I bought a couple of wagers last night and thought I would post early, in anticipation of line moves. I've had this SF - NO - DEN teaser circled a month ago. With Bradford out for Saint Louis, Seattle seems like a no brainier as well.
The weather in London shouldn't be an issue, Saints are home after a bye vs. the bills off a RD SU win and Denver's run defense should hold the Redskins running game in check.
Three Team Ten Pointer
San Francisco -5.5********
New Orleans - 2.5
Denver -3.5
In the last two years New England has lost two in a row just once and they lost by a combined three points in those two contests.
Cleveland has won just twice on the road the past two seasons. Last year at Oakland and this year at Minnesota. The chiefs are off a lucky win, but I don't see the Browns pulling an upset here.
No value with the spread tonight, but I like the under (20) in the first half.
Carolina averages 11.3 points in the first half and Tampa has averaged 10.2. Line is hedged a 1.5 points and that makes sense.
What's interesting is even though both Carolina and Tampa rank in the bottom third of the NFL (18th and 23rd) in first half scoring, they both rank 8th and 10th in time of possession percentage.
Carolina on the road this season has held Buffalo to 3 first half points (24-23 loss), Arizona to 3 points (22-6 loss) and Minnesota to 3 points (35-10 win). Don't need a calculator to figure that average out.
Tampa at home...Held New Orleans to 10 (16-14 loss), shutout Arizona (13-10 loss) and gave up 14 to Philly (31-20 loss) Foles was the QB in that contest.
I don't like the total for the game, since both teams are inconsistent in the second half and the Tampa rookie QB & RB could turn into a turnover machine.
This is the Buccaneers big prime time game this year, so I think their defense will be pumped and will start out strong. Carolina is going to force the run against Tampa decent run defense playing it safe and waiting for the rookie QB to make mistakes.
Not much rain expected, but wind gusts of 30 - 40 miles an hour though out the game are predicted. Was going to wait for line movement, but European meteorologists are very accurate. In addition, Europe is in the middle of a weather pattern that has made the weather even more predictable. Anyway, the roof will be partially closed, but with the design of the stadium the wind will be a factor. I doubt they will shut the roof since only a passing shower is expected and they have exposed the field to poor weather in the past. Now if they shut the roof I'll buy it back.
This Seattle line is blowing up.
What's interesting is after Bradford got injured the books only adjusted the line a point - point and a half from the pre Sunday line. Also, I don't understand why the total is climbing, doesn't make sense. Seattle's defense is banged up, but the total has moved on average 1.5-2 points today. One trend is both Seattle and St. Louis start slow. I think they both start off running the ball and and I found three first quarter trends that total 11 - 3 this season that point to an under. For all intensive purposes this is a contest to lay off, but I'm going to play the total for action and try to middle my teaser.