Best Bet
1. San Diego Chargers (-8) vs. Arizona Cardinals – The Chargers are a completely different team at home than on the road and will roll all over the Cardinals this Sunday. Offensively, QB Phillip Rivers and Co. will be too much for Arizona to handle, posting a minimum 28 points.
And defensively, San Diego should control the tempo and force QB Derek Anderson into mistakes and turnovers. The Cards will be without WR Steve Breaston and WR Early Doucet in this one. This is the best football bet of the week.
Next In Line
2. Miami Dolphins (pick) vs. New England Patriots – Tom Brady has a history of struggling against the Miami Dolphins. For whatever reason, they always have his number. Expect the Fins D to correct some of its pass defense issues from a week ago and keep the Patriots from finding its rhythm.
On offense, Miami matches up well vs. New England and we think Chad Henne, Ronnie Brown and Brandon Marshall are all set for big nights.
3. Tennessee Titans (-6.5) vs. Denver Broncos – The Broncos running game is down to backups and QB Kyle Orton and the offense are much less effective away from Denver. Look for Chris Johnson to lead the way and for the Titans to roll by 10 on Sunday.
4. Oakland Raiders (+3) vs. Houston Texans – See Money Line Bet.
Rounding Out the List
Indianapolis Colts (-7) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jags typically play the Colts tough in Jacksonville, but this year’s team appears to be its worst in some time. David Garrard has regressed considerably and Maurice Jones-Drew is finding very little running room to work with as defenses are loading the box. Expect the Colts D to force a few turnovers on Sunday. Offensively, look for Peyton Manning to toss 3 TDs en route to the 27-13 win.
Carolina Panthers (+13.5) vs. New Orleans Saints – Divisional games are always closer contests even when it doesn’t look that way on paper. The Saints are coming off a hard fought last second loss to the Falcons in Week 3 and QB Drew Brees is banged up. They’ll probably jump to an early lead and want to get him out of there to prevent further damage. On the other side of the ball, the Saints D is a weakness in 2010 and we think that Jimmy Clausen and the Panthers can do enough to keep this from getting out of hand.
St. Louis Rams (+1) vs. Seattle Seahawks – Things may change under HC Pete Carrol, but we’ll take a wait and see approach. The Seahawks have been horrendous on the road the past two years and the Rams are feeling good about themselves after their first win of the season. QB Sam Bradford is progressing weekly and we see the Rams making it back to back wins come Sunday.
Money Line Bet
Oakland Raiders (+160) vs. Houston Texans
A lot stranger things have happened before. The bottom line is the Texans were destroyed by the Cowboys in Week 3 as Dallas exploited a weakness left by suspended LT Duane Brown. They were able to pressure Matt Schaub’s backside and disrupt the entire Texans offense. While the Raiders don’t have the playmakers on defense that Dallas does, they do have guys that can get after the QB.
In this game, WR Andre Johnson is nursing an injury and the team is considering giving him the week off. If they do, this will further hamper the passing game as the Raiders pass D is a strength and they’ll be able to focus solely on RB Arian Foster.
QB Brad Gradkowski has stabilized things offensively and the Raiders now have some life in the passing game. Its young receivers (Louis Murphy, Darius Heyward-Bey) are complementing the running game much better and Houston sports the worst pass defense in the league.
Look for a back and forth sloppy game which the Raiders pull out 24-21 in the black hole.
ProFootball101 is 2-1 on the season playing the money line bet:
Week 1: Kansas City Chiefs (won)
Week 2: San Francisco 49ers (lost)
Week 3: Atlanta Falcons (won)
