In Week 6, our best bet won (Philly -4.5), but the others weren’t so fortunate. The Panthers were blown out in Tampa and the Giants put up a less than normal effort in Cleveland. For our money line however, we were dead on with the Arizona Cardinals (+210) as they pulled off the big upset in the desert. For week 7, here’s who we at profootball101 like.
Best Bet:
1. TENNESSEE (-9) vs. Kansas City. The game is in Arrowheaad otherwise the line would be 16. Tennessee and KC are both coming off its bye week and well rested, but both are heading in different direction at this stage of the season. The Titans are 5-0 and looking to add to its AFC South lead and knows it has to win with division rival Indianapolis coming to town the following Monday, while the Chiefs, sitting at 1-4, are in complete disarray. They also learned this week that they’d be without star RB Larry Johnson after he was disciplined by the team for a pattern of bad behavior. On to the game… Offensively, we see the Titans running the ball early and often in this one, wearing down the Chiefs front 7, and on the other side of the ball, its defense dominating as usual leading to a huge victory in KC.
Next in Line:
2. BUFFALO (even) vs. San Diego. Two weeks ago, the Chargers went into Miami and played a lackluster game, which led to their upset 17-10. It was a bad loss considering San Diego was heavily favored, but they seemed to have trouble making the cross country trip. This week, they make that same east coast trip, only this time to upstate NY, but there is one difference: afterwards, they don’t get to fly home. Instead, they go even further east to play the Saints in London the following week. We think Turner’s crew will come out sluggish once again. On the other side, the Bills suffered its 1st loss of the season two weeks ago, being embarrassed in Arizona, and have had two weeks since then to think about it. We see Buffalo coming out strong, using a tough running game to set up the pass – in particular WR Lee Evans on the deep route vs. CB Cromartie or Jammer – and we like the Bills defense to contain San Diego as they pull out a close one at home.
3.
NEW YORK GIANTS (-10.5) vs. San Francisco. Had the Giants been coming into this game sitting at 5-0, we either wouldn’t have touched it or possibly went the other way with so large a spread. The reason being that after this week, they have their toughest three-game stretch of the year: Pittsburgh, Philly and Dallas. So it might’ve been a trap game. Instead, after being embarrassed on national television, we see the Giants looking to make a statement in this game, which isn’t really difficult to do against the lowly 49ers. Philly, who was down by 9 heading into the 4th quarter last Sunday, outscored SF 23-0 to win by 14. We see the Giants going back to its “bread and butter,” the run, which will be used to set up the pass for Eli, and we see the defense, which played it’s worst game in years vs. the Browns, coming out hungry and forcing O’Sullivan into mistakes which should lead to sacks and interceptions. This could get out of hand very quickly.
Money Line:
DENVER (+150) vs. New England. In a pretty even match-up across the board, except at quarterback, we like the Broncos to pull out the slight upset on Monday Night. For whatever reason, Mike Shanahan has owned the Patriots since he became Denver’s head coach in 1995. In this one, with the return of TE Tony Scheffler, we think the Broncos’ offense will get back to a more balanced passing attack, something it lacked in last week’s loss to Jacksonville, while New England is still reeling after its blowout loss in San Diego. We’re just not sure Belichick and OC McDaniels have found the best way to attack with QB Matt Cassel running this offense and that’s why you see so many passes under 10-yards. In what should be a close game regardless – New England playing with wounded pride after last week – we still like Denver pulling out the W and moving to 5-2.
Season vs. spread: 5-3-1
Money Line: 1-2
Mr. 49er
October 18th, 2008 at 01:21
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I agree with you about Denver straight up. NE is not the same without Brady, and Denver needs to get back on the winning track. They should do it Monday night against NE.