NFL Picks: Parlays, Best Bets, Player Props, and Expert Predictions Against the Spread.

Monday Night Football Predictions: Dolphins at Buccaneers Week 10 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 11/7/2013

Sad to say, I've never played professional sports. I have played in high school and college, so I'm familiar with what goes on in a locker room. I've been the victim of pranks/hazing and certainly helped put the occasional freshman in line as well. Frankly, what the Miami Dolphins' Richie Incognito apparently did to Jonathan Martin sounds tame compared to what I had to endure as a fraternity pledge.

Free NFL Picks: Redskins at Vikings Week 10 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 11/5/2013

Back when I did some NFL team previews this summer, I wasn't high on the Redskins or the Vikings. They both made the playoffs last season as 10-win teams, but both looked severely flawed. Minnesota had major questions at quarterback and was much too reliant on running back Adrian Peterson. Washington didn't have a very good defense and was much too reliant on quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Monday Night Football Picks: Bears at Packers Week 9 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/31/2013

It's really a shame that injuries are going to cost football fans what should have been one of the best "Monday Night Football" matchups of the season. It's Week 9, so every team is dealing with injuries as it's a part of football, but perhaps no two teams are in worse shape in terms of lost star power than the Bears and Packers.

Free NFL Picks: Bengals at Dolphins Odds for Week 9
by Alan Matthews - 10/29/2013

The Cincinnati Bengals haven't won a playoff game since the 1990 season, and I wasn't overly optimistic entering this season that they would in 2013. Sure, I thought they might win the AFC North and had a terrific defense. I loved their draft in landing Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert and North Carolina running back Gio Bernard. My concern was that Andy Dalton wasn't a good enough quarterback to win playoff games.

Monday Night Football Picks: Seahawks at Rams Week 8 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/24/2013

I think the St. Louis Rams are desperately seeking any and all publicity. The team doesn't draw well and is third fiddle in town behind the Cardinals and Blues. There's been some talk the franchise could move back to Los Angeles. Team ownership didn't get some $700 million in public funds to renovate the Edward Jones Dome, and the Rams' lease can be up after next season should they chose. Maybe the London Rams?

Free NFL Picks: Browns at Chiefs Odds and Week 8 Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 10/23/2013

You could make an argument that we in a golden age of NFL quarterbacks. There are the lock Hall of Famers still going strong like Denver's Peyton Manning, New England's Tom Brady and New Orleans' Drew Brees. Aaron Rodgers is well on his way to Canton and has an MVP and a ring. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and the NY Giants' Eli Manning each have two Super Bowl rings. Then you have the really exciting up-and-coming guys such as Andrew Luck, Colin Kapernick and Robert Griffin III.

Monday Night Football Predictions: Vikings at Giants Week 7 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/18/2013

I've started a petition at Change.org for Major League Baseball to begin the World Series on Monday night instead of Wednesday. Because otherwise I'm going to have to watch the 1-4 Minnesota Vikings play the 0-6 New York Giants in certainly the worst “Monday Night Football” matchup of the season -- it makes the recent Jets-Falcons matchup look like a Super Bowl preview. I guess there's always hockey.

Free NFL Picks: Seahawks at Cardinals Week 7 Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 10/15/2013

I know it will never happen, but in my opinion the NFL should dump the Thursday night NFL Network game and give that channel a late night Sunday game like we saw a couple of weeks ago between the Chargers and Raiders. The Thursday games have not been well-played most times since the debut of these weekly matchups because the players are just too banged up with just three days off following Sunday (they don't even really practice, just walk throughs).

Monday Night Football Picks: Colts at Chargers Week 6 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/10/2013

Why don't the Indianapolis Colts have shorter odds to win the AFC Championship? They are currently +1000 on Sportsbook.ag, behind Denver (-150), New England (+600) and tied with Kansas City. OK, obviously the Broncos you can understand. But the Patriots? That's purely because of history, not how New England has played so far this year.

Free NFL Picks: Saints at Patriots Odds and Week 6 Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/9/2013

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning is the best individual NFL rivalry of this era, but just think what might have been if San Diego had decided to keep Drew Brees over Philip Rivers after the 2005 season. It looked like the right decision at the time as Brees was coming off a serious injury and Rivers was younger and showed much promise. But how great would it have been for Brees and Brady to face off perhaps once a season like Manning did (and Brees vs. Manning)?

Monday Night Football Betting: Jets at Falcons Bookie Advice
by CarbonSports - 10/7/2013

There’s a general rule of thumb out there that preaches, “Don’t bet against the Atlanta Falcons when they play in the Georgia Dome.” Ask most fans or gamblers, and they’ll tell you the same. It’s become one of these strange betting points because they win at home quite a bit.

Monday Night Football Predictions: Jets at Falcons Week 5 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/4/2013

In a bit of a coincidence, we have our second straight Monday Night Football matchup of an AFC East club at an NFC West foe. However, while last Monday's Dolphins-Falcons matchup was between unbeatens, this week's Jets-Falcons game is a bit of a dog. They have combined for three wins thus far.

Free NFL Picks: Bills at Browns Week 5 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 10/2/2013

When the NFL Network's Thursday night schedule was released this week's Bills-Browns matchup looked like maybe the most unwatchable game of them all. Now? It might be a playoff preview! That might be going a little bit too far. But this is still a key game in the AFC.

Monday Night Football Picks: Dolphins at Saints Week 4 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 9/26/2013

I want you to imagine a quarterback who has a Pro Bowl-type season and leads his team to the AFC East title, playing the best of all signal-callers in that division. Of course, I am talking about ... Miami's Ryan Tannehill? OK, let's not put the cart before the horse yet, but Tannehill's Dolphins are with the Chiefs as the biggest early-season surprise in football at 3-0 and tied atop the East with New England. And don't look now, but Tannehill has been much better than the Patriots' Tom Brady.

Free NFL Picks: Cardinals at Buccaneers Week 4 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 9/26/2013

There's not much argument that the three best games on Sunday in the NFL's Week 4 would be Seattle at Houston, Philadelphia at Denver and New England at Atlanta. All six of those teams could be in the playoffs this winter, although the Eagles and Falcons have to improve. However, the point of these previews isn't to look at the NFL's powerhouses every week, and there will be plenty of opportunities to do Seahawks, Broncos and Patriots games the rest of the way.

Monday Night Football Predictions: Raiders at Broncos Week 3 Odds
by Alan Matthews - 9/20/2013

Most times, a 15.5-point spread will be the highest you will see all season, but Monday's night's gap between the Super Bowl-favored Broncos and visiting Oakland paled in comparison to Sunday's Jaguars-Seahawks number. Looking at the remaining MNF schedule this year, this should easily be the worst game in terms of being competitive. I'm not really sure why the Raiders even got a Monday night slot to be honest.

NFL Picks: Giants at Panthers Odds and Week 3 Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 9/19/2013

There are two Desperation Bowls in Week 3 involving 0-2 teams: Cleveland at Minnesota and the New York Giants at Carolina. Only 22 teams since 1990, when the playoff expanded, have made the postseason (around 11.5 percent), but three won the Super Bowl, including the 2007 Giants. So it's their game against the Panthers I will preview. No team that started 0-3 has made the playoffs since 1998.

Monday Night Football Picks: Steelers at Bengals Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 9/13/2013

Let me preface this by saying I highly doubt it, but could Mike Tomlin be in some trouble with the Pittsburgh Steelers this season? I hate to overreact to one week, but Pittsburgh looked arguably like the second-worst team in football in its opening 16-9 home loss to Tennessee (Jags are easily the worst). How does a team score only one late touchdown against a defense that allowed an NFL-high 29.4 points a season ago (a franchise record)? That ended a 10-game winning streak in home openers for Pittsburgh.

NFL Picks: Broncos at Giants Week 2 Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 9/12/2013

With all due respect to the Broncos at Giants, i.e. Manning Bowl III, the best game of Week 2 in the NFL is easily the 49ers at Seahawks, a matchup of the NFC's two Super Bowl favorites and perhaps the best rivalry in the NFL right now. However, those two will play again later this year, so I am going to jump on the Manning Bowl hype bandwagon as much as I hate to. After all, this could be the final time the brothers face off.

NFL Picks: 2013 Chicago Bears Predictions and NFL Futures Odds
by Alan Matthews - 8/8/2013

Coach Lovie Smith led the Chicago Bears to a combined mark of 18-14 the past two seasons. If he does that in Buffalo, he gets a contract extension. In Chicago. he got the gate. The main problem under Smith is that while his defense was annually terrific and was easily the best in the NFL at forcing turnovers, he could never find the right offensive coordinator to spark Jay Cutler and those quarterbacks before him.