Week 1 of Best Bets was a victory for our readers as we went 2-0-1, where our bottom 2 bets came through and our sure luck ended up being a push on a field goal in overtime. If you bet an average of 100$ on each game you walked away with about 475$, not too shabby. Now it’s time to follow that up with what I feel is a trickier week where we will have to look really hard to find the games were interested in. All spreads are identified using Bovada.
Washington Redskins+ 14 at New England Patriots
Two touchdowns? Don’t get me wrong the Patriots are going to stomp out the Redskins, but I find it hard to believe that a banged up Patriots squad is going to risk injuries to their starters by keeping the foot on the gas for four quarters in a meaningless non-conference game. Kirk Cousins showed at Tampa Bay that he can rack up some garbage time numbers and run a catch up no huddle offense. I fully expect the Patriots to jump out to a lead early and let the Redskins and Jordan Reed soak up yards in the fourth quarter to draw the game within ten points.
Oakland Raiders +5 at Pittsburgh Steelers
What did we learn last week? That Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders are legit, especially in the passing game as they threw all over my beloved Jets and their vaunted secondary. We also learned that Big Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t going to slide back in the starter role seamlessly, that some of the Steelers problems were more than just missing their QB, and they lost their most consistent offensive player in RB Le’veon Bell. The Steelers secondary has been somewhat better than expected but they don’t have anywhere near the talent the Jets have and Carr is going to have no problem throwing on them. This will be a close game and when it’s this close you take the team being gifted 5 points.
Philadelphia Eagles -3 at Dallas Cowboys
I know a lot of the focus with the Eagles and their struggles/successes focuses on their offense. This is in part to their HC being an offensive “revolutionary” and all their high powered names that were eschewed and acquired in the offseason. This is a shame because the backbone of this Eagles team is actually its underrated defense. Fletcher Cox and Connor Barwin have helped lead a group that leads the league in takeaways…..and they’re playing against Matt Cassel. I don’t see the Cowboys being able to consistently move the ball and even with the Eagles injuries and inconsistencies on offense I think they will leave this Dallas squad in the dust.
Good luck out there guys, let’s go 3-0 this week!