NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers
by Alan Matthews - 12/20/2017

I can promise you that every member of the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers were rooting for the Atlanta Falcons to be upset in Tampa on Monday night. Alas, the Falcons escaped with 24-21 victory. What does that have to do with my preview of Saturday night's Vikings-Packers matchup at Lambeau Field? Everything.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys
by Alan Matthews - 12/19/2017

There is no Sunday night game on Christmas Eve, so I can assure you the one on Dec. 24 that gets the biggest ratings (Fox has the 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff) and takes the biggest betting action at the various sportsbooks will be Seattle at Dallas. In all honesty, it's not a great Week 16 slate of action with the only other matchups featuring potentially two playoff teams being Buffalo at New England, Los Angeles Rams at Tennessee, and Atlanta at New Orleans.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 16 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 12/18/2017

My No. 1 fade candidate in the final two weeks of the 2017 regular season? Unquestionably the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only have the players already quit on the season, but so apparently has the head coach. Cincinnati's season effectively ended on Monday night in Week 13 when it blew a 17-0 lead at home against Pittsburgh and lost 23-20 in an incredibly physical game. The Bengals had zero left in the tank on a short week the next Sunday in a blowout home loss to Chicago and then barely got off the plane in Minneapolis in losing to the Vikings 34-7 this past Sunday.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 15 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 12/15/2017

The NFL MVP race was presumed to be over following Week 14 when former favorite Carson Wentz of the Eagles was lost to a season-ending torn ACL. You can win an MVP in the NFL if you miss a few games but not if they are at the end of the season. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had been the new -500 favorite at Bovada entering Monday night's game in Miami, but Brady looked like a 40-year-old quarterback for the first time all season in the loss.

Expert NFL Handicapping: Lessons from Minnesota Vikings Week 14 Loss
by Trevor Whenham - 12/15/2017

Week 14 of the NFL season was the one that everything we thought we knew came off the rails. It seemed like there were four teams above all the rest - New England and Pittsburgh in the AFC, and Minnesota and Philadelphia in the NFC. Last week all four teams took hits. The Pats lost a stunner to Miami. Pittsburgh beat Baltimore, but their injury-ravaged and suddenly-porous defense allowed 38 points. Carson Wentz was lost for the season to an ACL injury.

Expert NFL Betting Advice: Should Patriots Shocking Loss Worry Bettors?
by Trevor Whenham - 12/15/2017

Things must have been too easy and straightforward for bettors involving the Patriots. They were cruising, and it seemed clear - almost inevitable - that they were the class of the AFC again. To keep us on our toes, then, the Patriots laid a massive egg last time out against Miami. It is not nearly as easy as the Patriots made it to make Jay Cutler and the Dolphins seem like a legitimate NFL team. It came from nowhere, and it was shocking.

NFL MVP Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 12/14/2017

The story of this NFL season, unfortunately, has been debilitating injuries to crucial players. And, most recently, the torn ACL suffered by Carson Wentz has seriously impacted the fabric of not only the season and the race for the Super Bowl, but the MVP race as well. At this time last week I would have confidently picked Wentz as my pick to win the award. Now he has no chance, and the race has changed fundamentally. Now that things have changed, this is a good time to revisit the odds and see how things could play out (odds to win the NFL MVP are from Bovada):

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks
by Alan Matthews - 12/13/2017

By my count, there are just two games that mean absolutely nothing for at least one of the teams in the playoff scheme of things in Week 15: Broncos-Colts (but I previewed that here at Doc's because it's on Thursday night) and Cardinals-Redskins. The other 14 all are relevant in one form or another. That made it tough to pick a Sunday preview. I was tempted to switch to the AFC game of the year from Pittsburgh as the Steelers host the Patriots.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts
by Alan Matthews - 12/12/2017

I try to live my life as a glass half-full type of guy, but I honestly have nothing much positive to say about the Thursday night finale to the 2017 NFL regular season this week when the Denver Broncos visit the Indianapolis Colts. It's nothing short of a horrendous matchup and, frankly, it would be better for both teams to lose in terms of helping draft status.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 15 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 12/11/2017

This writer has no love for the sports teams from the City of Brotherly Love, but wow do I feel bad for Eagles fans right now. Sunday was supposed to be a great day of celebration surrounding the team as it won a terrific game at the Los Angeles Rams in a potential playoff preview. Not only did the Eagles clinch the NFC East for the first time since 2013, but the Minnesota Vikings also lost - putting Philly back in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 14 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 12/8/2017

I am growing tired of talking about the inept New York Giants and their quarterback/coaching/general manager situation, and you have my word this is the last time I speak of them for the 2017 season. But I'm a sucker for special coaching props, and BookMaker has one up.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Green Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns
by Alan Matthews - 12/6/2017

For my Sunday preview in Week 13, I went with an NFC North team (Chicago) against one of the NFL's worst teams (San Francisco) and hit on my top recommendation for that one, the under on a small total. Let's stick with that NFC North vs. Worst theme this Sunday as the Green Bay Packers visit the Cleveland Browns in what sure feels like one of the biggest trap games of the season. More on that shortly.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons
by Alan Matthews - 12/5/2017

It's fitting that this week's NFC South matchup between the Saints and Falcons is one of the best Thursday night games of the season in what has been a very blah slate that night. It's also the second-to-last one, although I'd prefer to simply ignore the Week 15 matchup between the Broncos and Colts with how bad those two are. There are no Thursday games in Week 16, instead two on Saturday. And there's never one in Week 17 as the NFL doesn't want teams playing on a short week with all the playoff potential on the line.

Expert NFL Handicapping: Competitive Divisional Races
by Trevor Whenham - 12/5/2017

As is often the case at this point three-quarters of the way through the season, there are some division races that are over and some that are still very much up in the air. The Patriots and Steelers are running away with things as usual, and Philadelphia and Minnesota are ahead by daylight as well. That leaves four other divisions, and those are much more competitive. Here's a look at how each of the four break down:

Expert NFL Betting Advice: Odds to Win NFC with Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 12/5/2017

Just one game can make such a difference when it comes to a playoff race. It seems unlikely when every team plays 16 games over a season that goes on for months, but almost always you can look at one game that really shaped how a race turned out. And it's quite possible that we will look back to this past Sunday when we are thinking about the race to win the NFC, or at least to have a bye week. If Philadelphia had beaten Seattle - as many people expected - then they would have maintained their cushion atop the conference and would have been in very good shape.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 14 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 12/4/2017

If you bet the Tennessee Titans on the spread each week, you are now officially obligated to have a giant man crush on running back Derrick Henry, the former Heisman winner from Alabama. He has single-handedly turned an ATS loss into a victory twice - but really screwed up both times.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 13 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 12/1/2017

A bad New York football team decided to bench its past-its-prime veteran quarterback this week to get a look at a younger guy with an eye toward the future - and perhaps assist in tanking to land the highest pick possible in the 2018 draft. I fully expected to type that above sentence at some point this season, but talking about the Jets and Josh McCown. Instead, the big news in the NFL this week was the Giants sitting franchise icon Eli Manning, who most likely has played his final game with the Big Blue.

Expert NFL Handicapping: Possibility of Cleveland Browns Winless Season
by Trevor Whenham - 12/1/2017

We are getting into impressive, potentially historical territory here for the Cleveland Browns. Just one team - the 2008 Detroit Lions - have run the table, managing to lose every game they played. It's hard to be that bad in the NFL. A lot of truly awful teams still have managed to trip into a win, so the Lions should really and truly be proud of what they did. At the time it was painful, but it was a true feat.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears
by Alan Matthews - 11/29/2017

I'll grant you that from a national perspective in Week 13, the marquee matchups are Vikings at Falcons, Panthers at Saints, and Eagles at Seahawks. But what fun is writing the obvious? Take the playoffs out of the equation, and I'm not sure there's a game with more storylines than the otherwise putrid matchup between the 49ers and Bears.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys
by Alan Matthews - 11/28/2017

That indigestion you may have felt Thanksgiving night? Perhaps it was the mother-in-law's candied yams or maybe due to watching a full day of pretty ugly NFL action. In case you didn't get enough of the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys from Turkey Day, they play this Thursday night in what can be called a wild-card eliminator - although I doubt the winner is good enough to earn a playoff spot. The loser is surely done.