Welcome back to another edition of The Picks Six! Six sections of NFL Tips and Picks for the weekend ahead.
Week 9 is poised to be one of the best of the season so far. One legitimate blockbuster game (Saints-Bucs), plus numerous intriguing matchups that might tell us a lot about the playoff contenders and playoff pretenders. Seahawks-Bills, Dolphins-Cardinals, Bears-Titans, Ravens-Colts… tasty!! Let’s dive straight in and see if we can improve on our 26-14 record on picking games straight up!
The 1st & Goal from the 1yd Line. (Season Record: 4-2)
This is my lock of the week. A sure fire winner surely.
It’s got to the point in the season where you can almost pick teams to lose, rather than teams to win. So you might see a pattern to two develop in my “lock of the week” picks. This week, the hapless New York Jets face the wounded New England Patriots on Monday night. Cam and Bill find themselves at 2-5, trailing not just the Bills, but also the Dolphins(!!) in the AFC East standings. Patriots by a billion on Monday night.
The 45yd Field Goal (Season Record 0-4)
This is my mid-range, around even odds, toss up of the week.
Embarrassingly, 0-4 on toss ups. Yeeesh. Let’s rectify that please. We’ll go for 2 this week and hope to halve our deficit.
Steelers -14.0 – This line is big, but the Cowboys… against THAT Steelers defense!? Not for me. Don’t see how the Cowboys can score enough to keep up… or stop Big Ben enough to stay close… AAF legend Garrett Gilbert set to start for Dallas?? Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t look like himself?? They REALLY miss Dak… Pittsburgh for sure this weekend. They remain undefeated.
Texans -7.0 – Deshaun Watson deserves better than the record this Texans team has. No Gardner Minshew for the Jaguars means this should be a fairly straightforward Texans win. I wish the line was -6.5 of course, but even at -7.0 it’s hard not to believe in Watson (and his weapons) having enough to take the Jags apart. Texans please.
The Hail Mary (Season Record 0-3)
This is my shot from half field. Unlikely, but you never know.
Went 2-2 on my under dogs acca last week, not too bad. Let’s try something different again this week. A little Touchdown Scorers acca.
Marquise Brown (vs Colts) – The Colts’ run defense is stout and they’ll be challenging Lamar Jackson to throw, whilst trying to take away Mark Andrews. I think that leaves Hollywood open for a score, especially after they connected in the endzone last week vs the Steelers.
Brandin Cooks (vs Jaguars) – I think the Texans run this score up quite a bit here. Watson has a great connection with Will Fuller, but quietly Cooks is putting together a nice season too. I’ll take Cooks vs a suspect Jags Defense.
Darius Slayton (vs Football Team) – Danny Dimes’ favourite target is due for a score, and the Washington defense scares me a lot more up front than on the back end. I see this game being back and forth and lots of throwing. A couple EndZone targets for Slayton is very possible.
DeVante Parker (vs Cardinals) – Tua was mediocre last week but still managed to connect with the Dolphins’ top receiver for a Touchdown. I’m hoping he can repeat the trick in this game where Miami are likely to need to throw to keep up with Kyler and DHop.
This acca pays around 52/1 depending on your bookmaker.
The Overs (Season Record: 2-3-1)
Saints @ Buccaneers – Over 50.5 – Sunday Night Football is supposed to be a shootout. If I’m staying up until 4:30am, I expect a Seahawks-esque 37-34 game, not a boring “blowout” like the Eagles-Cowboys last week. These two teams are explosive and Brees and Brady will want to outduel each other. Antonio Brown’s Buccaneers debut? Michael Thomas finally returning and wanting to make a statement? Both teams squabbling over the lead in the NFC South? I’m taking the over.
Raiders @ Chargers – Over 51.5 – The Raiders burned me last week by shutting down the Browns, but I can legitimately blame that somewhat on the weather too. Justin Herbert and Derek Carr both like to push the ball down the field to their big threats; Henry Ruggs and Mike Williams really help this. But both these teams need a win. The Chargers seemingly have no problem running up points… but can’t stop leaking them at the back either. I like this over a lot.
The Parlay (Complete Parlays 0-3, Correct Legs 7-7-1)
Baltimore to win – Jackson needs a statement win. This would be that.
Giants +2.5 – Giants pushed Brady close. Washington are well below average (that’s being kind). Giants should be favoured in my opinion…
Patriots -8.5 – As previously stated… it’s the Jets. Patriots. By. A. Billion.
Titans -6.5 – Tennessee bounce back game? Yep. Losing to Cincinnati will have pissed off Derrick Henry. Bears can’t stop Tennessee.
Falcons -4.0 – Broncos are Frauds. Falcons have the weapons. If Matt Ryan can hold it together, Atlanta should win with ease.
This parlay pays about 24/1 depending on your bookmaker.
The Full English (Season Record: 26-14)
Ravens @ Colts – Baltimore
Panthers @ Chiefs – Mahomes City
Bears @ Titans – Tennessee
Broncos @ Falcons – Atlanta (you can be DAMN sure I’m not picking against the city of Atlanta or the state of Georgia this week!!)
Lions @ Vikings – Minnesota
Texans @ Jaguars – Houston
Giants @ Football Team – New York
Seahawks @ Bills – Seattle
Raiders @ Chargers – Las Vegas
Dolphins @ Cardinals – Arizona
Steelers @ Cowboys – Pittsburgh
Saints @ Buccaneers – New Orleans (Give me the Brees upset with Michael Thomas having a big game. AB to score a TD though…)
Patriots @ Jets – New England
Week 10 to Come:
Highlighted by Colts-Titans on Thursday night, plus Ravens-Patriots, Rams-Seahawks, and 49ers-Saints on Sunday, Week 10 should be another doozy, as the Steelers also face the Bengals trying to stay perfect. The playoff field will really start to take shape. As always, I’m @callumjdsquires on Twitter & Instagram. Follow me for Man Utd-related panic tweets, Joe Biden gifs and Dolphins’ fandom. Have a good one.
Callum Squires is a freelance writer, former collegiate athlete in America, and all around good guy. If you want to write articles for NFL in London, get in touch.