NFL Week 9 Tips & Preview

NFL Week 9 Tips & Preview

When the final game of the early Monday slate finishes, we will have played half of the 2020 NFL regular season.

The weekend gets underway with the two teams that contested last season’s NFC Championship game playing once again (but don’t call it a rematch!) as the Packers visit the 49ers.

Undoubtedly the game of the round though is the Geriatric Bowl in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers hosting Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in the Monday morning feature.

Read on for our Week 9 NFL Tips and Previews here.

San Francisco 49ers v Green Bay Packers
Green Bay -9.5 @ $2.40

*NOTE: This 49ers had a positive COVID test Thursday morning (AEDT) so the game may be postponed*

The time has finally come to cross off the 49ers as a playoff contender, the injuries that have gone through this team are too much.

Sure you could argue that losing Jimmy Garoppolo was not that big of a blow considering how up and down he has been for them but him along with their best player in George Kittle is enough to tip them over that threshold if you were not there already.

Green Bay might head into this game with no healthy and available running backs (or at least a bunch of practice squad call ups) but they still have Aaron Rodgers who should be raring to bounce back from a subpar effort against the Minnesota Vikings.

I’m that confident in Rodgers that I’ll even take a few extra points in the alternate line market.

Minnesota Vikings v Detroit Lions
SGM: Vikings to Cover & Dalvin Cook Anytime TD Scorer

On the surface, this should be an excellent game with the Vikings finding some form in a huge win over the Green Bay Packers last week.

Dalvin Cook was borderline unstoppable in his return from injury and he could be in for a field day against a Lions defence that has given up 11 rushing touchdowns on the season, the second worst number in the league.

Even if he plays, it’s tough to expect too much from Matthew Stafford and the Lions offence with the quarterback likely to play this game without practicing this week after being identified as a high risk, close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID.

I’ll back the Vikings to get home comfortably and Dalvin Cook to back up his good form with another touchdown.

Atlanta Falcons v Denver Broncos
Over 50 Points @ $1.91

Two sides that were automatic back against teams a month ago look like they have turned the corner heading into the second half of the season as they prepare for a possible late playoff run.

Atlanta has won two of its three games since firing Dan Quinn including a huge divisional victory on the road in Carolina last week.

Denver has won three of its last four despite a raft of injuries and capped that run with a phenomenal come from behind win against the Chargers last week on the final play of the game.

I’m still not quite ready to throw my full support behind either team just yet but I am happy to back both offences to have a field day.

Matt Ryan looks a lot more settled and Drew Lock is buzzing with confidence so we could see plenty of points put up here.

Jacksonville Jaguars v Houston Texans
Houston to Cover -7 @ $1.91

A whole touchdown is an awful lot of faith to put in Houston but the Jaguars are starting rookie Jake Luton at quarterback in place of the injured (and not that good in the first place) Gardner Minshew.

That change of quarterback won’t be enough to swing the fortunes of the Jags who have lost their last six games.

Houston is still struggling but at least has the confidence of beating their division rivals once already this season, getting up 30-14 in Houston four weeks ago.

It probably won’t be pretty but I’ll take the Texans to get up.

Washington Football Team v New York Giants
Giants to Win @ $2.15

This is not the 1980’s, these teams are not overly competent but with every intention of sounding patronising, they at least try hard.

The Giants won this game three weeks ago 20-19 in New Jersey, but they are in a bad spot here, coming off a Monday night game against Tampa where they played down to the wire.

However, with two fairly evenly matched teams and home ground advantage mattering a lot less, I’ll take the value on backing the underdog.

Buffalo Bills v Seattle Seahawks
Seattle to Cover -5.5 @ $2.25

Everything about this game screams massive letdown for the Bills, even with the Seahawks in a bad spot themselves coming off a cross country flight and playing an early game on their body clocks.

For the Bills, they have come back to earth in the last month losing to the Titans and Bills, before just getting by the Jets.

There is every chance they played their Super Bowl just surviving against an average at best Patriots team, finally knocking over the AFC East’s Goliath, something the entire locker room said was a huge and emotional victory.

This is backing against the Bills as much as it is the Seahawks, if Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf continue where they left off last week this could be a long afternoon for the Bills.

Tennessee Titans v Chicago Bears
Bears to Cover +6 @ $1.94

I’m not quite ready to say that the shine has come off the Titans yet, but that was a bad performance against Cincinnati last weekend.

Maybe it was a bit of a letdown after putting so much into the Steelers game but there was cause for concern about how they looked.

Chicago battled hard but couldn’t get by the Saints, but in spite of some horrible play at times, the Bears showed why they are at 5-3.

I’m not quite ready to completely jump off the Titans or put all my faith in the Bears but a six point line is enough for me to back the visitors to keep it close.

Kansas City Chiefs v Carolina Panthers
Chiefs to Cover -10.5 & Over 52.5 @ $3.50

Kansas City is officially rolling once again, the Super Bowl champions have won three on the bounce and Patrick Mahomes is cooking.

Admittedly it was only against the Jets but they were able to dip into their bag of party tricks as they cruised to a comfortable 35-9 win.

The Panthers continue to battle but their limitations are pretty obvious to anyone that has watched them and even with the potential return of Christian McCaffery, they just don’t seem to have the firepower to keep up with the litany of weapons the Chiefs have.

I do expect the visitors to score a couple of touchdowns but it’s hard to see the Chiefs getting anything less than 30 points in this one.

Indianapolis Colts v Baltimore Ravens
Indianapolis to Win

It’s the Old Baltimore Colts taking on the Old Cleveland Browns before both franchises moved to their new homes in the 80’s and 90’s respectively.

The Ravens have benefitted from a fairly soft schedule to date, losing both of their big tests against the Chiefs and Steelers so far.

Indianapolis has not exactly been put through the ringer either but their defence continues to impress and they have the talent to cause headaches for Lamar Jackson.

This game will come down to how many mistakes Philip Rivers makes and I’ll back him to make fewer than his Ravens counterpart.

best bet
Los Angeles Chargers v Las Vegas Raiders
Raiders to Win & Over 52.5 Points @ $3.55

At some point you just have to laugh with (or at) the LA Chargers, for the fourth game in a row they surrendered a 16 point lead, this time in a loss to the Denver Broncos on the last play of the game.

The good news is that means the Raiders are possibly the best bet of the weekend heading into this divisional matchup.

Vegas showed remarkable fortitude grinding out a win in Cleveland in horrible weather and going against their character, engaging in a defensive battle instead of trying to outscore their opponent.

We should see plenty of points this weekend with the Chargers giving up 29 or more points for the fourth straight week and they should struggle to keep up with the Raiders offence.

Arizona Cardinals v Miami Dolphins
SGM: Arizona -4.5, Kyler Murray & DeAndre Hopkins Anytime TD Scorers

We’ve got a matchup between two of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the league coming up with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals hosting Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins.

Admittedly Tua’s debut was fairly cruisy considering the Rams imploded and allowed the rest of the Dolphins to give him an easy landing.

We should see plenty of chances for both quarterbacks to shine here as the Cardinals look to put up 30 points for the fourth straight game.

It might be a tough task with the Dolphins defence looking better and better as the season goes on, but the Cardinals just have too many weapons.

In the future this might be the biggest game of the week between these teams but if Arizona gets rolling, I can’t see the Dolphins keeping pace with the combination of Murray and DeAndre Hopkins.

Dallas Cowboys v Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers to Cover -19 @ $2.70

Three straight losses, 22 total points scored, possibly the fourth quarterback of the season set to take snaps, it’s pretty clear the Dallas Cowboys are a mess now.

Pittsburgh is still undefeated and had a huge win in Baltimore last week, so perhaps this is a letdown but even if it is, they should still steamroll this hapless Cowboys team.

I’ll buy the line up to -19 and back the Steelers to win by a lot, this one could get ugly folks.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay by 1-13 @ $2.35

A blockbuster rematch of Week 1 sees the Buccaneers and Saints face off in Florida with both sides looking to take control of the NFC South.

Tampa has won its last three games while the Saints have taken four from four, two of which were in overtime, so they know how to win close games.

The quarterbacks will continue to trade the lead in the NFL’s all time passing touchdowns mark as the game goes on and the Saints will likely get a huge boost with the potential return of Michael Thomas.

Tampa gets a boost of their own with new signing Antonio Brown cleared to make his season debut after his suspension for numerous off field issues came to an end.

I’ll back the Bucs to get over the line but both defences are vulnerable so this game should come down to the final minutes.

New York Jets v New England Patriots
Patriots to Cover -10 @ $2.30

Even if the Patriots were good this season, having them play the Jets on Monday Night Football would be a total dud of a game.

The good news is after suffering their fourth straight loss for the first time since 2000 (that’s just ridiculous), they should have no problems beating this hopeless Jets side by a lot.

Adam Gase is still the Jets coach so I’ll continue to back against them even if it means putting an uncomfortable amount of faith in the Patriots getting things going on offence.