The National Football League ten outdoor game sites today have weather forecasts of some clouds with the sun coming through in most locations. Only in the 49ers home game against the Seattle Seahawks is there rain in the forecast. The good weather could result in a second weekend of regular season play where teams show measurable improvement in their team rhythm. Restrictions on off-season workouts and the shorter preseason schedule and training camp period, find most teams still working into shape early in the regular season.
Most coaches appeared more afraid of getting one of their stars injured than getting their squad ready for regular season play. It showed last weekend, with a number of turnovers the result of timing just a bit off. They will soon improve, by the fourth week be at their optimum, and better this week than last.
The most interesting game of the week is not a contest I can recommend a wager on. The Pittsburgh Steelers downed the reigning AFC Champions last week on the Bengals home field. Will they bounce off that effort in the mindset of getting ready for the next challenge with as much intensity as they did for the Cincinnati opener.
They can’t.
If the Steelers were favored today in their home game against the New England Patriots they would be dead. Instead, even while the public is stacked up on the Steelers the Patriots favorite role has moved up a point. This morning the Patriots are 2½ point favorites. Which means this, there is a lot of money that would fall into the category of wise-guy, smart or sharp money, taking Bill Belichick’s team today.
The sharp money doesn’t always win, but you wouldn’t want the record on the other side of it. Today, smart money is looking for a point spread decision while giving less than a field goal with the Patriots in Pittsburgh..
If everything else was equal, I would be with them. Yet, I have the Patriots on a downward trend on season-to-season maps and their opening lopsided loss to the Dolphins shouldn’t be allowed to suggest something different.
That is why this game is so darn interesting to me; from one perspective it is clearly the Patriots giving the points, but from a more global view, that is a higher risk wager than we seek. Fortunately, we have found three other games that meet the criteria we search out from both sides; the teams and the point spread.
Those three selections are posted on this site now, while the public has also checked in with their three favorite plays of the week. First on their list is the Cleveland Browns (-6½) over the New York Jets, second the Cincinnati Bengals (-7½) over the Dallas Cowboys, and their third most wagered game is the Los Angeles Rams (-10) over the Atlanta Falcons.
While our Week Two money rated picks are now posted, if a bullet play develops in the final hour before the day’s first kickoff, that game will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.