Miami at Carolina
I'm posting this well ahead of my weekly "picks and thoughts' thread because, obviously, the game is on Thursday night.
I'm betting on the total here for several reasons. First of all, the yards-per-point for these teams (particularly the Dolphins) suggests that their games have featured more points so far than would generally be the norm.
Secondly, Miami offensive co-ordinator Dan Henning was Carolina OC from 2002 to January 2007. This may help give Miami some inside track to stymie Jake Delhomme and slow down the Carolina offense.
Thirdly, both teams can be expected to run the ball pretty heavily. The Dolphins are masters of long clock-consuming drives.
It all points to a low-scoring game. I was surprised to see the line at 43.5 on Monday, not surprised to see it bet down to 42.5 since I got on at 43. I guess recent high scoring games for the Panthers played a part in the line, but those were against the high-octane passing attacks of Arizona, New Orleans and Atlanta. So the bet is:
UNDER 43 for 9 units
I'm posting this well ahead of my weekly "picks and thoughts' thread because, obviously, the game is on Thursday night.
I'm betting on the total here for several reasons. First of all, the yards-per-point for these teams (particularly the Dolphins) suggests that their games have featured more points so far than would generally be the norm.
Secondly, Miami offensive co-ordinator Dan Henning was Carolina OC from 2002 to January 2007. This may help give Miami some inside track to stymie Jake Delhomme and slow down the Carolina offense.
Thirdly, both teams can be expected to run the ball pretty heavily. The Dolphins are masters of long clock-consuming drives.
It all points to a low-scoring game. I was surprised to see the line at 43.5 on Monday, not surprised to see it bet down to 42.5 since I got on at 43. I guess recent high scoring games for the Panthers played a part in the line, but those were against the high-octane passing attacks of Arizona, New Orleans and Atlanta. So the bet is:
UNDER 43 for 9 units