NFL 2024 Season - PS3
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Articles published multiple times per week, offering insights and picks on upcoming games.
 
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Article Archive

Conference Championships
Top-Flight QB Duel
Looking for a First
Cold Reality
Three and One
Divisional Playoffs
Winter Wonderland
Yes We Can
Getting Better
Three-Peat Begins
Correction
Challenge Accepted
Wild Card Weekend
Early Celebration
QB matchup
Starting and Ending Spots
Wild Card Trend
What to Like
Rookie Quarterbacks
Broken Fever
That's That
Week 18
Checking the Boxes
Needs and Wants
Four and Out
One or the Other
Point Spread Clouds
Fix It
Hollow Revenge
To Win or Not to Win
Week 17
All Knowing
Complicated Made Simple
Advanced Calculus
Glow Dimmed
Brink of Elimination
Game of Survival
Pleading for the Fifth
Need over Nothing
Christmas Grinch
Week 16
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers
Vintage 2018
Penix Debut
Dog Day
Playoff Position
Rest of the Story
Different Sundays
Run Some Tests
Without and With
Week 15
Two Tonight
Playoff Chances
Wild Card Challenge
Best of the Best
Next
Dire Straits
And It's Good
Bloated Lines
Week 14
Running up the Score
Challenge Me
Finding Reasons to Win
Crab Feed
Week Off
Good Enough
Buyers Regret
Pulled the Rug
Week 13
Mile High Hopes
Top and Bottom
Fourth Time the Charm
Bounce Back
Engage Spark
Line Up
Out in the Cold
Thanksgiving Visitors
Good Enough
Motivation on Steroids
Week 12
Second Best
Heavyweight Bout
QB's Ins and Outs
Everybody In
Too Easy
Walk the Plank
Hot to Trot
Try, Try, Try, Try, Try Again
Week 11
Mouse Trap
Must Game
Malfunction
Easy Does It
Old Foes
Falcons Fly into Mile High
Matter of Time
Improv
To the Brink
Week 10
Odd Man Out
Lions come Calling
Rookie versus Veteran
Call to Action
Full Reverse
When 8-0 is 4-4
Game of Contradictions
NFC West Bunch
Early Boarding
Week 9
Not Enough, Too Much
Real or Imposters
Groin Shot
Best Show
Saddle Up
Dull Edges
Telling Actions
Annihilation Formula
Week 8
No and No
Old Glory
Rookie Face Off
Adding it Up
Holding On
Jets Down
Unload and Reload
No Surprise
Career Paths
It Hurts
Week 7
Harbaugh Monday
Kids Camp
Barkley Back
Bird Battle
Mouse Time
Too Many?
Gone Shopping
Not Bad
40 for 3
Week 6
Try New
Night Vision
Trap Door
Looking Up
Wake Up Call
All Good Things
Bad Idea
Unexpected
Fire One
Week 5
Yes & Yes
Old Rivals
Rookie Sensation
So Close
Lunch in Seattle
Wake the Roosters
No Respect
Too Sweet
Turtle Flip
Week 4
Landmine
Bottoms Up
Winners and Losers
Call Me
Short Line
Reality Bites
Like Tonight
Uptick
Challenge Generates Performance
Week 3
Two Times
Reduced Value
Stars Down
The Other 21
Opportunity Knocks
Lots of Questions
Move Along People
Times Up
Week 2
Confidence Game
First and Second Picked QB's
Avoiding the Donut
Do or Die
One for the Road
Likewise
Adjustment Bureau
Down ... Not Out
Week 1
Time Marches On
Cashing the Trade
Start Here
Say What
Quick Up, Quick Down
Brazil Play Date
Top Two Open
Super Bowl Pick
Season Win Totals
Moving on Up
Breakout to Breakdown
Preseason 4
Preseason Wrap
Rookie Playoff Run
Preseason 3
Short Memory
Two In, One Up
Eagles Hunt
Winning Formula
Preseason 2
Quarterback Shuffle
One Two, or Two One
Starters Sit
Remote Control
Money be Damned
Preseason 1
One Season to the Next
Public Shift
Comets in the Night
Offseason
Mahomes Chasing History
All's Well that Ends Well
Ups and Downs
     
 
Lions and Bears, Oh My
by Dennis Ranahan

Winter weather has descended on at least a pair of outdoor National Football League sites today. In Baltimore, where the Ravens host the Los Angeles Rams, both rain and high winds are expected. The same in New York, for the Jets game against the Houston Texans.

It is not the weather that has thrown the Seattle Seahawks off course, it is an injury to quarterback Gino Smith. The last thing the Seahawks needed in their 2023 return match against San Francisco is a missing quarterback.

Early in the week, right up to Friday, this looked like a prime spot for the Seahawks to give the talented 49ers a game. Seattle had lost to San Francisco on Thanksgiving, 31-13, in their home stadium and now trail the division leading 49ers by three games. The point spread had to be set by the books to dissuade San Francisco money and the double-digit underdog role for Seattle was somewhat balancing the betting.

Today, Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll is still holding out hope that Smith can start at quarterback, but that appears more a ploy to force the 49ers to prepare for Smith even though he is not going to be available.. We know this because on Friday afternoon, the point spread on this game jumped from Seattle getting 11 points to San Francisco favored by 13½. While Carroll is using the chance of Smith making this start for competitive reasons, the line move clearly indicates the Seahawks will be led by a Seattle backup quarterback … which is Drew Lock.

Want to know what it feels like to bet on Lock? It is a lot like betting on Mitch Trubisky, and we saw what happened to him against a 2-10 New England Patriots team on Thursday night.

With Smith at quarterback, the Seahawks looked like a solid proposition to stay within the bloated point spread. With Lock behind center with an even larger line, not so much.

Three weeks ago the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears and the visitors gave the NFC North Division leaders all they could handle before surrendering the game’s decision, 31-26.

Last week, the Lions shot out of the gate with 21 points early in the game against the New Orleans Saints, then allowed Dennis Allen’s team back into the game before surviving the contest with a 33-28 victory.

What’s going on here with a Lions team that has spent the season atop their division and opened the campaign with a road win over the Kansas City Chiefs?

What is going on with Dan Campbell’s much improved squad is they are suffering from a common problem for a team new to winning, pressure down the stretch. The Lions 9 wins this year matches the number accumulated by the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, only the Philadelphia Eagles have more victories in the NFC. But, now, with the prospects of winning home field advantage for the playoffs in their conference, the Lions are feeling the pressure. Since their bye on the first Sunday in November, the Lions have edged the Los Angeles Chargers by three points, the Bears by five, lost to the Packers and barely got the win last week after jumping to a 21-0 lead.

What does that mean?

It means today, they miss the close win and take it on the chin at Soldier Field.

The public doesn’t agree with that assessment of the Lions, Detroit (-3) over the Chicago Bears is their most bet game of the week. The second and third most popular plays are the Houston Texans (-3) over the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers (-13½) over the Seattle Seahawks.

The Qoxhi Week 14 selections are now posted on this site, and if a Bullet Play develops in the final hour before the day’s first kickoff, that contest will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.