Thanksgiving week is upon us folks. That means a full slate of games for the NFL for the holiday weekend and a fantastic day of football on Thursday. Before I get into all of that, I wanted to point out that this is a super-sized “No Huddle” due to the short workweek. I’ll be doing power rankings, matchup previews for the top games, and making all of my picks. First, let’s talk about Monday Night Football between the Raiders and Texans.

How about that game last night? I think we can make an argument that may have been the best international game the NFL has ever had. You had just about everything you could ask for out of this game. Controversy, intrigue, drama, and a highlight reel play that won the game for an up and coming team. In case you missed it, the Raiders defeated the Texans 27-20 with Derek Carr hooking up with Amari Cooper on a 35-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to win the game.

From watching the game, you got the sense that Oakland really had no business winning that game until the fourth quarter. Houston held the Raiders to 30 yards rushing on the night, kept Carr just under 300 yards passing, and limited Cooper and Michael Crabtree to 62 receiving yards (1 TD). If you showed me those stats and asked me to tell you who won, I would’ve said the Raiders coughed up a winnable game.

However, the Raiders just found another way to win a game, which is becoming the calling card of this team. All year Oakland has needed to stay in games with its offense, find a way to get the ball back late with time to take the lead, and Carr engineering a comeback to win the game.

The win puts Oakland in sole possession of first place in the AFC West with Kansas City losing to Tampa Bay. If the playoffs started today, the Raiders would actually have home-field advantage throughout.

Okay so now onto this week’s power rankings, which will look an awful lot like last week’s list. The top four all won this week, but with the Kansas City loss to the Bucs there will be a new team making the list. Here are my power rankings and watch list heading into Week 12.

(1) Dallas Cowboys (9-1) – Last Week: 1

♪Hello Dallas, my old friend. You have topped this list again.♪

For the second week in a row the Cowboys are the top team in the NFL. The rookie duo of Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott continue to impress during this franchise record nine-game winning streak. This is the hottest team in football right now, but they will have to keep it up with Seattle finding its stride in recent weeks and their NFC East rivals keeping pace only a couple games behind. Dallas gets one of those NFC East rivals this week with Washington coming into Jerry’s World for a Thanksgiving showdown.

(2) New England Patriots (8-2) – Last Week: 2

It may not have been the annihilation that we all expected, but the Patriots got the job done against the 49ers on Sunday. More importantly, New England saw the first meaningful snaps for running back Dion Lewis on Sunday and Gronk is on track to return this week against the Jets. The Patriots are going to be at full strength for the first time all season with the full assortment of weapons all over the field. If you thought this offense looked good before, adding a healthy Gronk and a home run threat like Lewis to the mix is deadly.

(3) Seattle Seahawks (7-2-1) – Last Week: 4

The Seahawks get a bump up in the standings following a dominant performance against Philadelphia on Sunday. Seattle is looking like the dangerous team we all expected to see at the beginning of the year. The combination Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham leading the receiving corps (Graham has always been a glorified receiver playing tight end) is proving to be an extremely difficult matchup for opposing defenses. Health is the key here for Seattle as Russell Wilson looks to be back at 100%. This team goes as far as Wilson can take them. An interesting matchup with Tampa Bay looms this week as Seattle is making a second cross-country trip in the last three weeks.

(4) Oakland (8-2) – Last Week: 3

Tough call for me putting Seattle ahead of Oakland this week, but based on performances it had to be done. I think that Oakland will be a tough out in the playoffs but they have some serious issues that can’t be ignored. Inconsistency in the running game and holes in the secondary on defense are flaws that will be exploited by teams like New England no matter where the game is played. Derek Carr continues to play like an MVP so this team will always be in games. This week the Raiders get the Panthers at home.

(5) NY Giants (7-3) – Last Week: Watch List

They look ugly at times but the Giants have done just enough to make the list this week. The G-men struggled at times against the Bears but ultimately Chicago couldn’t pull off the upset. New York has a great array of options for Eli Manning to get the ball to outside of Odell Beckham, which makes this offense tough to gameplan against. Defensively, the $200 million dollars the Giants invested in free agency has paid off but the real reason they have a formidable unit is safety Landon Collins. He has been all over the field making game-changing plays seemingly every week while leading the Giants in all of the key defensive stats. Collins has played his way into the Defensive Player of the Year discussion over the past few weeks. New York travels to Cleveland this week to take on the Browns.

Watch List: Denver (7-3), Kansas City (7-3), Washington (6-3-1), Atlanta (6-4), Miami (6-4)

Since this is a Thanksgiving week edition of “No Huddle” lets take a look at two those games as our top matchups of the week. We’ll start with the early game in Detroit between the Lions and Vikings in a battle for first in the NFC North. Last time these teams met, Detroit pulled off an incredible comeback victory in overtime to stun Minnesota at home.

This time around I would expect another tightly contested game between these division foes. It is all about the matchup between the Detroit offense and the Minnesota defense as you could probably imagine.

The Lions clearly have the ability to move the ball in this quick strike offense that offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter (still the best name in sports) runs with Matthew Stafford at the helm. Short passes thrown quickly is the only way to neutralize the pressure and coverage that Minnesota brings to the table.

Last time around Stafford was able to get the best of this defense, but the toughest thing in football is beating a good team twice. Expect Mike Zimmer and his staff to concoct some wrinkles to get the upper hand on Detroit. This should be a pretty good way to kick off the holiday festivities.

Let’s move on to the NFC East battle in Dallas between the Cowboys and Redskins in the latest edition of one of the NFL’s oldest rivalries. Dallas edged Washington 27-23 in Week 2 in the first game of the Cowboys’ nine-game winning streak. Both teams are vastly improved since that game early in the season, which should make for an extremely fun game.

Neither defense is really anything special so this will be a battle between these two high-powered offenses. We all know about the success of the Dallas offense with the best offensive line in football and the two best rookies this season. Dez Bryant looks to be rounding into form too, which adds just another layer to this incredibly effective offensive attack.

The real story here is the much-improved play of Kirk Cousins following his abysmal start to the season. Since Week 4, Cousins is completing 68.8% of his passes for 2,102 yards, 13 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Over that stretch Washington is 5-1-1 and now ranks in the top ten in all of the key offensive stats. You might smell turkey and all of the fixings at your dining room table, but I smell a shootout in this game while you wait for dinner to be served.

The night game between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis lost most its luster with the injury news regarding Andrew Luck entering the concussion protocol. That being said it is still a key game in the AFC playoff race.

Another game to keep an eye on this week is the matchup between Kansas City and Denver on Sunday night. A defensive clash that will have a playoff game feel to it, can’t ask for much more in late November. Overall this is setting up to be a great slate of games across the board.

Now let’s get to my picks for Week 12 coming off of my best week of the season. I’m heating up as we make our move towards the playoffs. Let’s keep the good momentum going heading into December. Here are my picks for the week; keep in mind since I’m picking on a Tuesday that this lines will change as the week goes on (Winners in Bold).

Last Week: 9-4-1       2016 Season: 87-73-1

Thanksgiving Day

12:30 PM – Minnesota (+2.5) vs. Detroit

4:30 PM – Washington (+7) vs. Dallas

8:25 PM – Pittsburgh (-9) vs. Indianapolis

 

Sunday

1:00 PM

Tennessee (-5) vs. Chicago

Jacksonville (+7.5) vs. Buffalo

Cincinnati vs. Baltimore (-4.5)

Arizona (+4) vs. Atlanta

NY Giants (-7) vs. Cleveland

Los Angeles (+7) vs. New Orleans

San Francisco vs. Miami (-8)

San Diego (-1.5) vs. Houston

 

4:05/4:25 PM

Seattle (-5.5) vs. Tampa Bay

Carolina vs. Oakland (-3.5)

New England (-8) vs. NY Jets

 

Sunday Night Football

Kansas City (+3.5) vs. Denver

 

That’s it for me today. I’ll be back tomorrow to break down the latest CFP rankings and this week’s edition of “Reality of Fantasy.” Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.