NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Buffalo Bills at New York Jets
by Alan Matthews - 10/31/2017

Last week on Thursday Night Football, we were subjected to Matt Moore vs. Joe Flacco, and the Ravens won an incredibly boring game 40-0. This week, it's Tyrod Taylor vs. Josh McCown, two QBs who probably won't be on their current teams come 2018. And I fully expect Bills-Jets to be rather bland as well. But, you can bet on it, and baseball season will be over, so here we are (I'll be watching Warriors-Spurs).

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 9 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/30/2017

We are now at the halfway point of the 2017 NFL regular season, and we still don't have a resolution to this whole Ezekiel Elliott suspension mess. I really didn't want to talk about this again, but it's likely the biggest thing that will happen in the league this week barring a surprising big name traded before Tuesday's deadline.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 8 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 10/27/2017

I'm obligated to tell you that the NFL trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. After that, there can't be a single trade made in the league until the 2018 league year begins on March 14 at 4 p.m. ET. Might something significant happen? I suppose, but it's more likely that we will just see small moves.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints
by Alan Matthews - 10/25/2017

I somewhat map out before the season which Sunday game I will most likely preview each week here at Doc's. Of course, there are changes to the schedule because the NFL is a league of parity and there are surprise teams every year, both in a good and bad way. That said, if you had told me I would be previewing Bears at Saints in Week 8 because the game had potential playoff relevance for both, well, I would have never believed it. But here we are.

Expert NFL Handicapping: Most Disappointing Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 10/25/2017

At this point in the NFL season we can break the teams in the league into several groups based on their play so far. There are the teams we know for certain are bad - the Browns and Colts, for example. There are the teams like the Eagles that we are pretty sure are good. And there are a whole bunch of teams that it is tough to know what to think about - New England thanks to the defense, and Seattle thanks to the offensive line, for example.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Miami Dolphins at Baltimore Ravens
by Alan Matthews - 10/24/2017

The worst contract in Major League Baseball right now probably belongs to either Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera. They will each be first-ballot Hall of Famers, but their bodies are breaking down and their mega-deals stretch into the 2020s. There are probably too many crappy contracts in the NBA to pick just one, although the Grizzlies' Chandler Parsons and Knicks' Joakim Noah immediately come to mind. Two good players but haven't been healthy for a while.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 8 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/23/2017

Does Carson Palmer belong in Canton? Working against the former Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick from USC is that he never has played in a Super Bowl. But his regular-season statistics are strong. Palmer has passed for 46,247 yards overall with three teams: the Bengals (who drafted him in 2004), Raiders (where he wasn't very good for two years) and Cardinals (career resurgence). That's more yardage than such Hall of Famers like Dan Fouts, Joe Montana or Johnny Unitas.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 7 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 10/20/2017

Back in January, the Indianapolis Colts fired general manager Ryan Grigson, and while you hate for anyone to lose their job it was very much deserved. Grigson had a superstar quarterback in Andrew Luck on a rookie-level salary but could never surround him with enough talent. You must take advantage of your QB making relatively little money while you can before he gets a mega-extension and gobbles up salary-cap space. The Seahawks did that with Russell Wilson in winning one Super Bowl and coming one yard short from a second. The Cowboys are in the midst of this with Dak Prescott.

NFL Handicapping: How the Philadelphia Eagles have the Best Record in Football
by Trevor Whenham - 10/20/2017

This has been an odd, frequently confusing and often frustrating NFL season. So many teams that were supposed to be good are just average or worse. Teams that seem good are except for when they aren't. It seems just plain random at times. Through six weeks of games the team with the best record is, to the surprise of many, the Philadelphia Eagles. A lot of people, as I did, likely felt that they were a solid team that was on the fringes of playoff contention. But to say that they would be 5-1 and running away with their division would have required the faith of a rabid fan. It has been pretty impressive.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots
by Alan Matthews - 10/18/2017

The broken collarbone suffered by Green Bay superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn't just affect the Packers, their NFC North foes or any teams remaining on their schedule. It could just as easily affect the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons going forward as they visit New England on Sunday night this week in a Super Bowl LI rematch.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
by Alan Matthews - 10/17/2017

We had a very entertaining Thursday night game last week between good teams with Philadelphia winning at Carolina. I would enjoy this Thursday's AFC West showdown between the Chiefs and Raiders in Oakland because the TNF schedule is rather lame the next three weeks: Dolphins-Ravens, Bills-Jets and Seahawks-Cardinals (maybe Adrian Peterson makes Arizona interesting, but that's a wait-and-see).

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 7 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/16/2017

In my NFL Week 6 Line Movements & Last-Minute News story posted Friday here at Doc's, I mentioned that Vikings fans were horrified at the thought of the blood-rival Packers winning Super Bowl LII on the Vikes' home field. Well, no need to worry about that any longer - the Packers are now +2500 to do so.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 6 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 10/13/2017

The 49ers-Redskins game on Sunday perhaps doesn't look all that interesting on the surface because San Francisco is winless while Washington (2-2) is coming off its bye week, should win and is one four double-digit favorites in Week 6 at -10.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans
by Alan Matthews - 10/11/2017

The Cleveland Browns (I assume) have a lot of smart people in their front office, guys who certainly went to a lot better schools than I did. Maybe this franchise will get turned around before the end of the decade. But, wow, does it look like the Browns blew yet another draft earlier this year.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Philadelphia Eagles at Carolina Panthers
by Alan Matthews - 10/10/2017

If we are being honest, the football on Thursday nights usually isn't great. The NFL wants to ensure that every team is showcased on national television each once, so nearly every team will play a Thursday night game. It's why we were subjected to Titans-Jaguars on Thursday the past couple of years; now that they are both pretty good, it figures we don't get them in a TNF game.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 6 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/9/2017

It turns out we were all correct: the worst team in the NFL this season is a New York club that plays its home games at MetLife Stadium. What, you thought I meant the Jets? They are 3-2 (most books closed the Jets with a season total of 4.5 wins and I would have gone under that) and might even be saving the job of embattled coach Todd Bowles.

NFL Betting Odds: Week 5 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 10/6/2017

My marquee Sunday preview this week was Packers at Cowboys, but I nearly went with Kansas City at Houston for two reasons. The first was whether members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins will be able to pop some champagne late Sunday night/early Monday morning if the Chiefs lose. I'm not sure if guys from that team still do that when the last unbeaten loses each NFL season (or how many are even still alive), but you get my drift.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys
by Alan Matthews - 10/4/2017

I guarantee you that if there was flex scheduling allowed on Monday Night Football that ESPN would dump the Vikings-Bears matchup - a game I will preview here at Doc's - for Sunday afternoon's big Packers-Cowboys showdown. But you can't show Green Bay and Dallas on national television every week, and you can't take every big matchup from CBS or Fox. There are only three games in the 4 p.m. ET window in Week 5, so practically the whole country will get Green Bay-Dallas regardless.

NFL Expert Picks Against the Spread: New England Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
by Alan Matthews - 10/3/2017

Sure, I predicted that the Buffalo Bills would be leading the AFC East Division entering Week 5 and that the New England Patriots would be in second place with two losses - as many defeats as they suffered all of last year and as many victories as the 2017 New York Jets. Sure, I did. Also have some beachfront property in Kansas that I'd like to sell you.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 5 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/2/2017

When the NFL schedule is announced every April, you always see the Top 10 Games of the Year stories. And, regardless of site, they are essentially the same 10 games give or take one or two. Boring! Me? When the 2017 schedule was released April 20, I circled one game immediately: Jets at Browns, Oct. 8, FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland. Expected to be "Toilet Bowl 2017". Unfortunately, the Jets ruined this showdown a bit by upsetting the Dolphins in Week 3 and then winning again Week 4 in overtime against Jacksonville (must be a Florida thing).