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For the second time this season, the New England Patriots are on Thursday Night Football. The curse of being the world champions is that they want you on prime time as much as possible. Tonight, they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are 2-1 on the young season. This match-up has the potential for some major points as both teams are averaging 390 yards or more allowed per game.
The Patriots are 2-2 on the young season and the biggest part of that is their defense has been allowing big points. They’ve allowed 32 points per game while allowing a huge 132 yards per game on the ground and 456 yards overall. That’s not great. The good thing is that every game has been played close and the offense is playing great right now, putting up 32 points per game.
Tampa may have a slight rest advantage here as they had Week 1 off thanks to a hurricane. That said, they played a tough game against the Giants on Sunday and four days rest is four days rest. They have put up some points and moved the ball well in the air this year, but they have only averaged 84.7 yards per game on the ground. That’s because they’ve been without Pro Bowl back Doug Martin. He’ll return tonight from a four game suspension as well as a sting in drug rehab. He will be the story of the night for Tampa.
NFL Betting Tips:
The main story of this game should be if Doug Martin will be able to take advantage of the Patriots defense on the ground. I have doubts that will happen as four games dating back to last year is a long time to be off the field. There is also the question of whether the Bucs haven’t had a lot of rushing yards simply because they can’t protect for the run that well.
The Patriots are 2-2 on the year and you have to go back a long way before they’ve had their third loss in week five of the season. That is just not something that happens. The Patriots have put up big yards against some good defenses this season and the Buccaneers are not a good defense. Give me the Patriots -5 tonight with a side of the over 53.5. This shouldn’t let us down in the scoring category and the Patriots should roll.
MLB Playoff Betting Tips:
With the Yankees and Diamondbacks winning their Wild Card games in dominating fashion, the real playoffs can begin. The story of those Wild Card games was the same of the story of the season: homeruns. Whether or not this will continue through the playoffs should be interesting.
A good test case will be tonight’s Indians vs. Yankees game. We’ll see Trevor Bauer and Sonny Gray on the mound as the Indians elect to hold back their top two starters in Kluber and Carrasco. It is somewhat controversial, but they have their reasons.
Whatever they are, Bauer is hittable and prone to a breakdown. He can throw hard and had a great season, but I don’t fully trust him. I do, however, trust that Indians bullpen who will be on call to relieve him at a moment’s notice.
He goes against Sonny Gray who had a solid season after joining the Yankees, but still held a 4.87 FIP. Neither one of these starters is a sure thing, but the Yankees bullpen is just as formidable as the Indians pen.
The play here has got to be the Indians -136. The starter match-up favors them, their at home and the bullpen gets the nod as well as it didn’t play a whole game two years ago. This should be a great series, tonight is about Cleveland.
