NFL Week 11 and Kovalev vs Ward thoughts
Jacksonville +7 (-120)
The Jaguars go into Detroit coming off a close loss at home to a boring ass Texans team. Detroit has the worst passing defense in the league, and if there is one thing Bortles and Co. do is throw the ball, especially when they are behind in a game. Matthew Stafford and the Lions do a great job playing *up* to their competition, but also a bad job playing *down* to it. The public is big on the Lions….I don’t know why. This is the same team that beat Minnesota in OT that also lost to Tennessee at home despite spending the entire first half inside the Titans’ 50 yard line and only scoring 15 points. That’s really hard to do! I like a close game filled with fail here, and maybe a Blake Bortles miracle cover!
Titans at Colts Under 53 (-115)
This is actually a big game in the fail AFC South! Everyone expects this to be a shootout in the dome with two offenses playing pretty well, and both defenses are pretty milquetoast. But Titans’ QB Marcus Mariota’s QBR tanks on the road by 30+ points, and Andrew Luck’s teams in these big games tend to have sphincteritis. I expect a low scoring, tightly contested playoff style game as this is essentially a “loser goes home” game.
Miami -1.5 (EVEN)
Yes, Miami is 2-8 ATS in their last 10 road games. Their win in SD last week was their first on the road in over 2 years. But they get a break this week as Jared Goff, the #1 overall pick, who makes his first start at home. The last QB who was taken first in the draft since 2000 to win his first start at home? David Carr in 2002 with the Texans. I like Miami and their front seven to get after the rookie and create some turnovers into points, as I will admit it will be hard for the milquetoast Miami offense to have many long drives vs the Rams’ top 5 defense….but I’ll take Ryan Tannehill over a QB who doesn’t know the Sun sets in the West. We also have Miami’s season under at 7, and since they’ve won 4 in a row, that’s in jeopardy so we can hedge here, too.
TEASER (+240):
ARI +1.5
DAL -7
KC -7
SEA -6.5
BOXING BONUS: Kovalev (+115) vs Ward (-145) Prop: “Fight Goes the Distance – Yes” at -170
Big time fight this week with these two titans of boxing. Both are undefeated, and Ward is coming up in weight to fight KO artist Sergey Kovalev. Ward is the sport’s second best defensive boxer (behind Floyd Mayweather) and is master class with his footwork and punching. I expect him to out point and try to frustrate Kovalev’s power and aggression and make him fight his fight. Kovalev has also shown he can outbox too, as he out pointed legend (and AARP member) Bernard Hopkins two years ago (a lean we had here on Miracle Covers). I like this fight to go the distance in a 12 round classic, and if I had to pick a side, I also like Ward to win in a close decision (which is at +105, if you so fancy).
