Thursday Night Pick: Panthers at Steelers (Week 16)
Published December 23, 2010 | 
Worst game of the week? No. Worst game of the season.
Luckily it’s a Thursday night game on NFL Network, on the eve of Christmas Eve, so no one is watching anyways.
The Panthers have been running the ball well of late and they just beat the worst team in football (Cardinals) at home last week, but the Steelers jsut don’t give upa ny rushing yards, it’s their thing. The only way to beat or even compete with the Steelers is to throw the ball well. And Jimmy Clausen isn’t going to win any games in the air.
This one shouldn’t be close. The line is Steelers by -14. Projections say Steelers by 20. Pick is Steelers -14.
For full game stats projections and predictions see the Panthers Vs. Steelers Matchup.
Thursday Night Pick: Texans at Eagles (Week 13)
Published December 2, 2010 | The game that no one will be watching tonight on NFL Network is the Texans at the Eagles.
The Eagles are coming off a brutal loss to the Bears where Michael Vick finally looked human. The Houston Texans defense may be just what the doctor ordered for Vick and the Eagles. The Texans defense is second to last to New England in pass yards per game at 286 yds/gm and second to last to the Jaguars in yards per attempt at 8.1 yards/pass.
The projection for this game shows Vick and the eagles putting up 308 yards passing at 8.3 per attempt and 3 TDs. Then when you factor in Michael Vick’s legs and Houston, may have a problem.
The Thursday night game gives another advantage to the home team, that didn’t have to travel this week.
The Vegas line is set at -8 for the Eagles.
As you can see from the graphic, I have Philly as a 88% favorite and a nearly -10 favorite in the spread. So the pick for tonight is the Eagles (-8).
Houston is lucky they still have Andre Johnson (Goodell/NFL Network Conspiracy), but it doesn’t seem to be enough and Andy Reid should have some fun with the Texans defense.
But who cares anyways? No one, and I mean no one, will miss at least the beginning of the return of Lebron James to Cleveland on ESPN, especially those without NFL Network (Sorry).
Thursday Night Pick: Ravens at Falcons (Week 10)
Published November 11, 2010 | The first Thursday night game (outside of opening week) is here and will be for the rest of the season. So if 13 hours of games on Sunday and Monday just isn’t quite enough, you’re in luck.
Baltimore Ravens (+1) at Atlanta Falcons (-1) OU – 44 pts
The Ravens are coming off a huge win at home over the Dolphins, who have been a good road team over the past few seasons. They’ll be coming into Atlanta on a short week for this Thursday night game. Falcons won their game on Sunday, but Josh Freeman for TB almost had another big come from behind 4th quarter drive to add to his resume.
Not only is Atlanta one of the best home teams in the NFL, but they get this week at home on short rest in prime time.
Vegas has Atlanta as -1 point favorites, and I’ve got them as a slightly larger 62% favorite at -2.43. So The pick is for the Falcons to beat the Ravens giving 1 point.
For full game projections and matchup see the Ravens at Falcons Matchup & Projections.
Thursday Night Pick: IND(-3) at JAC
Published December 17, 2009 | 
Peyton is still undefeated facing a division rival who have spoiled Colts undefeated seasons in the past. The Jaguars defense a few years ago would give Peyton trouble, put times have changed and Peyton owns the Jags team of late.
We are starting to hear whispers out of players in Indy indicating they want to go for the undefeated season. I mean, why not? All it does is keep up momentum going into playoffs. The Colts will rest their injured players in the final 3 weeks as much as possible.
But 3 points in this situation is just not enough to give the jaguars the betting edge. The Colts have the advantage in all of the major statistical categories that are causal to a win (with the exception of the large gap in rushing).
Look for the Colts defense to come through again and lead the colts to a 6 point victory.