NFL: COWBOYS, PACKERS HIGHLIGHT WEEK 3
Two of the NFC favorites meet in Green Bay on Sunday night to highlight the Week 3 NFL odds.
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The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers looked like they were on a collision course to meet in the NFC Championship game last year. That was until the New York Giants upset the Cowboys in the divisional round before doing the same to Green Bay in the conference title game.
Undefeated Dallas has kept most of their team intact and they may be the best team in the NFL right now. Green Bay has inserted Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, and he has looked great in opening wins against Minnesota and Detroit, but this will be his biggest test of the year.
Rodgers got a taste of this rivalry when he subbed in for an injured Brett Favre last November in Dallas. Although the Packers lost, he played very well in that game going 18-26 for 201 yards and a touchdown. He’ll need to play very good again if the Pack is going to cover as three-point dogs.
The other big game to circle on your schedule this week is the Pittsburgh Steelers (+3) at the Philadelphia Eagles in the battle of Pennsylvania. The Steelers are serious AFC contenders with New England, San Diego and Indianapolis all looking vulnerable right now. The Eagles will be hungry in this game coming off a tough Monday night loss at Dallas.
AFC South fans get an early treat with the Indianapolis Colts hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars as 5 ½-point favorites. The Colts’ offense struggled through their first game and a half before exploding in the second half against Minnesota last week. The Jaguars were a trendy preseason AFC champion selection, but injuries have helped put them at 0-2 and they are in desperation mode for this game.
Two interesting NFC battles are Carolina (+3.5) at Minnesota and Arizona (+3) at Washington. Carolina has had some luck in going 2-0 so far and Minnesota has had some bad breaks in starting 0-2. That’s one reason Minnesota is over a field goal favorite.
Arizona has been great with Kurt Warner at the helm and they outscored their first two opponents by double digits each time. However, Washington is a physical team that knows how to defend their home field, as they proved against New Orleans last week.
New England proved last week they are not dead without Tom Brady, but are they are good enough to give 12 ½-points at home, even against a very poor Miami team?
New Orleans is getting 5 ½-points at Denver on Sunday and you should get your calculator ready as the Broncos have put up 40 points per game while New Orleans is at 24 PPG.
The Monday night game is also a good one on paper with the NY Jets (+9) at San Diego. The Chargers are in desperate need of their first win of the year, but that spread still seems high with Favre on the opposing sideline.
Other Week 3 spreads at Sportsbook.com have Kansas City (+5) at Atlanta, Oakland (+9.5) at Buffalo, Tampa Bay (+3) at Chicago, Houston (+5) at Tennessee, Cincinnati (+13.5) at NY Giants, Detroit (+4) at San Francisco, St. Louis (+9.5) at Seattle, and Cleveland (+2.5) at Baltimore.
Milwaukee is tied with Philadelphia for the final Wild Card spot. Both teams are listed at 1:1 odds to win the final playoff spot with Houston listed at 3:1 odds after a surprising September surge.
Chicago sends Jason Marquis to the mound for Wednesday’s contest. In his only start against the Brewers this season, Marquis took the loss, giving up five runs on 10 hits in five innings work. Marquis, 10-8 with a 4.36 ERA is 3-2 in his last six starts.
