It’s Football Friday! Joe Osborne, Andrew Avery and Iain MacMillan run down the slate of games for this weekend and get your bets set for NFL and college football.
Joe kicks the show off with his weekly teaser and he’s gone 14-2 with his G&B teaser plays this season. One of the teams on it is the Miami Dolphins, who are home favorites against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Dolphins defense has carried them this season. Xavien Howard leads the NFL in interceptions with seven, and Emmanuel Ogbah has emerged on the defensive line with eight sacks. This Miami defense should feast on a banged-up Bengals offense that is starting Brandon Allen at quarterback. The other team Joe has on his teaser is an AFC team looking to bounce back this week.
Joe is looking at an NFC South rematch of a game from two weeks ago as the New Orleans Saints face the Atlanta Falcons. Taysom Hill handled the Falcons in that game as the Saints went on to a 24-9 victory. The Falcons are fresh off a thumping of the Raiders at home, which improved their record to 4-7. The Saints defense has stepped up the last few weeks as they’ve only surrendered 28 points combined in their last four games.
We have an NFC West showdown with the Los Angeles Rams on the road squaring off against the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams could be one of the trickier teams to figure out this season, but when that offense gets rolling, they can put up points with anyone. They may need to this week with Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins on the other side. Joe is looking at a bet on the total for this game.
Ninja has a couple of college football bets and he’ll start in the SEC with the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road to take on the Missouri Tigers. A storyline for this game is that former Mizzou head coach Barry Odom is the defensive coordinator for Arkansas. So Odom is tasked with trying to stop his old quarterback, Connor Bazelak. The Tigers are coming in hot, having won four of their last five games, with their only loss in that span coming against Florida.
Next up, Ninja is looking at the total between the West Virginia Mountaineers and Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones find themselves at No. 9 in the country heading into their regular-season finale and a win would seal their spot in the Big 12 title game. West Virginia enters this road game with both of its last two games ending with a total of 30 points.
Iain has a couple of NFL picks, and he starts off in the Northwest as the New York Giants face the Seattle Seahawks. The Giants lost quarterback Daniel Jones to injury last week, so Colt McCoy is now in charge of the offense. He’ll be facing a Seattle defense that is finding its identity at the right time in the season. Seattle’s ground game got a boost with Chris Carson returning from injury. It’s a big spread in this game and that is where Iain is betting.
Lastly, the Los Angeles Chargers showed everyone what poor clock management is last week in losing at Buffalo and now they have a home date with the New England Patriots. Cam Newton and company are 5-6 and still have an outside shot at the playoffs but will need a win this week to keep that hope alive. For the Chargers, it seems like just a matter of time before Anthony Lynn is fired and this team goes in a new direction. On the plus side for the Chargers, it looks like they’ve found their franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert.