{"id":5263,"date":"2018-11-02T15:45:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T05:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/?p=5263"},"modified":"2018-11-05T09:19:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T23:19:46","slug":"nfl-week-9-new-england-patriots-vs-green-bay-packers-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/2018\/11\/nfl-week-9-new-england-patriots-vs-green-bay-packers-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 9 – New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Week 9 Sunday slate of the NFL season\u00a0<\/span><\/span>concludes<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in Foxborough in a matchup between two of the greatest quarterbacks of our lifetime. Tom Brady and the Patriots are already in mid-season form, entering this one with a 6-2 record off the back of 5 straight wins. On the other hand, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers have largely stumbled out of the blocks this season, to a 3-3-1 record. New England will be looking to strengthen their grip on a first round playoff bye in the AFC, whilst a loss for Green Bay here would put a significant dent in their playoff hopes. In what appears on paper to be one of the best Sunday Night Football games of the season, let\u2019s take a look at where the value lies.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Where to Watch:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0ESPN, 7 Mate or NFL Game Pass, Monday 12:20pm<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n
New England Patriots<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The versatile Patriots offense has been on a tear in this recent 5 game winning streak. QB Tom Brady has thrown for 2200 yards and 16 touchdowns on the campaign, completing 67.5% of his passes in the process. James White has emerged as an excellent dual-threat Running Back, totalling 663 yards and 8 touchdowns so far. The return of Receiver Julian Edelman has made a significant difference to this offense, and he had his best game of the season with 104 yards in Buffalo last week. Rob Gronkowski and Josh Gordon are two other big weapons in the passing game for Brady.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst they shut down an anaemic Bills offense last week, this Patriots defense has\u00a0been inconsistent\u00a0in 2018.\u00a0The high-scoring nature of their offense has meant a lot of shootout-type games this season.\u00a0Players such as Devin McCourty, Stephon Gilmore and Patrick Chung form the basis of what is a strong secondary on paper. Similarly, Kyle Van Noy and Trey Flowers represent a strong pass rush capable of getting to the QB. I expect improved performances from this unit in the second half of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The Packers offense just hasn\u2019t been able to get it going this season. This definitely isn\u2019t Aaron Rodgers\u2019 fault, having thrown for 2283 yards and 13 scores so far. They haven\u2019t had a consistent rushing attack all season, although Aaron Jones had an impressive 86 yards in LA last week. Injuries to the Packers receiving corps haven\u2019t helped so far, but the return of Randall Cobb should complement Davante Adams and Jimmy Graham nicely.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, it\u2019s been a mixed bag for the Packers this season. Aside from a Week 4 shutout in Buffalo, they generally haven\u2019t done a good enough job. The recent trade of Ha Ha \u201cBest Meme in the NFL\u201d Clinton-Dix means more reshuffling to an already struggling unit. In Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, Green Bay have two very capable Linebackers that lead this unit. They\u2019ll need to be at their best to contain Brady and the Patriots offense in Foxborough.<\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
Patriots -5.5<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Patriots have such a strong record in home primetime games that it\u2019s hard to look past them here. Despite a strong showing in LA last week, I don\u2019t think this Packers team is particularly good. 2 of their 3 wins this season were very lucky home comebacks against the Bears and 49ers, whilst it took 3 missed field goals by the Vikings kicker to register a draw against Minnesota. Green Bay are also winless on the road this season, losing comfortably in Washington and Detroit, before a more competitive affair in LA last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conversely, the Patriots enter this one in fine form. They\u2019ve had big home wins over the Dolphins, Colts and the high-flying Chiefs.\u00a0Consecutive road wins over the Bears and Bills has only cemented their status as AFC contenders. I think the Patriots have the significant talent edge here and should win this one comfortably. Especially under the key numbers of 6 and 7, I\u2019m confident in a New England cover.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 56.5<\/b>\u00a0Points<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

Undoubtedly the strength of both of these sides is their dynamic offense. Before last week\u2019s low-scoring affair in Buffalo, the Patriots offense had put up 38 points\u00a0in 4 straight games. The defense has struggled to contain opponents too, allowing 40 to the Chiefs and 31 to the Bears. Against the best QB they\u2019ve faced so far this year, I expect the Pats defense to struggle a little bit here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Packers offense has always been the focal point under Aaron Rodgers and this year is no exception. They\u2019ve seemed to figure out a few things offensively in recent weeks, with their game going over this total in both of their last 2 fixtures.\u00a0I can\u2019t see a defense that gave up 31 to the Redskins and Lions and 30 to the 49ers as a unit who will contain Tom Brady and Co.\u00a0Factoring in all of this, I expect the point total in this one to eclipse 60.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First T<\/b>ouchdown Scorer<\/b>: James White<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

An excellent dual-threat Running Back, White already has a career-high 8\u00a0touchdowns this season. Given his play in recent weeks, you can expect another 15-20 touches for White in this one. With starting RB Sony Michel questionable for this one, White should feature as the primary back for New England His dual-threat ability opens up opportunities for touchdowns in both the rushing and receiving game. At anything $7 and above, this is a play that I think represents strong value.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet:<\/b>\u00a0Patriots -5.5\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

This line overrates the Packers for me. The Patriots have an incredible record in home primetime games and I expect this to continue here. I see Brady and Co rolling to another 30-point output, whilst the Pats defense makes just enough plays to contain Aaron Rodgers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Score Prediction:<\/b>\u00a0New England Patriots 34-27 Green Bay Packers\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Week 9 Sunday slate of the NFL season\u00a0concludes\u00a0in Foxborough in a matchup between two of the greatest quarterbacks of our lifetime. Tom Brady and the Patriots are already in mid-season form, entering this one with a 6-2 record off the back of 5 straight wins. On the other hand, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,344],"tags":[400,85,73,2208,2144,274,47,48,234,2077,168,72],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-5263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-football","category-sports","tag-american-football","tag-betting","tag-betting-preview","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-gridiron","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-tips","tag-odds","tag-tips"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":null,"md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"02\/11\/2018","event_country":"Australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5263"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=5263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}