It’s been a wild week!
The Cowboys can’t beat teams with winning records. The New England Patriots took their second loss. The Baltimore Ravens smashed through their second undefeated team with Justin Tucker booting a game-winning field goal with no seconds left on the clock. The Chiefs finally gain a little bit of breathing room in the AFC West after pounding the Oakland Raiders 40-9. The Titans are still rolling, as they murdered the Colts and maintain neck and neck with the Houston Texans. And Nick Foles might just be the SBTF of the week … he played a horrible game against one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL … and literally ruined any chance the Jaguars had at making a strong run on a weak end-of-season schedule to secure a wild-card berth. Even the Bengals got a win. I guess they decided that with Tua Tagavailoa out of the picture and the Redskins, Fins, and Giants all with a couple of victories, they could afford to win one for moral and still get the top pick in the draft.
So what is important next week?
All Eyes On …
Ravens @ Bills
Baltimore is listed by 5dimes as 5.5-point favorites in Week 14. But can the Ravens go out on the road and take down another winning team with a rock-solid defense? The weather may be against them, as the 10-day forecast shows some pretty chilly weather coming in at New Era Field. Leading up to Sunday, there is supposed to be a few straight days in the high 20s and low 30s with some snow. On game day, it is supposed to warm up to 40 degrees, but who knows? That is right at the edge of a far-out weather forecast.
The Bills are a tough team to beat at home, and they have the No. 4 home defense in the NFL. This should help to stunt the 39 points per game that the Ravens – No. 1 in the league on the road – score. As we stated above, the Ravens opened on Sunday night as 5.5-point favorites over the home team, but a lot of action is already on the Baltimore Ravens, so we’ll most likely see this number move to six or 6.5 by the end of the weak.
But why is this game important?
Well, the Baltimore Ravens due to their head-to-head win over the Patriots are the proud new owners of the No.1 seed in the American Football Conference. And with the Patriots losing to the Houston Texans, the Buffalo Bills are only a game behind and have an actual shot at winning the AFC East for the first time in 24 years!
Titans @ Raiders
The Tennessee Titans have tightened up their game on all sides of the ball: offense, special teams, and defense. Tannehill is shining in Nashville, and they could overtake the Houston Texans if they beat them in one of the two head-to-heads they have in the last three weeks of play and the Texans take a loss.
The Raiders are slumping, losing two in a row and falling back to .500. They will be in front of their home crowd in Oakland for their second-to-last home game of … well, ever. Next season, the Raiders are off to Las Vegas because the city of Oakland has proved – with the Dubs as well- that the city leaders just don’t give a crap about the teams that put the city on the map. Still, the Raiders are just three-point underdogs at home, which means on a neutral field, the bookmakers think that the Titans are six points better.
But we could end up with a phenomenal game in this one. The Raiders average 22 points per game in the Oakland Coliseum, while the Tennessee Titans average just under 19 points per game on the road. Defensively, the Titans allow just under 18 per game while playing as the visiting squad and the Raiders allow a smidge over 20. So, by sheer numbers, the Silver and Black should be .5-point favorites.
It will be interesting to see if all the action coming in on the Titans moves this line off the key number of three. I have a feeling it will be up to 3.5 in just a couple of days, then I would say, take the Raiders to cover the number at home.
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