This week of the National Football League season brings the top game of the season to date, with two unbeaten teams colliding in Norleans. The top inter-conference match has undefeated Minnesota facing a scuffling Baltimore bunch. Among the better division conflicts is Arizona at Seattle in the NFC West. Cincinnati id favored by more than field goal, which means a touchdown in the last 20 seconds to win and cover again for the Bengals. The rest of schedule is why the bye week doesn’t always work well and Tennessee and New England lost the coin flip.
N.Y. Giants at New Orleans 1:00E FOX
Three NFC teams have set themselves apart in the first five weeks, and two of them match up on Sunday in New Orleans when the Saints (4-0 SU&ATS) host the Giants (5-0 SU&ATS) in a battle of unbeaten teams. It will be a battle of wills, as New York has been the best road team in the league under Tom Coughlin, going 31-13 ATS, including 19-10 ATS as an underdog. New Orleans has developed a strong home field advantage of late though; winning five of its last six contests both SU & ATS, outscoring opponents by 14.5 points per game. The Saints have also scored 23 points or more in every home game since Oct. 21 2007, a span of 14 games. They are looking to break a 0-3 SU & ATS record in post-bye week games under Sean Payton however. In this head-to-head series, home team own a 7-2 SU & 6-2-1 ATS edge in the nine meetings.
Keys to the Game-
Right now there is only one way to beat New Orleans, attack
Drew Brees. New York has the front four wholly capable of going so and their secondary has quietly moved up the ladder to a top notch outfit. Brees is playing the best football of his career, but no quarterback will be successful without time. Defense end Osi Umenyiora will be facing backup left tackle, with Jammal Brown out, he must dominate. Look for Giants’ defenders to have loose lips to frustrate former teammate Jeremy Shockey with a steady stream of billingsgate and have him cause discord. The G-Men are 14-4 ATS playing against a team with a winning record over the last three seasons.
In case one hasn’t noticed, all the ESPN highlights about the Saints have been mostly Drew Brees passes. New Orleans is second in the league in rushing at 166.2 yards per game and coach Payton has shown remarkable patience is staying with the run, especially the last two games. If Pierre Thomas and others can keep their team in reasonable down and distance situations, Payton’s play sheet is more versatile. Don’t expect Brees to see what the Giants allow, instead the game plan will be to attack New York’s weaknesses, based on game film study. Defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant have to bring the pressure on Eli Manning and interior of the defense has to be stout against Giants running game. Try this, unbeaten favorites of three or more off a bye are astonishing 16-1 ATS.
3DW Line – New Orleans by 2.5DiamondSportsbook.com Line – New Orleans -3, 47
Baltimore at Minnesota 1:00E CBS
One of the most intriguing contests on the Week 6 slate is an inter-conference battle with Minnesota hosting Baltimore. The Vikings (5-0, 4-1 ATS) are unbeaten but begin a tough stretch of three games before their bye week. Under coach Brad Childress, they are just 11-16 ATS as hosts, including 3-3 SU & ATS vs. AFC foes. Another negative number for the Minnesota franchise is 2-9 ATS mark vs. good teams outscoring opponents by six or more points in his tenure. The Ravens (3-2 ATS) are 3-2 and head into their off week next Sunday. They have won and covered just once in their last four games on the road versus NFC foes. Baltimore is 6-1UNDER in its pre-bye week contests and the underdog has covered four in a row in that scenario. This is the first visit ever by the Ravens to the Metrodome, but they have won the previous two meetings both SU & ATS.
Keys to the Game-
The Baltimore defense is not in the Top 5, it is 10th in the NFL. The ferociousness has dissipated. To get back to winners circle, the Ravens have to keep Adrian Peterson running laterally and stayed disciplined to avoid cutbacks. Brett Favre has faced almost no pass rush this season, except for a few plays against San Francisco. Make him feel his age. Baltimore is 8-1 ATS this month after consecutive SU & ATS setbacks and should attack the Vikings in the deep middle and with TE Todd Heap to create more running room. Quit taking stupid penalties.
The Minnesota game plan will include going after pedestrian secondary outside of Ed Reed. The Vikings receivers were considered ordinary until No.4 put on purple jersey. Make Baltimore defend the pass. If Cedric Benson can end the Ravens streak of 40 times not allowing a 100-yard rusher, A.P. should be able to make it 2-0 going the other direction. Peterson will have to maintain ball security, with Baltimore constantly tugging. The Vikes have the top red zone defense (four TDs in 13 possessions inside the 20) in the league, kicker Matt Stover doesn’t figure to beat them booting field goals. Minny is 22-12-1 ATS at home off a win and cover.
3DW Line – Minnesota by 4
Bookmaker.com Line – Minnesota -3, 46
Houston at Cincinnati 1:00E CBS
The Cincinnati Bengals (4-1) are in rarefied air after five weeks, having won four straight games and leading the AFC North division. They are also 3-2 ATS in ’09, but 0-2 ATS as favorites, extending their recent mark in the chalk role to 3-10 ATS. Head coach Marvin Lewis opened as a 6.5-point point favorite in this one vs. Houston, with the line drifting downward. The Texans fell to 2-3 SU&ATS after losing at Arizona and are already three games back to Indy in the AFC South and come in to this one on a surge of 9-2 ATS on the road off another road game. Houston has covered four of its last six away overall. Cincinnati may be starting to regain a bit of home field advantage and comes in as winners of five of seven ATS as host. These clubs met a year ago in Houston, with HC Gary Kubiak’s team securing an easy 35-6 win as nine point favorites.
Keys to the Game-
The Houston running game stinks at 75.4 yards per game (30th). As proven last week, the Texans can move the ball passing, lighting up Arizona in the second half, however that is part of the problem, it’s very difficult to throw the ball consistently for 60 minutes a game, you need a semblance of balance to be thought of as playoff material. The defensive front has contained two mediocre rushing teams (89 total yards) the last two weeks, do the same against Cincinnati and Houston could move to 14-5 ATS as visiting underdog off road contest. QB Matt Shaub has to have complete game and the “Where’s Waldo” pass rush needs to reappear.
Cincinnati has gotten a lot of mileage out of new balanced offense and the longer they keep Houston’s pass offense on the sidelines the better. Test the Texans with Benson and determine how they will react. Do what everyone does, take away Houston running game. Cincy has one definite advantage in doing so, a terrific pass rush to make Shaub hesitant. Oddly, the Bengals are 0-6 ATS versus poor rushing teams averaging 90 or less yards game over the last three seasons. You’ve seen the Ben Stiller movies “Meet the Parents”, that sums up the Cincinnati snapper, holder and kicker on extra points and field goals.
3DW Line – Cincinnati by 2.5
DiamondSportsbook.com Line – Cincinnati -5.5, 46.6
Arizona at Seattle 4:05E FOX
Seattle (2-3 ATS) hopes to head into its bye week at 3-3, but to do so, needs to come up with a second straight big effort at home. This week’s foe is rival Arizona (2-2 ATS), who snapped a five-game losing streak at Seattle in its Super Bowl season of 2008. The Seahawks are off the 41-0 win over Jacksonville, and looking to extend a winning streak of eight straight games (6-2 ATS) in pre-bye week games. They are on a 4-1-1 ATS run at home overall. For Arizona, now 2-2 after turning back Houston, this is the first divisional road game of 2009 and they were 3-0 SU & ATS in that spot last season. Overall, the Cardinals have covered six of previous eight road games. Favorites are 6-2 SU & ATS in the last eight battles of this NFC West rivalry, while eight of 10 meetings have gone OVER the total.
Keys to the Game –
If you or someone you know has a bad back, it just doesn’t go away, especially if you are being knocked around. If Arizona wants to be tied for NFC West lead at the end of the day, they must sack Matt Hasselbeck, something they’ve failed to do the last two contests. Both Cardinals wins are not a coincidence, protect Kurt Warner and the offense hums. Coach Ken Whisenhunt prefers to portray himself as tough guy. He better start living up to image and find a running that would setup play-action passing game, since Larry Fitzgerald’s longest catch is 26 yards. Open running lanes and Zona moves to 5-0 ATS as underdog.
Seattle is a better team with Hasselbeck. Like Warner, the veteran quarterback can pick apart secondaries and the Cardinals surrender a NFL-high 303 yards per game via the pass. Give Hasselbeck time, watch the results. The Arizona run defense is allowing only 2.9 yards per carry, nonetheless the Seahawks must keep trying and bounce a few runs outside the tackles with Julius Jones speed. The best way for Seattle to move to 11-2 ATS as home favorites is to do what they did last week, sack the quarterback five times.
3DW Line - Seattle by 4.5
Bookmaker.com Line – Seattle -3, 46.5
Tennessee at New England 4:15E CBS
Tennessee and New England were expected to be among the top contenders for the AFC title in 2009. Neither has lived up to billing. The Titans have been perhaps the NFL’s biggest disappointment, with 0-5 record (1-4 ATS) and on death’s door after the ugly 31-9 loss to Indy on Sunday night. They would love to head into their bye week with more positive momentum generated from an upset of New England (2-3 ATS). Tennessee has won six of its last seven pre-bye week games, both SU & ATS, but has only gone 4-13 ATS vs. teams gaining over 375 yards per game on offense. New England dropped to 3-2 with its loss at Denver, but comes into this one with a 23-7 ATS record off a loss under Bill Belichick the last several years. The Patriots recently won back-to-back homes games SU & ATS after going 3-10 ATS in their previous 13.
Keys to the Game-
This contest was chosen by default and Tennessee has plenty of blame to go around. Kerry Collins has thrown as many interceptions this season (7) as of all of 2008. With no pass rush to speak of, the defensive have made more mistakes than the Bank of America and injuries have exacerbated the situation. The running game is starting to look like the Detroit Lions when Barry Sanders was there, the occasional burst from Chris Johnson, with truckload of negative plays. The Titans are 0-5 ATS off a SU failure and have gone from the leadership of Cronus, to being banished to Tartarus.
This looks to easy, but when a team is down, step on their throat from the start. The Tennessee secondary has more communication problems than Sprint and Tom Brady and his teammates should attack them with abandon. No reason Wes Welker shouldn’t drive them crazy and Randy Moss exploit the Titans deep. If the Patriots jump out to big lead, this is a good time to start finding a ground game for the rest of the season. New England is 21-8-1 ATS in October and the defense needs to move the line of scrimmage backwards after permitting 424 yards, the most in 18 games.
3DW Line – New England by 14.5
DiammondSportsbook.com Line – New England -9, 40
Steve Makinen of
StatFox contributed to this article.
The National Football League’s prime time draft was a rating success and much like Wal-Mart, obliterated the competition for sports television ratings, sending NBA commish David Stern a chilling message about what people prefer to watch this time of year.
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