San Diego has own 3 in a row, but these were 2 home wins
vs Oakland, 13-6, and St. Louis, 27-24, then got lucky and
edged out Ravens 34-33 with last minute drive. Before this
they lost to KC, Denver, and Miami. Before that, they had a
hot start to the season, which is keeping their playoff hopes
alive.
This is a prime time SNF national game and we all know the
Pats excel in the spotlight. Brady is 5-0 vs Rivers. Chargers
have some important players listed "questionable". I don't
know what the Charger defense is going to be able to do
to stop Tom Terrific. Green Bay, a superior team, barely edged
out the Pats at Lambeau. Pats had won 7 straight.
Reports say Pats flew out to San Diego on Monday. They
have been practicing at San Diego University field. Pats
are 13-4 ATS after a loss. Their main rival for home field
throughout AFC Championship is Denver, who face Buffalo
at Mile High. Expectations are for Denver to win, maintaining
the tie with New England for best record in AFC. After today
the Patriots schedule turns to divisional matchups vs Miami,
Jets and Buffalo with Jets being the only road game. Denver's
schedule is Chargers, Bengals and Raiders.
San Diego's wild card hopes would not be quashed with a loss today.
They are going to face Denver, SF, KC. If they lose today, the Chargers
become 8-5, right in the thick of the wild card hunt against two other
wild card contenders (sf, kc).
Expect maximum effort and concentration by New England, having all
week to practice in the San Diego weather, coming off a loss and eager
to maintain AFC top slot with Denver.
This is also probably a good time to pick up some futures if you think
New England will win the AFC or the Superbowl, because those odds
may go a little lower in coming weeks.
Other teams which look like good bets today are laying tons of chalk,
so I don't feel comfortable with that (Detroit, New Orleans, Denver).
Then there are some tossup games which are interesting but really
could go either way (Cincy/Pitt, Philly/Sea, Dallas/Bears, etc) and
Indy at Browns which feels trappy although I wouldn't take Browns
either. The rest of the games are between poor quality teams just
rounding out their seasons.
Pick is NE -3 or in teasers and ML parlays with choice heavy faves.
Points can also be sold for greater payout like Pats -5.5 or -6.