Weather conditions remain mostly mild for the National Football League’s sixth week of regular season action. There is a chance of rain at four outdoor sites including in Chicago, where the Bears host the Minnesota Vikings, in Cleveland, where the Browns entertain the San Francisco 49ers, Miami, where the high-scoring Dolphins meet the Carolina Panthers and for tonight’s game from Highmark Stadium where the Buffalo Bills host the New York Giants.
Perhaps the only weather that could affect the play on the field is the high winds expected at Soldier Field in Chicago and at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
The dynasty enjoyed by the New England Patriots is officially over. Bill Belichick’s squad has won but one game this year and over the past two weekends have been outscored by a combined 72-3 in losses to the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. Today, the Patriots are in Las Vegas to meet a Raiders team that picked up their second win of the season on Monday night with a victory over the Green Bay Packers, 17-13.
While the Patriots are severely down in talent from the team that dominated the AFC East Division for two decades, the Raiders are not running on all cylinders either. Their win on Monday night over the Packers was a game that appeared to be played by two struggling franchises … one of them had to win, and it turned out to be the Raiders.
What we have today in Vegas is a Raiders team coming off a win at home meeting a Patriots squad that has to be questioning how much longer Belichick wants to work with a sketchy roster in comparison to the great ones he coached during the Brady years.
This game falls into the category of good picks don’t always win, but bad picks always lose. The Patriots coming off back-to-back blowout losses and the Raiders fresh from a “who wants it” suspect win puts the eye of the tiger on the Patriots side of the field. Are the Raiders a bad pick, they would have to be in order to lose this one because the Patriots can’t be a good pick.
The public has checked in with their three favorite plays of the day, and they have gone for the heavy hitters with regard to the bloated lines they are forced to lay with these popular teams. The most bet team by the public is the San Francisco 49ers (-9½) over the Cleveland Browns, and that selection is followed by the Philadelphia Eagles (-6½) over the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins (-14) over the Carolina Panthers.
It is worth noting that this year the three top picks each week for the public are 13-2 straight up and 10-5 versus the point spread through the first five weeks of the season. Those numbers are well outside the normal range which shows the favorite public plays are most often point spread losers.
Qoxhi has four money rated plays today, and those picks are now posted on this site. If a Bullet Play develops in the final hour leading up to the 10:00 a.m. kickoffs, that game will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.