I'll fire up some ideas as writing things out often helps me work through most aspects of the game and double-check things. Pre-season has been pretty good so far-kind of surprising to me as I started out three weeks ago with my usual rant on the stupidity of presea betting, except for the purposes of reg season info. Lines obviously subject to change.
CAR @ CIN (-2.5) Think CAR and the points is the play here with the Panthers having two high calibre QB's fighting for the starting job. Smith is due to be back for CAR which should be a very relevant target. Neither QB has been great but against Dalton, Gradkowski and a CIN team that is at the bottom of most power rankings I'll go with the team that at least has most of their act together.
CLE @ PHI (-7) Philly at home after an embarassment against PIT is my thinking here. Vick is often hot/cold and needs to find his mojo, as does most of the PHI team after Reid basically called them out. I know McCoy is doing well and CLE has made improvements but I think PHI has a lot more options as a team and will definitely be looking to show they are a top contender (make an example of CLE). Some sharpies may be eager to go with CLE and that's fine but I believe PHI can cover and then some.
WSH @ BAL (-5.5) This is a tough line in my opinion. I believe it's come down from it's open of BAL -7 partly due to Coach Shanahan's rep with pre-season wins and how QB's Beck and Grossman have performed. I'm inclined to think BAL's focus on tough defense and the fact that Flacco has basically been set as starter allows them to cover the spread. The Ravens will play especially tough at home and any nerves WSH's QB's may have will quickly turn into BAL points with their opportunistic defense. Again, I can see a case being made for WSH (Shanahan) and the points being the smart play but I believe the Ravens will have a statement game.
As I said, writing my ideas out helps me go through the angles and double-check my thinking-fire any input you wish in here. Cheers and good luck Thursday.
CAR @ CIN (-2.5) Think CAR and the points is the play here with the Panthers having two high calibre QB's fighting for the starting job. Smith is due to be back for CAR which should be a very relevant target. Neither QB has been great but against Dalton, Gradkowski and a CIN team that is at the bottom of most power rankings I'll go with the team that at least has most of their act together.
CLE @ PHI (-7) Philly at home after an embarassment against PIT is my thinking here. Vick is often hot/cold and needs to find his mojo, as does most of the PHI team after Reid basically called them out. I know McCoy is doing well and CLE has made improvements but I think PHI has a lot more options as a team and will definitely be looking to show they are a top contender (make an example of CLE). Some sharpies may be eager to go with CLE and that's fine but I believe PHI can cover and then some.
WSH @ BAL (-5.5) This is a tough line in my opinion. I believe it's come down from it's open of BAL -7 partly due to Coach Shanahan's rep with pre-season wins and how QB's Beck and Grossman have performed. I'm inclined to think BAL's focus on tough defense and the fact that Flacco has basically been set as starter allows them to cover the spread. The Ravens will play especially tough at home and any nerves WSH's QB's may have will quickly turn into BAL points with their opportunistic defense. Again, I can see a case being made for WSH (Shanahan) and the points being the smart play but I believe the Ravens will have a statement game.
As I said, writing my ideas out helps me go through the angles and double-check my thinking-fire any input you wish in here. Cheers and good luck Thursday.
