Pats:

The New England Patriots have opened as 6½-point road favorites at the New York Giants – and by Friday that line had moved up to seven points. The Pats-Gints game looms to be one of the most compelling in week ten; it is one of only three games (Vikings at Raiders, Arizona at Seattle) that does not include at least one team that at this point in time has a losing record.

To me though the biggest concern is not one of the wide receivers, but tight end Jordan Reed. Reed is too quick for any linebacker to cover him, and at 6’2″ 237 it is a very difficult task for a corner to bring him down. The Patriots have had issues with opposing tight ends for several years now, and Reed could cause the Pats fits. In 4½ games this year – Reed has missed time due to concussions – the tight end has 350 yards receiving with three touchdowns and 22 first downs, catching 35 of the 47 passes (74%) thrown his way. Reed leads Washington in first downs and is tied for the lead in receiving yards and touchdowns, despite the time he has missed. To me the primary challenge is to stop Reed – much the way the Pats did against Tony Gonzalez a few years ago – and dare Cousins to beat the Patriots deep.

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

The Patriots will be looking to go 8-0 on the season and they meet the Redskins on Sunday. Tom Brady is having an MVP type 2015 with 20 TDs and 1 INT

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.

Looking at these numbers I was a bit surprised – as I am sure many others will be – at how often the Jets ranked relatively high (top ten in the NFL) in offensive categories. It is also really amazing to see how the New England offense and Jet defense both rank number one, or number one and two in one statistical category after another.

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.

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.