Tom Brady has been the clear-cut MVP favorite all season. But this is the week Carson Palmer narrows the lead considerably. While Brady and his banged-up offense are throwing rocks against the Broncos in Denver, Palmer will light up the woeful 49ers for four touchdown passes and 350 yards. Brady's struggle, coupled with Palmer's surge, will have some people siding with the Cardinals quarterback come Monday. -- Dan Hanzus
Blaine Gabbert will throw for more yards than Tom Brady
Blaine Gabbert can't hold a candle to Tom Brady in any facet of current life, but Sunday he will throw for more yards. The San Francisco 49ers signal-caller has preformed well in his first two outings of 2015. If it weren't for a couple of inaccurate deep balls last week Gabbert would have tossed for more than 300 yards against the Seahawks -- a plateau he's hit just once in his career. The Arizona Cardinals are aware that Gabbert is playing better thanColin Kaepernick has this season. With Brady's weapons system decimated, he could struggle against a stout Broncos secondary. Sunday we will see an oddity in box scores, where Blaine Gabbert's stats look far better than Tom Brady -- not that either of them care about anything other than the win column. -- Kevin Patra
Broncos end Patriots' unbeaten season
The Broncos will knock the Patriots from the ranks of the undefeated. They finally ran Gary Kubiak's offense last week with Brock Osweiler under center, reinvigorating the ground attack and avoiding turnovers. The Patriots are ripe for the picking, with attrition taking its toll on an offense that was close to unstoppable for two months. -- Chris Wesseling
Patriots wax Broncos by three TDs
As if we needed more proof that New England is the best undefeated team in football, they'll prove it again in prime time on Sunday night with a thrashing of the Broncos. There is plenty of momentum behind Brock Osweiler, and there are plenty of people talking about how Bill Belichick is out of available weapons after an injury-riddled win over the Bills on Monday Night Football. This is the time he shines, and these are the moments when we see Patriots reincarnate before the stretch run of the season. Expect New England to run for more than 150 total yards and to score at least three touchdowns on the ground. This will be more than enough to coast over Denver. -- Conor Orr
Bills get blown out
The Chiefs have quietly been one of the best teams in the NFL over the last month. Sunday's home game against the Bills is one of the biggest games left on the schedule in the AFC wild-card race, and the Chiefs will send a message with a resounding win on Sunday. Buffalo's defensive line is banged up and the Chiefs running game is on a roll no matter who is carrying the ball. More importantly, the book is out on Tyrod Taylor. The Jets and Patriots have prevented him from getting outside the pocket in consecutive weeks, and blitzed the Bills like crazy. Kansas City defensive coordinator Bob Sutton loves to get creative, and the Bills offense has struggled to recognize where pressure is coming from *-- Gregg Rosenthal *
Another star emerges in Patriots' backfield
James White can't do what Dion Lewis can do -- but he can try. The Patriots running back piled up a pair of touchdowns in Monday's win over Buffalo and he'll do twice that against the Broncos on Sunday night. I'm ticketing White for four scores against Denver, even if that comes without Lewis' big yardage and tackle-breaking wonderment from earlier in this year. If White doesn't pull this off, Chris Wesseling will canoe from Los Angeles to Nicaragua this offseason, detailing his trek on ChrisWesselingOceanicJourneys.org. -- Marc Sessler
