Patriots must find defence in a hurry
New England can’t stop anyone, with Tampa Bay up next
New England doesn’t have much time to work on patching up that leaky defence.
And next up are Jameis Winston, Mike Evans and perhaps the returning-from-suspension Doug Martin for the Buccaneers.
Only Indianapolis has yielded more than the 128 points the Patriots have given up. Mobile quarterbacks (Alex Smith, Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson) have given them fits.
The Patriots have scored 129 points, so the offence is in good form. Is there finger pointing heading into Thursday night’s game?
“Well I’ve been on teams where we didn’t score many points and we just relied on the defence to do everything,” Tom Brady says. “This team has never been about ‘Hey, what are you guys doing wrong?’ We just focus on what we need to do. It’s score more points than the other team. It doesn’t matter if it’s three points or 30 points or 50 points.”
The Patriots are three-point favourites. A loss drops New England to 2-3. Can’t see that.
Patriots, 36-30
Arizona (plus 6) at Philadelphia Something about the Eagles excites us. Can’t say same for the Cardinals.
Best bet: Eagles, 28-20
Tennessee (minus 2.5) at Miami The Dolphins finally get to play at home, curing some ills.
Upset special: Dolphins, 20-16
Kansas City (minus 1) at Houston The Chiefs won’t go unbeaten, but will win this one.
Chiefs, 21-18
Green Bay (plus 2) at Dallas
Great early season matchup in great all-time series.
Cowboys, 33-30
Carolina (plus 3) at Detroit
The Lions win only close games that go down to the wire.
Lions, 27-26
Buffalo (plus 3) at Cincinnati
We probably should believe more in Buffalo than we do.
Bengals, 19-17
Seattle (plus 1) at L.A. Rams
We probably should believe more in the Rams than we do.
Seahawks, 22-21
Jacksonville (plus 8.5) at Pittsburgh
Schizophrenic Jags too unpredictable to pick.
Steelers, 27-16
San Francisco (plus 1.5) at Indianapolis
Frank Gore gets back at his former team? Don’t think so.
49ers, 17-16
Baltimore (plus 5) at Oakland Even without Derek Carr, going with the Raiders to wake up.
Raiders, 16-13
N.Y. Jets (pick-em) at Cleveland Jets 2-0 at home, 0-2 on road. Make it 0-3.
Browns, 17-13
L.A. Chargers (plus 3) at N.Y. Giants Did someone say nil-nil draw?
Giants, 24-23
Minnesota (OFF) at Chicago Would’ve been our best bet had there been a line.
Vikings, 23-10
2017 RECORD:
Last week: Against the spread, 9-6; straight up, 9-7
Season totals: Against the spread, 27-33-1; straight up, 38-25
Best bet: 2-2 against the spread, 2-2 straight up.
Upset special: 4-0 against the spread, 4-0 straight up