by Kevin O’Neill 

Pitching a shutout, the Patriots were over the total by themselves in the first half of their whipping of 1-AA’s Tennessee-Nashville on Sunday, leading 45-0 after 30 minutes with a total bet down from 41.5 down to 37.5 due to the weather.   Can’t say I can recall a team superseding the full game total in the first half any time recently.  Seems like a long time ago that the Titans came within a sliver of knocking off the mighty Steelers in their opener. The biggest change from last year’s 13-3 Titans outfit to this season’s winless edition is the loss of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.   Schwartz appears to be building things the right way in Detroit, while his replacement, Chuck Cecil is understandably taking a ton of heat.   You don’t frequently see teams fail to cover consecutive games by 23, 19, and 50, but those are results that the boys from Nashville have taken into their bye week.  The Titans gave up 24 TD’s in 16 games last year.  They’ve given up 24 TD’s in 6 games this year.

Remember how stout Buffalo’s run defense was in New England in their opener?   The Bills held the Pats and Bucs to less than 130 yards combined in those first two games.  In the four games since their opponents have fun all over Buffalo for 961 yards.  Have you ever seen a coach look less joyful and more relieved following a dramatic upset win than Dick Jauron was after the 9.5-point underdog Bills knocked off the Jets on Sunday?   If you let the New York papers make your decisions for you, Rex Ryan has gone from the future of football to an obese blowhard in just three short weeks.  The Jets trip to Oakland suddenly looks winnable for the Raiders, winners as double-digit puppies against the Eagles.  But does Richard Seymour really mean it when he predicts a playoff appearance for Oakland?   The thought here is that Seymour’s looking to further cement his team-first reputation for his appearance on the free agent circuit this offseason.

The Chargers gain 6.0 yards per play, allowing 5.6.  The Chiefs gain 4.3 yards per play and allow 6.1.  Kansas City has been outyarded by over 190 yards 4 times in their 6 games thus far, with games against the sorry Raiders and pathetic Redskins being the exceptions.  And the Chargers really, really, really need to win if they want to be playing meaningful football from here on out.   Yet you can lay as little as 4 with the San Diego?   Not exactly two thumbs up from the marketplace for Mr. Norv Turner. 

Bill Belichick failed in Cleveland because he projected the personality of his mentor Bill Parcells, despite being a first time head coach.   An argument could be made that Belichick proteges have made the same mistake. Charlie Weis has been a failure at Notre Dame and Eric Mangini is failing with his second team, wearing out their welcome in part due to their abrasive personalities.   Lower key Romeo Crennell didn’t fail in Cleveland due to being a jackass, he just failed.   So Belichick has got to be pleased to see Josh McDaniels doing so well in Denver.   McDaniels is an impressive a new coach as you’re going to find, with organization, game planning, in-game strategy, clock managment, etc. all wired.   The Broncos are 6-0 not only straight up, but to the pointspread as well.   Has a rookie coach ever covered his first 6 games before?

The Rams have been more competitive than the final score indicated recently, outgained by only a combined 100 yards in consecutive losses to the Vikings, Niners, and Packers that saw them outscored by a combined 109-27.  Then they turn around and lose a 23-20 squeaker to the Jaguars despite being outgained 492-262.  Go figure.   The Colts run for only 79 yards per game on 3.3 yards per carry, both numbers placing them in the bottom five of the league.  That’ll catch up with them, won’t it?  Actually the way Manning’s playing, maybe it won’t. Who needs a running game when you are averaging 9.0 yards per pass attempt against the sophisticated pass defenses of the NFL?  Indy’s 9.0 yards per pass attempt would put them in the top 10 in college pass passing offense, though you might want to back out the game against 1-AA Tennessee-Nashville for a more accurate number.

To the relief of Vegas and online sportsbooks, the NFL’s ugly puppies finally showed some signs of life last Sunday in the NFL, with dogs of more than +7 going 4-2 against the number, including a pair of straight up upsets of the Bills over Jets and Raiders over Eagles.    All three big favorites this week are on the road, with two-TD lays for the Colts at St. Louis and the Patriots against the Bucs in London.    The Packers opened a shade under a TD but the Cleveland flu news has seen that line rocket upward. 

Thanks for reading this. Good luck with your underdogs, favorites, overs, and unders this weekend.