Thanksgiving, eh? We can give thanks to the scheduling Gods that we get to enjoy two relatively full days of the NFL in a given week, but I’m not so sure Jerry Jones is feeling in a very gracious mood right now.
We might be a few days late, but I suspect you’ll be thanking me at your own dinner table on Monday evening after I land you this tasty treble. I understand that yesterday’s leftover roast beef is no substitute for a turkey dinner smothered in cranberry sauce, but your mother-in-law’s stew would even taste sweeter with this few extra quid in your pocket.
Los Angeles Rams (-3.0) @ Arizona Cardinals (10/11)
Sunday 21:05
This might seem like a bizarre call, but this Rams unit is still too sophisticated for the Arizona Cardinals. There’s also very little more motivating than losing on primetime the previous week, let alone being disgraced by the Ravens in the fashion they were.
Arizona’s biggest issue now is how often they go empty-set, with no running backs in to help block. And if you don’t block Aaron Donald on the interior, you’re in for a long day.
While the Rams might struggle to put up 20 points in this, I don’t believe Arizona will match it. David Johnson is a shadow of himself, and the franchise might be best-placed trading him and seeing the rest of the year out in a losing fashion to get a Larry Fitzgerald replacement. It is, after all, a very good year to need a wide receiver.
Los Angeles Chargers (-3) @ Denver Broncos (10/11)
Sunday 21:25
If you believe that Philip Rivers’ career is over, I can accept it. If you believe that Drew Lock’s NFL ready, I simply can’t.
The Chargers won 12 games last year and a large part of that was the safety tandem of both Adrian Phillips and Derwin James. Well, guess who’s back this week? Both of them. Now, factor in that Keenan Allen always has a day in Denver, and the Broncos can’t really defend running backs who can catch the ball, then you figure Austin Ekeler will also enjoy himself in the thinner air.
That’s far too many avenues for Denver to shut down, and the once-great foe of Rivers, one Von Miller, is approaching tradebait territory as the Broncos now have a star pass rusher in Bradley Chubb to come back in 2020.
This goes one way.
New England Patriots (-3.5) @ Houston Texans (10/11)
Monday 01:20
New England were lucky to beat Dallas, and while that formline doesn’t look great in retrospect now given the blowout loss to the AFC East’s second-best team, it’s very much a case that Buffalo are still exactly that.
For me, Deshaun Watson is playing above himself and the emergence of their offence has largely relied on his uniqueness and DeAndre Hopkins’ clutchness on third down. These are two things that the Patriots clamp down on better than anyone.
Watson won’t be allowed escape the pocket or audible to his bizarre trickery, nor will he have a wide-open Nuke when it matters. Stephon Gilmore is the best defender in the NFL this year and Bill has been crafting plans for seemingly unstoppable quarterbacks since day dot.
This line is rather generous.
Find a full list of NFL fixtures over on paddypower.com