Photo courtesy of Erik Drost/Flickr.
It is a great time to be from Cleveland. Well, at least for me. Not only did my hometown Browns improve to 3-2 with a dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I also dismantled the odds with a 12-3 record last week. I hope one person out there went with my picks.
The new/obvious strategy of focusing on picking favorites paid off well, with the pun definitely noted.
This week should be more of the same now that there is a sense of how teams will actually perform. With that being said, I am stubbornly going with the New Orleans Saints this week over the Detroit Lions. The Saints are 2-3 with all of their losses coming on the road, but a win would put them right back into the race for the NFC South. Also, the game is indoors which only helps their cause.
The Thursday night game has a high 10-point favorite for the Patriots, but if there is one thing shown by the NFL this season, it is that Thursday night games have about a 96% chance of being an embarrassing blowout.
The lock of the week comes with taking the Arizona Cardinals over the Oakland Raiders. The Cardinals are only four-point favorites over the Raiders in a game that will certainly be a blowout that is also blacked out.
A matchup to be wary of is the Browns against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns are coming off the aforementioned destruction of the Steelers, but the Jaguars play tough every week. That means little in the win column, but it could possibly be a trap game for a Cleveland team that plays three of the worst teams in football over the next three weeks (Jacksonville, Oakland and Tampa Bay).
All of this speculation and still the potential of going 3-12 as opposed to going 12-3 still exists. Life as a Browns fan I suppose. To the picks.
New York Jets vs. New England Patriots (-10): Patriots -10
Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens (-7): Ravens -7
Tennessee Titans vs. Washington Redskins (-5.5): Titans +5.5
Seattle Seahawks (-7.5) vs. St. Louis Rams: Seahawks -7.5
Cleveland Browns (-6) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Browns -6
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Indianapolis Colts (-3.5): Colts -3.5
Minnesota Vikings vs. Buffalo Bills (-6): Bills -6
Miami Dolphins vs. Chicago Bears (-3.5): Bears -3.5
New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions (-3): Saints +3
Carolina Panthers vs. Green Bay Packers (-7): Panthers +7
Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Diego Chargers (-4): Chargers -4
Arizona Cardinals (-4) vs. Oakland Raiders: Cardinals -4
New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys (-6.5): Cowboys -6.5
San Francisco 49ers vs. Denver Broncos (-6.5): Broncos -6.5
Houston Texans vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.5): Texans +3.5
Last Week: 12-3
Yearly Record: 47-43-1
Recommended for you
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
