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It’s Thanksgiving in America and you know what that means: football all day and football all night! Yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year as Americans get to eat all day while watching their favorite sport. The NFL always puts on a great show on Thanksgiving and this year looks to be no different.
The day starts with a match-up that could help decide the NFC North Division as the Lions host the Minnesota Vikings. These two teams are both 6-4 and have gotten there in much different ways. The Vikings mostly through their defense and the Lions through a bit of luck. Three of their past five wins have come by three points or less.
We then have a great NFC East match-up as the Dallas Cowboys take on the Washington Redskins. Both of these teams are in the hunt for the playoffs, but the Cowboys at 9-1 are currently in the hunt for the first overall seed in the NFC. They’ll need to get past a tough Redskins team to do it. Dallas should be rocking for this one.
The night ends on a bit of a down note as two former great franchises that now sit at 5-5 do battle in the evening slate. It’s Pittsburgh versus Indianapolis and while this would normally be a great match-up of quarterbacks, it looks like Andrew Luck won’t be able to play in this one. Still, football is football and this should be a great day of it.
NFL Betting Tips:
This Lions and Vikings game is filled with intrigue, but looking at the stats it makes you wonder how we got here. The Vikings are without Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson, but they are still 6-4 on the season and have looked quite impressive. They are doing this despite only scoring 20 points per game and being under 300 total yards of offense per game. The Lions are a mirror image of that as they have 358 yards per game, more than they gain, and seem to be hanging on by a thread.
That said, they have looked much better of late and they did just beat the Vikings on the road two weeks ago. If we look at how each team is trending, it’s clear to see that Minnesota is on a steep downward trend and has really been struggling. They are a far weaker team on the road and we’re not sure they have the firepower to take advantage of the Lions defense. Let’s follow a Thanksgiving tradition and take the home team, Lions -2.5.
When Dallas and Washington played way back in September it was a shootout, 27-23 that Dallas won. You put those same two teams in the dome in Dallas with the world watching and playoff stakes, you expect the same thing. Over 50 is the play.
Scott Tolzien grabs the start for the Colts in this one and that helped the total move from 53 to 47. That’s nearly a touchdown jump for a pretty capable back-up quarterback. Still, if you look at some of the recent performances by Pittsburgh’s defense as of late and it might not matter who is behind center. The Colts defense has been terrible all year, allowing nearly four touchdowns per game and you can see where I’m going with this. Over 47 is the play. Don’t be afraid of the back-up.
