Happy New Year everyone
Lets hope the start of the year will give us some great playoff battles and some additional cash in our pockets.
As for the handicaps, these are my predictions (posted my ML predicitions above already):
01/04
4:35 PM
[141] BUFFALO[142] HOUSTON -3
8:15 PM
[143] TENNESSEE
[144] NEW ENGLAND -501/05
1:05 PM
[145] MINNESOTA
[146] NEW ORLEANS -84:40 PM
[147] SEATTLE[148] PHILADELPHIA +1
For the poll I chose the Seahawks too. Looks like everyone and their grandmothers are on the Seahawks and the ML line has already gone down a bit. I think this could be a trap game and the line set by bet Vegas looks a bit fishy somehow. If the Eagles are able to advance somehow, I think it will be their defense that gets the win for them (FF's, INT's).
Bills ML U?
Titans Spread O
Saints ML U?
SeaGulls Cover U
Over/under is always hard to predict. You often get two underish teams scoring like crazy against each other and then otoh two overish teams having kind of a borefest. O/U lines are normally somewhere between 40-50pts and that already tells you, how close it is. This is just 1TD+1FG difference, no matter who plays. Each game has its own dynamics, there is interceptions, fumbles, missed FG's, battles for field position, brainfarts, drama, missed penalties etc. So I rarely bet on points these days - and if do, it's just overs. I can't stand betting on unders.
My guesses:
Bills@Texans -
under: I think the Bills will want to keep this one low-scoring, as this gives them a better chance to advance. Both teams had quite a lot of games this season, where they weren't scoring a lot and with so much at stake, I think both teams will want to control what is happening on the field (i.e. take care of TOP). Not very meaningful stat, but the H2H matches I could find, finished all under being played at Houston.
Titans@Patriots -
under: I think BB is aware of this stat:
https://twitter.com/RyanHannable/status/1211647299425898496In a shootout I wouldn't be so sure about the Patriots winning. In a low-scoring game I would rate the Pats chances way higher and that is exactly what BB will be looking for imo. Not that he doesn't want to put up a lot of points, but the Pats offense just isn't clicking for the moment.
Vikings@Saints -
over: I can see the Saints running away with the score here. They averaged 40ppg in their last four and I don't see the Vikings slowing them down a lot. The Vikings should be able to put up a few points themselves and with some vanilla defense from the Saints in Q4, this should go over in the end.
Seahawks@Eagles -
under: Eagles are no scoring machine right now due to their injury troubles as we all know. The Seahawks haven't really blown out anyone this season. They won 27-10 at the Cardinals, but other than that they weren't able to win any game comfortably. The 17-9 win in regular season at the Eagles was actually the biggest win in terms of points they managed apart from the Cardinals game. They often won very close games with like 1-4 points. And I expect something similar here. Eagles can't score, Seahawks can't win comfortable, so under here.