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For those without the Sunday Ticket, this may be a good week to head out to your local sports bar to catch the early games. NFL week nine has some interesting matchups on tap

Even though the Patriots are not playing, Sunday looks to be a very good day for watching the NFL. The early CBS game in Boston as well as most of the U.S. has Ben Roethlisberger returning to the field after being shelved for five weeks with a knee injury as the Steelers host the undefeated Bengals in a key AFC game.

The New England Patriots have opened up as 12½ point favorites over the Washington Redskins, the largest spread of the 13 games being played. The last time the Patriots were double-digit favorites was in week three when the Pats were favored by 13½ over Jacksonville; New England won that game by the score of 51-17.
In other division action the Dolphins are 2½ point underdogs at Buffalo, and the Jets are eight-point home favorites versus Jacksonville. Best games of the week appear to be Green Bay at Carolina and Denver at Indianapolis; both of those road teams are three-point favorites.

The 6-0 New England Patriots host the 3-3 Miami Dolphins in the 100th meeting between the AFC East rivals on Thursday night. Here is a look at how the two teams compare statistically

For the second week in a row FOX will jam the Dallas Cowboys down the collective throats of NFL fans, broadcasting the ‘Boys in their exclusive late afternoon game in week 8. The 2-4 Cowboys (last in the NFC East) host the 3-4 Seattle Seahawks in a game that will be broadcast by every FOX affiliate in the U.S., with the exception of one station in the Bay area due to NFL television restrictions

Week 7 brings NFL fans one great game – the Jets at Patriots pits the league’s best defense versus the NFL’s best offense – and besides that a whole lot of mediocrity. Unfortunately for football fans this early game is the one and only matchup between two teams with winning records. Some of that can be attributed to three unbeaten teams – Cincinnati, Denver and Green Bay – all having a bye this week. Beyond that though, the NFL’s never-ending quest for parity has exposed an ugly under belly as a side effect. Only nine of the 32 NFL teams have winning records and two entire divisions do not have a single winning team.

The New England Patriots have opened up as 10½ point favorites in early ‘look-ahead’ advanced lines posted by the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook for NFL week eight. The AFC East rivals will kick off next week’s league action next Thursday in Foxboro. This weekend in early afternoon action the 5-0 Pats host the 4-1 Jets, while 2-3 Miami hosts 2-4 Houston; both of those games start at 1:00 pm eastern time.

Other than the Pats-Fins of course, the best game should be between the undefeated Packers and Broncos on Sunday night; other good matchups include the Bengals at Steelers in an early afternoon game, and Indy at Carolina on Monday night.

NFL week seven gets underway tonight with an all-NFC West game, as the Seattle Seahawks travel to Santa Clara to play the San Francisco 49ers. Game kicks off at 8:25 pm eastern time and is televised on CBS. Seattle is favored by 6½ points.

Even though the Patriots are on CBS, displaced New England fans should be happy to hear that the Pats-Jets game will still receive extensive broadcast distribution throughout the United States. Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts will be the announcers on CBS between these two original AFL rivals, as they meet for the 113ᵗʰ time; the Patriots lead the all-time series 58-54-1.

Aside from the highly anticipated annihilation of the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night, there are several quality matchups which should be very competitive during the afternoon preliminaries. In the early afternoon Arizona travels to Pittsburgh looking to avoid a second loss after winning their first four games; that will not be an easy task at Heinz Field against a Steeler offense that boasts of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. 5-0 Cincinnati at Buffalo is a another compelling early game, and Denver – with their inconsistency on offense – may not have as easy a game as had been previously thought when they travel to Cleveland. There are also two good late afternoon games: San Diego at Green Bay, and Carolina at Seattle.

In the New England area CBS will broadcast the Bengals-Bills game early, followed by the Chargers-Packers at 4:25 pm; Washington at the Jets will be the single game on FOX early.

While all eyes are focusing (and appropriately so) on Sunday night’s game at Indianapolis. advanced lines have already been set for NFL week seven. The New England Patriots have opened as 9½-point favorites over division rival New York Jets in week seven look-ahead lines. That represent the largest early line point spread for the thirteen NFL games being played next week. At this moment in time the Pats-Jets contest is the only week seven game between two teams with winning records. Three thus far undefeated teams – the Packers, Bengals and Broncos – are all off with a bye.

The highlight of NFL week 6 will be the Sunday night game when the New England Patriots visit the Indianapolis Colts in a rematch of last season’s AFC championship game. Patriot fans are looking forward to some vindication for the sting and botched frame job that led to a litany of lies and the oblivious ignoring of basic science by the NFL in the fiasco of a witch hunt that became known as deflategate in that game. In anticipation of a scorched earth response, the betting line has already moved 2½-points (from 5 to 7½) in the last 48 hours.

In the highly anticipated rematch of last January’s AFC Championship game, the Patriots have opened as 5-point favorites at Indianapolis. The Colts have failed to live up to their off-season hype thus far, while the Patriots appear to gearing up for this game as part of the 2015 Scorched Earth FU tour.

The New England Patriots opened as 8½ point favorites in advanced betting lines for NFL week 5. DE Jeremy Mincey returns for Dallas after sitting a game due to a concussion. The 2006 6th round draft pick for the Patriots has high praise for Bill Belichick.

Within hours the betting line has dropped, with this game now listed as a pick’em in many venues. Also, links to several early views on Sunday’s game against the Bills – local, national, and from western New York.