The two teams that faced each other in the Superbowl play host to two bumbling AFC teams that look absolutely horrific. The Giants host the Cincinnati Bengals as 13-point favorites, and the Dolphins pay a visit to Foxboro to try and take on the Patriots. Are either of these teams worthy of such spreads in our NFL odds and lines?
My major concern with the Giants is the possibility of the Bengals opening up a can of whoop-ass out of sheer frustration. The Giants’ betting faithful have had the luxury of watching their beloved Eli Manning beat up on the Redskins and the lowly Rams. Plaxico Burress is becoming a force of nature, once again, and his great season continues after he posted 81 yards on 5 catches with one touchdown.
The big story in the Big Apple remains Eli Manning, who continues to put up huge numbers throughout the season. He had 260 passing yards last week, and dotted the scoreboard with three touchdowns to three different pass catchers. The Bengals’ have given up 123.5 passing yards per game, and their terrifyingly bad secondary should have anyone that bets on the Bengals wetting their pants.
Cincinnati, however, has the fire power to torch the scoreboard. They’re a pass-first team, that was pinned to the ground game due to high speed wins in Tennessee. Do you really think they can go this long without blowing up at some point? Carson Palmer is still one of the most technically gifted passers in the game, and he has a stable of hunger horsemen waiting to set the scoreboard ablaze.
The Bengals are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games, but are now getting a proverbial gift with a 13-point advantage against the Giants. I’d bet on the Bengals this weekend with the points. They’re not going to lose to the spread every weekend, and this bet is a trap for everyone that think the Bengals are horrific. You can’t suppress talent forever.
Well you can’t unless you’re the Miami Dolphins. The Florida Fins lie on the other side of the 13-point line against New England. The thing about Miami is that they may have talent, but it’s going to take some time. Aside from Derek Hagan and Tedd Ginn Jr., you’re going to have to put in a lot of effort to convince me that any pass catcher in Miami is worth the mention.
The quarterback situation for the Patriots was set when Tom Brady went down with that tragic (translation: awesome) knee injury. Matt Cassel has done an admirable job, but he’s done nothing spectacular. With 16-of-23 completions and 165 yards against the Jets, I’m not really sure why people are suddenly so confident against betting on the Patriots to win the Superbowl.
The Battle of the Chads continues as former Michigan quarterback Chad Henne dukes it out with Chad Pennington. Pennington gets the start this weekend, and while he’s familiar playing New England, he’s not used to playing them with such a dreadful team. Miami is 5-11-2 ATS in their last 18 games. The formidable Patriots defense is versed well enough in Chad’s inability to pass farther than 15-yards. They’ll stack the flats in hopes of picking off Pennington to the house.
The only saving grace may be Miami’s running game, which will try to put the ball in to Ronnie Brown’s hands as much as possible. Brown has been limited due to the position battle between him and Ricky Williams, but if the Dolphins’ NFL betting faithful have any hopes of covering this spread, they will pray for Brown to get the bulk. And no, nothing I just wrote had anything to do with my fantasy team (by the way, and this is a total side note – Ronnie Brown has officially achieved “I can never bench him for fear of him exploding one weekend and me not having him in the starting line-up”. Don’t you love to hate these guys?)
New England is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games, but if Miami wasn’t able to stop Arizona last weekend, what makes you think they’ll fair any better against New England. Bet safely and happily on the Patriots to cover this weekend in the OVER as Randy Moss finally has the game we’ve been waiting to see.