Primetime Picks: Picking Over/Under and Against the Spread for Sunday and Monday Night Football
By Ken Boehlke
Oct 21, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) warms up prior to facing the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Editor’s note: Please gamble responsibly and only when/where it is legal to do so.
Usually Sundays without Buccaneers games are pretty much the worst. But with the way our beloved Bucs have been playing, maybe we can all use a day away from the losing. I’m here to help you do some winning, and it comes in the form of gambling on this week’s primetime matchups.
Sunday Night Football
First let’s start with the Sunday night game with the Packers and the Vikings. The Vikings are coming off that disaster on Thursday where Josh Freeman turned in one of the worst QB performances in the history of the NFL. The Packers come into the game as 7 point favorites with a total of 47.5.
The Vikings are at home, coming off the long week, and are going back to a QB that actually knows their system. I love the Vikings in this game… to cover. The Packers offense is banged up and the Vikings defense knows Rodgers well. I expect that game to stay competitive throughout and the Packers ending up winning the game, but you should take the Vikings +7.
As for the total, I love this one. In 4 of the past 5 games between these two teams played in Minnesota the total has been above 50, and in two of them it was at least 60. The Vikings offense will feel much more comfortable with Ponder back at the helm and the Packers always seem to be able to score on this Minnesota defense. If the book you bet at allows you to sell points, I would even recommend that. I see this one not only over 50, but well over 50. Take the over, and sit back and enjoy the scoring fest that’s coming.
Monday Night Football
On to Monday Night. ESPN seems to get stuck with brutal games just about every night. This week it’s the Seahawks and Rams in St. Louis. And even though we know we all love gambling, I’m going to recommend you only play the total. The spread has the Seahawks giving 11.5, but I don’t have a good feeling one way or the other. The big reason for that, because I love the under.
These NFC West division games are always goofy, especially when they involve the Rams. With Sam Bradford out, I can’t see the Rams offense doing much of anything. But I do like the St. Louis D and I haven’t been terribly impressed with the Seattle offense. I see this game being in the low 30’s. So the 43 point total looks great for us. I say go with the under, but stay off the spread.