Picks, Parlays, and Props Week 7
Oct 24 | 2020
Daniel Jones gave a lot of fans the ability to say they could do something a professional athlete can do on Thursday night versus the Eagles
Bill Streicher/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
Week 6 Vibe Check (2-3) This past week offered us a worthy entry into the Bad Beat Hall of Losers.
A brutal 22 point fourth quarter by the Eagles killed an easy -7.5 point cover by the Ravens, who haven’t quite looked as dominant as we expected them to heading into this season. Meanwhile, the Panthers and Packers decided to make my big sweeping proclamations that Carolina’s good and the Tampa Bay Bucs are bad look very silly.
As for my two wins, they were decent nail biters, too. The Titans, thanks to some creative coaching, managed to secure us a cover with a King Henry wildcat TD and the Chiefs showed us all a different dimension they have to crush people, their running game. This kept the game a little closer than most would’ve liked, but imagine adding Le’Veon Bell to this team. Yeah, start checking Super Bowl futures.
Speaking of the future, let’s get a look at Week 7…
To be honest, there aren’t a ton of games that I love on this slate. Seems like oddsmakers have this week dialed in and a lot of these match ups just seem a little off. However, the games that do call out to me all have one thing in common.
Road Favorites for the Win
Packers -3.5 over Texans
The Packers are coming off a brutal road loss, in which their offense got full on exposed by Todd Bowles and the Bucs. What’s the best medicine for an offense still nursing their pride and trying to rebound? Playing against a defense allowing 5.4 yards per carry and having Aaron Jones on your team is a good start. The line on this should be higher, but the Texans playing a home drops the spread by a couple points. I expect and hope everyone will take advantage here. Heck, double up and bet Aaron Jones overs on yards, TDs, and anything else you can find!
Aaron Rodgers will look to bounce back from a tough loss in Tampa Bay.(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Browns -3 over Bengals
The Browns are coming off a brutal road loss, in which their offense got full on exposed by Keith Butler and the Steelers. What’s the best medicine for an offense still nursing their pride and trying to rebound? Playing a defense allowing 5.1 yards per carry and having Kareem Hunt on your team is a good start. Whoa. So, that’s what Deja vu feels like. The only way this could be better for the Dawg Pound was if Nick Chubb was healthy. On the flip side, the Cleveland D has been porous, at times, but against the rookie Joe Burrow and a struggling Cincy offense, whom they’ve already handled once this year with ease, they’ll have a chance to get right.
Seahawks -3 over Cardinals
Russell Wilson has cemented himself as the odds-on favorite for MVP on the strength of his glorious arm and ability to extend plays behind his middling offensive line. The Cardinals and Kyler Murray, the briefest of MVP candidates, have shown flashes, but thrown some duds in for equal measure. However, the biggest concern is their strength of opponent. In the past four weeks, they’ve lost to the Lions and Panthers, while beating up on the Darnold-less Jets and Dak-less Cowboys. The Seahawks are, by far, the best opponent this young and inconsistent team has faced and it’s time for the real contender to do away with the pretender.
D’Andre Swift to Score a TD (+135)
The Georgia stud and rookie running back is coming off of his best game as a professional against the Jacksonville Jaguars. This feels like the moment he takes the leap towards being a consistent fantasy play and genuine offensive threat. He put up 116 yards on 14 carries for a gaudy 8.2 average with two touchdowns to boot. He’s about to face another weak bottom half of the league rushing D, one who’s let up the second most receptions to backs. Swift got four of those last week, so he’s just as likely to punch one in via the air as the ground. For a little (lot of) extra value, you can always bet him to score the first TD at +1100.
Jimmy Garoppolo receiving some hands on coaching from Bill Belichick, his former mentor and current opponent. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
San Francisco vs New England over 43.5
The 49ers and Patriots are both having themselves some odd seasons. Cam Newton looked like his former self in the early going, but a COVID diagnosis derailed any momentum he or the team had before getting the Chiefs, an early bye, and the Broncos. Belichick isn’t taking a three game losing streak without a fight, and will be working overtime to return his offense to their early season success. Not to mention, the mastermind is going up against his former backup, who he’s definitely sick of having to talk about trading. Meanwhile, the 49ers have been ravaged by injuries, having the most guys on IR this season. This rash of bad luck included their starting QB, RB, WR, TE, CB, DE, and LB all missing time. It culminated in an ugly loss to the Dolphins, which seemed to be the wake up call the team needed to bounce back to beat the Rams. I could easily see this game scoring up into the high 20’s with a pair of highly motivated offenses going against defenses, which haven’t reached the heights of last season’s former glory.
