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Los Angeles Rams at New York Giants
Here come the LA Rams with Stafford taking the franchise by the horns. The Rams (4-1) will head to the big apple to face a bad Giants team made worse by their abundance of injuries. Stafford is throwing lasers all around the field with 1587 yards, 12 TD, and 3 INTs. Stafford will have all of his offensive weapons.
The Giants (1-4) will be without two main offensive weapons in Golladay and Barkley. Even with these guys in the lineup, defeating the Rams is still a tall order. The Rams will can now focus their secondary on Evans and Sterling. Sterling will have to face Jalen Ramsey making it even harder for Jones to connect. Jones had tossed for 1282 yards, 4 TD, and 1 INT. He’s not scoring but it does help he is taking care of the ball.
The Rams are -8.5 favorite to cover the spread. The line started at -10.5 and has since been bet down to -8.5. A lot of early money on the Giants. The Rams win without a doubt. I’m buying down to -7.0 and calling it a day. -7.0 is a very favorable line.
Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots
The resurgence of Dak Prescott playing at an MVP level after his injury shouldn’t be as surprising as initially thought. The Cowboys (4-1) are turning heads and have now been deemed a playoff team. Easy to see why behind Prescott’s 13 TD, 3 INT, and 1368 yards while completing 122/165 of his passes.
Mac Jones has shown early that he has what it takes to be a starter in this league even though his weapons are minimal. He has lead the Patriots (2-3) in some tough games and has shown brilliance. Jones has tossed for 1243 yards, 5 TD, and 5 INTs. The INTs aren’t surprising for a rookie QB transitioning into the big leagues.
Elliot has also made a resurgence in the run game even with sharing time with Pollard. He has rushed for 452 yards on 85 touches with 5 TD. The Patriots defense has been actually pretty good this season. The weak spot is the run game where they rank 15th in rushing yards allowed and will have their hands full with Elliot and Pollard, while also expecting the play action.
The Cowboys are the -3.5 favorite to cover the spread. Early money has been on the Patriots to cover as the line has been bet down from -4.0 Cowboys. The Cowboys ML is -170 which is still low enough for me to take it. I expect a close game but the Cowboys should be sound enough to take advantage of a rookie QB. -3.5 is all look so favorable.
Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns
Arizona (5-0) has been spectacular to watch this season. This matchup has all the makings of drama written all over it.This game features two former college teammates win back to back Heismans and number 1 overall picks for Oklahoma. The friendly rivalry gets turned up a notch when they face each other in the NFL. Both teams are playoff contenders and expect both to come and play. Murray is in talks for MVP behind his 1512 yards, 10 TD, 4 INTs while rushing for 3 scores as well. Murray is electric.
Baker Mayfield has all the weapons in the world. Although he they will certainly miss Chubb who has been ruled out, they still have Kareem Hunt who will see a large workload. Mayfield isn’t throwing for a large number of touchdowns but he is taking care of the ball. Baker has thrown for 1240 yards, 4 TD and 2 INT. Gotta say it’s disappointing that he hasn’t thrown for more TDs given the amount of weapons he has.
It’s highly unfortunate that Chubb is missing this week because the weak spot in a solid Cardinals defense is their ability to defend the run. The element of surprise is greatly reduced when Hunt will play most of the snaps. Hunt is the key to a Browns win.
The Browns are the -3.5 favorite to cover the spread. Kinda shocking given that the Cardinals are the last remaining undefeated team. The Cardinals may be without Edmonds but they replaced their tight end woes by trading for Zach Ertz who just caught a TD Thursday night. The Cardinals can easily win this game. This game will be close but I have to take Cardinals +3.5. They have earned a field goal difference to cover the spread. Cardinals ML does have value if you have the balls to take it.
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Honorable Mentions
Raiders +4.0
Jaguars +3.5
Chargers/Ravens O51.5
Bengals ML
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