Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Week 8 is actually a pretty good one in terms of teams on the bye because three of them in the Washington Football Team, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans are among the NFL’s worst clubs. The fourth off is a good Arizona Cardinals team.

It’s rare that an NFL team makes major news during its bye week short of firing a head coach, but the Miami Dolphins hijacked the football news last week when they were off with the fairly shocking decision to make rookie No. 5 overall pick Tua Tagovailoa as their first-time starter for this Sunday’s home game against the Los Angeles Rams.

On the one hand, it makes sense to make that call during a bye week to give Tua plenty of reps in practice, but on the other Ryan Fitzpatrick was playing quite well and had led the Dolphins to three wins in their past four and into the AFC East race. Miami is a 4-point underdog but has won 19 of its past 23 when hosting West Coast teams.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The four teams on the bye in Week 7 around the NFL are two Super Bowl contenders in the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens and two not-very-good teams in the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.

The AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans were supposed to be on the bye, too, but a COVID-19 outbreak on the team forced some schedule changes. That included a Week 4 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that has now been moved to this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

It’s the marquee matchup of Week 7 between the AFC’s two remaining unbeatens and could have big-time playoff tiebreaker ramifications. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was the 2019 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, and Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger could be the 2020 winner. The Steelers are -2 with the Titans 7-3 ATS in their past 10 as home dogs.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The four teams on the bye in Week 7 around the NFL are two Super Bowl contenders in the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens and two not-very-good teams in the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.

The AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans were supposed to be on the bye, too, but a COVID-19 outbreak on the team forced some schedule changes. That included a Week 4 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that has now been moved to this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

It’s the marquee matchup of Week 7 between the AFC’s two remaining unbeatens and could have big-time playoff tiebreaker ramifications. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was the 2019 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, and Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger could be the 2020 winner. The Steelers are -2 with the Titans 7-3 ATS in their past 10 as home dogs.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The four teams on the bye in Week 7 around the NFL are two Super Bowl contenders in the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens and two not-very-good teams in the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings.

The AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans were supposed to be on the bye, too, but a COVID-19 outbreak on the team forced some schedule changes. That included a Week 4 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that has now been moved to this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

It’s the marquee matchup of Week 7 between the AFC’s two remaining unbeatens and could have big-time playoff tiebreaker ramifications. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was the 2019 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, and Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger could be the 2020 winner. The Steelers are -2 with the Titans 7-3 ATS in their past 10 as home dogs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Show Green Bay Packers the Way to Attack 

In the meeting of the two ‘Bays’, it was Tampa who took the victory in the NFL as they reminded familiar foes Green Bay that attack is the best form of defence.  

With the acquisition of Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers have shown intent in the form of their summer recruitment and with the addition of Brady’s former Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski, many pre-season pundits believed that Tampa had acquired a potential Vince Lombardi trophy-winning combination.  

Tampa’s current regular season record of 4-2 might throw a little cold water on those flames rather than fanning them with praise, but this latest victory owed a lot to the offensive prowess of Bruce Arians’ side.  

While the rest of Week 5 action may be uncertain due to the return of COVID-19, tonight’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) for the NFL will move forward as planned. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears will meet on the gridiron, pitting two 3-1 teams against each other in a battle between the North and South. The Bucs may be the favorite heading into the game, but the Bears certainly can’t be ignored. 

In Tampa Bay’s last game, against the LA Chargers, quarterback Tom Brady and the rest of the team found themselves in a hole that appeared to signal the end of the game. However, the 20-year veteran showed why he’s the NFL GOAT and rallied the team from as far down as 17 points to take the win, 38-31. Brady is unquestionably MVP material, throwing five touchdown passes, each to a different receiver. That flexibility makes it difficult for a defense to maintain adequate coverage on key plays. 

That doesn’t mean the Bears are looking at a superior team, though. Although it was prior to the entrance of Brady, Chicago has beaten Tampa Bay six out of their last nine meetings. These two teams haven’t played each other since 2018, but the Bears defense is proving itself time and again this season. Despite ultimately losing last week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, the defense forced the Colts to kick field goals on four drives in the red zone. The Bears are allowing offenses to score a touchdown on 37.5% of red zone drives, the strongest performance for the NFL this season. 

The Bears also saw a spectacular performance out of wide receiver Allen Robinson last week and the week before. He logged over 100 receiving yards in each of the two games, a feat not seen on the team since 2015. As long as he and quarterback Nick Foles continue to connect like that, Chicago has a good shot of making this a battle to the bitter end. 

Thursday Night Football brought together two NFL teams with goose eggs in their wins column this season. The Denver Broncos and the New York Jets were staring down 0-3 starts heading into their battle, and everyone knew someone would have to continue their losing streak by the time the night was over. What many had thought would be a chance for Jets head coach Adam Gase and his crew to shine and finally turn things around didn’t develop, though, and Jets fans, as well as a large number of sports gamblers, walked away more than a little frustrated. 

The Jets were favored to win last night, partly due to Broncos injuries and a new-ish Broncos quarterback, Brett Rypien. The game got off to a good start to back up that prediction when quarterback Sam Darnold scrambled enough to find an opening and score the first touchdown of the game (and the only TD for the Jets on the night). However, it was all downhill from there, and the Jets’ offense would not see the end zone a single time, and would only see the red zone once. 

The Broncos’ defense took revenge on Darnold starting with the Jets next offensive series, planting his right shoulder in the turf. He was forced to limp off to be examined, but was able to return just a short time later. Joe Flacco stepped in to fill the void, but it didn’t do any good. The Jets only managed the one offensive touchdown, one defensive touchdown after an interception and five field goals. 

The Broncos offense and defense simply proved to be too much for the Jets, surprising since the team was riddled with injuries to many of its starters. Rypien, a third-stringer who had only once made a brief appearance on an NFL field, made his full debut last night, and his underwhelming performance is an indicator of how difficult things were for the Jets – not the Broncos. Rypien threw for 242 yards as he completed 19 of 31 passes, converting two of his aerials into touchdowns. However, he also put up three interceptions – one for a Jets TD. 

Everything had been running smoothly in the 2020 NFL season. Through the first three weeks, other than a spate of injuries, there had been no problems with COVID-19; only one case had been reported. That all changed yesterday, however, when the coronavirus stepped up its game and took out nine people on a single team. The ramifications are troublesome and now have the league and all franchises scrambling to figure out how best to contain the situation. 

The Tennessee Titans reported yesterday that three of the team’s players and five members of its staff had tested positive for COVID-19. To avoid the possibility that the results were a false alarm, everyone had to go through additional testing, which confirmed that they are definitely infected. DaQuan Jones, Beau Brinkley and Tommy Hudson were placed on the Titans’ Reserve-COVID-19 list as a result. The staff members weren’t named. 

The announcement forced the Minnesota Vikings to jump into action, as well. They had hosted the Titans this past Sunday and, in addition to losing by one point, could have seen COVID-19 jump the lines and infect someone on the squad. However, according to initial tests, no Vikings player has returned a positive result. 

Still, both teams have decided to temporarily close their facilities and halt practices – the Titans don’t anticipate getting back to work until this Saturday. That’s not necessarily a good game plan, though, as going into a Sunday game after four days of no practice is not a smart move. The Titans, which are supposed to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers this coming weekend, would simply be asking to have more players end up on the injured reserve list. 

Monday Night Football (MNF) for the NFL last night was expected to be a battle of the ages. Two teams with 2-0 records, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, duking it out on the football battlefield to see who was the best. If that was the best the Ravens could muster, they’re in for a long, cold winter. It seems the oddsmakers were completely off-base with this game, but those who selected the underdog had a great day.

Patrick “His name isn’t Pat!” Mahomes was on fire for the Chiefs. The Super Bowl MVP quarterback took control of the contest early on and refused to let go. He was able to move around in the pocket and avoid getting hit while looking for his targets downfield. By the end of the night, Mahomes would go 31 for 41, picking up 385 yards and four touchdowns. He even picked up 26 rushing yards and scored another touchdown on his own while throwing no interceptions and not getting sacked. By the end of the first half, the Chiefs were already up 27-10.

Things would only get worse for the Ravens from there. Head coach John Harbaugh had difficulty countering a Chiefs playbook that brought in dominating plays on both offense and defense, and said of the Chiefs after the game, “They beat us, they out-executed us. They out gameplanned [sic] us. They just beat us. That’s the story tonight. Big picture stuff, all that, I don’t know. They’re better obviously, they’re a better football team at this point in time.”

Before last night, the Ravens had been on a regular-season winning streak that lasted 14 games. The Chiefs made easy work of breaking that trend, while capturing their twelfth win in a row. Mahomes would make sure haters recognized that he’s worth every penny of the $503-million, ten-year extension he signed in the offseason as he placed an exclamation mark on his team’s 27-20 lead. Heading into the final minutes of the fourth quarter, he led a 13-play drive that helped chew up precious time, converting a third-and-five and a third-and-ten to keep the clock running. With just over eight minutes left, he flicked the ball to an unexpected target for the final touchdown of the night, extending the Chiefs’ lead to 34-20. That target was right tackle Eric Fisher, the most unexpected target the Ravens could have imagined. 

After first laying the groundwork for a legal sports gambling market in the state more than a year ago, Tennessee is almost ready to start the clock. The market is expected to go live on November 1 and would join a growing number of states that have made the leap into the sportsbook pool. The idea of keeping sports and sports gambling separated is no longer an option anywhere, and this is evident by the continuous stream of deals being made between sports organizations and sports gambling and casino operators. The latest, right on the heels of new partnerships between the PointsBet sportsbook and the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, the Tennessee Titans are in the game, having secured an agreement with BetMGM.

Tennessee only just approved licenses for sportsbooks a few days ago, and the ink is still wet on the contracts. DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM are all set to go in the Volunteer State, warming up and exercising ahead of the opening whistle in just over a month. The Titans announced the new partnership with BetMGM yesterday and, with that, the team is the first professional sports team in the state to connect with a sports gambling operator. Asserts the NFL team’s senior VP and chief marketing officer, Gil Beverly, “We are thrilled to bring BetMGM to the state of Tennessee. BetMGM will deliver new experiences and levels of engagement to our fans and we’re excited to welcome them in as an official partner.”

BetMGM will now be featured on the digital platforms controlled by the Titans and will also see its name run alongside field goal attempts, video board replays and more during live games. The sportsbook, controlled through a partnership between MGM Resorts International and GVC Holdings, is also going to hold an upcoming raffle to raise money for the Titans Foundation, and will be the exclusive naming rights partner of the Titans’ Saint Thomas Sports Park television studio. In addition, it will also appear in connection with Titans All Access and the Coach Mike Vrabel Show. 

As opposed to most states, Tennessee is going the virtual route with its sports gambling. It will offer an online-only market, which should appeal to most people, anyway. In terms of revenue, online sports gambling has been winning the race against retail hands-down, and is inarguably the future of most sports betting everywhere.