NFL Betting News

The Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet at Heinz Field to try to pick up a win in a NFL Week 9 game televised on ESPN.

Yes, the Bengals are tied with Pittsburgh and Baltimore atop the AFC North but does anyone think they’ll remain there once the calendar rings in the New Year?

We don’t, so we think it’s just flat out bad scheduling that finds these two playing for the last time in 2011… and it’s not even December.

We loved the Steelers as home dogs last week (5* Newsletter Best Bet, Late-Phone release) and we’d love to back them again after that season- opening beatdown in Baltimore – a game in which the Ravens undoubtedly ran it up.

However, now laying 3.5 points to an opponent that owns 160 YPG the better defense than last week’s foe (New England), and one that has held three of its last four opponents to season-low yards, may be too much of a line move for our liking.

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots will fight today at Gillette Stadium.

This is the first meeting between these two since the Giants upset the Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl and ended what would have been a perfect season for the Brady Bunch.

And with New England coming off a loss in Pittsburgh, this seems to be a perfect spot for the Pats to exact a small measure of revenge.

For starters, the hosts are 12-0 SU and 11-1 ATS off a SU favorite loss versus a foe off a SU win while the ‘hoodie’ is 16-4 ATS off a SU favorite loss versus .600 or greater opposition.

Yes, the situation screams New England but we’re hesitant to lay this many points into a superior defense, especially with the Pats in post-Tomlin mode (teams are 10-24 ATS as favorites after facing Mike Tomlin’s Steelers).

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints will try to pick up a win on Sunday at Louisiana Superdome.

The knee-jerk reaction is to jump on the Saints’ in this game like macaroni-to-American cheese, but since we’re counting triglycerides these days we’ll avoid this fatty temptation.

For openers, it’s seldom that New Orleans rewards its backers in this role where they are a diet-busting 1-16 ATS as division home chalk of 7 or more points. We also find it hard to swallow favorites of this size that sport a rush defense allowing 5.5 YPR.

Granted, after last year’s 10-win surprise season, the Bucs are crashing back to earth this campaign faster than Usain Bolt but they take the field today sporting a glossy 4-1 SU and 5-0 ATS mark in games with rest.