After a game on Thursday night that you’ll never forget (no matter how hard you try), NFL attention turns to an intriguing trio of games on Saturday as the playoff picture continues to take shape.
AFC West rivals Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos are both on the road, albeit with very different opponents, whilst in the late window, it’s a divisional clash in the NFC West as the Arizona Cardinals try to play spoiler for the playoff-chasing Los Angeles Rams.
Read on to see what Peter Sharland is tipping in the three-game slate.
NFL Saturday Multi-Match Bet Builder
6pm – Los Angeles Chargers @ New England Patriots
Ladd McConkey total receiving yards – Over 70.5
Rhamondre Stevenson rushing yards – Over 42.5
9:30pm – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow passing yards – Over 271.5
Total points – Over 49.5
1:15am – Arizona Cardinals @ Los Angeles Rams
Kyren Williams total rushing yards – Over 90.5
- A Multi Match Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 16/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD TO YOUR BETSLIP.
6pm – Los Angeles Chargers @ New England Patriots – Ladd McConkey total receiving yards – Over 70.5
The Chargers went from putting their season in jeopardy with a catastrophic loss against the Bucs to then reviving it in one fell swoop by beating the Broncos on Thursday night. Thanks to having the tiebreaker against Denver, they realistically need just one more win to secure their place in the playoffs, and they will get two big bites of the apple, ending against the Raiders and this week playing the Pats, both 3-12 teams.
New England were surprisingly frisky against the Bills last week, and it is fair to wonder how the Chargers are going to cope with some pretty chilly conditions. However, we just can’t overlook Ladd McConkey right now.
Brian Thomas Jr and Brock Bowers are rightly getting all the attention amongst rookie wide receivers and tight ends but McConkey is putting together a fabulous season with 960 yards so far. Whilst Chargers fans spent most of the pre-draft process agonising over Joe Alt or a star wide receiver, general manager Joe Ortiz really said, “Why not both?” McConkey has hit this over in four of his last five and down the stretch it’s clear just how in sync he and Justin Herbert have become.
Rhamondre Stevenson rushing yards – Over 42.5
Unlike McConkey we are nowhere near believing in Kayshon Boutte despite a monster game against the Bills and instead we’ll put our eggs in the Rhamondre Stevenson basket.
Stevenson has hit his over in his last three games straight (as well as five of his last six), and the Pats staff will have watched how easily Denver ran on the Chargers in the first half on Thursday night. LA did adjust in the second but they’re just still not a great run defence. Stevenson should eat well here.
9:30pm – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals – Joe Burrow passing yards – Over 271.5
This game could be absolute fireworks. The Bengals can still technically make the playoffs as the seven seed by winning out, the problem they have is they need Denver to lose their other game (or the Chargers to lose out) as well as both the Colts and Dolphins to lose out. That will be tough considering the cupcakes on the schedule of those latter two teams, but Joe Burrow isn’t going to die wondering.
No one in the league has more than Burrow’s passing yardage total of 4,229, and only two other quarterbacks (Geno Smith and Jared Goff) have even passed 4,000, and both are over 100 yards behind the Bengals talisman. Burrow is pulling some Philip Rivers magic to drag this team into the playoffs, and he should continue that hot streak here.
Total points – Over 49.5
And on that note, we’re backing the Over here as well. It’s a big figure, make no mistake, but these two teams have played in some true shootouts recently. The Bengal’s defence can’t stop anyone, and whilst the Broncos are stout, they can be got at if you’re a good offense. And that is exactly what Cincinnati are. The Broncos are still too weird on offence for us to feel confident picking an individual so we’ve settled on the over.
1:15am – Arizona Cardinals @ Los Angeles Rams – Kyren Williams total rushing yards – Over 90.5
This should have been a blockbuster showdown. In a perfect world this game would have given Arizona a chance to beat the Rams and move onto 9-7 and make it a three-way tie at the top of the West. But then the Cardinals reminded us that they are not a serious team yet and got absolutely stomped by Chuba Hubbard and the lowly Panthers.
Rams running back Kyren Williams has been a revelation this season, and he carried his team last week when the passing attack couldn’t get anything going against the Jets.
His over/under here is high, but after what we saw from Arizona last week and factoring in that Williams has gone over 100 yards in three of his last four, we feel pretty confident of him doing the same here. Plus there are few better coordinators at finding a weakness and exploiting it then Sean McVay and you can be sure he’ll be licking his lips scheming up running lanes for Williams in this one.
NFL Saturday Betting Tips
6pm – Los Angeles Chargers @ New England Patriots
Ladd McConkey total receiving yards – Over 70.5
Rhamondre Stevenson rushing yards – Over 42.5
9:30pm – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow passing yards – Over 271.5
Total points – Over 49.5
1:15am – Arizona Cardinals @ Los Angeles Rams
Kyren Williams total rushing yards – Over 90.5
- A Multi Match Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 16/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All odds and lines quoted are accurate at time of publication but are subject to change
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