NFL Week 14 picks are here: discovering the one space the game can’t reach

When American football briefly falls quiet, it becomes something entirely different. That moment doesn’t arrive on Sundays or show up on broadcasts. It happens only when players stop moving and, for the first time all week, have room in their own heads to think beyond the next opponent. For decades, that moment was forbidden territory. Players weren’t meant to live there publicly. Thinking too much was weakness. Creating anything that wasn’t a play was a mental trap. Everyone assumed a player’s value ended the second the clock ran out in the fourth quarter.

That world no longer exists in full, even if many still cling to it.

This week I came across several stories of current and former players opening up to the public in a different way, to the society they’re part of. Stories of what happens when someone discovers that their identity doesn’t depend on the next snap. Malcolm Jenkins, a former defensive back who understood that the discipline that helped him win two Super Bowls can also build entirely different ventures, will on Thursday – just hours before Week 14 kickoff – take part in a conversation at Art Basel Miami, one of the world’s leading art fairs. He’ll discuss his immersion in the art world and the parallels between football and its many creative forms.

I grew up believing sports were everything. I consumed results, reports, images – even cereal with my favorite player on the box. Art felt foreign, like water on Mercury. It simply didn’t live inside me. Not out of conscious rejection, but functional ignorance. Nearly five years ago, the way I saw the world changed. Not because of a book or an exhibition, but through daily life. My partner is an artist. Watching her process was more revealing than any lecture. I realized that creating isn’t sudden inspiration, but a rhythm of ideas mixed with mood and heavy reflection. I learned that looking can be exhausting. That a single object can push your mind far away. Since then, I watch sports through a different lens. Not in the sense of spotting beauty in two bodies colliding at high speed or admiring color combinations in a new uniform. Art has made me think about what exists beyond a touchdown or a sack. It’s pushed me to understand more about the athlete beneath the helmet.

That’s why I’m no longer surprised to hear that Marcus Jones of the Patriots makes documentaries and music. Or that active players are showing work at Art Basel. These aren’t curiosities. They’re athletes who grasp something essential. Their careers can end as quickly as the next season does. Their curiosity doesn’t. The NFL understood this late, but it did understand. Spaces like Artist Replay offer windows into the other lives players can build. Of course, they also aim to create collectors. Art, after all, is an industry too.

For years the story was simple. Players played. Fans watched. Nobody asked too much. Today that dynamic is shifting. Athletes are beginning to tell their own stories without asking permission. Through painting, writing, music, cultural investment. Not to escape the sport, but to survive it.

Athletes and artists have more in common than either tends to admit. Both rely on repetition, solitude and an unfair number of doubts. Both fail in public. Both depend equally on body and mind. When they meet, they don’t become something else. They recognize each other.

NFL game of the week

Steelers at Ravens (-5):

Some games define a season even if they don’t close it out. Steelers and Ravens arrive at the fourteenth Sunday tied atop the AFC North, fully aware the margin for error is gone. They’ll meet twice in the final five weeks – this week in Baltimore and again in the season finale in Pittsburgh. The loser won’t be eliminated, but will be forced into survival mode down the stretch.

The Ravens come in bruised after losing at home to Cincinnati, though before that they had won five straight by an average of 12.8 points. The Steelers, meanwhile, are dealing with a deeper crisis – five losses in their past seven games, including a blowout by Buffalo in which Aaron Rodgers finished with a bloody nose and a fractured locker room.

The center of Baltimore’s plan is Derrick Henry. In 2025 he has 931 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. He’s already the second player in league history with at least 10 rushing scores in eight straight seasons, trailing only LaDainian Tomlinson.

If Henry reaches 1,000 yards, he’ll join a tiny club with Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith and Adrian Peterson, all Hall of Famers. Last January, in the wild card round, he shredded Pittsburgh for 186 yards and two touchdowns in a 28–14 win. Baltimore knows exactly where the soft spots are.

On top of that, the Ravens have stayed in the league’s upper third in efficiency, with an offense ranked eighth and a defense twelfth in DVOA during their best stretch of the season. At home, with the division lead at stake, the script seems clear.

But if this were just numbers, the rivalry wouldn’t carry the weight it does. Since 2020, Pittsburgh has won eight of the past 10 regular season games between the two. Nine of them were decided by seven points or fewer.

The problem is Pittsburgh arrives with no offensive oxygen. The unit can’t find rhythm, the passing game is inconsistent and morale is brittle. Rodgers is coming off one of his worst recent stretches, hasn’t thrown multiple touchdown passes since Week 8 and ranked at the bottom of the league in combined EPA and CPOE last week. The image of him playing hurt and publicly criticizing his receivers is the portrait of a disconnected offense.

Still, there’s one thing you never underestimate – the survival instinct of Mike Tomlin’s Steelers. When outside voices talk collapse and end of cycle, Pittsburgh tends to find an uncomfortable, aesthetically unpleasant way to compete.

This isn’t just about the division lead. It’s about emotional control in the rivalry and gaining the advantage heading into the rematch. Baltimore needs a win to prove its project is the AFC North’s most stable. Pittsburgh needs one to prove it’s still Pittsburgh.

Steelers 27–30 Ravens

Picks in a nutshell

Cowboys at Lions (-3): Detroit feels the urgency now. The Lions have lost two of their past three and face a defense that’s looked elite since Quinnen Williams arrived. Cowboys 24–30 Lions

Bengals at Bills (-6): Buffalo beat Pittsburgh more due to the Steelers’ incompetence than anything else. Cincinnati’s trip to Highmark Stadium will test Josh Allen. Bengals 30–33 Bills

Colts at Jaguars (-1.5): The AFC South has turned into a continuous playoff round. Indianapolis once controlled the division but now walks a tightrope. Colts 27–21 Jaguars

Seahawks (-7.5) at Falcons: Seattle forces turnovers. Against the Vikings they created five. Atlanta won’t handle that. Seahawks 30–21 Falcons

Saints at Buccaneers (-8.5): Tampa Bay looks like a strong contender for a fifth straight NFC South crown. New Orleans is already looking ahead. Saints 14–30 Buccaneers

Titans at Browns (-3.5): Tennessee is on track for the top pick in the next draft, and Cleveland won’t slow that trajectory. Titans 17–24 Browns

Dolphins at Jets (-2.5): A game with nothing on the line doesn’t merit much attention. Dolphins 14–16 Jets

Bears at Packers (-6.5): An NFC North classic resumes with Chicago as the conference’s No. 1 seed. The Bears have been magicians at pulling off surprises, but that ends here. Bears 20–24 Packers

Rams (-7.5) at Cardinals: Los Angeles stumbled in Carolina in a way that was hard to imagine and even harder to stomach, but they remain the NFC’s top Super Bowl contender. Rams 30–17 Cardinals

Broncos (-8.5) at Raiders: Las Vegas expects a blowout, and although I don’t see it being that wide, the home team will still lose. Broncos 24–21 Raiders

Texans at Chiefs (-4.5): A win against a defense like Houston’s could help Kansas City climb out of its crisis. Texans 17–20 Chiefs

Commanders (-1.5) at Vikings: Minnesota has hit rock bottom, and it’s hard to see a way out. Commanders 20–17 Vikings

Eagles (-1.5) at Chargers: Philadelphia hasn’t rediscovered the form that took them to New Orleans in the last Super Bowl, but the talent is still there, and eventually it will surface. Eagles 30–24 Chargers

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