NFL Week 9 Wagering – Atlanta Falcons vs. Oakland Raiders
The Atlanta Falcons travel to Oakland to take on the most dysfunctional franchise in the league. The Oakland Raiders are just terrible. They have talent on both sides of the ball, but they are an awful team. I’m not sure what Al Davis and the Raiders’ coaching staff needs to do to fix them, but they need to do it quickly.
The Raiders’ did reward online NFL betting backers by beating the New York Jets straight-up two weekends’ ago, but then got spanked around by the high-scoring offensive juggernaut that is the Baltimore Ravens 29 to 10 in their last. I’m being sarcastic, of course, about the Ravens being so good offensively. Football betting fans really can’t place a bet on the Raiders with confidence these days.
The Atlanta Falcons are still within striking distance of the NFC South crown. Their talented, un-rookie like quarterback, Matt Ryan, rarely makes a mistake. In hindsight Michael Vick did this team a favor by getting pinched for dog fighting, he allowed the Falcons to suck which allowed them to get rid of their terrible coach at the time, Bobby Petrino. It also allowed them to suck enough to draft Matt Ryan. That still might not equate to a victory against the NFL betting spread in this game.
Here are the BetUS online betting odds for this game.
Kick-off: 11/02/2008 4:15 pm est.
Atlanta Falcons – 3 – 110 – 145 O 41 – 110
Oakland Raiders + 3 – 110 + 125 U 41 – 110
Here are a few online wagering trends that might help us find a good online bet in this game.
The Atlanta Falcons are 4 and 0 against the spread in their last 4 games following a straight-up loss.
The Atlanta Falcons are 11 and 5 against the spread in their last 16 games on grass.
The Oakland Raiders are 2 and 5 against the spread in their last 7 games on grass.
The Oakland Raiders are 9 and 19 against the spread in their last 28 games.
The bottom line regarding this game is Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons run game with Michal Turner and Jerious Norwood, and that Oakland Raiders’ defense that has been soft up the middle.
Forget the Raiders’ offense. It doesn’t exist. The Raiders upset the Jets two weeks ago but that was an anomaly. If they gave up 29 points to the Ravens, what do you think the Falcons are going to do?
This game could easily go over the BetUS total of 41 ½ but I don’t want to push my luck.
NFL Week 9 Prediction:
I believe that the Falcons, coming off of a hard fought loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, will play the Raiders tough and cover the 3 points. I’ll make an online bet on the Falcons against the BetUS online wagering spread.
