Another nail biter as rookie sensation Antoine Winfield, Jr raced across the end zone and got in the way of Daniel Jones two-point conversion pass giving Tampa the win over the Giants. Survivor pools lost some participants with unexpected losses by Green Bay and Tennessee. We head into Week 9 with many pools still with large numbers of participants still alive. Picking against the Jets and Giants has been gold, but the Giants have provided some angst and will make you think about going against them in the future.
Week 9 finds the Chiefs as the only home favorite of more than seven points. They are 10½ point favorites over the Panthers who lost at home to the Falcons. Is this the week we see the return of Christian McCaffrey ? This will be a boost for the Panthers, possibly opening the downfield passing as the Chiefs would have to account for him out of the backfield. On the other hand, the Chiefs secondary has been playing well and could be a problem for D.J. Moore and company. The Chiefs can beat you any way they please on offense and Patrick Mahomes continues to find Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill when he needs to.
What are your options if you’ve already taken the Chiefs? New England is seven-point road favorites over the winless Jets. I’m not sure if this is where you’d want to go with the struggling Patriots offense against a Jet defense that isn’t all that bad. They are on the field the whole game as the Jets offense is pathetic. This game could set up in the Jets favor with the way the Patriots are playing. Use the Pats at your own risk.
With the announcement that Andy Dalton will not be active this week due to Covid and that the Cowboys will also not be going back to Ben DiNucci, the Steelers have become the biggest favorite of the week at 13.5 point road favorites. With a struggling Cowboys offensive line and a dominant front seven of the Steelers, expect whoever is the QB to be running for their life. The Steelers should prevail in this one quite easily.
Another strong play this week is Houston on the road in Jacksonville as seven-point favorites. Jacksonville will be without Gardner Minshew and starting 2020 6th round pick Jake Luton. As we saw DiNucci struggle with Dallas, Luton will probably struggle as well. Without the benefit of a preseason, these third string quarterbacks have not had the time to get up to speed. Houston will not be a popular pick and may be a good play this week as they have very little value for the rest of the season.
The picks so far: Buffalo, Arizona, Chargers (L), Rams, Dallas, Miami, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay.
Pick of the Week: Kansas City
Many took the Chiefs last week against the Jets. I felt it left you a little more vulnerable this week which is why I saved them but the turn of events with the Cowboys and Jaguars have made the Steelers and Texans very viable options. Looking ahead it was tempting saving the Chiefs and using the Texans as they have almost no value the remainder of the season, but in the end, I feel the Chiefs are the right choice. Pittsburgh has a lot of future value with games against the Jaguars, Bengals twice, and Washington. Good luck this week and hope to see you back for Week 10.