Last week was a tough one as teams did surprise and shock the bettors across America and it’s also tough to figure out who is playing hard and who isn’t. Heading into Week 17 there are plenty of games that still involve the playoffs, playoff positioning and teams out there trying to play spoiler. Let’s roll with these plays and hope we can cash them as we head into wild-card weekend.
Money Line Maybe
New York Giants +190
The Giants head into this matchup winning two in a row (beat Miami and Washington) and putting up a combined 77 points. The week before that they played an inspiring game against Philadelphia and lost a close one in overtime. In last weeks win in Washington QB Daniel Jones returned from an injury and had 5 touchdowns and running back Saquon Barkley had almost 300 yards from scrimmage.
The Eagles did pull out a gritty win at home vs Dallas to take control of the NFC East, but they are dealing with some many injuries and they are forced to play guys no one has ever heard of. This is the Eagles forth straight division game and are only 19th in the league against the pass. Look for Daniel Jones to exploit that beat up secondary and Barkley to have another big game. This game could have extra “juice’ for the Giants as you know they will give it all they have for Eli Manning who very well could be playing his last game for “Big Blue”.
Prediction: New York Giants 23, Philadelphia Eagles 17
Best Bet
Falcons-Buccaneers OVER 48
This game features the #1 & 2 (Tampa Bay #1) passing attacks in the league. The Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston will surpass 5000 yards in this game. Winston and Falcons QB Matt Ryan have combined for 58 total touchdowns this year. The Falcons offense has been on fire totaling 93 points in their last 3 games combined and that has a lot to do with wide receiver Julio Jones. Despite a tough season overall for the Falcons, Jones has had another solid season with 92 receptions and over 1300 yards.
In the Falcons last 5 wins they have scored a total of 148 points and in 13 of their 15 games so far, they have given up 20 points or more in them. In the last 11 of 13 Tampa Bay games the total has landed 50 or more points. In a game with no playoff implications look for the defenses to end the season early and this game flies way over the total.
Prediction: Atlanta Falcons 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28
Moneyline Parlay Possibility
-400 Chiefs, -950 Patriots, -500 Cowboys
The Kansas City Chiefs still have an outside shot at the 2 seed in the AFC and are currently running on all cylinders. They looked amazing on both sides of the ball last week in Chicago. The Chiefs have won 5 in a row by a total of 88 points and the Chargers have packed it in looking downright pathetic the last 2 weeks. The Chiefs get this one done early at home on Sunday.
Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs 28, Los Angeles Chargers 10
Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has been impressive the last few weeks but not on Sunday as the Patriots defense will shut him and wide receiver DeVante Parker down. Look for heavy doses of the Patriots running game to prove to be too much for the Dolphins as New England secures the second seed and a bye in the AFC.
Prediction: New England Patriots 27, Miami Dolphins 16
A lot is on the line in Dallas as they need to win and will hope the Giants can take down the Eagles so the Cowboys can sneak into the playoffs. Dallas is 4-1 against the NFC East this year and they are 1st in the league in total yards per game at 435. In their earlier meeting against the Redskins this season Dallas won that game by double digits. Unlike last week, Dallas should pound the ball on the ground with Ezekiel Elliott against the extremely poor Redskins run defense.
Prediction: Dallas Cowboys 30, Washington Redskins 10
