NFL Against the Spread Online Betting Week 11 Picks of the Week
Jeez Louise what a week. Power outage on Thursday. Friday spent trying to figure out what had happened and getting all the spoiled food out of the fridge. Then there's my favorite, Shopping! To replace all the food lost.
Now I've got about 15lbs of thawed meat that I need to eat in the next week. With Thanksgiving right around the corner that's going to be tough.
Maybe a mid-fall BBQ next week-end...
Anyway, humblest apologies for my tardiness in getting anything decent posted this week.
Now on to where my money's going this weekend.
The Arizona Cardinals (4-5) at The Carolina Panthers (2-7)
Against the Spread: Cardinals 6-3-0 | Panthers 4-5-0
Game Time: 1:00 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: OTB
Current High NFL Betting Line: Panthers -3 -100 to -105
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Panthers -2.5 -108 to -110
Over/Under 37u -110
Quick rundown...
Cardinals are bad, but getting better. Carolina is bad and getting worse.
Arizona is statistically behind the Panthers both on the offense and defense, but that doesn't tell the whole story. They have improved those numbers dramatically in the last 4 weeks with wins against Seattle, Miami and last week the Giants.
What makes this game likable is the fact that the Panthers are almost completely without weapons offensively. Yes they can stop the passing game to a degree, but they are horrible against the rush. More to the point, they need to be able to pass the ball to get anything going on offense and they just don't have the manpower left to do that.
The Panthers finally caught a break and got to play the 49ers last week to pick up their second win of the season. Not much to brag about with that one. Now they are looking at starting Rodney Peete behind center, with Jake Delhomme still nursing a fractured thumb. Carolina has no one left at running back and their biggest defensive threat, CB Artrell Hawkins, is questionable for Sundays game. Still scratching my head at this line.
My Online Betting Action: The Cardinals Money Line.
The Dallas Cowboys (3-6) at The Baltimore Ravens (6-3)
Against the Spread: Cowboys 3-6-0 | Ravens 7-2-0
Game Time: 1:00 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: Ravens -8 -105 Over/Under 35.5u -110
Current High NFL Betting Line: Ravens -9 -100
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Ravens -7.5 -110
Over/Under 35.5u to 36.5u -110
The Over in this one is not a waste of money.
The Cowboys have hardly been any real defensive threat, and no offense to speak of.
Bill Parcels has all but given up on this team. This may well motivate them to prove him wrong. Counting any tactic out of Parcel's play book is a bad thought process. More production on both sides of the ball from this team Sunday.
Baltimore hasn't exactly played stellar, Ray Lewis, style ball lately either. But the still manage to keep opponents from a lot of points. All the same, a win at 23-17 sounds about right.
Taking the Ravens -8 to -9, fishy...
My Online Betting Action: Over 35.5.
The N.Y. Jets (6-3) at The Cleveland Browns (3-6)
Against the Spread: Jets 4-4-1 | Browns 4-5-0
Game Time: 1:00 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: OTB Over/Under 37.5u -103
Current High NFL Betting Line: Jets -1 -110
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Jets -0 -110
Over/Under 37.5u -110
That a 6-3 team is a pick vs a 3-6 team speaks volumes as to parity in the NFL today
The Jets loss to the Ravens last week has caused a bit of controversy around the leadership abilities of Coach Herm Edwards and his staff. The obvious tardiness in getting the plays called into the offense cost them a win last week. The Jets didn't play great ball, but they played good enough to win. That one is a coaching loss, pure and simple. Assuming that Edwards had a few Staff meetings, that had better have had a pretty harsh tone, that shouldn't be an issue Sunday.
Cleveland is coming off some heartbreaking losses over the last few weeks. They played good old fashioned hard nosed defense. Quarterback Jeff Garcia can make some plays happen when he gets his feet moving and WR Dennis Northcutt is without questions a deep ball threat. Running back William Green has shown the ability to break off some good runs and is a strong back.
In the end, even without Chad, the Jets are the better football team. They can't afford to drop to 6-4. They have to get this win just to keep pace in the AFC.
My Online Betting Action: The Jets -0.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (8-1) at The Cincinnati Bengals (4-5)
Against the Spread: Steelers 7-2-0 | Bengals 3-6-0
Game Time: 1:00 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: Steelers -4 -107 Over/Under 40.5u -107
Current High NFL Betting Line: Steelers -4.5 -110
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Steelers -4 -103 to -115
Over/Under 40.5u -110
Feeling dirty just writing this... Cincinnati is over-rated at the moment. Pittsburgh is going to bring them back to reality. This is a first for me, betting against my team. But this line is so out of whack that there is just no getting away from it.
My Online Betting Action: The Steelers -4 (-7 is more realistic).
The San Diego Chargers (6-3) at The Oakland Raiders (3-6)
Against the Spread: Chargers 7-1-1 | Raiders 3-6-0
Game Time: 4:05 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: Chargers -3.5 -100 Over/Under 48.5u -100
Current High NFL Betting Line: Chargers -4.5 –110
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Chargers -3.5 -110
Over/Under 47.5u to 48u -110
Action already on Chargers -3.5
As mentioned earlier, action is already on the Chargers.
Who would have believed the quarterback Drew Brees would sit in top 3 in the QB rankings half-way through the season? Not Marty! If he would have, Philip Rivers might not be on the San Diego roster.
The real meat is in the running game. RB LaDainian Tomlinson has been such a solid back this year. Putting up good numbers game in and game out. His counterpart, Jesse Chatman has been able to come in and get the job done both in situational plays as well as giving Tomlinson some rest. Add into the mix one of the better special teams in the league that consistently gives them good starting field position and the recipe is already written for success.
Finding something good to say about Oakland is damn near impossible this season. They don't look like a team that belongs in the CFL, let alone the NFL. When San Diego first encountered the Oakland Raiders it was at Jack Murphy (or whatever the hell they call it now) and the Chargers thumped them 42-14. Being in Oakland isn't going to change the fact that the Raiders Stink, and it isn't going to help the score look any less one sided.
My Online Betting Action: The Chargers -3.5.
(-4 is fine and I would have taken it at that as well)
The Washington Redskins (3-6) at The Philadelphia Eagles (8-1)
Against the Spread: Redskins 3-6-0 | Eagles 6-3-0
Game Time: 4:15 PM ET
Opening NFL Betting Line: Eagles -10.5 -102 Over/Under 38u -112
Current High NFL Betting Line: Eagles -12 -115
Current Low NFL Betting Line: Eagles -10 –106 to -110
Over/Under 38u to 38.5u -110
The Washington Redskins head into this game with nothing to lose except respect. No one has blown them out this season, the biggest margin was 14 against the Packers. Every other game has been within 7. They will be starting Patrick Ramsey at QB and he has seen some success against the Eagles.
The Eagles are facing off against the second best defense in the league. The best, Pittsburgh, schooled them. Besides the lopsided win against Dallas last week, the offense of the Eagles has looked rather anemic. They have yet to get any real ground game going with Levens and Westbrook. That is going to hurt them against this defense.
Too big a spread.
My Online Betting Action: The Redskins +11.
Still mulling over the Packers V. Texans game.
MNF coming up next
