NFL: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
You can’t win’em all they say, but that doesn’t make last week’s loss any less frustrating.
How the heck can the Tampa Bay Buccaneers give up only 172 yards to the Dallas Cowboys offense and lose? If you can figure out this one, let me know because it still astounds me that the Bucs lost that game 13-9 and failed to score a single point in the second half.
It was a wasted effort by the Bucs. The defense shut down the Cowboys but they couldn’t run the ball or make the right calls on offense to get anything going. Calling passing plays short of the first-down markers in crunch-time didn’t help either.
So now I’ve slipped to 4-4 in my NFL Pick of the Week and speaking of the term “You can’t win’em all,” I’d like to focus on the Tennessee Titans right now.
At 7-0 straight up and against the spread (ATS) this season, the Titans have been very pleasant surprise. The way they came from behind to beat Indianapolis adds credibility to this team and now they are 4 ½-point favorites against the Green Bay Packers this week.
The interesting thing is that the last team each of these squads played was the Indianapolis Colts. Tennessee beat them 31-21 on Monday night while the Packers dropped them 34-14 two weeks ago.
That has Sportsbook.com bettors basically split on this game with a slight majority favoring the Titans. I hate to rain on the parade of the 58% that are backing the Titans for this game but the Green Bay Packers are the better bet on Sunday.
Green Bay’s defense is much better than the one the Colts had in Tennessee last weekend and if they can shut down running backs Chris Johnson and LenDale White as effectively as Indy did, the Packers are much better in pass coverage.
And if the Titans have to pass it as much as they did on Monday, that will open up quarterback Kerry Collins to a few mistakes. Collins hasn’t thrown an interception since he was picked twice in Baltimore but he also hasn’t played a defense this talented since then.
You could easily say that the Packers are the most complete team that the Titans have faced so far this season. They possess a solid defense, good running back in Ryan Grant, excellent receivers in Greg Jennings and Donald Driver and first-year starter Aaron Rodgers has been doing an exceptional job at quarterback.
Add in an extra week for Green Bay to prepare with a short week for Tennessee and this has payday written all over it if you back the Packers on Sunday.
Green Bay as 4.5-point underdogs is the play this week.
Take it or Leave it.
-Cras
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