PIGSKIN PICKS

The coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic has forced the closure of some training sites, which hampers overall team performance. It punished New England last week, so keep that in mind when wagering.

Dallas Cowboys (2-4) at Washington Football Team (1-5) – Should be interesting, Washington can’t score, the Cowboys can’t defend. Take the Cowboys in a high-scoring game.

Detroit Lions (2-3) at Atlanta Falcons (1-5) – Wow, have the Falcons turned their game around. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones were razor sharp in the rout of the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions are not great defensively, looks like an easy Atlanta home win. Seattle Seahawks (5-0) at Arizona Cardinals (4-2) – The Seahawks have Russell Wilson and an explosive offence, but they’re not great on defence. The Cardinals have a great young QB in Kyler Murray and a solid cast of receivers. The Seahawks have feasted on a strong collection of teams with sub.500 records. Take the points and bet the home dogs.

San Francisco 49ers (3-3) at New England Patriots (2-3) – The 49ers are coming off a home upset of the L.A. Rams and QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who looked sharp last week, returns to face his old boss, Bill Belichick. The Pats are field-goal favourites, which is really surprising. I like the Pats to win outright, but I cannot bet New England as favourites.

Carolina Panthers (3-3) at New Orleans Saints (3-2) – The Saints are home with 20,000 fans able to be in the stadium. Drew Brees is getting all his receivers back, and they’ll outscore QB Teddy Bridgewater, but the spread (-7.5) is too much. It’s not for me.