NFL 2024 Season - Week 5
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Articles published multiple times per week, offering insights and picks on upcoming games.
 
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Rookie Playoff Run
by Dennis Ranahan

Got a phone call today from a client that I have worked with since 1987 in order to set up his 2024 National Football League account with Qoxhi Picks. This is a year that not all clients from last year are back, we had a rare losing season last season with the Basic Strategy, our third in the 23 years we have offered this online feature. For the 43rd consecutive season out Top Picks completed a winning season, but it is always better when all five money management strategies available online generate solid profits.

In a typical season, the Basic Strategy will earn 30 to 60 percent profits on an opening account balance, the other four strategies routinely higher when tied into Top Pick results. Three years ago, Top Pick Exclusive more than doubled opening account balances with a closing figure up 127%, Two years ago, it was up 94%, last season it sank to a 9% profit, and for the first time in six years, the four other strategies ended in the red.

Anyway, my longtime client that called on Tuesday is a San Francisco 49ers fan, and he opened our conversation while wondering if I thought the Kansas CIty Chiefs were going to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. He also said he thought the 49ers got robbed in last February’s Super Bowl by bad officiating.

Okay, first things first, officiating always looks bad when you lose a game. Second, if the Chiefs were to win the Super Bowl this season it would be their third straight … something no team has ever done. The closest was my client’s favorite team, the 49ers, who won it in 1988 and 1989 before being edged in the NFC Championship Game to complete their 1990 season by the New York Giants. Bill Parcells' squad went on to upset the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.

Can the Chiefs be first to win three straight Vince Lombardi Trophies?

Sure.

Patrick Mahomes has done enough in his career that breaks the boundaries and the first qualification to win three in a row is to win the first two. The Chiefs have that done, so I do not rule out KC wins a third straight Super Bowl.

But, I wouldn’t bet on it.

They are the favorites on the Super Bowl odds, and so much can happen during a season with injuries and the like that can shift the balance of power. I seldom feel that a favorite is the best team to bet on for a season long proposition.

The 49ers are right there, they could win it all. The Baltimore Ravens were favored over the Chiefs in last year’s AFC Championship Game and beat the 49ers handedly on Christmas Day, they could win it all this year.

Those are actually my top three choices, but value on the line is sometimes more important than simply picking an obvious choice to win it all. Better than a Super Bowl bet is the over/under number of regular season wins. Here you don’t have to win it all to cash a ticket, you just need to be on the right side of picking a team to win more or less than the number posted.

On the Tuesday before the season opener on September 5th, we will post our picks for regular season win totals. But, even before we get to that date, I’ve got a team that I think is going to soar over their posted number of wins.

In recent years, the Denver Broncos have been horrible following bright preseason forecasts. Two years ago, they added Russell Wilson to their offense, and with an already solid stop unit the Mile High City was brimming with confidence that Wilson was the final piece to a Super Bowl puzzle.

He wasn’t, and he got his first-year head coach, Nathaniel Hackett, fired before he completed his initial campaign.

Hype rained supreme the following year when they brought Sean Payton into coach, now they had both a quarterback and coach who had won a Super Bowl. Wilson with the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII and Payton four years earlier with the New Orleans Saints.

Crash.

No success in Denver with Wilson and Payton.

This year, Wilson is toiling in Pittsburgh and the Broncos are looking to perhaps start rookie Bo Nix at quarterback.

A rookie having a great season and leading his team to a surprise playoff spot?

Last year, C.J. Stroud lifted the Houston Texans from the cellar to a playoff berth. This year, it could happen in Denver. The Broncos have the advantage of playing in a division that while occupied by the Kansas City Chiefs have two other highly suspect squads, the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers.

On September 3rd, we’ll have all our work done on the season win total projections, but now, unless something totally unexpected happens in the next week, you can expect the Broncos over six wins to be on that list of recommendations.